Thank you to all the members and guests who came out for our club international speech contest this past Wednesday. It was a lot of fun, with amazing stories and innovation! Special thanks to all our contest organizers, judges and volunteers: Jenson, Kristy, Ismail, Shannan, Ken, Clarice, Felipe, Justin and Cohen.

A warm round of applause to all our contestants: Jay Kiew, Arash Narchi, Nanami Oki, and Cass Chan for braving the stage.  Your preparation and efforts are always greatly appreciated!


As for the contest results (drum roll)...
Congratulations to Mr. Jay Kiew, who will be representing us in the Area 23 Speech Contest!
Congratulations as well to Arash Narchi, who was runner up! 


Thank you to Starbucks (@ Cornwall & Yew) as well as Save-on-Foods (@ Cambie & Broadway) for the generation donation of coffee, tea and cookies! 

Thank you to all members who came out this past Wednesday to cast their vote for our new executive committee. A noteworthy nod to all the candidates who stepped up to run for all the positions; we appreciate your effort and dedication to the club. It was a close race in many cases, but we are pleased to announce the brand new executive team for Walter Gage Toastmasters! (Drum roll, please!)





President: Arash Narchi
VP Education: Cass Chan (Successor: Jeff Pena)
VP Membership: Felipe Iriondo
VP Public Relations: James Pena (Term 1) & Christina Wong (Term 2)
VP Finance: Peter Wiebe
Secretary: Nia Gobin
Sergeant-at-Arms: Clarice Yeung

Congratulations all! We look forward to seeing even greater growth and innovation from all of you!

On three separate pieces of paper, write down these three questions:
1. Who am I? (e.g. brother, husband, son, nerd, young, male)
2. What am I about? (e.g. trust, friendship, love, passion, adventure)
3. Where did I learn it? (e.g. mother, wife, father, grandmother, stranger on the bus, friend, teacher)
The reason you write it down is because you can't always see the connections in your head, but in front of your eyes you can begin to see the shape of the stories you want to share and the speech you want to give.

It's normal for everyone to feel nervous. Heck, even professionals get nervous! But how one deals with nervousness differentiates the amateurs from the pros. If you tend to tremble or get a shaky voice part way through your presentation, accept it and move on. One trick is to use a confidence booster during those nerve-wracking moments.
As a fan of Lady Gaga, Ryan's go-to confidence booster is the line, "Marry the night!" from the song with the same name. He was inspired by the song because, as Lady Gaga associated it with marrying herself to music, Ryan associated with marrying himself to his passion for public speaking and helping others. He recommends using a song lyric that pumps you up, or thinking back to a moment when you felt very confident (e.g. when you got the highest score on an exam, when you asked the person you liked out and he/she said yes). Using a confidence booster can mean all the difference between breaking down or moving forward and finishing your speech or presentation.

For speeches less than 15 minutes, memorize every word. This is particularly important for speech contests, because every word and pause counts. One tip for memorizing is to write your speech in "poem form". That is, every time you would take a breath or pause in your speech, start your next word on the next line (i.e. press "Enter" when typing). The reason for this is that writing in paragraphs make you sound like you're reading, whereas writing in poem form make you sound like you're speaking. 
For speeches or presentations longer than 15 minutes, always have an outline with an introduction, 3 stories or main points, and a conclusion. If you get lost in one point, always know what your next point is and move onto next point or story in your speech or presentation. 
Also, try recording yourself on camera and with a voice recorder to check your body language and vocals. It's impossible to catch every little thing you do when practising in front of a mirror or even in front of a friend. Use these tools to keep track of how you're progressing and to pick up any habits you or others might not have noticed before.

Toastmasters was extremely helpful because the Ah-Counter counts all your filler words for you. It is also best to get an accountability partner, preferably someone you are around often, to tell you when you are using your crutch word. At a Toastmasters meeting, you can ask someone to be your filler word buddy and have then snap their fingers every time you use your crutch word. The idea is that you have to become aware of where and when you're using your crutch word. Once you are aware of it, you will be able to focus on eliminating it from your speech. 

There are 3 questions you should ask about your joke before you put it into your speech:
1. Can I say it in front of my grandmother?
2. Can I say it in front of 2 generations and have both understand?
3. Can I say it in front of 2 cultures and have both understand?

Ryan: "I used to say "like" every 5 words. When I did a TV interview for the Special Olympics, I completely butchered it! My dad saw it and told me I had to go to Toastmasters. I was hesitant but over time I was able to control almost all of my crutch words. A year and a half later, during my intensive training for the International Speech Contest, I received a promotion at work and became the Director of Communications and Marketing for the Special Olympics!"

Ryan: "I'm a strong believer that communication is correlated with lifestyle. Bad communication, bad lifestyle. Good communication, good lifestyle. Exceptional communication, exceptional lifestyle. I want to help people get up here, to having exceptional communication skills."

Here are a few important things to note about upcoming changes to our club schedule and activities:

1. We will be extending club meetings until December 19th, same time and place. (No meeting on December 26th.) Meetings resume January 2nd, 7:00pm in Rm 155 Irving K. Barber.

2. We will no longer offer a "free" icebreaker for guests, as we have a number of members who wish to speak and have priority in acquiring speech slots. This offer may resume once the summer term begins.

3. There will now be a waiting list for members interested in doing speeches. If you wish to do a speech for an upcoming meeting, please email Cass (casschan515@gmail.com) and she will notify you via email of when the next available dates are.

4. New members are encouraged to work towards their Competent Leadership certification by taking on officer roles which require less experience, such as timer, ah-counter, grammarian, quiz master, and invocator. We encourage all members to take on any of these officer roles, and encourage more experienced members to take on roles such as evaluator, table topics master, table topics evaluator, chair, and general evaluator.

5. We continue to accept new members every week. If you are interested, please visit the How Do I Become a Member tab for more information and come by to one of our weekly meetings! :)

a) Do your icebreaker! If you haven't done your icebreaker speech yet, please sign up on our online agenda. It's a great way to introduce yourself to other members of the club, and get started with your public speaking development.

b) Take on meeting roles! Get to know how to run meetings by doing an officer role (e.g. timer, ah-counter, grammarian, evaluator, table topics master, chair, etc.). The more meeting roles you do, the more opportunities you have to stand and speak in front of an audience and develop your confidence as a speaker.

c) Help organize or volunteer for an external event! Walter Gage Toastmasters is often requested by other clubs and organizations on campus to host workshops. If you're interested in getting more experience of how to run a workshop, or just want more exposure to public speaking, ask if you can help out with our events! You can volunteer to be timer or evaluator for a workshop, or if you would like to present a session, we are more than happy to help guide and prepare you for the role. (Note: These external roles will also help fill out your Competent Leadership manual requirements for several projects!)

d) Help organize or volunteer for a club social event! If you have any suggestions or ideas on what kind of socials we should have, we're happy to hear them. You can help organize and implement a club social along with an executive. This is a great opportunity to gain some experience in things like event planning, finding sponsorship, and more! Let any of the executives know if you'd be interested in helping out with a club social! (Note: These external roles will also help fill out your Competent Leadership manual requirements for several projects!)

Congratulations to our very own Mr. Jay Kiew on being awarded the highest honor in Toastmasters: Distinguished Toastmaster!

As if that wasn't impressive enough, Jay has received recognition as the youngest DTM in the world!

Check out his feature article in the District 21 newsletter

Greetings Toastmasters & Guests!

As the end of September draws near, we are officially approaching the official start term of Walter Gage Toastmasters! This is the time of year when we finish most promotional events (e.g. Imagine Day, Clubs Days, etc.) and embark on our adventures with public speaking. There have been many questions posed by new members and guests regarding what the club's year will look like, and hopefully this post will help to answer many of them. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. New Member & Renewing Member Orientation 
2. Club Dues & Renewals (DEADLINE!)
3. Humorous Speech & Table Topics Contest
4. October Social: "SCARED SPEECHLESS!"

1. New Member & Renewing Member Orientation
Date & Time: Wednesday, September 26th (6:00pm-6:40pm)
Location: Irving K. Barber, Room 317 
Facilitator: Cass Chan (VP Education), Jenson Leung (Club VP)
This will be a quick orientation for new and renewing members. We will be covering the Education Track in Toastmasters. We will also discuss the use of the Competent Communicator & Competent Leadership Manuals. (Please bring your copy if you have already received a set, otherwise bring some paper to take notes.) A question-answer period will follow. This session will only take 30-40 minutes, and leave enough time to head to our regular WGTM meeting.

Please RSVP: casschan515@gmail.com

2. Club Dues & Renewals
DEADLINE: Wednesday, September 26th
Members from the summer planning on renewing, please bring your dues in at our next meeting (Wednesday, September 26th). If you are a renewing member and unable to make next week's meeting, please contact Ismail (smbi@synthetasegroup.com) to meet up with himbefore Saturday, September 29th to pay your dues. 

New members who have not finished paying your fees, also bring your dues to our next meeting so you may get your manuals as soon as possible. Thank you!

Guests who have not yet made a decision about membership, no worries! You can choose to join our club at any time in the future. :)

3. Humorous Speech & Table Topics Contest
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 3rd (7:00am-8:30pm)
Location: TBA
Do you have a great sense of humour, but don't know how to show it on stage? Want to see how others get the audience laughing when presenting their speech? Walter Gage Toastmasters is proud to host the 2012 Area 23 Humorous Speech & Table Topics Contest! Come for a fun-filled night of light-hearted (and gut-splitting) speeches, as well as some great impromptu speaking! 

Guests are welcome, but members will have seating priority. Members come for free (sign-in sheet at door), and guests only have a cover charge of $1 (to cover the cost of drinks and light refreshments).

Interested in participating? If you're a member in good-standing (i.e. paid dues before the end of September), you are eligible to enter! Email:casschan515@gmail.com by Monday, September 24th (8:00pm). 

4. October Social: "SCARED SPEECHLESS!"
Date & Time: TBA - most likely week of October 21-27
Location: TBA
What's a club without socials? (More accurately, what's university life without socials?) This will be a fun, relaxed evening for members both new and old to mix and mingle. There will be refreshments (i.e. appetizers, snacks and drinks) provided; pot-luck dishes are always welcome! We'll have tons of fun games and icebreakers ready, as well as a Candy Pot Prize Draw! 

Members come for free, and guests are welcome to come for a cover charge of just $3! 

Stay tuned on on the event time and location! (Check our emails, website and Facebook for updates!)

Hello fellow Toastmasters and awesome guests!

It's Christina here with some exciting information about our upcoming July social event: our BBQ at Kits Beach Extravaganza!

When will the awesomeness take place? 
Wednesday July 25th @ 6:00 PM

Where will we all meet up first? 
At Kristy's house (address via email)!  

What should you bring to the fun?

• Food for yourself to grill (don't forget buns for your burgers and/or dogs!) This is definitely not a requirement but if you simply feel like getting creative in the kitchen and want to bring a dish (or beverage) to share with everyone, please feel free to do so! 
  
• Beach towel / blanket / mat 
  
• Any beach-esq game or item you have lying around (perhaps a disc, a volleyball, a bocce ball set, etc)
• A positive attitude that it WILL be sunny and dry :)

Our Exec team will take care of the rest! 

The weather forecast is for sun and 23 degree weather but should it pull a Vancouver on us, we'll simply take the party back to Kristy's house and enjoy a night of food and board games!

Please RSVP to our BBQ party by replying to this email - it would be really helpful having an idea of how many people we should plan for! 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me back at this address or reach me on my cell (778.863.2448). 

I'm so excited to see all of you on Wednesday! 

Cheers,

Christina 

Our meeting schedule for the summer will be the following:
a) Walter Gage Meetings in IKB, Rm157 every first and third Wednesday of the month.
b) Club visits to neighbouring clubs in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland every second and fourth week of the month. Days may vary depending on the availability of other clubs as well as our executives.
c) Summer meetings start May 9, 2012 and end August 15, 2012.
d) Autumn term starts in September 5, 2012. New location TBA.

See you in the summer! :) 

A huuuuuge congratulations to Mr. Jay Kiew for doing WGTM proud by taking home first place at the Division B Speech Contest! He will also have the honour of representing District 21 at the District Speech Contest held at the Spring 2012 Conference in Harrison Hot Springs May 11-13. We are all incredibly proud and privileged to have Jay represent, and overwhelmed by his continued growth speech after speech. We're rooting for you Jay! :D