Author Archives: Vancore Toastmasters
Don’t Miss It: June 19 is VanCore Election Day
Folks, it’s time for the annual election of VanCore directors. Here’s your chance to put your stamp on the club’s leadership team. As per Toastmaster International rules, the past president – in our case, that’s Susan – drew up the … Continue reading
Let Your Life Speak
Sometimes, sitting in the audience at VanCore meetings, you can tell something big is taking shape. What Niki has going on at the moment is more than a series of related stories. In installments, Niki is telling a coming-of-age tale … Continue reading
Ummmmmm….
Don’t quite know how to say this but, um, we’re backsliding. Or it could just have been one of those days for the good burghers of VanCore, a generally linguistically careful bunch. “It was very ‘um’-y and ‘ah’-y today,” said … Continue reading
Shape Up
A good rule of thumb at VanCore is: when you see Kate is signed up as Table Topics Master at the next meeting, be there. Kate is a teacher, and teachers (the good ones, anyway) are always stretching to get … Continue reading
Breaking the Ice
VanCore’s newest member, Patrick, thought he had the perfect title for the Icebreaker he delivered this week: The Polar Bear. Turned out Patrick’s speech didn’t have much to do with polar bears. Please explain, Patrick. “Have you ever heard of … Continue reading
Mentor Telepathy
You don’t see many people learning to shoe horses at their daddy’s knee these days, or to can peaches in granny’s parlour. We used to be a culture of apprenticeship. Now we just watch The Apprentice on TV. (How did … Continue reading
Shuffling the deck
It’s good to do a different job now and then. People get slow and sleepy in the same role for too long; they need a new challenge to wake them up and make them stretch. You see this principle in … Continue reading
Judging the Judges
If you’re training food critics, you probably send them to Tojo’s, not McDonald’s. Critics rise to the level of the quality of what’s served to them. (In theory.) If you’re holding an evaluation contest — as VanCore did this week … Continue reading
To all the hopeless romantics…
This week, before giving the toast, Dylan made a confession: “I am a hopeless romantic.” He was about to jet off to Toronto to visit his girlfriend for a couple of weeks. He had arranged the plane ticket so that … Continue reading
Two Words: Stage Time
From the department of mixed metaphors: This week Megan knocked her “Icebreaker” out of the park. Megan’s a new-ish member but not a new member. She’s been in the club for a few months. Many of us were eagerly awaiting … Continue reading
VanCore Toastmasters 