Goal Achievers Toastmasters

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Goal Achievers Toastmasters

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A great place to develop or hone your public speaking and leadership skills. Visit any Monday evening Visit us to enjoy our fun and supportive atmosphere!

Goal Achievers Toastmasters meets every Monday 7:00 - 8:15 PM, in a “virtual” mode via Zoom. Email our Marilyn, VP Membership, to get the Zoom meeting link:
[email protected]

We’re always excited to have guests and we love new members. Then, join us! You will develop valuable communication and leadership skills. Company Overview
Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization which empowers its members as they develop and improve their public speaking and leadership skills. Members participate in local club meetings, training seminars and speech contests. Toastmasters International includes more than 280,000 men and women in more than 13,500 clubs in 116 countries. Each week, Toastmasters helps more than a quarter million people of every ethnicity, education level and profession increase their ability to communicate effectively and gain the confidence necessary to lead others. Description
Professionals and individuals with no prior public speaking experience will benefit from joining a Toastmasters club. The Toastmasters program is self-paced and empowers you to reach personal goals. You will develop skills and build self-confidence in a friendly, safe and supportive atmosphere with people who are there for the same reason you are: "to improve their ability to communicate effectively." General Information
A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 people who meet once a week for 1-2 hours. Toastmasters International provides proven resources and supports the growth of individual community clubs. Each club is uniquely designed to support its members by developing skills in speaking, active listening, constructive feedback and effective leadership. Be our guest on Monday evenings from 7:15 - 8:15 PM, 1545 Pleasant Hill Rd., Lafayette. Find out what Toastmasters can do for you!!

10/13/2026

Most importantly, Goal Achievers’ meeting tonight was an ever-challenging, ever-fun, Backward meeting. The theme fit perfectly:

“A Step Forward, Two Steps Back”

The Word of the Day was likewise apropos: Persevere

We had one speech (in the last section of the meeting, unlike the order in an ordinary Toastmaster meeting):

❶ Until Other Member Step In For Him!!!

Mike, inspired by a recent visit by our District Director, outlined a plan he is implementing to ensure that all Goal Achievers meetings have at least two speakers. Basically, he will sign up to be the second speaker for all meetings—but will relinquish that slot for anybody else who wants to give a speech.
How to give speeches? He went through a colorful slide of “Mike’s Laws of Success”:

 Test: Try out new ideas.
 Observe: How did they work out?
 Adjust: Make changes to the idea.
 Expand: Expand on your ideas!

Table Topics was run by Bill, who came up with a question using the word “backward” for everyone in the meeting! As he was trying to wrap it up, Anna asked her own question of him:

If time flowed backward and your kids came first in time, how would they affect the life you would have? Talk about a brain-hurt question!!

Next week, we’ll be back to our regular meeting format. See you then.

10/06/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “World Teachers' Day” and the Word of the Day was “Tribute”—in honor of today being World Teachers’ Day!
For our Opener, Bill encouraged everyone to actually read, and abide by, signs: Involved the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.

We had two speeches:

❶ Preparedness Basics in Three Simple Steps

Mindy gave her second presentation—the Pathways one that involves giving the same speech, incorporating feedback from the first time it was presented. One great example she added was to share her “To Go Bag,” the first of the three steps:

1. Get a kit
2. Make a Plan
3. Be Informed

redcross.org/prepare

❷ "I'm not competing. I'm informing Toastmasters about The AI Steering Committee"

Mike gave an overview of ways individuals can become better informed of the rapidly changing AI world and, importantly, participate in oversight formulation.

Eric ran Table Topics with questions related to education, teachers, and learning. Everyone shared parts of their past education, teachers, and how learning took place. The most intriguing question was:

“If you had a global broadcast to every person on earth, what would you teach?”

Next week will be an ever-challenging “Backward Meeting.” Hope to see you there!

Photo: On the Gordie Howe International Bridge; © All rights reserved.

09/29/2026

The theme for Goal Achievers’ Fall Open House was “Toastmasters in the Age of A.I.” and the Word of the Day was “Community.”

As part of the Open House, Eric ran “One Word Opener” and asked what each person’s word would be to describe how their week has started and how they feel about it. How many of these resonate with you:

Relieved, marketing, stuffed, heart attack, focused, anticipation, experience, appreciation, logjam cracks, and Bad BBQ.

We had two speeches:

❶ Public Speaking or Visiting the Dentist?

Our Open House Guest Speaker, Eliott, Division C Director from District 206 Toastmasters, gave an engaging speech with wonderful audience interaction on giving speeches. He then walked through a pragmatic way to sustainably give top-notch speeches, with you, the speaker, actually looking forward to preparing, practicing, and giving those speeches.

❷ Heart Attack?

Mike discussed the growth of AI and how it might be able to help speakers. He built a case for using Substack as a platform for growing Toastmasters International clubs.

Table Topics was run by Bill, probing participants’ ideas about AI. Basically, it’s here, it’s growing, and how do we think about it, use it, and/or feel about it? How would you answer this question:

AI seems to have a continuum from 1) “Ushering in” Nirvana for humans to the other end, 2) “Causing the Extinction of Homo Sapiens.” Where would you put AI on that continuum?

Next week, we’ll be back to a regular Toastmasters International meeting agenda. Please join us!

09/23/2026

Goal Achievers Toastmasters International Club will be having its Fall Open House this coming Monday; September 28, 2026.

It is a virtual meeting on Zoom, starting at 7 pm Pacific Time. Please see the attached flyer for full details.

Our special guest speaker, Eliot Rodgers, joined Toastmasters in 2017 at Capitol Speakers in Benicia. He is currently the Division C Director in District 206. In between, he has held a myriad of roles throughout the Toastmasters International world, including:

 District Digital Assets Manager
 VP Education (3x)
 President (2x)
 VP Public Relations
 Area and Division Director
 Contest Co-Chair for D57

Besides the leadership roles, he has finished four Pathways and loves doing more Lvl 4 and Lvl 5 speeches than required.

He believes in getting information into clubs so they can plan ahead and engage.

To attend, please contact Goal Achievers at:

https://goalachievers.toastmastersclubs.org/

Looking forward to seeing you there!

09/22/2026

Tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was a special Table Topics-a-thon. Treated to an evening of impromptu speaking, we had a good turnout, and everyone was able to field two Table Topics. The theme was “So Many Choices!” and the Word of the Day was:

Verity: the quality or state of being true or real.

Thanh started with a “One Word Opener” to answer the question: What are you craving? Our cravings prove our diversity: Chocolate, comedy, sundae, pumpkin-muffin, sewing, boba, hope, reading coffee, time, French-dinner-in-a-jar.

We had no formal speeches, but we had almost 20 impromptu ones!

Mike did a fantastic job of weaving questions concerning communications, the advent of AI, how fast it is changing, and very human acts and concerns such as:

 Should speakers share with their audiences how much AI was used in the creation of the speech they are about to hear?
 What will Toastmasters look like in 2030?

For sure: Communications, ethics, and trust are intimately intertwined!

Next week will be our fall Open House. Please join us with special guest speaker, Eliott Rodgers,
Division C Director, District 206 Toastmasters;

“Public speaking or Visiting the Dentist?”

Eliott will discuss the reasons why, as a member of a speech club, he thinks people should be dreaming about the next speech they are going to give in 6 - 8 weeks. Sure beats going to the dentist.

Hope to see you there!

09/15/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “POOF! And There It Is.” The Word of the Day was “Esoteric.”

❶ Preparedness Basics in Three Simple Steps

Mindy gave the first of a trilogy of speeches, focusing on being prepared for disasters. Tonight, she reviewed three simple steps:
1. Having a Go-Kit.
2. Planning for disasters that might strike your area.
3. Being informed: How to link into existing warning systems.

One call to action was to look into Red Cross Emergency apps:

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/mobile-apps.html?srsltid=AfmBOooeVmy3ObqTmm3niLf4t38fIRsweeI8gK72I5SXfzMheKAA11kq

❷ The Plan for Man in the Era of AI Super Intelligence

Mike gave a rapid-fire overview of the ever-changing world of AI, especially in light of the claims of potential human extinction made last week. His slide deck was bright and evocative, with a rational summary of where we are, some of the risks, and practical ways that we—as humans—can minimize existential risks.

Table Topics was run by Eric, with thought-provoking—and personal experience-sharing—questions on a variety of life instances that have changed the way you think, your outlook on life, or which provided insight into what has happened and where that can lead.

Next week will be one of our specialty meetings:

Table Topics-a-thon Club Mtg

That’s right: A whole meeting devoted to Table Topics, Toastmasters International’s impromptu speaking.

Please join us for a whole lot of speakin’ going on!

Interested in attending? We meet virtually via Zoom on Mondays from 7 pm (Pacific Time). Please contact us at:

https://goalachievers.toastmastersclubs.org/

We hope to see you there!

09/01/2026

Tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting featured the specialty agenda Speak-a-Thon. Our theme was “The Financial Report,” and there were two choices for the Word of the Day: Debit or Credit.

We had five speeches:

❶ The Financial Digest

William went through two saving scenarios and showed that investing early takes advantage of the stunning time value of money.

❷ Elim Chan - Make it Chan Francisco

Eric delivered a passionate report on the new director for the San Francisco Symphony, Elim Chan. What made the speech so special was his description of an electrifying night at the symphony: the music was spectacular and ended with a heartfelt exchange between Elim Chan and the audience.

https://www.sfsymphony.org/

❸ Tony – the Movie

Jim shared the movie “Tony,” which he has already seen twice. Without giving too much of the movie away, he recommended the movie but also suggested watching the trailer before making your decision to see it.

❹ TraceLabs: Crowdsource OSINT to help find missing people.

Justin explained the difficulty of finding missing persons, and a new approach that might help investigators find missing persons more quickly. An empathetic and sensitive approach to a very serious problem. OSINT stands for Open-Source Intelligence,

❺ A New Strategy to Grow Toastmasters on Substack

Mike gave a summary of how to use Substack to promote Toastmasters—by paying attention to both the positive side of AI (providing a lot of information very quickly) and the negative side, in which criminals are using the power of AI to cause serious problems.

BTW, because this was a Speak-a-thon, there wasn’t a Table Topics session (not enough time with five speakers and five evaluators!)

Next week, we aren’t meeting in honor of Labor Day. We’re back to the regular Toastmasters International meeting agenda the week after. Hope to see you there!

08/18/2026

Tonight was one of Goal Achievers’ specialty meetings: a Travel Extravaganza Meeting!
Tonight’s theme was “Summer Destinations!” and the Word of the Day was:

"Pura Vida": Pure Life is a literal translation.

We had two speeches:

❶ The Wilderness of Costa Rica

Eric gave a great overview of his recent trip to Costa Rica, using beautiful photos of diverse wildlife, the bustling capital, and the world-famous rainforest. Eric also shared with us cultural aspects of the country, the national dedication to biodiversity & eco-tourism, and the wonderful expression, Pura Vida.

Interesting factoids:

 The name “la costa rica,” means "rich coast" in the Spanish language
 Massive Biodiversity: It contains over 5% of the world's plant and animal species, whereas only 0.03% of Earth’s land surface
 Clean Energy: More than 98% of Costa Rica's electricity comes from green, renewable sources.

❷ Adventures in Kauai

William gave a wonderful travelogue for Kauai, beginning with a nice description of the island, its location, and how it differs from the other islands (the rainiest place in the world). The stunning photographs of some of the best places and the results of hikes through the landscape to beautiful waterfalls. His closing dubbed Kauai as the “must-visit” island of the Hawaiian chain!
The final photo was a gorgeous sunset.

Table Topics was run by Marilyn, whose questions allowed us to hear about traveling between courts for jury duty; delving deeper into cultures, rituals, food; leaving one’s comfort zone (& surviving!); the value of patience; having encounters that are the opposite of normal reputations; and the joys of getting around without modern GPS!

Next week, we’ll be back with a regular Toastmasters International meeting. Hope to see you there!

Attached photo is of a toucan feasting on fruit in Costa Rica (© 2026 by photographer Eric; All rights reserved).

08/11/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “Financial Management” and the Word of the Day was:

Fiscal (def. Of relating to taxation, public revenues, or public debt.

We had two speeches:

❶ The Bites of Passage: Lessons Learned from the Buzz

Thanh regaled us with a recent trip down the East Coast of the US and how he planned against the dreaded mosquitoes. Even with multiple levels of highly scientific protections, the skeeters in Florida ignored all protocol and, without a fear in the world, feasted on the walking human buffet.

❷ My Vocation

Jim shared a poetic prayer by John Henry Newman (1801-1890), an Englishman first of the Anglican faith, then of Catholicism.

Table Topics was run by Eric, with a broad range of questions. Through the answers, we learned about what are some of the most important ways to spend time, the fiscal impact of pets & plants, things we buy but do not need, and perhaps the most interesting one:

Instead of earnings, if taxes were assessed on annoying habits, what would be at the top of the list? Negativity!

Next week will be a themed meeting: Travel a la carte.

A lot can happen with travel, right? Even if over a broad spectrum of possible outcomes. Please join us next week!

08/04/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “I will . . . while in a typhoon” and the Word of the Day was: HOT!

Confused? Yeah, sometimes life gets that way. The theme relates to what anybody might focus on while way too busy with so many other things going on. The Word of the Day relates to the current temperature in our part of the world!

We had three speeches, all of them either last minute or spur of the moment:

❶ “I will . . . while in a typhoon”

Bill explained the intent of this strange theme and speech title, then shared the one thing, with multiple steps, he will do for the speaking part of his life. Basically, making sure all the many new meeting agendas that Goal Achievers are using are fully functional, well understood, and how even a novice Toastmaster of the Evening would be comfortable running them.

❷ Racing the Typhoon

Anna shared a recent experience of taking a baby out for a bicycle ride well in advance of a typhoon, during which the typhoon unexpectedly arrived ahead of schedule. After hopscotching through various stores and breaks in the wind & rain, they arrived safely back home.

❸ Spiderman

Our guest, Mary, had an interesting take on the just-released Spiderman movie. Couldn’t the lead character be a bit more lovable with the spider-thing?

Table Topics was run by Marilyn, with thought-provoking questions and famous quotes—which prompted speeches full of how busy people use apps, classes, and approaches to get things done in a chaotic world. For example:

“Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman

https://www.oliverburkeman.com/fourthousandweeks

Next week will be a regular meeting. Regular is fine, right?

Hope to see you there.

Address

Meeting Via Zoom At This Time
Lafayette, CA
94549

Opening Hours

Monday

7pm - 8:15pm

Telephone

+19255972046

Website

http://5339.toastmastersclubs.org/

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