Relive the Moments of Grosvenor Toastmaster Meeting – October 24, 2012
We had our Toastmasters meeting on October 24, 2012, and it was a great night for all members and guests! Biswajit Das was the Chair/Toastmaster. He spoke about Felix Baumgartner, the sky-diving dare devil who went well “Beyond Limits” when he jumped from a space ship and broke the speed of sound. Bis encouraged all of us to use Toastmasters to test our limits.
Smruti Das did a great job being a first time Table Topics Master. She asked us to imagine that we were in a job interview and had to respond to an interviewer’s questions on the spot. It was a fun and nerve wracking exercise that many of us have had to face in real life.
We had three (!) people give their very first Icebeakers, two members and one guest. A remarkable achievement for all.
The first speaker of the evening, Omayma Haq, delivered an emotional icebreaker about the passing of her beautiful baby girl, Ameena. There was barely a dry eye in the room as Omayma told her heartbreaking story. But through the tears, there was also a message of inspiration…that there is hope and laughter even after tragedy. Omayma’s speech was evaluated by Wayne O’Brien.
Naomi Hamersley in her speech, “Kindness of Strangers”, spoke about our beginnings in war torn Cambodia in 1975, finding a new life with our adoptive family in Canada, and the tremendous courage and compassion of the three young Canadian women who risked their lives to save us. Naomi questioned in this day and age whether people would have the courage to fly into a middle of a war to help people they don’t even know. Prasad evaluated Naomi’s speech.
Laure Ampilhac was a guest speaker from another Toastmasters club and she bravely gave her Icebreaker speech in front of a brand new audience. Laure talked about how shy she was growing up and how difficult it was for her to network and meet people. By taking a leap and pushing herself to go beyond her comfort zone, Laure has overcome her quiet beginnings to become a confident and social person. Laure’s speech was evaluated by Stephen Schroeder.
In her speech titled, “Aspects of Life”, Anum Khawar also gave her Icebreaker. Amun started off by talking about her life, moving to Toronto from Pakistan, meeting her life partner, and giving birth to a baby boy, now three months old. She encouraged us to balance our material lives with the spiritual, and to strive for a more meaningful life. With passion and poetic words Anum truly inspired us to live life to the fullest. Colin Nekolaichuk evaluated Anum’s speech.
Finally, Andrew Mathenge, spoke about three important life experiences he had which taught him a valuable lesson. While giving an IT presentation to a group of impatient students, training for a marathon, and working in a fast-paced technologically driven workplace, he realized that we need to “slow down to speed up.” By always being in a hurry to reach the end-goal we risk missing the joys of the journey and achieving our goals. Andrew’s speech was evaluated by Geoff Smith.
I (Noelle Hamersley) was the General Evaluator. Michael Ilyasov was the Timer; Clive Hannah was the Quizmaster; and Bea Funes took on the Grammarian role.
Voting Results
Table Topics: #1 Naomi
Speaker: #1 Naomi #2 – tie between Omayma and Andrew
Evaluator: # 1 Colin
Congrats to all our speakers, evaluators and table topics participants!
Our next meeting is scheduled for November 14th. Be there or be square 
See you all in 2 weeks!
Noelle Hamersley
Club Secretary
Grosvenor Toastmasters
Grosvenor Toastmasters 