Toastmasters Savvy Speakers

01/16/2024

Due to commute-time winter weather, tonight's meeting will be ONLINE ONLY.
See everyone at 6pm ET on Zoom! (Don't have the Zoom and want it? Leave a message and I will get back to you!)

11/22/2023

How apropos was today's word of the day, "serendipity"? The winter advisory snow held off until after the meeting, so everyone who attended the in-person part of tonight's hybrid meeting was able to get home more safely!
Enjoy more such serendipitous moments by joining our hybrid meeting every third Tuesday of the month at 6:00-7:30 ET on Zoom or at the office of Martin Delaney & Ricci Law Group, 100 N Main St in Barre. (First Tuesday is online only.)
Last thoughts on serendipity: did you know the word came from the English translation of a Persian fairy tale, "The Princes of Serendip"?
https://uselessetymology.com/2017/12/02/the-etymology-of-serendipity/

11/14/2023

Vocal variety is one of the first skills introduced in the Toastmasters educational program, so you can continue developing control over through your entire Toastmasters journey.
Get some awesome tips and perspective on this fundamental part of speaking from this month's issue of Toastmasters International Magazine.
https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2023/nov/dynamic-speaking

11/11/2023

Savvy Speakers is a club that cultivates a safe space to practice your speaking skills without judgement. We really tested that concept with a surprise theme for our impromptu speaking Table Topics session: stories and opinions about public nudity.
Everyone had a pass to talk about a different subject, but many of those at the meeting rose to the silly challenge, with stories about encounters with naked hiking, accidentally discovering the n**e beaches of Vermont, the pleasures of skinny dipping, being beat with birch branches in Russian banyas, and so on.

What similar creativity does the next meeting hold? Join Savvy Speakers on November 21 at 6:00pm on Zoom or in downtown Barre to find out.

08/19/2023

Savvy Speakers meets on the first and third Tuesdays every month from 6:00-7:30 ET. All meetings can be attended virtually via Zoom, and the second meeting of the month also has an in-person component.
Reach out to learn more about specific upcoming meetings so we'll know to expect you!

07/17/2023

Tomorrow's meeting on July 18 at 6-7:30pm EST will be Zoom only. We hope you can still join us! If you haven't got the agenda, reach out to let us know you'd like to attend.

07/10/2023

Be safe and well in the flooding, Savvies.

07/04/2023

Happy Independence Day!
Have you ever thought about how prominent speeches are in U.S. history? When you practice public speaking at Toastmasters, you can be inspired that you are part of a rich civic tradition!

That tradition includes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speeches, FDR's First Inaugural Speech "The only thing we have to fear," Frederick Douglass's "The Meaning of the Fourth of July"... The list goes on much longer...

Do you have a favorite speech or line? If you come from outside the United States, are big speeches part of your history too?

In the wake of the United States Civil War's deadliest battle, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. Now praised, this speech was not always seen this way.