How long have you been a member of Toastmasters, and why did you join ?

I first heard of Toastmasters from an enthusiastic Parisian member who asked me to give a talk at a District Conference in Düsseldorf, for an Association she belonged to. I didn’t really know who they were … I asked how much I would be paid and she told me … « No, you’ve got it wrong. You will have to pay to go to the Conference … » After the initial surprise, I thought I would go anyway, because … I had never been to Düsseldorf ; and I discovered, the most friendly, international, open-minded, group of people I had ever met. And we even got to dance in the evening ! They loved my workshop and I was pleased. So then I went along to meetings of « Toastmasters of Paris », and, in January 2010, (since at that time there were no clubs in Lyon), I joined ! After all, I do go to Paris regularly, so why not ? I thought. Little did I know I was going to get hooked !

Thanks to Toastmasters, I have given two Tedx speeches, and those were both great experiences. The one I gave called « Pourquoi les français sont nuls en anglais » was filmed, and it has been very useful to me professionally.

What are the strong points of Toastmasters ?

Cf. above. But I also have to mention that it is so wonderful to meet other people, all of whom are interested in personal development, from different places, professions, and age groups. I must also underline the wonderful teaching approach that you find in Toastmasters, where people really do learn to speak in public at their own pace, in a totally supportive environment, and with the help of their peers.

One more thing is … although I think most people join Toastmasters for the public speaking, the tag « Where Leaders are Made » is also really important. Toastmasters gives its members opportunities to learn and practice leadership : a skill that we all need in our professional and personal lives.

How do you find the subjects for your speeches ?

When I was doing my CC, I always used the structure to guide me in choosing the subjects, for example, for the project where the objective is « Use a clear structure », I build a model made of Lego in three separate parts, and used that as a metaphor. Now I use different creativity techniques to find a subject, and sometimes « recycle » speeches I have given before. And I always carry a notebook to write down ideas.

You won the 2^nd place in the Districe Table Topics competition in November, how was that experience ?   Do you have any tips to give about improvisation ?

I was happy with my performance, and, to my great surprise, I was even happy to come 2^nd, because I thought I had really learned something useful. I try to incorporate the audience’s shared experience into my talk, and that means really being open to the hic et nunc (here and now). When you include something that the audience totally get, then they are more likely to be with you. I also learned to « stage » my Table Topic, by using the space to demonstrate the different points of my argument. When I finished, I was on a high : I had surprised even myself ! My biggest tip is therefore to think about the audience, just as much as whatever you are talking about, and build complicity with them.

At the moment you are a member of FOUR clubs !!!Why do you invest so much ?

Because this year I am really committed to progressing in my public speaking skills. Thanks to Toastmasters I have discovered that I love competing. At District level, I have already won the French speech contest, and the French evaluation contest, and in English, my best place has been … 2^nd (in Table Topics in Amsterdam in November 2015). This year I want a N° 1 ! And I also get a lot of pleasure from being a Mentor (only to Mentees who are prepared to invest a bit of time and energy !), and I am proud of the way my Mentees have progressed (that’s my coaching side, and I enjoy it a lot).

Do you have any great objectives in the near future (apart from winning a competition !) ?

I am currently preparing to speak more at conferences, and in February I’m doing a trial run (in French) at a TM club in Villeneuve Loubet. The title of my conference is « Comment sortir du gouffre quand tout s’écroule autour de vous : savoir mobiliser votre force interne », and I am very excited about that !

That was it! The last Toastmaster meeting of the year 2015!

As I was heading back home I had this feeling inside of me, the feeling you have at the end of each meeting. Something that makes you happy inside and grateful about taking part in the meeting, the fact that you might have inspired or helped with great advice a fellow member or a guest.

The meeting’s theme was “Peace & Goodwill”, our dear Toastmaster, Carol BAUSOR, knew exactly how to captivate our intention and inspire our many guests.

The schedule was different but the content stayed the same. We discovered an English speaking game which was quiet enriching. Our two main speakers were Sophie and Elizabeth.

Due to absences, there was competition around the speeches and their evaluators. The only winner was Nicolas with his effective impromptu speech during table topics.

As everybody enjoyed the meeting (and the champagne during the toast of the evening), we have a lot of expectations for the upcoming year!

Stay Tuned for the next Toastmaster meeting on January 7th!

With the coming holiday season, our first meeting of December was around the theme of ‘Sharing’.

We welcomed three guests and a new member Yves who already accepted to take a role during the meeting.

Elizabeth, our toastmaster of the evening, introduced our three speakers: Nicolas, Anastassios and Alicia.

The winners of the evening were:

* Best speakers: a shared 1^st place for Nicolas and Anastassios

* Best table topic: Carol

* Best evaluator: Chelo

Guests and members don’t miss out our next meeting on December 17^th!

We were absolutely thrilled to have the last meeting animated by Chelo, the “top banana”. The theme of the meeting was fruits and vegetables and the decoration of the room was according with that. Leon established the word of the evening: “Orange” which has plenty of meaning. Three interesting speeches were carried out by Damien, Albane and David. A Greek toast by Anastassios animated the pause. The improvisation section, table topics, was animated by our Area governor Wilfried in a hilarious way evoking the subject of fruits and vegetables. Elisabeth, “the second banana”, was in charge of the evaluation section and their team of evaluators realized a great job encouraging all of the speakers and suggesting tips to improve their oral skills. As you know, at the end of each section we vote for the best performance, even if sometimes is like compare apples and oranges. The winners were:

* Best speaker: David.

* Best table topic: Anastassios.

* Best evaluator: Soraya.

This time the winners received a ribbon and another medal, do you recognize it?

Cette semaine nous avons le plaisir de publier l’entretien avec un membre de Toastmasters, Etienne Bulidon, qui a donné sa première conférence ce mois-ci. Il partage avec nous un peu de ses motivations pour devenir membre de Toastmasters, les fruits de son effort quotidien au sein du club et ses expériences qui l’ont poussé à élargir sa zone de confort. 

Depuis quand es-tu membre de Toastmasters Unlimited et qu’est ce qui t’a poussé à devenir membre ?

Je suis membre depuis environ un an et j’ai eu plusieurs motivations pour venir à Toastmasters : Premièrement, j’avais pensé que cela pourrait m’aider à être à l’aise en public. Je n’avais pas vraiment de problème de timidité dans ma vie, sauf quand il fallait que je parle devant plusieurs personnes. Au lieu de continuer à éviter ce genre de situation, je me suis dit qu’il serait plus simple d’apprendre à être à l’aise en public.

Ensuite j’avais envie de continuer à parler anglais. Je revenais d’un long voyage ou j’avais appris cette nouvelle langue et je trouvais dommage de ne plus la pratiquer. (Toasmasters Unlimited est un club où l’on peut parler français ou anglais)

Enfin, j’imaginais rencontrer des personnes intéressantes…

Toutes mes attentes ont été satisfaites 🙂

Quels sont les points forts de Toastmasters ?

J’aime le fait que l’apprentissage soit basé sur du feedback positif, c’est hyper encourageant ! La première fois que je suis venue, je voyais que tout le monde était très encourageant et très gentil… J’ai trouvé ça bizarre, j’ai même imaginé me trouver dans une secte (rire). C’est un peu triste car si j’ai ressenti cela, c’est parce que l’apprentissage en France n’est pas forcément basé sur de la communication positive.

Le deuxième point fort est que tous les niveaux sont réunis. Il y a des personnes qui sont très douées en prise de parole en public et des gens qui n’ont jamais parlé en public. Les « débutants » sont tirés vers le haut par les « anciens », j’ai particulièrement apprécié le soutient de Carol Bausor que je remercie 🙂

Chose très importante également : à aucun moment je me suis senti jugé quand j’ai dû commencer à parler devant les autres !

Tu as donné ta première conférence ce weekend, est-ce que tu avais déjà fait cela auparavant grâce à ton métier (ostéopathe) ? Est-ce que toastmaster t’a aidé ?

Non je n’avais jamais fait cela avant. Mon métier m’amène à parler à de gens en face à face mais pas en public.

Et oui, toastmaster m’a clairement aidé. Je n’aurais jamais osé organiser ma propre conférence il y a un an !

Depuis que je fréquente ce club, je suis également entouré de personnes qui se donnent les moyens pour avancer et je trouve cela très inspirant. Je pense à Claude-Eugénie par exemple, on se donne souvent des défis/objectifs pour se « booster » c’est super.

Est-ce que le fait d’organiser des conférences fait partie de ces défis ? Tu as aussi organisé celle avec Ludovic Hubler l’autre jour…

Quand tu fais un tour du monde, tu réalises beaucoup de choses… Tu vois la vraie misère et tu réalises que tu as de la chance d’être Français. Tu vois aussi que la plupart des gens sont gentils, tu constates que des gens sont heureux sans rien posséder ou presque…

Humainement parlant, cette expérience m’a fait énormément évoluer.

J’ai proposé à Ludovic Hubler de lui organiser sa conférence car c’est un homme qui se donne à fond pour répandre la paix dans le monde via le voyage. Ça me fait plaisir d’aider des gens comme lui. Je vais d’ailleurs reverser tous les bénéfices de ma conférence à son association : Travelwith a mission.

Quels sont tes défis et objectifs futurs :

En tant qu’ostéopathe, on continue d’apprendre durant toute sa carrière…mon objectif numéro 1 est clairement de continuer à évoluer dans ce domaine.

A côté de cela, le fait de me sentir plus à l’aise en public va m’aider à communiquer sur des sujets qui me tiennent à cœur comme la santé et la relation entre le corps et l’esprit par exemple.

Je constate chaque jour au cabinet que certains patients ignorent certaines règles de base pour être en bonne santé. Je compte surtout communiquer sur ce sujet. L’objectif est d’inspirer des milliers de personnes…

Et pour toi, cher lecteur, quelles sont tes motivations pour devenir membre Toastmasters?
N’attends plus, commence ce beau voyage du développement personnel !

This weekend our club members Claude-Eugenie and Carol participated in the District contest in Amsterdam. The best speakers of Europe were there. We are sure that the experience was unique and special. Before their performances, they invested a lot of work and time preparing their excellent speeches. We are looking forward to meeting them again and listen to their experience.

We are delighted to share with you that Carol won the second place in the category of Table Topics. Congratulations!!

Against the grey and dark autumn days, the toastmaster meetings are a restorative moments for all of us. New challenges with different roles during the meetings, such as speakers, table topics, presenters help us develop our public speaking skills.

David, the toastmaster of the evening, shared with us a lot of “secrets” as his theme of the evening suggested. In addition, we passed a delightful moment discovering the talent of the new members, such as Anastassios and Sophie during their “Ice breakers”, their first public speeches. Well done!

At the end of the evening the winners of the ribbons were:

Anastassios was the winner of the best speaker.

Claude-Eugénie won the table topic ribbon thanks to her amazing improvisation.

Soraya with her irreproachable and constructive evaluation won the ribbon for the best evaluator.

Congratulations!!!

Did you miss the meeting? You can join us the next time on November 19^th .

We are going to have a special visitor…. 🙂

Are you ready for a new exciting meeting in Toastmaster Lyon Unlimited?

The previous meeting Alicia conducted a delightful meeting with the theme “Autumn”!

We were delighted to welcome two new members Anastassios and Sophie!!!

Winners of the meeting were:

Etienne surprised the public talking about “The meaning of Live”.

Claude-Eugénie evaluated the excellent speech of Leon.

Tonhu presented her opinion about two different celebrations Halloween and All Saints Day in a table topic.

See you at the next meeting the Thursday 5 November 19h!!!

Last saturday, October 24th, the Division F level Autumn Conference was held in Aix-en-Provence.
It was a great conference and our club member Claude-Eugénie won the English humourous contest!

Best congratulations, Claude-Eugénie!!

Here is an interview with her after her great performance:

Hi dear followers, members and guest of Tostmaster Unlimited!!!

This is a summary of the last ordinary meeting in our club!

Our Toastmaster of the
evening Etienne delighted us with a funny meeting with the theme: “Razzle Dazzle”.

Do you know what that means?

Our ribbons were for:

*Damien: He gave his Ice Breaker!!! Bravo Damien and welcome!

*Carol, who won the title of the Best speaker! Well done!

*Elisabeth whose evaluation was very well appreciated by the audience! Congratulations!

And the winner of the table topic was Alex (a guest), with a funny and entertaining improvisation! Well done! We hope that you will gain the other ribbons in our club as a member Toastmaster.

It was a fantastic meeting. See you the next 22^th October.

We hope to meet you there!