Category Archives: Blog

 Anyone want to give an impromptu speech?

This question is like a stake of fear to the heart. But if you’re a Toastmaster, it’s chum in the water. Why? Read blog to find out… Continue reading

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Toastmasters Contests: Training for Challenge

Vancore is an amazing club. It’s a wonderful warm public bath, full of cheerful and highly supportive fellow Toastmasters who’ll serve you delicious compliment sandwiches once a week. But, strangely, that can also be a problem. To really speed your … Continue reading

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Building Your Speaking Skills as You Move Through Life

At some level, we all knew Louis who joined Vancore this year, was only lent to us. Today we learned that today’s speech would be his last. He is leaving the club. Because he is leaving the country, to punch … Continue reading

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What’s The Most Valuable Commodity? Stage Time!

What’s the most valuable commodity in the world? Diamond? Gold? Palladium? A Toastmaster might answer: None of the above. The most valuable commodity in the world is … stage time. When you get it, you jump. Whether your presentation is … Continue reading

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Community Connection with Public Speaking

Public speaking is all about connection, and that’s hard enough when your audience is right there in front of you. It’s crazily more difficult when they’re also online, as the pandemic taught us all. Vancore Toastmasters — and many other … Continue reading

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How We Grow and Expand With The Seasons

Spring is a time for renewal, growth, and expansion.  We have that extra energy and focus to get active, take action, and create change.   We are fortunate to lean on the Toastmasters platform of support and education system to … Continue reading

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Stepping Into the Future with Hybrid

The Covid era taught us something about the future of meetings: they’re going to be hybrid — part live, part online. Some folks will be there in the flesh, and some won’t. Last week Vancore stepped into that future, with … Continue reading

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Icebreaker: What Great Stories are About

Great stories are all about the “telling detail,” a specific little observation or description or scrap of dialogue that SELLS it. Lori gave her icebreaker speech at the last meeting. Around 20 years ago, Lori told us, she found herself … Continue reading

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Sharing Stories: A World Journey Icebreaker

“At the end of every road you meet yourself.” So said the playwright S.N. Behrman. Fortunately, introductions also come at the BEGINNING of the road. In Toastmasters we call it the Icebreaker. And it’s one of the best part of … Continue reading

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Let’s Talk Food Stories

“Make your favourite meal for us!” If you’ve ever been asked to do that — in words, not beans and butter — you know how hard it is. But the folks who took on this week’s Table Topics question rose … Continue reading

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