Hello Fellow Toastmaster!

We cultivate connection and community by opening our house for people to grow into their best selves!

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📣 GGTM Club Announcements

📅 Members - Renew Your GGTM Membership by September 30

Refer to the email from our Club Treasurer Helen Fream on details to renew your membership with updated flexible payment options!

📆 Upcoming Events

Full list in the GGTM Calendar!

🏠 GGTM Storytelling Workshop on October 15 (Wed)

Our regular Wednesday meeting will be ran differently into a Storytelling Workshop led by Kyle and Helen! Join us to learn how to get your stories out there creatively!

🎙️Tall Tales of San San Francisco (and Beyond) on October 25 (Sat)

Celebrate the art of storytelling — where truth is the seed, but exaggeration is the fertilizer! Tell your (or listen to) real (or imagined) Tall Tales of San Francisco and Beyond. Join us in another magical evening at Hotel Nikko on October 25 (Saturday) from 7:00 to 10:00PM.

Get your tickets here through Eventbrite. Reach out to our VP PR Nikilitha Mdluli ([email protected]) for any questions about this event!

 👻 GGTM Ghostmasters Meeting on October 29 (Wed)

Our regular Wednesday meeting is getting a spooky twist - it's time for our annual Halloween-themed gathering! The ever-creative, party-planning queen Helen will be our Ghostmaster for the Evening. 🎃👻

Come dressed in your most imaginative costumes and bring your spookiest stories to share. You won’t want to miss this frightfully fun night!

🎡 GGTM Play Day and Picnic on November 8 (Sat)

Let’s soak up the sun (fingers crossed for good weather!), enjoy a laid-back picnic, and dive into some enjoyable Improv games together!

Snacks and refreshments are on us - just bring your energy, your laughter, and your best on-the-spot acting skills. Come hang out and play with GGTM!

📈 Sep 24 Meeting Highlights

On September 24, GGTM opened their house (tbh - for the Club Success Awards 🥳 ) for 2025! Led by Sheila as Club Secretary and Toastmaster for the Evening, we lured very thoughtfully introduced Toastmasters and GGTM to our guests to see if it aligns with their self-development goals.

We opened our doors 30 minutes earlier for attendees to socialize and share some refreshments as we aim to demonstrate the four key pillars of being a Toastmaster in action - public speaking, effective communication, leadership development and community building!

Thank you to those who signed-up for roles - our agenda was filled two full days before the Open House 🤯 - Alberto, Helen, Jess, Eugene, Tanya and Adam!

• 🐊 Michelle introduced us to our San Francisco neighbor Claude - the albino alligator who is the unofficial mascot of the Cal Academy of Science - as he celebrates his 30th birthday!

• 🐔 Clement, a longtime Bay Area local who has lived in various places, shared his off-the-grid life at “The Land” in Puerto Rico. He fondly remembered two chickens, Hansel and Gretel, who lived and passed together. He joined Toastmasters to improve his communication and connect more deeply with others (🧊 Ice Breaker Speech 🧊)

  

  Michelle introduces us to Claude

• 🫡 Jack delivered a speech with a purpose giving pointers on how to be a dynamic leader. He emphasizes that leadership isn’t just about a title - it’s about believing in the people behind the next big project he is working on and got the ribbon for (🏆 Best Speaker 🏆)

• 🦏 Rajitha introduced the Rhino Toastmasters club to our guests sharing the benefits of being part of a smaller club in exploring your Toastmasters journey!

Valeriy (aka Val #1) got (🏆 Best Evaluator 🏆) for his feedback on Jack’s impassioned speech about leadership. Spoiler alert, it’s not the last you’ll see of him 😛.

Nithila led the Evaluation section as General Evaluator and provide very positive feedback on the organization and dynamic or the Open House and highlighted that we can improve on preparing our tech more.

We did a different version of Table Topics for the Open House to make sure everyone gets to know as much of the Toastmaster culture and each other. Folks were asked to pair up and get to know their partner as much as they can during the 20-minute break while they enjoy their refreshments.

We gave a hint that they will unlock the skill of communication, collaboration and active listening for this part. 😉 

After the break, Amadeo - our Table Topics master revealed the second half of the exercise. He will ask random questions and will call on folks to answer them - as their partner! This is to develop the skill of improvisation, storytelling and facing their fear.

We heard folks sharing about their ideal Saturday morning, what their last meal would be as someone with a royal name, what would they do if they win the lottery, what movie would they star in, which celebrity they would swap lives with, what their creative outlet is, their favorite holiday, a bucket list item and what they would invent! It was hilarious to see folks fully embrace their partner’s persona and trying to creatively answer the question as much as they can with the limited knowledge they knew of the person!

Valeriy posing as Angelica, a dentist - shared that his (uhm, her) next travel will be to a planet full of teeth!

Thank you all for your full participation and for bringing such amazing energy to the activity - it truly made the experience so much fun! It was heartwarming to see the room come alive with connection and enthusiasm. And yes, our guests stepped up and shared the stage right alongside our members for some fantastic impromptu speaking!

Thank you to those who creatively introduced us to their partners - Jess, Page (guest) , Valerie aka Val #2 (guest), Omar, Blair(guest) , Amber, Adam, Giovanni(guest) and Oxar(guest)!

🤓 Through the eyes of the TTM (Table Topics Master)

Our Table Topics Master, Amadeo beautifully facilitated this interactive Table Topics activity. Let’s hear how the experience was for him!

As Table Topics Master for our Open House, my goal was simple: encourage everyone to speak and have fun doing so! Table Topics can feel like the wild card of any meeting - unscripted, a little nerve-wracking, but also where the most magic happens. Before we began, everyone paired up with someone new to get to know each other. Then we flipped the script: all Table Topics questions had to be answered as if you were your partner.

The result? Pure fun.  Many members and guests quickly fell into a similar rhythm - first introducing themselves as their partner and running with their character. This was first started by Val - as he introduced himself as a dentist (partner Angelica) - so obsessed with teeth that his travel place of choice would be a planet made entirely of teeth! 

I also wanted to shoutout so many of our first time guests who so courageously came up and tried table topics. We had an equal number of guests to members speak during this section. All in all, I think the activity was a huge success - we got to learn a little bit more about each other, share plenty of laughs, and walk away feeling more connected as a group!

🏝️ GGTM Beyond the Board Room

Get to know our Golden Gate Toastmasters outside of our weekly Wednesday club meetings at the Chamber of Commerce Board Room.

📸 Member Spotlight

At one meeting, Irene came up to me right after a speech and said, “Sheila, I recognize your voice. Did you once tell a story at a bar in the Mission about a water bottle?” I gasped! That was one of the very few NSFW stories I’ve ever told - and definitely not at a Toastmasters meeting - so I was mortified that that’s how she remembered me!

Since then, we've vibed over our shared love of storytelling and musicals and she's now officially part of GGTM. Welcome to the club, Irene!

What made you interested in joining Golden Gate Toastmasters?
I am interested in joining GGTM primarily for personal growth, particularly to build my confidence in public speaking and develop my storytelling abilities in a supportive environment where I can develop these essential skills.

What specifically drew me to GGTM is the vibrant community aspect and the club's structured learning format. I've been impressed by the incredible energy and enthusiasm of the club members, and I am excited about the opportunity to make new friends who share similar goals for self-improvement. The idea of being part of a supportive community where everyone is working together to grow and develop their communication skills is very appealing to me.

Anything else you’d like us to know?
I'm originally from Indonesia and came to the US to pursue a CSci degree. I've been working as a Software Engineer and have had the unique experience of living in Indonesia, China, and the USA throughout my life. This multicultural background has given me diverse perspectives that I'm excited to potentially share through storytelling once I develop my speaking confidence.

I'm someone who believes in continuous personal growth and am trying not to be afraid to step outside my comfort zone to achieve it. While I may be starting with limited speaking experience, I'm committed to being an active, supportive member of the club community.

In my spare time, I enjoy watching dance performances, magic shows, and storytelling events - which actually ties into my interest in developing my own storytelling abilities! I'm also passionate about singing (especially karaoke), traveling, skiing, deep sea fishing and baking.

My diverse cultural background and wide range of interests make me excited about the creative and community aspects of Toastmasters. I look forward to contributing to the club's energy while learning from everyone's unique experiences and perspectives.

🎉 Be part of the GGTM Newsletter! 🎉

Want to write a future issue or have something that you want featured with the club? Send a message to the #newsletter channel in Discord, email [email protected] or approach Omar or Sheila (here is how we look like 😛).