The following video was shared by one of our members who came across it on Trendingly. As Emily Davis mentions quite fittingly:

“This 93-Year-Old Grandpa Had The Crowd In Stitches At An Open-Mic Night With His Hilarious ‘Love Hurts’ Story.“

“Tom Sitter won The Moth in Madison StorySLAM at the High Noon Saloon February 13, 2017. Tom scored our first ever 10 with his winning story tonight. The memory of the girls he carefully selected to give his five valentines to in 1933 was strong enough that 84 years later he still knew their names.”

As Toastmasters, not only do we enjoy seeing entertaining speeches, we also like to reflect on what elements allowed the speaker to give such a successful speech.  Among the things we observed:

• He uses gestures very often, and in a very natural way.
• He provides vivid descriptions that help the audience feel as if they were living the situation with him, for example by mentioning names of people and describing each setting.
• He is very comfortable taking pauses.  These give the audience adequate time to digest and appreciate, and to laugh heartily.

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Here is the programme for the St-Lawrence Montreal Toastmasters Club meeting of May 2, 2017.