Gurney-Hydro Toastmasters Club

Before you even start thinking about what your speech is going to be about, there is one crucial factor that you have to take into consideration: Who are your audience? You see, it doesn’t matter if you have the best speech in the world.   If it is not relevant to your audience, if they have no interest or knowledge about your topic, then you have no speech.   Period. If you are presenting your speech at your own club, then it is safe to say you probably know your audience.   However, be mindful that you may have guests visiting and they could be sensitive to your topic. Therefore, to be safe, always treat your topic and your audience with respect. In the event that you are expected to speak in front of an audience that you are not familiar with, here are how you can get intel on them so that you can tailor your speech accordingly. 1. Ask the Organizer The organizer of the event is the best source for this kind of information.   ...

There is always a reason to celebrate, according to the attendees to our meeting. Most people only celebrate the big milestones in life like a decade older, new job, new house, new car…but what about the little milestones?   Those are also reasons to celebrate, are they not? Life can be so much more fun if we give ourselves permission to make every little moment an occasion to commemorate. With that in mind, our three speakers for the night celebrated another notch of progress in their Toastmasters journey. Speaker #1: Cheong Xin Ni Xin Ni weaved a riveting tale of her journey to become a licensed driver.   She had the audience transfixed from beginning till end with her energetic delivery and animated facial expressions.   Well done, Xin Ni! Speaker #2: Darren Saw Darren presented his revised speech on Tinder that is part of Project 2 of Pathways, Level 1.   He managed to retain the humor from his first version while incorporating all ...

After a year of helming the club, the Excos of 2017/2018 have passed the torch over to a new committee.  We are confident this new team will do their best to keep the club going strong. The new Excos for 2018/2019 are (from left to right): Vice President Membership: Ms Preezilla Ng Treasurer: Michelle Lalitha SAA: Jeremy Soh President: Darren Saw Vice President Public Relations: Dennis DeVosse Vice President Education: Sheryl Lee Secretary: Cheong Xin Ni We would also like to congratulate both Jeremy and Sheryl, who have been appointed Area Director of Area S5 and Assistant Division S Public Relations respectively. If you would like the opportunity to hone your public speaking skills as well as learn leadership skills, join us for our bi-monthly meetings on every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month.  Our meetings start at 8pm.  For further information please contact us at  gurneyhydrotoastmastersclub@gmail.com  or refer to our  Next Meeting...

Feedback is one of the 3 pillars of Toastmasters.   It is where members benefit the most because how else are they to know their progress. The advantage of getting feedback from Toastmasters is that it is from your peers.   That way you will know how you come across to the everyday man on the street.   Of course it is always good to get feedback from experts if any are present in your meetings, like very senior Toastmasters. A simple constructive criticism will help members improve by leaps and bounds, given of course, that they take the feedback to heart and try to incorporate them into their future projects.   It is futile when members do project after project without even listening to the feedback given. Members have to remember that feedback given is with the intention of helping them improve and is nothing personal.   They are observations from somebody who is seeing you in action, sometimes for the very first time.   However it is foo...

It was a spicy meeting as we moved to a new location and we had people who are meeting us for the very first time. Every once in a while we need to do something different or at a spur of the moment to make life more interesting.   This can be taking a new route to work or try out a new dish or new hobby.   You’ll never know where that will lead you – new hobby, new favorite dish, new favorite hangout, new friends or even new opportunities! In our case, it was moving to a new location with the aim of introducing the Toastmasters experience to a new group of people. The meeting started off with a sumptuous dinner generously sponsored by our President.   This was followed by our assignment speeches by 3 speakers: Speaker #1: Darren Saw Darren gave a very interesting speech about Tinder and how people who use the app differ from country to country.   We would also like to congratulate Angelov Tan for   doing his first evaluation. Speaker #...