GATM celebrated Earth Day 2021 with a special Earth Day themed meeting.
The Toast to Planet Earth set the stage for our appreciation of the planet.
GATM Toastmasters spoke of how Earth Day impacts them and the many things they do to help the planet. During Table Topics, many spoke of the actions they take in their daily lives – from:
eating more plant based diets
how they are reducing, reusing, and recycling
how they have helped in reforestation
what they do for climate change, and
how they reduce waste when out
Also there were two great speeches on Different Abilities and Communication Styles!
District 86 is hosting it’s Spring Conference from April 10 to April 16, 2021. Over the course of the week, there will be 15 workshops, contests, the business meeting, and lots of fun events.
The conference is online and FREE this year. It is a great opportunity to:
Learn new ideas, strategies, and techniques to help your clubs, areas, and divisions succeed.
Connect face to face and network with like-minded Toastmasters from across Ontario
Spur your personal growth, thinking, creativity, and planning from outstanding workshops
Be Inspired by Distinguished Toastmasters and District Award Winners who are recognized for achieving their goals
Be Amazed by fabulous contest speakers, motivated presenters, and selfless volunteers
Renew Friendships by coming home for a TM Conference – an annual gathering of new & old friends
Re-Energize your passion and regain your focus for your own Toastmasters journey
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton is proclaiming April as Toastmasters Month for the Town of Oakville. This is a great honour for all Toastmasters clubs in Oakville including:
Everything was coming up hearts at the February 11th Valentines Day themed meeting at Glen Abbey Toastmasters.
Chair Gordon Vuong led the theme by sharing: This week, there are three big holidays that celebrate love – Valentine’s Day, Family Day, and Chinese Lunar New Year. The meeting theme was The Love You Give.
And he challenged everyone to wear red or have red in their backgrounds. Of course Glen Abbey Toastmasters delivered. Great meeting!
Winners At The 2021 Area 83 International Speech Contest
We’re thrilled for two Glen Abbey Toastmasters: Zehra Reza and Krista Rowan. They placed first and second in the Area 83 International Speech contest which was held online on February 26, 2021.
This means that they will both move up to compete with contestants from other areas in the Division D contest on Feb 20th 2021. Congratulations to both of them from the GATM family!
About the International Speech Contest
International speeches should be 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, it is the most important of all the Toastmaster contests, and where the World Champion of Public Speaking is decided! In order to be a contestant in this contest, a Toastmaster must have completed at least 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator or Pathways Program.
Occasion and special events are always an opportunity for GATM members to be creative, have fun and celebrate our wonderful culture!
In our online 2020 Christmas party, we played “Would you rather …” questions and answers, danced, stretched together and talked about 2020 highlights in our lives and what we were looking forward to in 2021.
Not only did we have fun before the Holidays, but also we learned more about each other.
This is how the GATM family celebrated Christmas and welcomed 2021!
We celebrated Halloween at GlenAbbey Toastmasters like never before!
Unlike other years that we had an in-person celebration for Halloween, we met online for this year. However, that did not stop us from wearing costumes and having fun.
We changed our names to scary ones and told terrifying stories! This was one of the most memorable halloween celebrations at GATM!
Glen Abbey Toastmasters won the Membership Leadership at the District level in 2019/2020!
The Membership Leadership Award is given to the club with the highest number of points in the Membership Leadership category – clubs who have successfully grown their membership base.
In 2019/2020,18 new members have joined our club despite the challenges that all the clubs because of the pandemic.
Congratulations to GlenAbbey Toastmasters and the 2019/2020 executive team!
On May 8th, 2019, Glen Abbey Toastmasters had the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Roger Caesar to our club.
Roger Caesar is a 4-time District 86 Speech Champion, a 3-time international award winning speaker and a 3 time semi finalist at the World Championships of Public Speaking. He is also a motivational speaker who helps others to develop their speaking skills and maximize their greatness. In 2018, he was the recipient of the City of Brampton Volunteer Award for helping start up entrepreneurs.
Roger wowed our club with his inspirational message in a speech titled “Didn’t See it Coming!”. He talked about the personal struggles he has gone through, and how we all need to look past the “small picture” failures and focus on the “big picture” – what we truly want out of our lives – in order to keep pushing forward and succeeding.
President – Krista Rowan VP Education – Rose Ford VP Membership – Muraad Shah VP Public Relations – Tamur Shah Treasurer – Janet Newcombe Secretary – Bahareh Tehrani Sergeant At Arms – Zehra Raza Past President – Gordon Vuong
On April 24th, the club organised the Mary Heary Tall Tales Contest. It was a great chance for participants to use creative ways to add some fun and exaggerations to their stories. We had three contestants and one winner!
Participants: – Krista Rowan – Gordon Vuong – Bahareh Tehrani
And the winner was: Krista Rowan
Krista will be competing against the best tall tale-tellers from Toastmasters clubs in the Oakville area. Congratulations Krista!
Glen Abbey will be hosting it’s Club Humorous Speech Contest on November 21st, 2018.
What is A Humorous Speech?
Humorous Speeches are 5 to 7 minutes long. They should be thematic in nature (having an opening, body, and close), contain original content, use clean humour, and not be a series of one liners. Vocal variety, gestures, and speech content all play a part in a successful humorous speech. They should be substantially original. Any quoted material must be identified during the presentation.
On Thursday February 7th, members of the Glen Abbey Toastmasters club competed in the Area 83 Evaluation and International Speech Contest. The competitors were selected from 4 Toastmasters clubs in the Oakville area: Horizon, Sheridan Bruins of Oakville, Own the Moment, and of course our very own Glen Abbey Toastmasters!
Zehra Raza and Richard Kitney represented Glen Abbey in the Evaluation Contest. Yas Sakka and Zehra Raza represented us in the International Speech Contest.
Zehra was selected as the winner of the Evaluation contest and was second place finalist in the Evaluation Contest. Zehra will go on to compete in the Evaluation Contest on March 19, 2019.
Congratulations to all the Area 83 Speech and Evaluation Contest Competitors and Winners!
International Speech Contest & Evaluation Contest 2019 was held on January 16th, 2019 at Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club. The Winners of the first and second places will represent our Club at the Area 83 International Speech contest and Evaluation contests.
Area 83 International Speech Contest & Evaluation Contest 2018 was held on February 21, 2018, and was hosted by our very own Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club. We are excited to announce that our members did very well in the contest. Congratulations Mikael Gatje who placed second in both the Evaluation and International contests, and Zehra Raza who placed third in the Evaluation contest. The Chair for the Evaluation was Sean Connor, who did a great job at running the contest and bringing energy to the evening.
President – Gordon Vuong VP Education – Alisha Braund VP Membership – Krista Rowan VP Public Relations – Yas Sakka Treasurer – Araceli Hernandez Secretary – Muraad Shah Sargeant At Arms – G. Merei Past President – Rose Ford
Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club Member Keith Rabey recently achieved a big Toastmasters milestone – his 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 (links take you to details at Toastmasters International):
Communications Track
Competent Communicator
Advanced Communicator Bronze
Advanced Communicator Silver
Advanced Communicator Gold
Leadership Track
Competent Leader
Advanced Leader Bronze
Advanced Leader Silver
Keith joined Toastmasters in 2009, and over the last 6 years completed over 75 speeches at Glen Abbey, at other clubs, and at District 86 events. In addition, he held roles as the Glen Abbey Toastmasters Club VP PR, Club President, and Area Director.
Thoughts On Toastmasters
I joined Toastmasters with the goal to improve my public speaking and particularly my interviewing skills. Table Topics was instrumental in helping me achieve that goal. Over time I have become much more confident and able to stand up and deliver speeches in many situations in my personal and professional life.
One of the surprises I found with Toastmasters was the leadership component of the program. I took on leadership roles on the executive of GATM and went on to become an Area Director serving and leading 5 clubs in Mississauga.
Many individuals have helped me along the way. I would like to say Thank You to all, who have applauded when I spoke, who have provided verbal or written evaluations. Thank you to all who have encouraged me with “good job Keith!” or a friendly pat on the back. This is what Toastmasters is all about, as safe supportive environment to learn and develop.
I actively promote Toastmasters when the opportunity presents itself and encourage everyone to sign up and take advantage of this fantastic program!
