U-Speak Toastmasters

14/08/2026

Toastmasters, all on board! 🚤☀️

Our club continues to enjoy the summer vibes, and this time we celebrated our summer gathering on the historic canals of Utrecht.

With the beautiful surroundings as our backdrop, Madhupreetha hosted the ride with Table Topics, challenging us to think on our feet while learning fun facts about the city. Former members also joined us and shared how they continue to practice their public speaking skills in their day-to-day lives and professionally.

Great conversations, good company, fun improvs, lots of laughter, and amazing weather made this evening perfect. ☀️

Are you curious to know more about Toastmasters? Join one of our upcoming events. Check link in bio.

22/07/2026

18/07/2026

🎉 Meet the U-Speak! Utrecht board for 2026–2027!

President: Aiva
VP Education: Valentina
VP Education Assistant: Geraldo
Secretary: Madhu
VP Membership: Yasin
VP Public Relations: Linda
Sergeant at Arms: Sandra
Treasurer & Immediate Past President: Bram

Huge thanks to our outgoing board, especially Markus and Ajai, for setting us up so well 🙏

The new team already kicked off the year with a gezellig meeting in the park 🌳 setting priorities together.

Come meet us in person! Next meeting: 21 July at Wilhelminapark. Guests always welcome, RSVP link in bio.

13/07/2026

This past weekend, our President and Vice President Public Relations attended Club Officer Training (COT) in Tilburg, Netherlands, where they had the opportunity to connect with fellow club officers from across the region.

The day started with an engaging keynote by Omkara, who immediately captured everyone’s attention with a hands-on mathematical hook. It was a great example of how creativity, interaction, and a strong opening can make a presentation truly memorable.

A highlight of the day was meeting fellow club officers from other clubs as it was a great opportunity to exchange experiences, share best practices, and learn from one another. These connections strengthen the Toastmasters community and support continued growth as communicators and leaders.

A special thank you to Division E for organizing such a valuable and well-run COT. The team looks forward to putting these learnings into practice and creating an inspiring Toastmasters year ahead!

10/07/2026

Global weirding!

That was the theme of our U-Speak! Toastmasters meeting last Tuesday and yes, it is a real term. Not just climate change, not just global warming. All the strange, extreme, unpredictable things happening at once. Heat waves, droughts, the internet making everyone their own expert. The world has gone a little 'haywire', our word of the day (WOD).

Our Toastmaster of the Evening, Nichol Brummer, kicked things off with a round robin, everyone shared their own moment of global weirding. From, houses built for winter, not summer to finding that Utrecht is now warmer than back home.

Bram de Jong kept track of time, Aaron counted filler words, Arnaud Pinoit introduced the WOD and kept an eye on grammar while Gertjan Rossing served as General Evaluator.

We had four prepared speeches:
1.Ali DEHGHANI walked us through the respiratory system and brought an actual spirometry device on stage.
2. Linda M Bravo shared the challenges and benefits on female solo travel.
3. Vilma Catani explored the difference between siblings and friends.
4. Nitin Mishra, FRM, SCR shared his leadership style: Three Country Theory.

Speech evaluators of the night:
Aiva Eiduka, Vincent Peijnenburg, Peter HJ van Eijk, and Markus Sobora.

Table Topics, hosted by Madhupreetha Vivekanandan, invited speakers to reflect on global weirding in their own lives: past, present, and an imaginary 2060 weather forecast.

The awards of the evening went to:
🏆 Best Speaker: Vilma Catani and Nitin Mishra, FRM, SCR (a tie!)
🏆 Best Evaluator: Markus Sobora
🏆 Best Table Topic: Rahman, Guest

Our next meeting is on 21st of July, guests are welcome, please sign up on Meetup. Check link in the bio.

01/07/2026

Freedom!

That was the theme of our U-Speak! Toastmasters meeting yesterday. Today is Keti Koti, the day the Netherlands commemorates the abolition of slavery in its colonies.

Our Toastmaster of the Evening, Markus, opened with a look back into history. The chains of slavery broke in 1863, but the formerly enslaved were required to keep working for their masters for another 10 years. Freedom can be a journey across years, even generations.

Sandeep counted filler words. Ali kept an eye on the grammar and introduced our word of the day: lucid. Nitin kept time. Aiva served as General Evaluator.

We had three prepared speeches:

Sandra gave her icebreaker, a personal story about growing up in East Germany.

Matthijs shared how a performance artist’s method of staring at boring household objects can help reboot a brain.

Santiago brought sourdough bread and the baker’s story behind it.

Gertjan, Bram, and Valentina each evaluated a speech.

The meeting also included U-Speak! board elections for the new term, which we will introduce in a separate post!

Table Topics, hosted by Arnaud, flipped the format, speakers came up first and Arnaud revealed the question only after they finished. Fun twist!

The awards of the evening went to:

🏆 Best Speaker: Sandra
🏆 Best Evaluator: Bram
🏆 Best Table Topic: Madhu

Our next meeting is on 7th July, guests are welcome, please sign up on Meetup - link in bio!

17/06/2026

Summer holidays! ☀️🌊

That was the theme of our U-Speak! Toastmasters meeting last night and it brought out some great stories.

Our Toastmaster of the Evening, Santiago, kicked things off with a round robin where everyone shared what their ideal summer holiday looks like. Watching TV. Road trips. Sitting by the pool while your girlfriend visits museums.

Madhu kept time. Geraldo introduced our word of the day: rejuvenate. Linda counted filler words. Nichol kept an eye on everything as General Evaluator.

We had four prepared speeches:

Markus gave a father’s confirmation speech for his daughter.

Aiva explored what profile colors belong to our club, turning a personal test result into a group exercise.

Aaron talked about the seasonality of life and why society expects us to always be in action mode.

Gertjan shared what running marathons taught him about listening to your body, in running and in his professional life.

Bram, Matthijs, Arnaud, and Ali each evaluated a speech.

Table Topics, hosted by Bert, took everyone on an imaginary holiday, parachute jump included.

The awards of the evening went to:

🏆 Best Speaker: Gertjan

🏆 Best Evaluator: Matthijs

🏆 Best Table Topic: Linda

Our next meeting is on 30th June, guests are welcome, please sign up on Meetup!

16/06/2026

Last Tuesday we had a great meeting with 17 members in the room.
Our theme for the evening was Leadership.

Speeches of the evening:
* Aaron opened with his Icebreaker — “The story that brought me here”
* Ali shared his Icebreaker — “Your starting point doesn’t determine your destination”
* Thomas brought “Mission Impossible: Laptop Recovery” — a speech all about body language and movement
* Peter took us on “The Tangariro Alpine crossing”

Meeting awards went to:
🥇 Best Speaker — Ali
🥇 Best Table Topics — Sandra
🥇 Best Evaluator — Matthijs

Big thanks to Bram de Jong for Toastmastering the evening, Geraldo for leading Table Topics, and every single member who took on a role.

See you tonight!
RSVP for guests in Meetup. See link in bio!

14/06/2026

🏆 Smedley Distinguished Club — achieved.

Back in May we celebrated with a potluck dinner, good food, and even better company.

Smedley Distinguished is the highest level of recognition in Toastmasters’ Distinguished Club Program, awarded to clubs that hit all 10 of the program’s goals for the year, from members completing Pathways levels and earning education awards, to membership growth and strong club leadership.

But honestly, looking at this photo, the raised hands, the smiles, the table full of food everyone brought to share, this is what the award is really about. A club full of people who show up. For meetings, for speeches, for each other. And apparently also for potluck dinners. 🍛🥗🎉

Thank you to every member who joined, stayed, invited a friend, or simply kept coming back. You made this happen.

Want to find out what U-Speak Utrecht is about?

Come visit us next Tuesday! RSVP link in bio.