Greetings fellows,
Please take note, next meeting and all subsequent meetings will be held on Wednesday.
The place remains the same so far - Oleny Stepanivny 45.
Best regards,
Lviv Toastmasters Club officers.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Debate session for three persons
Here's a story of one of Lviv Toastmasters meetings that was about to become a failure, but became a success instead.
Due to different reasons Lviv Toastmasters club is having a shortage of people at regular meetings at this time, and it just happened so that at our last meeting most of usual members couldn't come, so we ended up having only 3 persons.
It sounds kind of impossible to have a club meeting of 3 persons only - who'd be evaluating? What'll be the performances? Tabletopic speeches for 2 volunteers? Doesn't sound good.
But we at Lviv Toastmasters have found out that meetings with fewer people are actually a good occasion to have sessions that require a lot of time, like game session or debates. And, believe it or not, it turned out that 3 is just the perfect number for having very interesting extended debates session.
The rules were made on the spot and are actually quite simple:
As one can see, these rules allow to have a debate session for 2 members in no less than 15 minutes: 3 minutes for preparation, 3+2 talk minutes for each debater and a couple of minutes for judge's evaluation.
Since we have 3 persons at the meeting, we have 3 debate sessions turns - one member took a judge role while other two were debating, then next member became a judge etc. So we have spent at least 45 minutes for the debate session.
The subjects for debates were also quite imaginative, and "sharp" enough to sparkle a serious debate:
Some of the initiatives mentioned in the subjects were not so easy to support or oppose by debaters, making the debate session more challenging and thus more fun.
As a result, we managed to have a fun and interesting meeting while having only 3 people present.
Due to different reasons Lviv Toastmasters club is having a shortage of people at regular meetings at this time, and it just happened so that at our last meeting most of usual members couldn't come, so we ended up having only 3 persons.
It sounds kind of impossible to have a club meeting of 3 persons only - who'd be evaluating? What'll be the performances? Tabletopic speeches for 2 volunteers? Doesn't sound good.
But we at Lviv Toastmasters have found out that meetings with fewer people are actually a good occasion to have sessions that require a lot of time, like game session or debates. And, believe it or not, it turned out that 3 is just the perfect number for having very interesting extended debates session.
The rules were made on the spot and are actually quite simple:
- two of the members engage in a debate with each other on a subject given by the third member, for example: legalising light drugs, implementing mandatory submission of body organs of people deceased in hospitals to a government organ donation pool etc;
- members cannot decide on their own whether they'd like to support or oppose the idea given in a subject - they draw a lot instead;
- the third member is also acting as a timer and an evaluator, deciding who was proving his point in a best way and thus won the debates, and also speaking on what could've been done better by both participants;
- the debates take part in 2 rounds, 3 minutes in first round and 2 minutes in second round, where debaters could address each other's points given in first round. The members are also given 3 minutes to prepare before first round. The one who is to support the idea given in a subject - starts first.
As one can see, these rules allow to have a debate session for 2 members in no less than 15 minutes: 3 minutes for preparation, 3+2 talk minutes for each debater and a couple of minutes for judge's evaluation.
Since we have 3 persons at the meeting, we have 3 debate sessions turns - one member took a judge role while other two were debating, then next member became a judge etc. So we have spent at least 45 minutes for the debate session.
The subjects for debates were also quite imaginative, and "sharp" enough to sparkle a serious debate:
- Light drugs (marijuana in particular) should be legalised;
- Organs of people who die in hospitals should be automatically donated to government organ transplantation pool, without any request for consent from relatives etc.
- A government facilities should be created for centralised food production that would make food production cheaper and accessible for most of average people, who wouldn't need to have own kitchens in their apartments and prepare food on their own.
Some of the initiatives mentioned in the subjects were not so easy to support or oppose by debaters, making the debate session more challenging and thus more fun.
As a result, we managed to have a fun and interesting meeting while having only 3 people present.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Lviv Toastmasters Club in 2-nd half of 2013
Greetings dear toastmasters,
As the eve of a new year's day it is the time to look back at a passing year 2013 and club achievements during the time.
We are happy to report that second half year of 2013 showed some good progress in a club business - thanks to the dedication and support of our old and new members. We were also supported by local IT companies - a support for which we've very grateful.
A quick summary of our most notable achievements:
As the eve of a new year's day it is the time to look back at a passing year 2013 and club achievements during the time.
We are happy to report that second half year of 2013 showed some good progress in a club business - thanks to the dedication and support of our old and new members. We were also supported by local IT companies - a support for which we've very grateful.
A quick summary of our most notable achievements:
- The club was invited to hold meetings at an EPAM company training centre. We express our gratitude to EPAM for the invitation and further support.
- A new officers team has been elected, and now the club finally has a full officers team again.
- Thanks to the enthusiasm of new officers the club has successfully held a local speech contest, or as we call it "Speech Championship". We congratulate Victor Medvedev on winning the contest.
- Statistics for 2-nd half of year 2013 show several significant performance improvements: less meetings cancelled, more prepared speeches were delivered by more speakers, higher number of total participations on roles and higher number of participations per person (i.e. more activity from club members).
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Lemberg Toastmasters statistics for First half-year of 2013
Lemberg Toastmasters
First half-year of 2013 statistics
15 meetings
(on average 5 meetings per 2 months)
3 prepared speeches by 3 speakers
(on average 0.33 speeches per meeting, 0.5 per month, 1 per speaker)
And also 6 mini-speeches by 4 speakers.
21 people were taking roles
Thank you all so much!
112 total roles participations
Including prepared speakers (~7.46 roles per meeting, ~5.33 participations by one person for half-year or ~0.88 per month)
14 viewpoints, 10 table topics, 11 games
Visiting Lemberg toastmasters for one month you'd go to 2 or 3 meetings, possibly hear a prepared speech and certainly hear 1 mini-speech, participate in around 2 viewpoints and table topics, two games, and take a role once.
In general this half-year was a lot about impromptu speaking and games. Unfortunately, we’re still witnessing a steady decline in club attendance - from more than 200 role participations per half-year in 2011, to 153 in first half-year of 2012, to 137 in second half-year 2012, to 112 this half-year.
But we had almost two times more games than previous half-year.
We had three times fewer prepared speeches than previous half-year, but a slight increase in mini-speeches though.
We need to invite new people and increase attendance! This was our imperative for first half-year of 2013, and it remains thus for the second half-year.
Notable standouts
- Most versatile - Ihor Klyuka took 9 different roles!
Everyone else took 7 and less different roles during this half-year.
- Most active - Mykola Makhin took roles 18 times (one or more than one role each meeting).
Ihor Klyuka and Tetiana Povshyk come close with 15 and 14 participations respective.
Everyone else took 12 and less roles during this half-year.
Let's delve into details...
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Tasks for semi-humorous TableTopics
Greetings fellows.
Recently I have led some more (semi-)humorous TableTopics, and I'm ready to share some details on that - maybe they'll help you prepare your own TableTopics or re-use those at your club.
For the TableTopic every speaker had to imagine himself or herself as someone who occupies position of a City Mayor or possibly a leader of influential party or political fraction within City Council - any imaginary person that has the power to initiate some major changes within the city (I know that's not exactly realistic, but it's just fine for the sake of TableTopic - after all it had to have some humour in it so noone would get bored (-: ).
The speaker was given a task - a description of certain change that he/she as an influential figure was about to do to the city. He/she had to explain why this change is good for the city and why exactly this thing is his/her top priority for current time. Usually that change was something eccentric, so that the speaker would had to think how to present it in as something beneficial and relevant.
So, here are the tasks (descriptions of aforementioned hypothetical changes to city life) from two recent TableTopics:
TableTopic one:
Recently I have led some more (semi-)humorous TableTopics, and I'm ready to share some details on that - maybe they'll help you prepare your own TableTopics or re-use those at your club.
For the TableTopic every speaker had to imagine himself or herself as someone who occupies position of a City Mayor or possibly a leader of influential party or political fraction within City Council - any imaginary person that has the power to initiate some major changes within the city (I know that's not exactly realistic, but it's just fine for the sake of TableTopic - after all it had to have some humour in it so noone would get bored (-: ).
The speaker was given a task - a description of certain change that he/she as an influential figure was about to do to the city. He/she had to explain why this change is good for the city and why exactly this thing is his/her top priority for current time. Usually that change was something eccentric, so that the speaker would had to think how to present it in as something beneficial and relevant.
So, here are the tasks (descriptions of aforementioned hypothetical changes to city life) from two recent TableTopics:
TableTopic one:
- Turn city fountains into a free swimming pools with a hot water working all the year around.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters statistics for Second half-year of 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters
Second half-year of 2012 statistics
18 meetings
(average 3 per month)
9 prepared speeches by 5 speakers
(average 0.5 per meeting, 1.5 per month, ~1.8 per speaker)
And also 5 mini-speeches by 5 speakers
22 people were taking roles
Thank you all so much!
137 total roles participations
Including prepared speakers
(~7.6 roles per meeting, ~6.2 participations by one person for half-year or ~1 per month)
15 viewpoints, 15 table topics, 6 games
Visiting Lemberg toastmasters for one month you'd go to 3 meetings, hear 1 or 2 different speeches (and 1 mini-speech), participate in around 2 or 3 viewpoints and table topics, one game, and take a role once.
In general this half-year was much more about impromptu speaking. Unfortunately, we’re witnessing a steady decline in club attendance - from more than 200 role participations per half-year in 2011, to 153 in first half-year of 2012, to 137 now. Still, we have a little bit more viewpoints and table-topics in this half-year than in previous one, and 3 more games - two times more! - than previous half-year. We have less than half of previous half-year count in prepared speeches though, which is also 5 times less prepared speeches per month than in 2011.
We need to invite new people and increase attendance! That’s our imperative for 2013, so bring friends and otherwise spread the word where possible (-;
Notable standouts
- Top Speaker - Orest Chopko with 4 speeches!
No one else delivered more than 2 speeches, in fact most prepared speakers delivered only 1 speech during this half-year.
- Most versatile - Alex Sheremet took 10 different roles!
Mykola Makhin comes close with 9, everyone else took 7 and less different roles during this half-year.
Now, the details...
Second half-year of 2012 statistics
18 meetings
(average 3 per month)
9 prepared speeches by 5 speakers
(average 0.5 per meeting, 1.5 per month, ~1.8 per speaker)
And also 5 mini-speeches by 5 speakers
22 people were taking roles
Thank you all so much!
137 total roles participations
Including prepared speakers
(~7.6 roles per meeting, ~6.2 participations by one person for half-year or ~1 per month)
15 viewpoints, 15 table topics, 6 games
Visiting Lemberg toastmasters for one month you'd go to 3 meetings, hear 1 or 2 different speeches (and 1 mini-speech), participate in around 2 or 3 viewpoints and table topics, one game, and take a role once.
In general this half-year was much more about impromptu speaking. Unfortunately, we’re witnessing a steady decline in club attendance - from more than 200 role participations per half-year in 2011, to 153 in first half-year of 2012, to 137 now. Still, we have a little bit more viewpoints and table-topics in this half-year than in previous one, and 3 more games - two times more! - than previous half-year. We have less than half of previous half-year count in prepared speeches though, which is also 5 times less prepared speeches per month than in 2011.
We need to invite new people and increase attendance! That’s our imperative for 2013, so bring friends and otherwise spread the word where possible (-;
Notable standouts
- Top Speaker - Orest Chopko with 4 speeches!
No one else delivered more than 2 speeches, in fact most prepared speakers delivered only 1 speech during this half-year.
- Most versatile - Alex Sheremet took 10 different roles!
Mykola Makhin comes close with 9, everyone else took 7 and less different roles during this half-year.
Now, the details...
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Crooked politicians - a humorous table topic
Greetings toastmasters,
Recently I've made a humorous table topic that seemed to worked pretty well in our club, so here I am sharing the idea with the world (-:
Every volunteer had a task of impersonating a crooked politician - in a humorous "tongue-in-cheek" way of course, nothing too political (which would be against the rules). The volunteer had a task that sounded like this: "You are a politician that did something very unethical or sometimes even criminal (explanation of the deed included). Now that new elections are coming how would you explain yourself to public to clean your name?"
The task had really made the volunteers to make an effort to think. And also as you can probably imagine some of the excuses our "guilty politicians" were making were hilarious (-: , so the table topic was both interesting and funny.
To share some fun here's a little teaser video:
There were seven tasks written in total, and I'm sharing the task texts here so you could use it in your club if you want to, or make your own based on those:
Recently I've made a humorous table topic that seemed to worked pretty well in our club, so here I am sharing the idea with the world (-:
Every volunteer had a task of impersonating a crooked politician - in a humorous "tongue-in-cheek" way of course, nothing too political (which would be against the rules). The volunteer had a task that sounded like this: "You are a politician that did something very unethical or sometimes even criminal (explanation of the deed included). Now that new elections are coming how would you explain yourself to public to clean your name?"
The task had really made the volunteers to make an effort to think. And also as you can probably imagine some of the excuses our "guilty politicians" were making were hilarious (-: , so the table topic was both interesting and funny.
To share some fun here's a little teaser video:
There were seven tasks written in total, and I'm sharing the task texts here so you could use it in your club if you want to, or make your own based on those:
Monday, July 30, 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters info sheets online
Here are some informational materials for Lemberg Toastmasters that should answer most of the questions about the Club that outside people might have.
Friday, July 20, 2012
They are waiting for your IceBreakers
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters statistics for first half-year of 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters
First half-year of 2012 statistics
19 meetings
(19/6 ~= 3.17 per month)
21 prepared speeches by 12 speakers
(~1.1 per meeting, 3.5 per month, ~1.75 per speaker)
26 people were taking roles
Thank you all so much!
153 total roles participations
Including prepared speakers
(~8 roles per meeting, ~5.88 participations by one person for half-year or ~1 per month)
14 viewpoints, 12 table topics, 3 games and one debate
Visiting Lemberg toastmasters for one month you'd go to roughly 3 meetings, hear 4 different speeches, participate in around 2 viewpoints and 2 table topics, and take a role once.All in all this was a productive half-year!
Notable standouts
- Top Speaker - Orest Chopko with 5 speeches!
Noone else delivered more than 2 speeches
- Top Speech Evaluator - Alex Sheremet with 7 speech evaluations!
Noone else did more than 3
Ok, let’s get into the details...
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Club Experience
Toastmasters International published a nice video about the club experience, with explanations and comments.
Lovely.
Lovely.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Lemberg Toastmasters 5-th Anniversary Party Report
Lemberg Toastmasters 5-th Anniversary Party Report
by Yustyna Holubets
Dear Toastmasters!
I am very happy to report that on February 8th the anniversary of Lemberg Toastmasters took place!
Luxurious place, delicate dishes and lovely music perfectly amplified our energy for various exciting activities.
There were two Holiday Table Topics during which volunteer speakers shared their wishes and painted by words different positive emotions. The winners, Lyuba Lazarenko and Alex Bair, got sweet presents.
Also during games guessing child photos and secrets we had an opportunity to discover some less known facts of our club members’ life and also find out how they looked long before becoming toastmasters. World music and quotations guessing games added an exciting intriguing spirit.
And true zest of the evening became “The Talent Show”. During the evening we mentioned outstanding abilities of our members:
- Mykola Makhin who made a statistics of members’ progress with diagrams and tables.
- Alex Bair who is keen on doing amazing sites about cinema.
- Alex Sheremet who is good at handmade art doing original and practical things.
- Andriy Turak who has a definite talent in drama playing.
- Also we enjoyed the performances and demonstrations of the following talents.
- Lyuba Lazarenko presented a splendid singing number taking us to “Marilyn Monroe” world.
- Igor Klyuka revealed his deep interest in Asian cultures showing us his origami skills.
- Olena Derzko provided a desert for the party having cooked her wonderful eclers.
- Oles Semenyuk made us burst from laugh by presenting his humorous stories.
- Yustyna Holubets introduced a mysterious Orient with her Indian and Arabic dances.
I would like to thank every participant for coming, for your holiday mood and active participation!
Special thanks to:
- Victor Medvedyev for organization and support of the event.
- Lyuba Lazarenko for arranging the place and menu.
- Mykola Makhin for technical support and for being a prefect DJ.
- Alex Sheremet for managing contest prizes.
- Sviatoslav Zalizschuk for sharing his notebook.
- Olenka Derzko for bringing perfect dance music.
- Kostya Pylypchuk for being our “Fashion Hunter”.
- Andriy Turak, our devoted President, who did come to celebration in spite of breaking his leg.
And all others who did send the photos and secrets!
Update:
See more photos from the Anniversary below
Sunday, December 4, 2011
...to help you break the ice - a prize for delivering an Ice Breaker
"Come to the dark side!.. We have cookies :-)"
// reportedly a motivational phrase by Darth Vader
Our conscious mind and logic tell us that since one becomes a member of a Toastmasters Club he should waste no time and start delivering the speeches, but our subconscious mind often has different opinion. Knowing that we're about to go on a many miles journey we will most certainly hesitate to make a first step, even though it seems to be an easy step to do on it's own. Similar things happen to new members as they are about to deliver their Ice Breakers - there's always some fear or uncertainty in our subconsciousness that causes procrastination and evasion, while our conscious mind just makes up excuses like "I think I'm not prepared enough yet" etc. Life is full of situations like this, I believe everyone at certain times in their lives have to struggle with themselves to overcome this kind of "invisible barrier".
But, as often mentioned, Toastmasters Club is a positive and mutually supportive environment. And now as a part of this support we are introducing a new thing that should really help you on getting extra motivation for delivering an Ice Breaker and getting your subconsciousness to become eager to deliver it - a prize! A prize for delivering an Ice Breaker.
The prize itself isn't something extra fancy, yet we believe it is just the right thing to have an effect on your subconscious mind - this nice cup with Toastmasters International logo:
click to see bigger picture
Looks good, doesn't it? Want one? Than stop hesitating and deliver that Ice Breaker! :-)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
New Officers Team
Lemberg TM club has appointed a new team of officers for 2011-2012.
Please welcome:
Andriy Turak - President
Alex Sheremet - VP Education
Yustyna Holubets - VP Membership
Pavlo Maschak - VP PR
Secretary - Mykola Makhin
Treasurer - Dmytro Martynov
I personally wish these guys the best of the experience on the leadership position at the club, and truly devoted members and great achievements!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Viewpoint
You have probably noticed a strange phenomenon: sometimes a discussion can be hot and last hours, but other times barely a handful of sentences are dropped — and the talk is over, as nobody replies, let alone argues. Some blog posts collect thousands of links and comments, while other products of the same author can remain uncommented.
The skill to support the hot flame of discussion can be developed, this is why we make a Viewpoint section an essential part of our club meetings.
To cut a long story short, here are the basic rules. A speaker has 2 minutes to deliver a controversial viewpoint. His speech is aimed at splitting the audience in halves: supporters and opponents, and starting a hot dispute between them. Responders have 1 minute each to reply.
It is very important to clearly understand your stand point, and deliver it straight, with no disclaimers. There can only be black or white, and no shade. Do not try to analyse pros and cons of each side.
When you prepare a viewpoint speech, remember what causes the biggest urge to reply. I bet, nobody wants to answer a trivial question. But I want to stand up and speak up when someone is wrong. So, it is important to deliver a strong statement rather than a question.
Reading this, you may think: "Blimey, you are talking about Internet trolls!" — Right, I am! They know, how to make you boil, and extract tons of comments out of readers. Their methods are a good lesson for shy speakers, who protect each opinion with disclaimers.
So, here are my three major tips for a viewpoint speaker:
The skill to support the hot flame of discussion can be developed, this is why we make a Viewpoint section an essential part of our club meetings.
To cut a long story short, here are the basic rules. A speaker has 2 minutes to deliver a controversial viewpoint. His speech is aimed at splitting the audience in halves: supporters and opponents, and starting a hot dispute between them. Responders have 1 minute each to reply.
It is very important to clearly understand your stand point, and deliver it straight, with no disclaimers. There can only be black or white, and no shade. Do not try to analyse pros and cons of each side.
When you prepare a viewpoint speech, remember what causes the biggest urge to reply. I bet, nobody wants to answer a trivial question. But I want to stand up and speak up when someone is wrong. So, it is important to deliver a strong statement rather than a question.
Reading this, you may think: "Blimey, you are talking about Internet trolls!" — Right, I am! They know, how to make you boil, and extract tons of comments out of readers. Their methods are a good lesson for shy speakers, who protect each opinion with disclaimers.
So, here are my three major tips for a viewpoint speaker:
- Pick a title that draws attention. It needs to catch their eye sights, and rise their eye brows a bit.
- Deliver an intentionally limited, one-sided view point, which leaves no room for different mindset. Make their heart beat stronger.
- Make a very controversial statement as a conclusion. Let the blood hammer in their temples!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Hot Rhythms of Summer Holidays
Summer in winter! Can it be possible? Definitely yes! At Toastmasters Summer carnival which took place in Kiev, on 22nd of January 2011!
The atmosphere of the beach, sea, sand and hot burning sun captured you as soon as you stepped inside the room. All the guests got a warm welcome on reception where they were provided with the sunhats to protect the heads from the sunstroke, with small bottles to blow soap bubbles and sugar candies to feel that cool sweet holiday carelessness.
You felt as if you were at real beach: all around there were umbrellas, towels with dolphins, and a slide show of participants’ best holidays’ photos in the background. Girls in their best dresses were beautiful and bright as flowers, guys in colorful shorts, shirts and sunglasses looked like real playboys. Everyone excited, merry, relaxed and energetic.
As soon as the company was rather big the team game was a good start indeed. Divided in teams we were to create the best holiday story. After exciting and loud discussions and preparation we felt much more relaxed and close to each other, so funny it was. We could enjoy the witty, eccentric performances recreating a deserted island with an exotic tribe, an Egyptian hotel with dangerous sharks, and a beauty contest with an unusual end.
After some time of pleasant conversations, delicious food, Kiev Toastmasters presented some pretty and interesting numbers. There was a song written by one of the members who played it on a guitar, another girl sang a romantic nice hit from the 80-s, and a group of six officers from the Area team performed a really funny yet very challenging and concentration demanding project.
And of course, what is the summer without dancing? Our party contained a really hot dance part. To inspire the audience and to present them with an exotic wind of orient there was a performance of Bollywood-belly dance numbers (presented by me, Yustyna Holubets, which was a great pleasure and honor for me). This was followed by a fascinating and energizing master class of Latin dance from a true professional dancer Gabriel from Cuba. And then it went! There was no person who wouldn’t dance that evening. Hot and romantic, rhythmic and slow music gave us all a unique feeling of holidays and took us back to such desired sunny days.
Three members from our Lviv Lemberg Toastmasters Club were lucky to be present there. Victor Medvedev seemed to be one of the most popular playboys among the others.
Our president Lena Koronenko with her unique self-made wreath of fresh flowers and her witty jokes created a summer mood from the very beginning as the host of the event.
As for me, the carnival became an excellent time of holiday, inspiring, amazing, great time…
Yustyna Holubets
The atmosphere of the beach, sea, sand and hot burning sun captured you as soon as you stepped inside the room. All the guests got a warm welcome on reception where they were provided with the sunhats to protect the heads from the sunstroke, with small bottles to blow soap bubbles and sugar candies to feel that cool sweet holiday carelessness.
You felt as if you were at real beach: all around there were umbrellas, towels with dolphins, and a slide show of participants’ best holidays’ photos in the background. Girls in their best dresses were beautiful and bright as flowers, guys in colorful shorts, shirts and sunglasses looked like real playboys. Everyone excited, merry, relaxed and energetic.
As soon as the company was rather big the team game was a good start indeed. Divided in teams we were to create the best holiday story. After exciting and loud discussions and preparation we felt much more relaxed and close to each other, so funny it was. We could enjoy the witty, eccentric performances recreating a deserted island with an exotic tribe, an Egyptian hotel with dangerous sharks, and a beauty contest with an unusual end.
After some time of pleasant conversations, delicious food, Kiev Toastmasters presented some pretty and interesting numbers. There was a song written by one of the members who played it on a guitar, another girl sang a romantic nice hit from the 80-s, and a group of six officers from the Area team performed a really funny yet very challenging and concentration demanding project.And of course, what is the summer without dancing? Our party contained a really hot dance part. To inspire the audience and to present them with an exotic wind of orient there was a performance of Bollywood-belly dance numbers (presented by me, Yustyna Holubets, which was a great pleasure and honor for me). This was followed by a fascinating and energizing master class of Latin dance from a true professional dancer Gabriel from Cuba. And then it went! There was no person who wouldn’t dance that evening. Hot and romantic, rhythmic and slow music gave us all a unique feeling of holidays and took us back to such desired sunny days.
Three members from our Lviv Lemberg Toastmasters Club were lucky to be present there. Victor Medvedev seemed to be one of the most popular playboys among the others.
Our president Lena Koronenko with her unique self-made wreath of fresh flowers and her witty jokes created a summer mood from the very beginning as the host of the event.
As for me, the carnival became an excellent time of holiday, inspiring, amazing, great time…
Yustyna HolubetsTuesday, December 7, 2010
Table Topics Contest
Great news everyone! Last week we have conducted a Table Topics Contest. After the great response we got last year, we have decided to make this our annual tradition.
Each meeting is fun and interesting on its own, but from time to time we want even more emotions, a spirit of contest, communication with other clubs. That is what contests are for: to show what we can do, and to watch others in action! People from different clubs gathered in Lviv this time to compete for the titles of Best Table Topic Master, and Best Table Topic Speaker.
What are Table Topics anyway? Table topics are small impromptu speeches. They are just 2 minutes long, but need to have perfect structure, to be emotional and inspiring.
Table Topic masters announce the rules and general theme for talks. They conduct the show, talking on a subject to help speakers form their own story or a viewpoint, they also make transitions between speakers and their speeches.
This year we had four contestants who prepared their Table Topics sessions. Four judges, two from Lviv, and two from Kyiv, apprised the Best Table Topic Master based on fixed criteria and cold-minded analysis of strengths and flaws of each of four contestants. We paid much attention to fair metrics, so that a cheerful smile and contagious positiveness do not outperform thoughtful preparation and elaborate rehearsal. This is our second contest already (see the Table Topics contest 2009), nevertheless we still see the ways to improve our scale.
A fair democratic voting was our way to let the people’s hearts choose the best Speaker and the Chosen Table Topic Master. This way we made sure that no pure technical trick or weeks of thorough preparation would outperform the natural charm and enthusiasm!
What are Table Topics anyway? Table topics are small impromptu speeches. They are just 2 minutes long, but need to have perfect structure, to be emotional and inspiring.
Table Topic masters announce the rules and general theme for talks. They conduct the show, talking on a subject to help speakers form their own story or a viewpoint, they also make transitions between speakers and their speeches.
This year we had four contestants who prepared their Table Topics sessions. Four judges, two from Lviv, and two from Kyiv, apprised the Best Table Topic Master based on fixed criteria and cold-minded analysis of strengths and flaws of each of four contestants. We paid much attention to fair metrics, so that a cheerful smile and contagious positiveness do not outperform thoughtful preparation and elaborate rehearsal. This is our second contest already (see the Table Topics contest 2009), nevertheless we still see the ways to improve our scale.
A fair democratic voting was our way to let the people’s hearts choose the best Speaker and the Chosen Table Topic Master. This way we made sure that no pure technical trick or weeks of thorough preparation would outperform the natural charm and enthusiasm!
Lyuba Lazarenko was first to present a topic of cartoons. The cartoon heroes we all know appeared in different situations on her pictures. Speakers were asked to describe the story behind the illustrations. All the stories were quite unexpected, and interesting :) And as one of the speakers, I must admit that they were challenging to compose. Only when one tries walking in Table Topic Speaker's shoes, can he understand how brilliant some stories and speakers truly are!
Christina Domashchuk asked the audience to come up with an alternative story based on well-known fairy tales. As in the childhood, the tales were entertaining and had a happy ending. But unlike hearing your grandmother tell the story again and again, knowing every next word, no one could ever guess what comes next! The listeners were roaring with laughter at very unexpected turns of the plots.
Yustyna Holubets was about to found a Total Happiness Organization, and conducted interviews with candidates to the head positions of departments of Confidence, Luck, Success and Creativity. Speakers presented their own ways to run the organization and help people according to their department’s competence. Very thought provoking, the topic has led to interesting ideas and thoughts that make us look at our ways of life from different angles.
And no discussion today can be conducted without trendy social networks! Yuriy Karabach lead the discussion, asked provoking questions, and even called 2 speakers at once to make a sketch on personal communication in an office while facing an impatient deadline. I am personally not a big fan of all the e-social stuff, but the discussion made me consider: maybe it’s worth a second try? It definitely sounded cool!
All the masters were hilarious and creative in their own way, and speakers were a good match to them!
Overall, the contest turned out to be a success. Ancient streets of old Lviv met the first snow, while in the SoftServe’s meeting room Toastmasters enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of friendly talks, stories, and presentations, the rage of a contest, and the joy of sweet victory.
Congratulations to Lyuba Lazarenko, she was chosen by the audience to be the Best Table Topic Speaker!
Congratulations to Christina Domashchuk, she received the Audience Choice Award!
Congratulations to Yustyna Holubets, she was chosen by the jury to be the Best Table Topic Master!
Congratulations to all participants and guests, we had a whole weekend of fun, and that was brilliant! :-)
All the masters were hilarious and creative in their own way, and speakers were a good match to them!
Overall, the contest turned out to be a success. Ancient streets of old Lviv met the first snow, while in the SoftServe’s meeting room Toastmasters enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of friendly talks, stories, and presentations, the rage of a contest, and the joy of sweet victory.
Congratulations to Lyuba Lazarenko, she was chosen by the audience to be the Best Table Topic Speaker!
Congratulations to Christina Domashchuk, she received the Audience Choice Award!
Congratulations to Yustyna Holubets, she was chosen by the jury to be the Best Table Topic Master!
Congratulations to all participants and guests, we had a whole weekend of fun, and that was brilliant! :-)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Games Toastmasters Play
It’s a well-known fact that people come to Toastmasters to learn. It’s also a well-known fact that people come to Toastmasters to have fun :)
And what better way to combine business with pleasure than to practice your English and public speaking skills by playing games? That’s why occasionally we play games at the meetings. There are a lot of speaking games out there and we have tried many of them, until we found two favorite ones, which have the advantage of giving players a great opportunity to use their speaking skills, while being very thrilling and entertaining.
Hide a Word
To play this game, the audience is divided into two teams, and each player gets a piece of paper with a common, fairly everyday use word, which they don’t show to anyone.
Players from each team are then called to the stage in turn to give a one minute speech on a topic provided by the opposing team. The topic can be anything: the weather, fishing, astrology, etc. The key is to use your secret word during this one-minute speech at least once. When the minute is over, the opposing team gets three attempts to guess what the secret word was. If they guess the word, they get a point, and if they don’t guess, then the speaker’s team gets a point.
The trick is to forward your speech in the necessary direction or to slip the secret word into a sentence without going too far off topic; otherwise the opposing team will easily guess it. And here is where your Toastmasters practice comes in handy :)
Of course, the more specific or unusual the topic is, the more difficult it will be for the speaker to use the secret word without going off topic too much, so there has to be a moderator to make sure the topics aren’t completely bizarre.
We usually play a practice round with the game master being the speaker with the secret word and the players giving the topic and trying to guess the word, so that everyone understands the idea of the game.
This game is great for Toastmasters since it develops quick thinking, adept speaking and attentive listening.
Just 1 Minute
Another game we like to play is called “Just 1 minute” and is fairly popular among Toastmasters.
As with “Hide a Word” the audience is divided into two teams. The game master gives one of the teams a topic to speak on and starts the timer. A speaker from this team starts to speak on the given topic and continues until he is stopped by a player from the opposing team. Any player of the opposing team can stop the speaker if he makes any kind of mistake in his speech, like says “um”, takes a pause which is too long, makes a grammatical mistake, or goes off topic. The player who stops the speaker then proceeds to speak on this topic until he makes a mistake and is stopped by the opposing team. The teams continue until the minute runs out. Whoever is speaking at the end of the minute gets a point for their team.
This game is very competitive and thrilling and really keeps you on your toes. It teaches you to think ahead of speaking even when time is limited, producing an eloquent and seamless speech.
Other Games
We are always looking for new ideas to make our meetings even more diverse and interesting, so if you know other speaking games you would like to play at the meeting, don't hesitate and sign up for the Game master role!
And what better way to combine business with pleasure than to practice your English and public speaking skills by playing games? That’s why occasionally we play games at the meetings. There are a lot of speaking games out there and we have tried many of them, until we found two favorite ones, which have the advantage of giving players a great opportunity to use their speaking skills, while being very thrilling and entertaining.
Hide a Word
To play this game, the audience is divided into two teams, and each player gets a piece of paper with a common, fairly everyday use word, which they don’t show to anyone.
Players from each team are then called to the stage in turn to give a one minute speech on a topic provided by the opposing team. The topic can be anything: the weather, fishing, astrology, etc. The key is to use your secret word during this one-minute speech at least once. When the minute is over, the opposing team gets three attempts to guess what the secret word was. If they guess the word, they get a point, and if they don’t guess, then the speaker’s team gets a point.
The trick is to forward your speech in the necessary direction or to slip the secret word into a sentence without going too far off topic; otherwise the opposing team will easily guess it. And here is where your Toastmasters practice comes in handy :)
Of course, the more specific or unusual the topic is, the more difficult it will be for the speaker to use the secret word without going off topic too much, so there has to be a moderator to make sure the topics aren’t completely bizarre.
We usually play a practice round with the game master being the speaker with the secret word and the players giving the topic and trying to guess the word, so that everyone understands the idea of the game.
This game is great for Toastmasters since it develops quick thinking, adept speaking and attentive listening.
Just 1 Minute
Another game we like to play is called “Just 1 minute” and is fairly popular among Toastmasters.
As with “Hide a Word” the audience is divided into two teams. The game master gives one of the teams a topic to speak on and starts the timer. A speaker from this team starts to speak on the given topic and continues until he is stopped by a player from the opposing team. Any player of the opposing team can stop the speaker if he makes any kind of mistake in his speech, like says “um”, takes a pause which is too long, makes a grammatical mistake, or goes off topic. The player who stops the speaker then proceeds to speak on this topic until he makes a mistake and is stopped by the opposing team. The teams continue until the minute runs out. Whoever is speaking at the end of the minute gets a point for their team.
This game is very competitive and thrilling and really keeps you on your toes. It teaches you to think ahead of speaking even when time is limited, producing an eloquent and seamless speech.
Other Games
We are always looking for new ideas to make our meetings even more diverse and interesting, so if you know other speaking games you would like to play at the meeting, don't hesitate and sign up for the Game master role!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Lemberg Toastmasters! We rock! We have 2nd place winner among the best Toastmaster speakers in Ukraine!
Time flies, seems like only a month ago we had our Local Speech Contest held in our club in winter.
We had two winners, Lena Koronenko and Alex Sheremet! According to the rules local winners went to Fifth Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest to take part, and we won 2nd place! Within 14 participants, our Lena Koronenko won as a second best Toastmaster speaker in Ukraine!
Our warmest congratulations to Lena who brought such an honor to Lemberg Toastmasters club as a 2nd place winner in All Ukrainian Speech Contest. That means that Lemberg Toastmasters have a real potential, and we are proud of having such a professional member in our club.
The Fifth Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest was organized by Toastmasters clubs in Ukraine and took place in the premises of Master-Klass Cultural Centre in Kyiv on April 25th, 2010. More than 120 people have attended the event and witnessed 14 articulate and very creative speeches delivered by representatives of 7 Toastmasters Clubs.
The winners of the contest were:
First place – Evgenia Poluektova, American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club, Kyiv
Second place – Olena Koronenko, Lemberg Toastmasters Club, Lviv
Third place – Tatiana Lukinyuk, American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club, Kyiv
On the picture: (from left to right)Olena Koronenko, Evgenia Poluektova, Tatiana Lukinyuk.
There were 3 people from our club who took part in the contest:
Lena Koronenko (contestant), Alex Sheremet(contestant) and Yaroslav Kisylychka (judge). I (Olena Derzhko) was lucky to talk to each of them and to get their impressions after visiting such event.
OD: Lena, what did you like the most in the contest?
OK: It is a great opportunity for each speaker to try him/herself in doing your best when competing to be the best public speaker. Such opportunity is of course challenging, but gives you lots of feedbacks: those are learning what it takes to be the winner, practice it and just a pleasure when you perform on a stage when the audience counts more than 100 people, and those are not your friends or relatives. It is all much more serious.
OD: Lena, were you scared to perform? Events of such importance do not happen so often?
OK: No, I wasn’t scared. The main thing, I was prepared and when you are prepared, you have nothing to be scared of.
OD: What are the benefits of participating in such contests for a Toastmaster club member?
OK: It is beneficial for any Toastmaster because you get a chance to speak in front of a large audience, from a big stage, which is it is another experience comparing to speaking in front of your well-known audience of your local members. Plus, you gain completely new skills when you speak among the best speakers, and get to be evaluated by unbiased jury with a really objective opinion about you. And also it is a great chance to meet different Toastmasters, to extend your networking. I consider All Ukrainian Speech Contest as a very great entertaining, even if you don’t go as a speaker-participant.
On the picture: Alex Sheremet delivering his speech
OD: Alex, what are the advantages of taking part in such events like Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest?
A.Sh.:First of all, there you will see the best prepared speeches, what they should look like. It means fresh ideas and approaches to communicate with people, not just theory, but the best practices. You see what works, and what does not. Also, you meet many new people, and making personal contacts is always good for business and hobby.
The Toastmasters community consists of active people, who are professionals in certain area. It is surprising, how quickly my contact list grows with people I know personally, who can help me in my projects, or suggest being a part of theirs.
And last, but not least, participating in a speech contest is an unmatched experience, it is always exciting, it is a good benchmark of what you really can as an author and speaker.
On the picture: Yaroslav Kisylychka, judge at the contest)
OD: Yaroslav, you participated in Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest as a judge. Tell us your impressions, what did you like about your role?
Y.K. As a judge I liked to evaluate every separate speaker according to 5 important skills, that a good speaker should have. It is not that hard to evaluate speaker objectively, still it requires some experience of evaluator, and exactly the first 6 speeches allow you to gain the mentioned experience and all the rest is just to polish the things you have learned.
We had two winners, Lena Koronenko and Alex Sheremet! According to the rules local winners went to Fifth Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest to take part, and we won 2nd place! Within 14 participants, our Lena Koronenko won as a second best Toastmaster speaker in Ukraine!
Our warmest congratulations to Lena who brought such an honor to Lemberg Toastmasters club as a 2nd place winner in All Ukrainian Speech Contest. That means that Lemberg Toastmasters have a real potential, and we are proud of having such a professional member in our club.
The Fifth Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest was organized by Toastmasters clubs in Ukraine and took place in the premises of Master-Klass Cultural Centre in Kyiv on April 25th, 2010. More than 120 people have attended the event and witnessed 14 articulate and very creative speeches delivered by representatives of 7 Toastmasters Clubs.
The winners of the contest were:
First place – Evgenia Poluektova, American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club, Kyiv
Second place – Olena Koronenko, Lemberg Toastmasters Club, Lviv
Third place – Tatiana Lukinyuk, American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club, Kyiv
On the picture: (from left to right)Olena Koronenko, Evgenia Poluektova, Tatiana Lukinyuk.
There were 3 people from our club who took part in the contest:
Lena Koronenko (contestant), Alex Sheremet(contestant) and Yaroslav Kisylychka (judge). I (Olena Derzhko) was lucky to talk to each of them and to get their impressions after visiting such event.
OD: Lena, what did you like the most in the contest?
OK: It is a great opportunity for each speaker to try him/herself in doing your best when competing to be the best public speaker. Such opportunity is of course challenging, but gives you lots of feedbacks: those are learning what it takes to be the winner, practice it and just a pleasure when you perform on a stage when the audience counts more than 100 people, and those are not your friends or relatives. It is all much more serious.
OD: Lena, were you scared to perform? Events of such importance do not happen so often?
OK: No, I wasn’t scared. The main thing, I was prepared and when you are prepared, you have nothing to be scared of.
OD: What are the benefits of participating in such contests for a Toastmaster club member?
OK: It is beneficial for any Toastmaster because you get a chance to speak in front of a large audience, from a big stage, which is it is another experience comparing to speaking in front of your well-known audience of your local members. Plus, you gain completely new skills when you speak among the best speakers, and get to be evaluated by unbiased jury with a really objective opinion about you. And also it is a great chance to meet different Toastmasters, to extend your networking. I consider All Ukrainian Speech Contest as a very great entertaining, even if you don’t go as a speaker-participant.
On the picture: Alex Sheremet delivering his speech
OD: Alex, what are the advantages of taking part in such events like Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest?
A.Sh.:First of all, there you will see the best prepared speeches, what they should look like. It means fresh ideas and approaches to communicate with people, not just theory, but the best practices. You see what works, and what does not. Also, you meet many new people, and making personal contacts is always good for business and hobby.
The Toastmasters community consists of active people, who are professionals in certain area. It is surprising, how quickly my contact list grows with people I know personally, who can help me in my projects, or suggest being a part of theirs.
And last, but not least, participating in a speech contest is an unmatched experience, it is always exciting, it is a good benchmark of what you really can as an author and speaker.
On the picture: Yaroslav Kisylychka, judge at the contest)
OD: Yaroslav, you participated in Annual All Ukrainian Speech Contest as a judge. Tell us your impressions, what did you like about your role?
Y.K. As a judge I liked to evaluate every separate speaker according to 5 important skills, that a good speaker should have. It is not that hard to evaluate speaker objectively, still it requires some experience of evaluator, and exactly the first 6 speeches allow you to gain the mentioned experience and all the rest is just to polish the things you have learned.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Ha ha! So funny… Applauses! Yahoo! Great! Perfect!
Those are just some of the things you could have heard while passing 52 V. Velykoho St, the usual place for Toastmasters regular meetings, because that's where THE FISRT HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST took place on Wednesday, March, 31st, right before April’s Fool Day!
And that was HI LA RI OUS!
Why? Because 6 speakers delivered their funny speeches competing for the first place in the contest. The Chairman of the evening was Yaroslav Kisylychka, who kept the atmosphere of a holiday and all the fun the audience were ready to accept. And we did! We really enjoyed the contest!
First was Alex Sheremet with his speech “Snowboarders vs. Skiers: who rules the slope?” telling and showing us not to judge others until we've been in their shoes. Metaphorically and literally.
Second was Lena Koronenko, explaining how great it is to have a cat, imitating the cat behavior very realistically, persuading us in her speech “9 and a half reasons to have a cat” that having a cat is really worthwhile.
Then Olena Derzhko with her speech titled “Be weird, bright life is here” showed that being weird is really beneficial and funny, as your eccentric look and behavior can give you lots of benefits besides just simple FUN.
After weird Olena, it was Christina Domashchuk's turn, and she told us a “Tale of her life” walking us through all the most interesting milestones of her life, in a very funny and eccentric way.
Fifth speaker was Reno Derosier who shared all the funniest moments of sailor’s job in his speech “Hey, mate”.
And finally Lyuba Lazarenko told us the story of traveling to Jerusalem, almost a script for an adventurous film but produced as a great comedy.
We were happy to greet our winners with the strongest applauses:
3rd place – Lena Koronenko,
2nd – Lyuba Lazarenko and
THE WINNER of the funniest speech according to audience choice – Christina Domashchuk!
Who, by the way, has just become our new Toastmaster member.
Congratulations to all the contestants, chairman and timer, and all the guests because the event was great and very positive!
Lets laugh, let’s be funny, and LIFE WILL BE SUNNY!!!!
And that was HI LA RI OUS!
Why? Because 6 speakers delivered their funny speeches competing for the first place in the contest. The Chairman of the evening was Yaroslav Kisylychka, who kept the atmosphere of a holiday and all the fun the audience were ready to accept. And we did! We really enjoyed the contest!
First was Alex Sheremet with his speech “Snowboarders vs. Skiers: who rules the slope?” telling and showing us not to judge others until we've been in their shoes. Metaphorically and literally.Second was Lena Koronenko, explaining how great it is to have a cat, imitating the cat behavior very realistically, persuading us in her speech “9 and a half reasons to have a cat” that having a cat is really worthwhile.
Then Olena Derzhko with her speech titled “Be weird, bright life is here” showed that being weird is really beneficial and funny, as your eccentric look and behavior can give you lots of benefits besides just simple FUN.
After weird Olena, it was Christina Domashchuk's turn, and she told us a “Tale of her life” walking us through all the most interesting milestones of her life, in a very funny and eccentric way.
Fifth speaker was Reno Derosier who shared all the funniest moments of sailor’s job in his speech “Hey, mate”.
And finally Lyuba Lazarenko told us the story of traveling to Jerusalem, almost a script for an adventurous film but produced as a great comedy.We were happy to greet our winners with the strongest applauses:
3rd place – Lena Koronenko,
2nd – Lyuba Lazarenko and
THE WINNER of the funniest speech according to audience choice – Christina Domashchuk!
Who, by the way, has just become our new Toastmaster member.
Congratulations to all the contestants, chairman and timer, and all the guests because the event was great and very positive!
Lets laugh, let’s be funny, and LIFE WILL BE SUNNY!!!!
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