Can you believe that our club is now 75 years old! We had a chance to celebrate in great style.

In case you missed it, or if you’re interested in revisiting some of the evening’s speeches, here’s a video (thanks to our member Frédéric and his son Florent!).

Here is an album with select photos of the evening:

Here are some fun trivia facts… Did you know that:

– St. Lawrence Toastmasters Club is the oldest Toastmasters club in Canada east of Winnipeg!

– When it was founded in November 1948, it was the only Toastmasters club in Eastern Canada.

– Our club’s number is 606, a rare three-digit identifier. (Club numbers are given in order.) Today’s new Toastmasters clubs are now receiving seven-digit numbers.

Click here if you are interested in knowing more about our club’s history.

If you would like to know more about our club, feel free to come visit us.

Recently, we came across NC State’s Spring 2023 commencement speech, and as Toastmasters members, we were struck by the exceptional speech-giving techniques displayed. Let’s dive into some skills this speech showcased, all of which we practice at Toastmasters.

Key Techniques Observed:

1. Personal Anecdote: One of the most effective ways to engage an audience is through a personal story. The speaker’s narrative about redefining her identity was captivating and allowed listeners to connect emotionally.

2. Clarity of Message: A well-defined central theme ensures your message resonates. In this case, the distinction between ‘doing’ and ‘being’ was clear and reiterated effectively, making it memorable.

3. Audience Engagement: By acknowledging the diverse experiences of the graduates, the speaker made the audience feel seen and valued, an excellent strategy to maintain interest and rapport.

4. Call to Action: The most impactful speeches often leave the audience with a task or thought. The urge to appreciate intrinsic qualities was a compelling take-home message, prompting introspection.

5. Effective Pacing: Balancing humor with deeper reflections, the speaker maintained a dynamic rhythm, ensuring sustained attention throughout.

Attending Toastmasters not only hones your speaking skills but also teaches you to recognize and appreciate such techniques in others’ presentations. This speech is a prime example of how effective communication can deeply move an audience and leave a lasting impression.

For those aspiring to improve their public speaking, studying such exemplar speeches and practicing at Toastmasters can be invaluable.

—————————-

Would you like to find out more about how Toastmasters can help you become a more effective speaker? Come visit our club!

Here is the programme for the meeting of September 19, 2023.

A few weeks ago just before Hallowe’en, the Saint-Lawrence Toastmasters Club in Montreal had the privilege of having the current Toastmasters International President, Richard E. Peck, join our online meeting and give a speech.

We will also had a speech from our own Italo Magni (two times finalist at the World Championship of Public Speaking).

For those who missed the meeting, or who would like to view it again, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve got a recording available here.

(St-Lawrence Toastmasters online meeting)

——————–

Interested in finding out more about Toastmasters? Feel free to join us for our upcoming meeting online.

Here is the programme for the meeting of November 24, 2020.

At the St-Lawrence Toastmasters club in Montreal, we like to have a theme for every meeting.  This will generally be the revolving theme when we hold the Table Topics session for example.

Since the theme for our upcoming meeting will be Persuasion, we thought of sharing the following speech:

Know your worth, and then ask for it | Casey Brown

What is interesting is that the speaker gives, in a persuasive manner, advice on how to persuade clients to adopt a point of view.

She does this by storytelling and by presenting simple slides that sum up important points to remember.  Here is an excerpt: “Make it about the other party. Focus on serving and adding value, and it won’t feel like bragging. What do you love about what you do? What excites you about the work that you do? If you connect with that, communicating your value will come naturally.”

======================

Would you like to find out how to give more persuasive speeches? Come visit our Montreal Toastmasters club.

Here is the programme for the meeting of May 28, 2019.

As Toastmasters, some of the things that we’ll find fascinating is how eloquently politicians can speak in public.  Regardless of our own political convictions, it can always be interesting to see what tools and techniques are used in a speech to make it more enjoyable to listen to.

Here, for example, is a speech by Pete Buttigieg, one of the USA presidential candidates for 2020. As mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he gave this speech at a TEDx Talk in early 2015.

Some of the techniques used in his speech include:

• Starting the speech using a story to connect with the audience immediately.
• Using the rule of three, as explained here. (Try to count the number of times that Pete uses this technique.)
• Using slides effectively: lots of photos, practically no text to read, one slide for one idea  (as opposed to many ideas on one single slide), etc.
• Good use of pauses between ideas.

What other techniques have you noticed him using?

————————–

Are you interested in learning about techniques that can help you prepare more effective speeches? Come visit the St-Lawrence Toastmasters Club in Montreal.

Here is the programme for the meeting of May 14, 2019.

Un des buts des Toastmasters est de nous permettre d’apprendre à donner des discours bien structurés, inspirants, et même émouvants. 

Voici un exemple d’un discours qui semble accomplir ces trois objectifs (le lien s’ouvrira dans une nouvelle fenêtre) :

Le poignant discours de Virginie (Le Grand Oral)

« Je suis devenue avocate parce qu’on m’a dit que c’était impossible. ».  Virginie Delalande, a ému le jury du “Grand oral”, un concours d’éloquence présenté à la chaîne de France 2, en racontant son parcours d’avocate atteinte de surdité.

"Je vous parle avec une voix. Cette voix, qui peut-être vous dérange, vous met mal à l’aise, c’est une voix que moi-même je n’ai jamais entendue. C’est le fruit de 20 ans de travail. 20 ans d’orthophonie, trois fois par semaine", a-t-elle expliqué de manière sensible pour commencer son discours.

____________________

Aimeriez-vous apprende à donner des discours plus inspirants? Venez visiter le club d’art oratoire à Montréal St-Lawrence Toastmasters.

Voici le programme pour la réunion Toastmasters du 7 mai 2019.

One of the many skills that we get to develop at Toastmasters is the ability to prepare and deliver powerful speeches that can inspire an audience, and even persuade with power so that people will want to take action.

Here is Harrison Ford speaking at the Global Climate Action Summit that took place in San Francisco recently.

(From: NowThis. Full speech can be found here or here.)

If we focus on the content of the speech, we notice that he inspires the audience by appealing to noble motives and challenging the audience to achieve a higher level of beliefs or achievement. He does this, for example, by speaking with passion and by using logic and emotion to support his position. Here are some excerpts:

“You’re here, I’m here, because we care. Not just for today. But we care passionately for the future.”

“While you work to recognize the challenge of climate change, I beg you, do not forget nature. Because the destruction of nature today accounts for more global emissions than all of the cars in the world. We can put solar panels on each and every house. We can even turn every car into an electric vehicle. As long as Sumatra burns we’ll have failed.”

“Nature doesn’t need people; people need nature.”

—————-
Would you like to know more about how Toastmasters can help you be a more effective speaker and a stronger leader? Feel free to come visit us.

Here is the programme for the St. Lawrence Toastmasters Montreal meeting of September 25, 2018.

One of the great things about every Toastmasters meeting is the “prepared speeches” session. This is where members have the opportunity to present a speech that they have prepared in advance, for which they have different goals. One goal may be speaking to entertain, while another goal may be to motivate and challenge listeners to adopt higher, nobler attitudes, feelings, values, hopes, desires, and behaviors.

To give you a better idea of the sort of speeches that one could expect to hear at Toastmasters, here is a story shared from a great resource called The Moth.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Connection

Michelle Fecteau is working at The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Museum when she meets an enthusiastic history buff on a pilgrimage with no place to stay.

“Moth stories are true, as remembered by the storyteller and always told live.” You can always listen to other great stories at The Moth.  Download any of them. Listen to them on your way to the office. That inner feeling of satisfaction having listened to a story shared on The Moth is exactly the feeling that you might get when listening to members give speeches at Toastmasters.

—————————

Would you like to come in person to hear interesting speeches shared by people who are passionate about public speaking in Montreal? Then visit St-Lawrence Toastmasters Club.

Here is the programme for the meeting of March 6, 2018.

Il peut nous arriver de penser que l’importance d’un discours repose sur la manière que la personne le présente, par exemple à travers le langage corporel, le contact visuel avec l’auditoire, et peut-être même du support visuel.

Si cela peut en effet être utile, il ne faut pas oublier que c’est le contenu d’un discours qui est toujours important, comme le démontre la vidéo suivante.  Puisque c’était pour une émission radio, les auditeurs n’avaient donc pas l’opportunité (ni le besoin) de voir l’oratrice s’exprimer en public, donc l’essentiel était vraiment dans le contenu du discours.

Rosalie Bonenfant : Est-ce que je te plais, s’il te plait?

(Pour le début du discours, vous pouvez défiler à 0m30sec.)

À notre avis, ce discours est une puissante réflexion bien songée, pertinente, d’une grande intelligence, et qui présente un angle susceptible de toucher les émotions de l’auditoire.  Il pourrait aisément répondre aux objectifs du Projet # 10 “Inspirer votre auditoire” du programme Toastmasters du Communicateur Compétent, qui sont de donner ”un discours inspirant qui permet de motiver un auditoire à s’améliorer sur le plan personnel, émotionnel, professionnel ou spirituel.  Le discours doit lancer un appel en faveur d’une grande cause et inciter l’auditoire à avoir des pensées plus nobles et à se dépasser dans ses actes.”

——————————————

Voici le programme de la réunion hebdomadaire du Club St-Lawrence Toastmasters Montréal (soirée du 9 mai 2017). 

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.

________________________

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