Dear Fellow Toastmaster!

Last week, the theme was Curve Ball—keeping us all on our toes. Karishma stepped in as our substitute president and Mike, our Toastmaster added a curveball by requiring everyone to use a mic.

🙋‍♀️ Sign up for roles on our next meeting on Feb 5🙋‍♀️

🙋 Please reflect your meeting RSVP 🙋‍♀️

 📣 📆 What’s up

Never want to miss out on GGTM social events, workshops and meetings? Click the button to subscribe to our club’s Google Calendar.

• GGTM will be holding our International and Humorous Speech Contests on Feb 5th, in lieu of a regular meeting. Please join us to help our contestants advance to the Area contests! See below for the link to the rulebook

• https://ccdn.toastmasters.org/medias/files/department-documents/speech-contests-documents/1171speechcontestrulebook2024-2025/1171-speech-contest-rulebook.pdf 

  If you would like to compete in either contest:

  • International Speech Contest: You must have completed L2 in Pathways OR be a Distinguished Toastmaster

  • Humorous Speech Contest: There are no entry requirements

  • Please send an email to [email protected] and CC [email protected] and [email protected] letting us know that you intend to compete

  Roles we need to fill:

  • 1x Toastmaster

  • 5x Judges

  • 1x Tiebreaker judge

  • 2x Timer

  • 2x Ballot counter

  • Please sign up on the Feb 5th agenda and send an email to [email protected] and CC [email protected] and [email protected] letting us know that you would like to fill a role!

 📚️🏫 Toastmastering Together

Let’s get better by learning from each other and sharing resources. Bookmark these for your reference as you go through your GGTM journey!

• Golden Gate Toastmaster Resources (bit.ly/GGTM-resources)

• Toastmaster Meeting Roles One-Pager (bit.ly/GGTM-roles)

• Onboarding Checklist (bit.ly/GGTM-onboarding)

🏍️👟🛶🗣️January 29th Club Meeting Highlights

Last Wednesday, we were inspired by powerful stories of life’s twists and turns, the indominable human spirit and how to make others laugh.

A big thank you to our members who made the meeting possible: Michael, Sebastien, Karishma, Aditya, Mia, Lisa, Sheila, Ashwani, and Lilly!

During our meeting we:

• 🛵Tavisan shared a dramatic motorcycle commute story in Chennai, reminding us how life can change in an instant in his 2-Minute Special.

• 🏃‍♀️Harris (🏆Best Speech🏆) shared his 2025 goals - running 2 miles in 12 minutes (with a $500 bet!) and how his ambition lands him in the deep end of supplements, physical therapy and doc appointments.

• 🤣Divya delivered a humorous guide for short people talking to tall people, engaging the audience with interactive fun.

  Sheila reflected on her Spotify Wrapped, her 2023 breakup, and how her nephew hijacked her 2024 playlist, with Raining in Manila striking a sentimental chord.

• ⛵Lilly’s icebreaker speech illustrated how sailing mirrors life’s unpredictability—from rescuing a captain overboard to stalling in a shipping channel. Her key takeaway: challenges are inevitable, but true confidence comes from learning to navigate through them.

• 🍷Alex led table topics by sharing wine and her journey through the hospitality industry, which like wine, transformed her.

  • Our Guest Jack (🏆Best Table Topic🏆) recounted his experience joining the military and being deployed to Iraq three times, reflecting on the unexpected challenges and his sense of accomplishment.

• Katka (🏆Best Evaluator🏆) praised Harris for his well-structured speech, clever phrasing, and strong opening and closing.

  • Thank you to our other evaluators Alex W (evaluating Sheila), Lilly (evaluating Divya) and Ashwani (evaluating Lilly).

😎💡Member Spotlight

Send your member profile to [email protected] so we can feature you next. Share your adventures that we can highlight as well!

Let’s get to know one of our new member Katie (aka Katherine)! Katie has been a member for over 6 months and has finally decided to submit her bio (sorry guys!). She is an avid fan of reading, baking and exploring new areas/trying new things! She hopes to keep you all entertained with her next Toastmasters topic, a thrilling exploration into everyone’s favorite subject…Philosophy!

🫵🗣️ Your turn

We would like to hear YOUR stories, information and feedback to make this newsletter, our club and our Toastmastering better. Share it with us!