Learn Public Speaking Skills: Toastmasters, Cape Town

Exciting news! Our meeting schedule is getting a revamp for the better! After careful consideration, we've decided streamline our meetings to one in-person and one online meeting a month. This change aims to make our meetings more efficient.

From past experience we have seen this time of year is super busy, with many members juggling multiple commitments, and getting up early for a Toastmasters meeting during winter can be a challenge.  Typically, most members attend once or twice a month, with some preferring online meetings and others in-person.

The scattered approach where everyone attends on different weeks is not working as well as we'd like. While weekly meetings offer great opportunities for everyone to choose when they want to speak, we often face challenges in filling other role positions. By having more focused but fewer meetings, we can offer better quality and ensure a valuable and engaging experience for all members.

That is why we have come up with a new schedule that we think can work better for everyone!  So say goodbye to the weekly meeting shuffle! 

Starting from now, our face-to-face meetings will take place on the 4th Wednesday of every month, while our online meetings will be held on the 3rd Wednesday. 

We understand that these changes may impact members who prefer weekly or hybrid meetings, but rest assured, there will still be plenty of chances for everyone to get involved in roles and develop complimentary skills. We still have weekly opportunities for members through our Monthly Masters series, which will be an educational meeting every first Wednesday of the month and a monthly social in-person breakfast meeting at a different venue.

OUR NEW MONTHLY MEETING SCHEDULE:
·        1st Wednesday:  Educational meeting - online Monthly Mastery
·        2nd Wednesday: In-person social event (at different coffee shops)
·        3rd Wednesday: Monthly Online meeting
·        4th Wednesday:  Monthly In-person meeting at the Athenaeum

Through this schedule we keep offering weekly opportunities for our members. Every Wednesday morning at 7.15am for a prompt start at 7.30am, wrapping up at 9am sharp.... 

As the current executive committee's term ends in June, we have developed our meeting program to introduce various leadership opportunities and allow members to join the leadership team for the new term starting on July 1st. This will be an amazing opportunity for members to flex their leadership muscles and bring fresh ideas, energy, and drive to the club.

With that in mind, we are thrilled to reveal the new schedule that we have been testing during May.…

In our Monthly Mastery Series on "Toastmasters Tools" held on May 3rd, we delved into the power of Easyspeak, our meeting management platform, and the Yoodli tool, an AI tool that can help you with speeches. It was a fantastic educational session that will help members get more value out of these powerful tools.

On May 17th, we had a successful social meeting at Hans and Lloyd Coffee Company. This setup provided an opportunity to network in a more social environment and learn to develop Toastmasters skills in any situation.

Next, on May 24th, we will be at the Athenaeum for an in-person session on "The Power of Networking." It will be a great opportunity to learn how to build connections and network effectively.

Our next online meeting is scheduled for May 31st with the theme "Leadership in Changing Times." This meeting will focus on fostering personal growth, building lasting connections, and empowering each other to thrive as leaders in a rapidly transforming world through Toastmasters #WhereLeadersAreMade.

Moving on to June, on June 7th, we have our next Monthly Mastery Series on "Leadership Opportunities." This will be an opportunity for members to nominate themselves or others for leadership roles.

Our next online meeting will be on June 14th, with the theme "Leadership in Times of Change." This meeting will focus on how to lead effectively during times of change and uncertainty. 

On June 21st, we will hold our AGM and install the next EXCO, followed by an in-person meeting on June 28th on "Passing the Torch: A Toast to the Incoming EXCO." where we'll celebrate the new leadership team and reflect on the past term's achievements.

We already have an exciting programme lined up for July, starting on July 5th, with the topic for our Monthly Mastery Series on "Evaluations & Speech structure."  

The theme for the Online meeting on July 19th will be "Building Momentum: Energizing Members for a Productive Term". This meeting will focus on how to get members excited and motivated for the upcoming term.

On July 26th, we will hold an in-person meeting with a theme of "In-Person, In Focus: Sharpening Your Public Speaking Skills for Live Audiences." This will be an opportunity to work on your public speaking skills in front of a live audience. Stay tuned for the venue announcement of our social meeting on July 12th.

We believe that this schedule will accommodate everyone's needs and offer a wide range of exciting and valuable opportunities for learning, growth, and development that are needed for the club. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our President Jon Jon San Juan, or our Vice President Education Madeleen Engelbrecht email: TheBreakfastClub.TM@gmail.com. 

Thanks for your support and enthusiasm as we make this exciting transition! We can't wait to see you at the upcoming meetings.

Finally, a reminder that Toastmasters is like gym or any fitness programme, it requires work. If you don’t put the work in, you won’t see results.  This programme is designed to optimise your learning experience for results.

 

Verity Price, DTM, from Cape Town, South Africa, won the Toastmasters’ second online World Championship of Public Speaking® with her speech “A great Read”, a funny, profound look at changing the way you look at life.  Many clubs in the Southern Africa region felt like winners with Verity as we experienced first-hand a small part of the effort she put into the 100 days leading up to the finals.

Read about her journey to becoming the 2021 Champion in this fabulous article about  in the Toastmasters Magazine. What a journey?!  What a speech!? What a win!?

Akos Mensah, 19 November 2021

Recently one of my fellow Toastmasters called me the night before our club meeting to say that he would like to pull out as a contestant as he felt ill prepared to participate in the Humour Contest. He had not yet completed writing his 7 minute speech. He had been busy with work deadlines, and he felt that he needed more time to prepare his speech. He offered to do a different role in the meeting and wanted to be a timekeeper or Zoommaster.
 
I listened to him and appreciated him offering to attend the meeting.

This was a contest that was supposed to have at least 5 speakers. The last minute change made me feel confused and anxious, I didn’t want to try  to find someone else in less than 12 hours.

 I noticed a pattern of no-shows and cancellations, mostly for the same reason: people felt ill-prepared, and they had last-minute work and family commitments.  “I hear you.” I said,  “Thank you for sharing. What is the title of your speech and your main points….do you mind going through it with me right now? I asked with a big genuine  smile.

5 Minutes later. We were both laughing. “That was amazing. You are going to do great. See you on Zoom tomorrow morning.”
  
We discussed how showing up for one’s commitments is more important than how perfect it is.

Toastmasters is the perfect environment to learn how to deal with these unforeseen life challenges. He showed up, did his best and had us all laughing out loud. He found humour in being unprepared, because he’s not the first person in the world to feel that way.
 
What about you? 
 
What important goals do you have in your life that are suffering from lack of planning and preparedness?
Do you have a presentation for work, or for a nonprofit, or for sales, but you did not even create the first slide? #toastmasters
 
Think about your goals, and try to find the humour in your imperfections.
Get support. Call someone and share your fears and concerns.
Get together with people or organizations like Toastmasters who can support you because a little encouragement goes a long way.

3 March 2021

The International Speech contest was something out of the ordinary for everyone at the Breakfast Club. 

The engaging and exciting contest was held online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Four phenomenal speakers brought their A-game and blew us away with their speeches. They were: Gideon Louw, Marc Burgess, Nerisa Shiri Mnemba and Vuyokazi Ntsangani.

Toastmaster Vuyokazi Ntsangani took the first prize with her speech titled: "It's just a lie", a speech that touched hearts and really hit home for many of us.  Congratulations Vuyo!

The contest was hosted by contest chair Roxanne Rhode and judged by an expert panel of judges headed by chief judge, Cheryll Wright. 

For a first time online contest, it worked like a well-oiled machine.  What else did you expect with Zoommaster Jazzmin Hecht at the steering wheel?

The enthusiastic participation of Club members is testimony to the supporting network in the Club. Congratulations to all four contestants, you did us proud and are a true inspiration to the rest of us! 

Thank you and well done to each and every one who took on a role and making it happen. Superb Club effort indeed!

The first and second place winners Vuyokazi Ntsangani and Nerisa Mnemba will now go onto represent the Club at the Area D3 Contest on 31 March 2021 at 6:30pm.  

The Breakfast Club meets every Wednesday at 7:15 till 9:00am. The Club’s activities were shifted to the online platform in the 2020-21 term to maintain Covid-19 protocols.

 #publicspeaking #SpeechContest

One year of online meetings....

A year ago, South Africa went into lockdown due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Since then, many aspects of personal and professional lives have been disrupted, but Toastmasters clubs went online very quickly to provide a sense of normalcy to our members. This has allowed members to visit a Toastmasters Club anywhere in the world from the comfort of our homes.  The Breakfast Club had the first virtual meeting on 25 March 2020 and during the past year, we have had visitors from around the globe which enriched the experience for our members. Something that would never have been possible before online meetings.

By transitioning to online meetings, Toastmasters clubs allow their members to continue pursuing their goals and provide human interaction that they might not otherwise get.

Learn how our nearly-100-year-old organization can help improve your communication skills, while we enjoy some much-needed social connection.

The Breakfast Club meets every Wednesday at 7:15 till 9:00am. The Club’s activities were shifted to the online platform in the 2020-21 term to maintain Covid-19 protocols.

Do you want to get a fast-track on your Speech and Leadership projects? 
You can!

We have the privilege of teaching Speechcraft for the Sports Science Institute from 29th July for 6 weeks. Contact François Rossouw at francois(@)luceda.co.za and step up your own progress a notch, too. We need timekeepers, demo speakers, toastmasters and more. 

PLUS: Speech contest — 19 August 2015 at 7.30am

It will take place at our usual meeting time and place and we are looking for more contestants, judges, tally-counters and other officials.

So far we have:

• Brenda and Martin as Contestants - (we need 3 more, and there are no minimum qualifications)
• Nathan as Competition Chair
• 2 external judges + 1 internal

 We still need:

• 3 more internal judges
  
• a tie-breaker judge
  
• 2 timekeepers
  
• 2 tally counters
  
• 2 sergeants at arms
  

Email Alison, or speak to Alison at or before our next meeting to find out more...

Seriously, we always get chocolate prizes at the Breakfast Club...

That is why so many of us attend ;)

But today we actually all got to eat gourmet choccies for breakfast - what a pity some chocolate lovers like Noni could not be with us ;)

Our cracking three speeches started with Brenda Trope's "Mmm, chocolate — yummy!" in which she demonstrated how one can make healthy, unprocessed chocolate and used body language in her speech as part of her CC5 assignment. We all got to sample her scummy wares, too. This was a meeting to remember!

Martin Gevers entertained as always with wild stories, this time about "Meeting the Alpha Male" in his Humorous Speaker # 3 - well done Martin. Your life must be full of excitement, judging from the fountain of fascinating experiences you bring to life in your speeches.

Finally we hosted new Area Director François Roux, who inspired us all to take a step up with his speech "Success, significance and Fun". It was good to see how Toastmasters can contribute to each of these three aspects of life as you embrace all the opportunities on offer.

Who won what?

We proudly awarded chocolate bars to the following for their contributions to our morning's enjoyment:

Best speaker: François Roux
Best Evaluator: Nathan Philander
Best Tabletopic: Sarah Rossouw

Exciting upcoming opportunities...

Do you want to get a fast-track on your Speech and Leadership projects?
You can!

We have the privilege of teaching Speechcraft for the Sports Science Institute from 29th July for 6 weeks. Contact François Rossouw at francois(@)luceda.co.za and step up your own progress a notch, too. We need timekeepers, demo speakers, toastmasters and more. 

PLUS: Speech contest — 19 August 2015 at 7.30am

It will take place at our usual meeting time and place and we are looking for more contestants, judges, tally-counters and other officials. Speak to Alison at our next meeting to find out more...

That is all for today. Watch this space next week!

Thank you to the outgoing Division Governor of Toastmasters Southern Africa, Aletta Rochat, who shared "Reflections of a DG" with us as a Competent Communicator project.


Her inspiring points were that:

•  holding high office is not about the Wearing the Badge, but about the opportunity to serve and grow
  
• things are always personal first, because that is how the Toastmasters organisation best serves the individual member 
• you have to have a message, otherwise you are just transmitting information.

The meeting was also unusual in that we held the election for new Club Officers
The newly-elected portfolio holders on the committee will serve the members of our club for the Toastmasters year starting on 1 July 2015, and they are:

President: Simric Yarrow
VP Education: Alison Beere
VP Membership: Gideon Louw
VP Public Relations: Nonhlanhla Chanza
Treasurer: Sarah Rossouw
Secretary: Brenda Trope
Sergeant At Arms: Coenraad Myburgh

There was a scuffle for the chocolate today!
In the end Best Speaker award went to Martin Gevers for his highly entertaining "Flush in the Pan" with Noni taking best Evaluator and JP offering an excellent Table Topics performance as a 'day-old chick' - he joined as a member today.

Alison Beere was Toastmaster of the day and the theme "Seagulls and Sailors" inspired Gideon Louw to some truly challenging Table Topics choices. Respect for your preparation, Gideon, and well done to those who tackled them so gamely. 

A special mention goes to Taahir Khalfe... for his highly entertaining account of being a pirate on the high seas — it was great to see you laughing and enjoying yourself! Your speaking confidence has already soared since your last Table Topic speech.

Thanks to all who were there, and those who were not were sorely missed.

First up, congratulations to our meeting award winners who went home clasping chocolate as always!  Alison Beere (Best Speaker), Sarah Rossouw (Best Evaluator), and guest Zoliswa Gidi (Best Table Topic Speaker)

Nathan Phillander was Toastmaster of the day and chose the theme Wonderful Winter to set an upbeat tone in spite of the weather. Thanks Nathan for your energetic and entertaining leadership, and all the best for those university exams next week.

It was a meeting of reaching goals and welcoming new members...

Alison Beere completed her Competent Communicator manual with a speech entitled "Tiny Increments" to inspire everyone to embrace change. This was the big CC10 which is her first large Toastmasters milestone.

Graham Klein (visiting from Grove club) completed his Advanced Communicator Bronze with a speech from the Public Relations manual, handling a crisis situation.

Acting President Sarah Rossouw outlined the various roles of club committee members in advance of next week's election.

Jill Mackay hosted a round of Table Topics, inviting guests and members to offer their opinions about winter as a time of rejuvenation, the best winter movies to snuggle up with, and load-shedding vs snow-sledding. Loads of fun there!

Our evaluators, Sarah Rossouw and Martin Gevers provided valuable insights and constructive feedback for the speakers. Avoiding rocking on the spot, keeping things personal, and looking on the bright side even in a crisis were some of their suggestions.

Thank you to new member Taahir Khalfe who took on the role of Time Keeper for the first time. Congratulations on taking a step towards become a powerful communicator to enhance your work in entrepreneurship training. We look forward to walking alongside you and cheering you on.