Glen Abbey Toastmasters held the 2024 Evaluation and International Speech Contests on November 27, 2024. With a full house of members and guests, the contest was a great night of listening to evaluations and speeches. Contest Chair Zakaria Sekhri led the evenings two contests.
International Speech Contest
We had three contestants for our International Speech Contest, and we heard amazing speeches about Why Not Me, Time Travel, and Mistaken identities. First and second place winners will compete in the Area Cotnests in January 2025.
International speeches are original speeches of 5-7 minutes. They can be given on any subject, and can be serious, funny, or inspirational. The International Speech Contest is held at the Club, Area, Division, District, and International level, and as it goes all the way to the International level,
Congratulations Kathy Bullock 1st Place – 2024 International Speech Contest
Congratulations Krista Rowan 2nd Place – 2024 International Speech Contest
Evaluation Contest
Thanks to our Test Speaker for the Evaluation Contest – Doug Flowers from Horizon Toastmasters. First and second place winners will compete in the Area Cotnests in January 2025.
Evaluations are 2 to 3 minutes in length. All of the evaluation contestants must evaluate the same speech, so a test speaker from outside the club is brought in to present one speech to the entire group. The contestants are then taken from the room and given five minutes to prepare their evaluations. Then they come back into the room, and one by one, deliver their evaluations. The Evaluation Contest is held at the Club, Area, Division, and District level.
Congratulations Pramela Nair Panthallor 1st Place – 2024 Evaluation Contest
Congratulations Niti Goel 2nd Place – 2024 Evaluation Contest
In October 2024, Toastmasters International turns 100, helping people from around the globe become better communicators and leaders.
You can learn all about Toastmasters turning 100 at the Toastmasters Centennial History Site. In honor of this historic milestone, each issue of theToastmaster Magazine this year will show historical facts, photos, throwback articles, or recaps of Toastmasters firsts.
Toastmasters History
Glen Abbey History
Chartered on March 30, 1992, Glen Abbey Toastmasters has been a vibrant part of the Oakville community for 30 years. Our club has consistently achieved President’s Distinguished Club status in the Toastmasters International Distinguished Club Program every single year since 2003. It is the highest achievement possible for any Toastmasters club and is the marker of a successful club.
Glen Abbey Toastmasters helps people improve their communication and leadership skills through a proven approach that focuses on self development and self confidence in public speaking. We are known for its professional, friendly, supportive, and fun learning atmosphere.
We’re back and better than ever! After a refreshing summer break, our Toastmasters club is excited to resume meetings in hybrid mode—alternating between online and in-person sessions. This format offers the best of both worlds, making it easier for everyone to stay connected and engaged.
Whether you’re joining us from the comfort of your home or experiencing the thrill of in-person speeches, it’s time to bring your energy, ideas, and enthusiasm to the table. Let’s make 2024-25 a year of growth, connection, and powerful storytelling. Get ready, roll up your sleeves, and let’s inspire one another!
We are excited to announce that Glen Abbey Toastmaster’s very own Lori O’Grady took first place during the Mary Heary Tall Tales Contest held at the Oakville Toastmasters Club. She had the audience captivated and laughing along as she delivered her speech titled “Amen”. Congratulations Lori!
This past November, Glen Abbey Toastmasters held our club level speech competition. For our International Speech Contest, members Krista Rowan & Zehra Raza placed first and second, respectively. For our Table Topics Contest, member Zehra Raza placed first and Krista Rowan placed second.
They both qualified and competed in the Area Speech contest. We are thrilled to announce that Zehra placed first in the International Speech Contest and third in the Table Topics Contest! She will go on to compete in the Division level in March.
We are so proud of both Krista and Zehra, as well as all the Glen Abbey Toastmasters who competed. As well, we would like to extend our gratitude to all of our members who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the various competitions ran smoothly.
It was a SPOOK-tacular evening this past Wednesday at Glen Abbey Toastmasters as we hosted our annual Halloween meeting! It was the first time in 4 years that the meeting was held in-person.
It was a fun evening filled with speeches, sweet treats, and a best costume contest! First place went to Tina who dressed up as Snow White. And our runner-up was Chris dressed as Sherlock Holmes! We also had the privilege of hearing from HR expert Ellen Zhang, who held a workshop on interview and salary negotiation tips.
A special thank you to Toastmaster Gordon for hosting the special evening. As well, thank you to all of our members who showed up in their Halloween costumes!
Who says Toastmasters is just speeches? Not at Glen Abbey Toastmasters! This past week we had Lucy Martins, an expert human resources professional from Halton Healthcare, and previously a Glen Abbey Toastmasters member, drop in to lead an educational session. She conducted a mock interview with one of our members, where we had the opportunity to listen in as she went over most commonly asked interview questions and how to best answer them. At the end there was a Q&A session to answer any further questions members had.
Thank you Lucy for educating us and sharing your time! As well, thank you to our President Chris for organizing these sessions.
The first in-person meeting of Glen Abbey Toastmasters kicked off with a bang! With almost a full house, members and guests alike came to practice their public speaking skills. Those in attendance were treated to unique speeches such as How to Build a Campfire, and the 4 Different Communication Styles. As well, there was an impromptu Table Topics session held where members were chosen at random and given a prompt, and asked to speak for 1 minute on the prompt.
All in all, members and guests had an exciting time. And we’re just getting started! We’d love to have you join, and come to meetings for the remainder of the year.
Interested in visiting our club to check it out? Click this link: BE OUR GUEST
As summer rolls to a close, Glen Abbey Toastmasters looks forward to welcoming new members and welcoming back returning members.
We hope you have had a great summer, and are excited for the year ahead.
We’ve got a great 2023 / 2024 season planned with a mix of in-person meetings and virtual zoom meetings. Plus a number of special themed meetings to enhance your learning journey.
First meeting of the season is online on September 6, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Interested in visitng our club to check it out? Click this link: BE OUR GUEST
The theme was “Around the World with Glen Abbey Toastmasters.” The map showed 14 countries our members hail from. The food gave us a taste of Persian dip, samosas, khaman dhokla [chickpea], zongi [rice dumpling], shrimp balls, jollof rice, liang pi noodles, chili, Australian coleslaw, apple strudel, and not to forget the locals – Timbits. The dress was Arab, African, Canadian, and Indian.
Past President, Krista Rowan opened the meeting with a reflection on how our club is family and community as well as a space for learning leadership and public speaking. Our guest speaker, Jamie Dinsmore, reminisced about how Toastmasters launched him into a career that has landed him at Microsoft. Elvis Gregov, table topics master, tested our “around the world” impromptu speaking skills. Event committee member and Club Secretary, Emilia Wang, allowed us to share a favourite quotation in our native language along with an English explanation. Chris Zhou, VP-ED and incoming President, gave a slideshow overview of our 2022-23 year.
Outgoing President Jeethan Tellis presented Katherine Bullock with the Toastmaster of the Year Award. He thanked his executive team and introduced the incoming executive team. And we thanked him for his leadership this year, which brought us President Distinguished Award Status and the Shooting Star Award. We said teary goodbyes to those who cannot return next year. And wished everyone a “Happy Summer!”
The Honorable Anita Anand, MP for the riding that Glen Abbey Toastmasters (GATM) calls home, has recognised us for our 30+ years of communication and leadership training.
Over the past three decades, we’ve helped countless members transform from nervous to confident speakers.
Thank you to every member, past and present.
Here’s to many more years of growth, learning, and success together!
Our club is proud to announce that Toastmaster Connor Grist, our immediate past President, won first place in the Area 83 Evaluation contest… And, Toastmaster Bahareh Tehrani, our past-part president, placed second in the Area 83 international speech contest.
It’s Monday morning. You just got back from your exciting weekend and are about to begin your work week. And right then dreading going to work with the following thoughts crossing your mind:
“Oh man I really don’t want to do this”
“Okay here we go another week, [insert your name] brace for impact”
“Its just same stuff different day”
“Can someone get me out of this situation”
And perhaps, if you are like many Canadians who buy the lottery and had missed the Friday night draw, you are probably thinking, “I wish I will win the lottery someday”.
First off, you are not alone. Specifically, on Monday, workers are only 30% productive, 50% of people are late to work according to the FactSite. In fact, there is a scientific term for this phenomenon known as “Monday blues”.
Most importantly, lets talk about how you can win the Friday night jackpot aka “lottery” so you don’t have to think about “I wish I will win the lottery someday”. That someday is today. You are probably thinking how is that possible. So, buckle up and hear me out on this.
1. Your odds of winning the lottery
Your chance of getting all the 7/7 numbers on the OLG Lotto Max Main draw are 1 in 33,294,800. And your chance of getting all the 6/6 numbers on the OLG Lotto 6/49 Main draw are 1 in 13,983,816. So in simpler terms if you buy a $5 Lotto Max ticket, you have a 0.000003% chance that you will get all the 7 numbers. And if you buy a $3 Lotto 6/49 ticket, you have 0.000007% chance of getting all the 6 numbers.
2. You are already lucky
By the time you are reading this blog, you are 1 in 8,013,662,236 (and counting) lucky individual who is still alive on this planet Earth. And chances are you may or may not have contracted COVID-19 virus but are still fortunate to be NOT one of the 6,804,491 who passed away due to COVID-19 virus. And also you are NOT one of the 124,018 (and counting) who passed away today alone. May their soul rest in peace and may your soul feels lucky. You may not realize but you have already won the bigger lottery. From a macroscopic perspective, your odds of winning the OLG lottery are much higher then your odds of surviving today. So if you woke up today and are alive you won the lottery with higher odds and therefore you should celebrate. Congratulations on the big win!
3. You are already rich
I know some of you, as you are reading it, are probably rolling their eyes and thinking well “duh everyone survives”. I want the money jackpot so that I can be on the cloud 9. If you are reading this blog by now, the chances are you have roof over your head, food on the table and clothes to cover your body. And more importantly if you have more the $6.85 in your pocket today you are part of the lucky 53% of worlds population who does NOT live below $6.85 per day poverty line. In fact, 84% of worlds population lives on less then $30 per day, so if you have more then $30 today you are part of the elite club of 16% worlds population that is already wealthy and have their basic needs met. Congratulations, in case you didn’t know, you are rich. About half of worlds population is struggling to have their basic necessities covered, and yet we are still upset when our barista messes up our coffee order.
You have already won the big lottery, you are already rich and have good health. So what more do you need? I suggest you be happy as you have a reason to not to. If you wake up tomorrow, smile and be grateful for everything you have when half of the worlds population is struggling to have their ends meet. And in case you happened to have a bad day, don’t forget you have already won the biggest lottery you possibly could.
GATM is excited to host an educational speech about what takes place in a parliamentary session, or business session, of our weekly meetings. If you are confused about Robert’s Rules of Order, want to know why it is a good idea to learn how to run a meeting this way, or brush up on rusty skills, this is the speech for you.
Please join us in our first session after the holidays, January 4th. This will be an in person meeting at Trafalgar Park Community Centre, 133 Rebecca St, Oakville, ON. 7.30 – 9.30 pm.
Toastmaster Bill Kirby has been with the organisation for 19 years. He has held all the club officer roles. He has twice been an area director, once a division director and once an alignment chair. He is currently the parliamentarian for districts 65 and 86. His home club is Cambridge Toastmasters.
GATM hosted on Wednesday December 14 the evaluation and international speech contest for its members.
We thank Tuula Redditt from Brampton and Winner of District 86 Toastmaster of the Year 2019 for being our test speaker for the evaluation contest. Toastmaster Tuula was evaluated by several GATM members. Congrats to Connor Grist, Past President GATM and Wajiha Sabrani for placing first and second.
Congratulations to Bahareh Tehrani, also a Past President GATM and Wajiha Sabrani for placing first and second in the Speech Contest!
Chair Krista challenged us to face our fears as a recent meeting theme. What challenging role have you taken on lately? I gulped and was timekeeper for the first time in two years as a member. Five guests joined us, including special guest Area 83 Director, Shannon O’Callaghan.
Captain JT steered his crew through another enjoyable GATM meeting that was spooktacular [word of the day], educational and fun. People shared their experiences of escaping out of a real haunted house, running away from meeting skeletons at the door for the first time (without knowing what Halloween trick or treat was), and dressing up as Barney to their first Halloween party because they’d committed themselves to wearing the first costume to be pulled out of the old costume box.
It’s your beliefs and values that drive every behavior, which, when aligned with your core, creates your life purpose and path. Life purpose isn’t something to be achieved; it’s something to be created.Would you like to create it ?
Attend the session by Club Retention Chair DTM Guerdah Felix What’s in it for me in Toastmasters Journey? Oct 22 Saturday 10 A.M est to 11 A.M EST
Registration Link – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtcumqpzkjHtc4_47GKtMYyPaDf1lq-ld4
![GATM End of Year & 31st Anniversary Party [2023]](https://www.glenabbeytoastmasters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cover-gatm-party-1080x675.png)
