Lessons Learned

When Bruce Jin gave his speech about his name at the XL Toastmasters Club around the time the club chartered in 2001, little did anybody know that he was going to give the same speech last month at the 2009 District 30 Humorous Speech Contest and come in second place!  I still remember when Mei [...]

With the Fall Conference taking place next weekend, here are some things I’m thinking about as I look forward to some of the festivities:

Looking forward to seeing many old friends and new faces as the last District 30 event I attended was the Spring Conference (I was out golfing during the Summer TLI).
Definitely will be [...]

Page 23 of the most recent Contest Rulebook has Rule 6B under Timing in the Humorous Speech Contest:
Time will begin with the first word uttered by the contestant.
However, should the contestant engage in definite verbal or
nonverbal communication with the audience (including the
playing of music or other sound effects, a staged act by
another person, etc.) prior [...]

Saw a recent entry in the ToastmastersPrime Google group that is very interesting about myths in contests perpetuated by those who were supposed to be respected, whether by a current district officer or a long-time Toastmaster.  When LinkedIn’s The Official Toastmasters International Members Group had an entry last month about general Toastmaster myths, I did [...]

Having done plenty of evaluations over the last ten years, you would think I am a master when it comes to doing that.  Well it turns out that I need to make some improvements.  And I hope to get my act together by the Northwest 4 Area Evaluation Contest on October 8th in which I’ll [...]

There were times in which I did not take some facts well and expressed them emotionally, like the more recent entries here such as changing the contest room or finding the results of a recent election unfavorable.  At the end, it was a set of facts that I accepted, whether I like it or not, [...]

Not long after the District 30 Spring Conference, it appears work is now under way for the Fall Conference coming up on November 13th and 14th.  After last Thursday’s North Suburban meeting, one member who was on the Spring Conference committee mentioned that he will be the Publicity Chair for the Fall Conference.  He also [...]

I haven’t had the chance to update my blog in quite some time, but no, I did not win my club’s International Speech Contest.  There was only one other contestant and he did a great job with his speech.  It was titled “The Rainbow Connection” and he somehow tied Barack Obama, Kermit the Frog and [...]

During my (now) 10 years in Toastmasters, I actually never competed in any of my club’s International Speech Contest.  Actually I was only eligible to compete in 5 of them as I did not reach the minimum six speeches until after the 2000 contests, plus I was a District 30 officer for 3 additional years.
What [...]

When I scaled back my involvement in Toastmasters in the Summer of 2007, I did not see myself attending any more International Conventions after attending and enjoying the previous two.  I was planning on just being a club member and officer, occasionally attending some TM events outside of the club.  Instead of spending $600 to [...]