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Golden Gate Toastmasters Dispatch

The Smedley Distinguished Club
Stories, speeches, and the conversations in between — from San Francisco's longest-established in-person Toastmasters club, every Wednesday.

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🌁 Golden Gate Toastmasters

Featured Posts

Aug 2, 2026

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3 min read

What You Find When You're Not Looking

"Another Trip Around the Sun" — what would you tell yourself five years ago? — that turned out to fit the night perfectly.

GGTM Team, +1

Jul 20, 2026

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4 min read

Life is ... Serendipity!

July 15, 2026, 6:00 PM | ~4 min read | Theme: Life!

GGTM Club Secretary

Jul 13, 2026

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5 min read

Self-Love, With Champagne

July 8, 2026, 6:00 PM | ~4 min read | Theme: Self-Love

GGTM Club Secretary

Jul 7, 2026

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4 min read

History Night • New Term Kickoff

GGTM kicks off the 2026 Jul – Dec term — July 1, 2026

GGTM Club Secretary

🥇GGTM Hits Smedley Distinguished — Our Highest Honor Yet

Jun 21, 2026

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6 min read

🥇GGTM Hits Smedley Distinguished — Our Highest Honor Yet

📅 Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | ⏱️ ~6 min read | 🎤 Theme: Team Spirit

Irene Suwarno

🦸⚡GGTM Turns 90 — and Unleashes Its Superpower

Apr 20, 2026

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6 min read

🦸⚡GGTM Turns 90 — and Unleashes Its Superpower

📅 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 | ⏱️ ~4 min read | 🎤 Theme: Superpower

Irene Suwarno

Off-Screen.

Craps, bouldering, deep-sea fishing, a Utah ski tour: Wednesday's theme was off-screen hobbies — and a surprising number of the answers turned out to be about other people. | The Weekly Meeting · October 21, 2026 · A three-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Oct 20, 2026

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3 min read

Just Go

Never Say Never was the theme, audacious the word. The speeches took both seriously: show up for people, break a rule, say hello first. | The Weekly Meeting · October 14, 2026 · A three-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Oct 11, 2026

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3 min read

Already There

A third of Wednesday's guests said an AI chatbot pointed them to Golden Gate Toastmasters. By the time they introduced themselves, several had already crossed their own finish lines for the year. | The Weekly Meeting · October 07, 2026 · A four-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Oct 4, 2026

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3 min read

Still Standing

A speech about the buildings that outlasted the 1906 earthquake set the tone for a meeting that turned out to be about the same thing: what a room full of Toastmasters does with a setback. | The Weekly Meeting · September 30, 2026 · A four-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Sep 29, 2026

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3 min read

Think Before You Prompt

John Ekedum's Ice Breaker asked the room to slow down before typing into a chatbot. Almost everyone else got asked to slow down about something too. | The Weekly Meeting · September 23, 2026 · A four-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Special Event

Sep 20, 2026

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4 min read

Courage and Compassion

That's how returning alumnus Michael Dart described what a Toastmasters club actually is. An hour later, a proposal during Table Topics proved his point better than he could have planned.

GGTM Team, +1

Sep 14, 2026

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3 min read

How to Cross the Gap

Luzee Bautista's speech on small talk won Best Speaker. The rest of the night showed exactly why the advice mattered — everyone else was crossing some kind of gap too. | The Weekly Meeting · September 9, 2026 · A three-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Sep 8, 2026

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4 min read

Doing Something Right

Miwa compared her life to a ball of yarn — tangled, colorful, occasionally beautiful. Her fourteen-year-old daughter gave her the real verdict. | The Weekly Meeting · September 2, 2026 · A four-minute read

GGTM Team, +1

Sep 1, 2026

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4 min read

An Underdog Program

Only one speech was signed up for a meeting about underdogs. Then the room did exactly what the theme asked.

GGTM Team, +1

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Featured Posts

What You Find When You're Not Looking

Life is ... Serendipity!

Self-Love, With Champagne

History Night • New Term Kickoff

🥇GGTM Hits Smedley Distinguished — Our Highest Honor Yet

🦸⚡GGTM Turns 90 — and Unleashes Its Superpower

Archive

Off-Screen.

Just Go

Already There

Still Standing

Think Before You Prompt

Courage and Compassion

How to Cross the Gap

Doing Something Right

An Underdog Program

Golden Gate Toastmasters Dispatch

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