Archive for Toastmasters
May 2, 2007 at 10:15 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Montreal, Pubquiz, Toastmasters
Last night after work I headed over to El Diablo Rojo, a tapas bar on Peel for a very pleasant evening with my fellow Toastmasters. There was free beer and free food and good company, what else could I ask for? The food didn’t seem very tapas-like but it was still good. Who knew beef and bananas would be a good combination? The beer was the non-spanish quebecois favourite Maudite and was stronger than I realized. The company had me discussing gaming, the UK, domain names, Facebook and craigslist and made me totally lose track of time until Jen called at 8:05 to ask why I wasn’t at quiz yet.
I dashed over to Hurley’s to arrive midway through round one of the quiz to join Jen and our other teammates, Marie-Jo and her Scottish beau Jonathan. We didn’t win the quiz but we had fun trying, and everyone now knows I want to have John Cusack’s babies.
April 21, 2005 at 12:29 pm · Filed under F1, General, Pubquiz, Toastmasters, Woodwork
It’s been a busy week so far; Monday was quiz (we won!), Tuesday I gave a speech at Toastmasters (it went well!), last night was woodworking (my cupboard is looking good!). The week is getting busier though:
Tonight we’re going to a hair salon / art gallery (I know, weird combination) to see my mother-in-law’s photo exhibition. She took a series of photos of natural snow formations which, looked at from the right angle and with a little imagination, look like body parts. If you want to see them for yourself, the exhibition is on until Saturday at Espace Alternatif, 122 Rue Bernard Ouest.
Tomorrow night I’m going over to Shawn’s for an evening of Magic and pizza.
On Saturday it’s my granny-in-law’s birthday (she’s 93 you know!), so we’re going up to the country for a birthday dinner, and staying the night.
On Sunday evening we’re going to the Anand Bazaar, a Gujarat Indian food fair at Polyvalente Lucien-Page, 8200 Blvd St-Laurent (corner Jarry). I’m looking forward to all the delicious Indian food, even if it is only vegetarian. Entrance is free if you want to come along, it starts at 4:30.
Added to all that, it’s a race weekend. The Formula 1 circus is heading to Italy for the Imola Grand Prix. I’ll be up early on Saturday morning to watch the qualifying, but sadly we have to record the race on Sunday morning and try not to listen to the radio on the drive home.
March 23, 2005 at 11:03 am · Filed under Toastmasters
Last night at Toastmasters I delivered a technical presentation on the merits of the fabulous open source browser Firefox (click on the image to go get it if you’re not using it already!). I was disappointed to discover only one other member was already using it, with the majority sticking with IE.
After getting a list of the perceived good and bad things about IE from my audience, I went through each item on the list and explained how Firefox did it better. I then gave a demonstration of Firefox (hampered slightly by Windows crashing when I opened the laptop; if only I’d had my Mac!), pointing out the tabbed browsing and built in search features.
I finished with a 5 minute Q&A period. I heard some very intelligent questions, which I hopefully answered equally intelligently.
I think a few of my fellow members will be trying out Firefox. Hopefully they won’t look back.
For a good list of the benefits of Firefox, go here.
November 3, 2004 at 2:57 pm · Filed under Toastmasters
I gave my 5th speech from the storytelling manual at Toastmasters last night. The objective of the project was to tell a story based on a historical event, and make it entertaining.
Because of the date, I decided to tell the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. It was a little nerve-wracking because I had to keep my facts straight without any notes, but it seems my memory is better than I thought and I don’t think I made any slips. I even managed to remember the names of some of Guy’s co-conspirators. I’m usually terrible with names.
It was a 7 to 9 minute speech, and I came in at around 8 minutes so my “counting the words and dividing by 70″ approach to timing calculations seems to be working quite nicely.
September 22, 2004 at 7:58 am · Filed under Toastmasters
Last night I delivered a speech for the 4th speech project in the storytelling manual for Toastmasters. The objective of the project was to tell a “touching story”. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a highly emotional person, and I’m certainly not good at touching people, even in appropriate ways, so this was going to be a challenge.
I decided the only way to achieve my objective was to tell the story that has touched me the most, which is the story of how I met and eventually married my wife. I also decided, partially due to sheer laziness and partially because I thought spontaneity would give the story more reality, to do almost no preparation for the speech. After all, it is my story, I know it better than anyone except maybe Jennifer, so why rehearse it? My final decision was to promote a more relaxed atmosphere by sitting on the edge of the lectern table instead of standing up straight.
The story choice was good. From the feedback I got, everyone enjoyed it. The lack of preparation didn’t hurt the content of my speech, but rehearsal might’ve made the delivery more explicitly emotional, I’m still not sure on that one. I got mixed feedback on sitting on the table, some people loved it, some people said “stand up straight you lazy bugger” or words to that effect.
September 14, 2004 at 8:25 am · Filed under Pubquiz, Toastmasters
On the first Tuesday of every month (ok, so it’s the second tuesday this month because of Labour Day), a group gathers at Hurley’s Irish Pub for an evening of mindless trivia. Each month a different person (or people) hosts the quiz so we never know what categories and questions we’re going to get. The quiz starts at 8pm in the upstairs bar, why not come along and join in? It’s free, and you might even win a $20 gift card!
Tonight is also the annual open house at McGill Toastmasters, so come along to that too if you feel like checking us out.
September 1, 2004 at 7:49 am · Filed under Toastmasters
I’ve been a member of the McGill Toastmasters Club for about three years now. The club meets every Tuesday, 10 floors above my workplace which is very convenient.
I joined to improve my speaking and communication skills, but I’ve gotten more from it than that. I’ve learned some leadership and organisational skills. I’ve made friends. I’ve honed my web design skills working on the club website. I’ve become a better listener and evaluator. I’ve heard many interesting speeches on all sorts of subjects.
All that for $10 a month, and you get free coffee and cookies!
