Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Member Reema Duggal recently achieved a big milestone: the Distinguished Toastmaster designation.
What is a Distinguished Toastmaster?
The Distinguished Toastmaster is the highest award Toastmasters bestows. The DTM recognizes a high level of achievement in both the communication and leadership tracks in the Toastmasters education program. To be eligible for the award, you must have completed / earned the following:
Communications Track
Competent Communicator
Advanced Communicator Bronze
Advanced Communicator Silver
Advanced Communicator Gold
Leadership Track
Competent Leader
Advanced Leader Bronze
Advanced Leader Silver
Achievements
Reema joined Toastmasters in 2010, and over the last 6 years:
Completed over 75 speeches at Glen Abbey, at other clubs, and at District 86 events
Held the roles of:
Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Vice President Public Relations
Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club President
Toastmasters District 86 Area 35 Governor
She also led the Toastmasters District 86 Member Communications and Engagement Committee, and received the District 86 Legacy Award for her vision and foundational work in designing the District 86 communication strategy / channel.
Thoughts On Toastmasters
Reema says “Toastmasters is one of the best things I have ever done. The program is exceptional and the peer2peer format creates a very supportive and positive environment for everyone to become better at public speaking and leadership. I encourage everyone to come to a meeting to see what it’s all about.”
Next Steps? “I’m thinking about what I have to do to become an Accredited Speaker, but that will take another few years. I’m in no rush. In the meantime, I hope to be able to mentor new club members and help the club celebrate our 25th Anniversary in 2017.”
2024 Update
Reema left Toastmasters for a few years, but returned in 2022. I missed the opportunity to speak and get feedback. So I am here again – and I started the Toastmasters Program from the beginning. The curriculum is new – it’s now called Pathways. But more importantly, I missed the mentoring of new speakers as they embark on their journey.
The Art of Effective Evaluation is a workshop designed to help Toastmasters develop the knowledge, motivation, and skills you need to become more effective evaluators.
Don’t understand all the parts of an evaluation? This workshop willl help.
Don’t understand how to evaluate to motivate? This workshop will help.
Uncomfortable about giving an evaluation? This workshop will help.
Over two hours, we will work through these objectives:
Recognize the purpose and value of effective speech evaluation
Discover ways we can improve our evaluations skills- individually, professionally and with Toastmasters
Understand how effective evaluations help everyone – the speaker, the evaluator, the audience, and the club
Congratulations Tony and Srini. You made Glen Abbey Toastmasters very proud by taking first and second place in the Area 35 Speech Contests. Good luck at District finals!
At Glen Abbey Toastmasters, people with similar communication and leadership goals and interests come together to support, guide and encourage each other. We are a welcoming, diverse community where you can make connections with friends and mentors.
With 2017 as the 25th anniversary of our founding, the club’s continued success has been the result of the contributions of talented and dedicated members and the energy and leadership of executive committee members through the years.
I’m very excited and honoured to be President for 2016/2017 year. I invite you to explore what we to offer you through our website and discover what sets us apart from other Toastmaster clubs. Want to experience one of our meetings for yourself?
Glen Abbey Toastmasters recently held Club Elections for the 2016/2017 season. Congratulations to the following members who ran for election and will be leading our club next year:
President – Wendy Rintoul
Vice-President Education – Rose Ford
Vice-President Membership – Tariqul Islam / Liz Akey
Vice-President Public Relations – Sushila Pereira / Beverly Roberts
2016 Area 35 Contest Winners – Evaluation Contest: Reema Duggal (1st place) and International Speech Contest: Tony Corrie (1st place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club International Speech Contest Winners Srini Kesavan (3rd place), Tony Corrie (1st place), and Frederique Herel (2nd place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Evaluation Contest Winners Sean Connor (2nd place) and Reema Duggal (1st place)
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club International Speech Contest Participants Srini Kesavan, Kevin Chisholm (Chair), Chris Roode, Tony Corrie, Jack Jagernauth (Chief Judge), Frederique Herel, Mike Kozak, and Wendy Rintoul
2016 Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Evaluation Contest Participants Jack Jagernauth (Chief Judge), Nicole Wong (Chair), Sean Connor, Reema Duggal, Danny Zhang, and Mike Kozak
Glen Abbey Toastmasters will be hosting their annual Holiday meeting again this year – Chaired by Toastmaster Tony Corrie. This year, we’re going to be doing a spin on the popular tV series “Whose Line Is It Anyway” – the ultimate impromptu speaking event. If you’re not familiar with the program – check out these videos on YouTube
Congratualations to Toastmaster Reema Duggal on achieving her Advanced Communicator Silver award.
The Advanced Communicator Silver is the second highest award in the Advanced Communication Series and requires the Toastmaster to complete the Competent Communicator manual, as well as four other advanced communication manuals.
It is truly a difficult and long path that Reema Duggal has travelled!
Cheers to new Toastmaster Nicole Wong as she delivered her first speech and began her journey towards Competent Communicator. Wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy your journey.
Congratulations to Toastmaster Roberto Fazio as he deliveried his tenth speech and achieved Competent Communicator. Cheering you on as you work towards the next level of certification: Advanced Communicator Bronze.
We held out annual Halloween themed meeting – Monster’s Ball – on October 28, 2015. Everyone got into the spirit wearing their orange, black, purple, and masks. As always, it was lots of fun with spooky tales, haunting music, candy – and of course great speeches from great Toastmasters!.
This is what Toastmaster Ross Cree, winner of the 2015 Club Humorous Speech Contest and runner up at the 2015 Area B-35 Humorous Speech Contest has to say about his Toastmasters experience:
“Just wanted to share my experience competing in the Humorous Contest 2015 at our club and area levels. I have to say that if you asked me when I joined GATM in 2013 that I would actually be competing in any speaking contest, I would say that you were crazy. Through the Toastmasters program and the support of a great club like GATM I had soon mustered enough confidence to sign on to compete. It was quite a surprise to myself to place first at the club level and second at the area level. I could not have done it without the encouragement and coaching of the members at this club!”
from left to right: Roberto Fazio, Ross Cree, Marika Carter, Len Liscio, and Wendy Rintoul
Huge accomplishments and congratulations to these 5 dedicated Toastmasters as they all recently completed 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual.
As Toastmasters that have completed 6 speeches, they are presented with a Certificate of Merit to commemorate their feat. In addition, they are now eligible to compete in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. Congratulation Toastmasters and keep up the great work!
Five brave contestants battled it out at the annual Mary Heary Tall Tales Competition on Wednesday May 13, 2015. They regaled us with fantastic tales that had two things in common – ridiculous stories and lots of laughter.
Congratulations to our winner Tony Corrie who will be representing the Club at the Area contest on May 28. Thank you also to our wonderful co-Chairs Norkys Crespo and Roberto Fazio who did a great job of directing proceedings smoothly and with flair!
Hibachi Seafood and Steakhouse Restaurant at 105 Cross Street is the venue for the Glen Abbey Toastmasters 23rd Charter Party. The formalities start at 7.00 sharp (so aim to be there for 6.45!) and it promises to be a fun filled evening full of laughter, great food and great company. What will be getting up to I hear you ask? Plenty. Our current President will be welcoming everyone to the Party at the start of a packed evening. We will have the chance to welcome and pay tribute to Presidents from prior years, and have entertainment based on the night’s theme, which is Summer Fun.
We will be acknowledging those who achieved education awards this year and helped maintain Glen Abbey’s distinguished club status. We will have fantastic entertianment and a prize raffle based on the summer theme and award the Toastmaster of The Year prize for the Toastmaster who has contributed most to the huge success Glen Abbey Toastmasters has enjoyed this year.
The order of events is as follows:
7:00pm – Welcome Toastmasters and Guests – Jocelyn Millar
7:25pm – Acknowledgement of Outgoing Executive – Srini Kesavan
7:35pm – Introduction of Incoming Executive – Chris Roode
7:45pm – Toastmaster of the year – Presented by Srini Kesavan
7:50 – Dinner
8:45pm – Games & Entertainment – Srini Kesavan, Marika Carter
9:10pm – Summer Fun Raffle – Jocelyn Millar, Paul Dubal
9:15 – Music & Mingle
A spectacular dinner will be followed by a sumptuous dessert and tea so bring your appetite! Don’t worry you can work off those calories on the dance floor after the formal proceedings have finished.
Get Your Tickets Today
Tickets are available from Marika Carter and Atilla Coban at the next few meetings. Remember to give your food order when you purchase tickets. Members are only $25 and non-members $30, which represents great value, so bring your partners and friends. The more the merrier! See you there!
We had a fabulous 22nd Anniversary Charter Party at O’Finns Irish Temper in Oakville
The theme for the night was Great Celebrations in celebration of another great Toastmasters year. We welcomed Presidents from prior years, and had a toast and table topics based on the night’s theme.
We acknowledged those who achieved education awards this year and helped maintain Glen Abbey’s distinguished club status. We had a guest speaker and awarded the Toastmaster of The Year prize for the Toastmaster who has contributed most to the huge success Glen Abbey Toastmasters has enjoyed this year.
A spectacular dinner was followed by a special celebration cake so bring your appetite! And then we worked off those calories on the dance floor afterwards.
In 2011 I arrived in Oakville, Ontario as a new immigrant. Originally from Venezuela, English was my third language after Spanish and French.
I decided to intensify my learning of the English language through a focused university program. Even though I finished the English program with great marks, I thought something was missing for me. I felt a lack of communication skill and was almost afraid to talk to others. As a Pharmaceutical Product Manager, I needed to change that.
One day someone mentioned Toastmaster’s and I decided to investigate. I’m really glad I did, and really glad I joined Glen Abbey Toastmasters in September 2012.
I thought the motivation for people to join Toastmasters was to become better public speakers and communicators by achieving their Competent Communicator designation at the end of 10 speeches. What surprised me was how many people focus on mastering public speaking and taking leadership roles – essentials skills for dealing with people anywhere. I learn a lot from people in our club that have been Toastmasters for over 10 years.
I’m also very happy that the club experience ties closely with my expectations and goals. Since joining Toastmasters, my communication and public speaking skills have improved considerably. It’s also changed my life for the better. At GATM I have found a very supportive environment and a friendly atmosphere. I have met very interesting people. I get powerful feedback each time I deliver a speech or take on a role. I get to take on leadership roles – this past year I was on the Club Executive as Club Secretary. I have a great time at every meeting.
The following documents are used at weekly meetings and need to be printed. When you click on them, they will download automatically (probably to your downloads folder). You can either print at home or take to a printer. We have been using UPS at Upper Middle / Third Line or UPS at Upper Middle / 8th Line. But there is no contract with them – so any printer can work.
GATM Door Signs This is a MS Word file and has two door signs on one page. It should be printed on regular photocopy paper and laminated (although we keep losing laminated versions). Perhaps magnetic signs would work better?
GATM Table Cards This is a MS PowerPoint file – with tablecard layout and names. It should be printed on heavy weight white card stock
GATM Evaluation Forms This is a MS Word file – one page evaluation form with 3 evaluations on it. It should be printed on regulary photocopy paper – and perforated at cut points (however this costs more money)
GATM Weekly Winner Certificates This is a pdf file with all the 4 certificates that we normally give out – Best Speaker, Best Evaluator, Best Table Topics, Most Valuable Toastmaster. It should be printed on heavy weight white card stock. The original was done in Photoshop.
Tall Tales Speeches are 3 to 5 minutes in length. They are full of exaggerated truths and unbelievable stories. According to Westside Toastmasters, a Tall Tale should Include the following features: a character with extraordinary abilities and a specific goal; a problem that is solved in a humorous way; a careful blend of exaggerated and credible details; and a comical ending. This is an optional contest that is hosted by some Clubs and Areas – but not at the Division or District level.
Running a Tall Tales Contest is an exciting and rewarding experience. Here are the resources you need to run the contest:
GATM CONTEST MATERIALS – HOW TO RUN A CONTEST
WORKPLAN —
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Speech Contest Workplan includes the:
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Emails document includes sample emails to be sent to:
Participants – Recruiting
Contestants
Judges
Sergeant At Arms
Timers
Ballot Counters
GATM Contest Scripts —
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Tall Tales Contest Script includes the full script for the Tall Tales Contest.
GATM Agenda / Program —
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Speech Contest Agenda is the program for the night.
TMI TALL TALES SPEECH CONTEST KIT – RULES & FORMS
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Many of the resources for the contest can be found in the members area (login required) of the Toastmasters International site. The Tall Tales Contest Kit from Toastmasters International includes the following:
Table Topics are 1-2 minutes long. They are impromptu speeches given on a topic that the speaker has no prior knowledge of. The contest is held at the Club, Area, Division, and District level.
Running an Table Topics Contest is an exciting and rewarding experience. Here are the resources you need to run the contest:
GATM Contest Materials – How To Run A Contest
Workplan —
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Speech Contest Workplan includes the following:
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Emails document include sample emails to be sent to:
Participants – Recruiting
Contestants
Timers
Sergeant At Arms
Judges
Ballot Counters
GATM Contest Scripts —
The GATM Table Topics Contest Script includes the:
Contest Chair and Chief Judge’s Scripts
GATM Agenda / Program —
Developed by GATM members, the GATM Table Topics Contest Agenda is the program for the night. One program covers both the Humorous and Table Topic contests.
TMI International Speech Contest Kit – Rules and Forms
Many of the resources for the contest can be found in the members area (login required) of the Toastmasters International site. The Table Topics Contest Kit – from Toastmasters International includes the following:
Wendy Rintoul
