JIm K Toastmasters Saint John

Monday November 7, 2016 - 3 Speeches and Recognizing Others Achievements  I started this blog to describe what happens during our Saint John Toastmasters meetings. Admittedly I've been less than regular when posting but there's quite a good list of past entries now.   At Mondays meeting we hosted five guests. One, Reza, joined already‎ and at least one more is committed. It surprises me how people will say they've been looking for 'this' for years. Toastmasters executes lots of public relations material and activity, and is pretty widely known. As a not-for-profit with chapters in 142 countries, mass advertising isn't happening anytime soon.  However around the world we provide excellent environments and a structured program enabling people to develop and practice communication and leadership skills.  This past Monday we had three speeches. One was on the theme of inspiring the audience with a thoughtful consideration of war veterans in the speakers l...

Perceptions of Saint John by Locals and Visitors  At our February 8 th meeting we again had three speeches delivered.  And three guests, two of which have joined and will start participating in our self-paced program.  People can join and begin at any point throughout the year.    One speech exercised vocal variety, one exercised use of visual aids, and one exercised interpretive reading techniques, in this case interpreting poetry.  Topics were on working with media, decisions related to visual aids, and of course a poem, in this case one from the 1800’s. The Table Topics, the impromptu speaking session, were on perceptions of Saint John by locals and by visitors.    This was inspired by a recent conversation with local comedian James Mullinger.  James is performing in April at a fund raiser for another group I work with, L’Ache Saint John.  James was talking about a recent trip he made to Ottawa to promote Saint John...

At our last meeting January 18th, 2016 we had three speeches delivered.  One was an Ice Breaker, a 4-6 minute speech, where the speaker introduces himself or herself to the group.  A pretty easy speech but most people are nervous to deliver it.   Another advanced speech of 8-10 minutes was on helping a non-technical audience understand Enterprise Resource Planning systems.  A third speech (10-12 minutes) was on story telling, and in this case reading a story.  We heard a folk story from India. The impromptu speaking session, Table Topics, where all participate was on poverty in New Brunswick. The theme was inspired by news in the Telegraph-Journal in early January Topics about a woman 40 km outside Moncton living without heat, water or electricity.  She went to the newspaper with a request for help finding wood to burn.   The community responded with wood, a new wood stove,cash, food, and home repairs.  So our discussion was on poverty. So...