Goal Achievers Toastmasters

Goal Achievers Toastmasters 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 organizatio

n 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!!

This coming Monday, June 22, 2026, Goal Achievers Toastmasters International will be having a Table Topics-a-thon meetin...
06/16/2026

This coming Monday, June 22, 2026, Goal Achievers Toastmasters International will be having a Table Topics-a-thon meeting. That’s right, one whole meeting devoted to short, impromptu speaking. The theme is:

Beyond ABC: Exploring the Many Ways We Communicate

When we think of communication, we often think of speaking and writing. But humans have always found creative ways to share ideas—through symbols, pictures, gestures, stories, alphabets, characters, glyphs, signs, and even emojis.

On Monday June 22nd, we’ll take a journey through some of the many ways people have communicated across cultures, across distances, and across time. Along the way, we may encounter ancient scripts, mysterious symbols, favorite letters, curious characters, and perhaps even invent a few of our own.

Whether you would like to answer a question or simply join the conversation, feel free to join us and bring:

• a favorite letter, character, or symbol
• an unusual alphabet or writing system
• a fascinating language fact
• a mysterious script from the past
• a memorable communication experience
• or simply a question you’ve always wondered about

No expertise required—just curiosity.

We look forward to exploring with you the many ways humans make thoughts travel from one mind to another. Please join us next Monday—we’re a virtual club on Zoom and start at 7 pm PDT.

Attached is a flyer on how to contact us for access information, or click here:

https://goalachievers.toastmastersclubs.org/

Hope to see you there!

Globally pertinent, the theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “The World Cup & Global Culture.” The Word of the...
06/16/2026

Globally pertinent, the theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “The World Cup & Global Culture.” The Word of the Day was: Pitch.

Any variation of the word “pitch” could be, and was, used: the pitch controlled by the center referee in a soccer match, or a marketing proposal, the angle of the deck of a sailing vessel, your voice when you’re excited, throwing something, or sealing a seam between two planks. Even using a pitcher during a hydration break or, from that competitor sport, the player standing on the mound in the center of the infield.

Everybody was probably watching futbol, because when the meeting started, we didn’t have any speakers. No matter, we had volunteers who delivered wonderful speeches:

❶ 7 Calendars

Anna shared a new collection of hers: calendars. Calendars not only keep you on track with your very busy schedule, they can also help you with learning new things, show you beautiful places and animals around the world, highlight famous people, inspire you with wise words, and so many other uses.

❷ World Cup 1988

Gilberto shared his favorite World Cup (so far, of course). As the title says, it was the World Cup of 1988. As a young boy, he was entranced with all the pageantry, the games, the players, and the marvelous skills they showed while playing (on the pitch). He remembers other World Cups, but for sheer excitement and amazement, the 1988 one was the best.

Table Topics was run by Karrie and she had a soccer (or is that futbol?) question for everyone. We learned:

 what it means to have 148 countries playing one sport
 some of us didn’t grow up in sports-minded families
 the competitiveness of the US women’s soccer team
 the level of national disappointment when your team doesn’t qualify
 Where’s Waldo?
 why it took soccer so long to catch on in the USA.

Next week will be one of our specialty meetings:

A Table Topics-a-thon.

That’s right, a whole meeting dedicated to Toastmasters International’s signature impromptu speeches. Please join us to find out what the theme will be and what people have to say about it.

We meet via Zoom on Mondays from 7 pm Pacific Time. Please contact us for access information:

https://goalachievers.toastmastersclubs.org/

Attached is a photo of several types of calendars!

Next week, we’ll be back to the regular Toastmasters agenda. It might not be as unique and entertaining as a Backward me...
06/09/2026

Next week, we’ll be back to the regular Toastmasters agenda. It might not be as unique and entertaining as a Backward meeting, but it will still be quality speaking time! We hope to see you there.

Table Topics was run by Mindy and it was a mind-bending session. She thanked each volunteer for the speech . . . and then simply waited. Relatively quickly, each person realized they had to start speaking—about anything, their choice! Two minutes later, after the speaker said “Thank you for such an interesting question,” she asked them a question that covered whatever they spoken about in their Table Topics speech.

Jim gave a nice summary of the recent awards meeting and dinner, recognizing outstanding collegiate athletes. His speech included a detailed description of each course of the dinner (including tater tots with cheese), which left all of us quite hungry since we are a club that meets at night. Oh, and Jim is a relative of one of the winners.

❷ Awards Night: Collegiate Water Polo

Marilyn spoke about the ideal qualities of a mentor and a mentee. An experienced Toastmaster, she has participated as a mentor with a number of Goal Achievers members. Mentoring can be very rewarding for both parties in the relationship, and she shared what is involved, how it works, and some practical, useful tips.

❶ Do You Want to be a Mentor?

We had two wonderful speeches.

Retrograde: Moving backward or reverting to an earlier state.

Our complementary Word of the Day was:

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “Unfinished Business.”

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “The Inner Child Speaks” and the Word of the Day was: Whimsical, adj;...
06/02/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “The Inner Child Speaks” and the Word of the Day was:

Whimsical, adj; Used to describe something that is playfully fanciful, imaginative, or unpredictable

We had two speeches:

❶ My Blissfully Vague Summer Plans

Mindy delivered her Ice Breaker speech, which was tailored to one’s inner child, and her whimsical bucket list for the upcoming summer. She has 5 goals, and giving this online speech accomplishes one of them! She has a wonderful, well-packed summer ahead of her.

❷ Jenna Flynn Update

Jim gave an update on Jenna, who is related to him (his cousin’s daughter) and plays on Stanford’s Water Polo team. She is doing very well at the collegiate level, and according to some is ranked 3rd in the U.S. There will be a celebration at the Olympic Club this weekend, which Jim will attend to see whether she and the Stanford team win more awards.

Table Topics was run by Bill, who had a list of questions regarding how those who volunteered to take them on interact with their Inner Child, what kind of conversations go on, what language these discussions are in, and whether anybody fights with their Inner Child and, if so, who wins.

Next week will be one of the most challenging agendas in the Toastmasters’ world of meeting agendas:

The Backward Meeting.

It may be a challenging meeting to pull off, but it is always entertaining, and it keeps everybody on their toes from the opening—oops, I mean the closing—of the meeting, through the Evaluation portion, Table Topics, Prepared Speeches, and ending with the opening.

If you’ve never attended a Backward Meeting, please join us next Monday, June 8th. It promises to be entertaining and worthwhile—no matter how well we manage to keep it on track (and we’re pretty good at it, having done these meetings several times already!).

Please join us next week. Attached is the flyer for the meeting.

In lieu of not having our Monday club meeting in honor of Memorial Day: Several Goal Achievers enjoy the club's 7th Culi...
05/26/2026

In lieu of not having our Monday club meeting in honor of Memorial Day:

Several Goal Achievers enjoy the club's 7th Culinary Event--which are when members gather to enjoy each other's company and a delicious meal at one of the Bay Area's culinary gems. This time we were at Roam Artisan Burgers in Lafayette, California:

https://www.roamburgers.com/
https://www.roamburgers.com/location/lafayette/

23 Lafayette Circle,
Lafayette, California 94549
(925) 385 0798

And, naturally, we all had Toastmasters International magazines!

We’ll be back next Monday, June 1st at our usual 7 pm PDT start. Hope to see you then!

05/20/2026

I’m enjoying this course on A.I. a lot!

05/19/2026

The theme for tonight’s Goal Achievers meeting was “11th Hour” and the Word of the Day was “Broadcast.”

Since the meeting tonight had the specialty agenda “3 Paired Speeches,” we had three speeches. “Paired Speeches” are when each speaker talks on the same topic. For tonight, that topic was

Binge Watching your favorite movie, documentary or TV series

❶ A Favorite Vintage TV Show

Marilyn enjoyed “The Twilight Zone” because it was so unique and had such a wonderful diversity of shows, touching on all sorts of human situations in ways that censors wouldn’t stop them. Rod Serling was so committed to the series that he wrote many of them. The episodes can be found on the internet and watched—in B&W, of course.

❷ The One Where I Binge-Watched “Friends”

Eric enjoyed “Friends” while attending school in China and his teacher recommended watching this show to learn more about Americans and to help with English. Taking that to heart, he has watched the entire series, with Chandler, Joey, Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Phoebe at least five times. The benefits, besides passing his speaking English course include a lot of laughter and good feelings.

❸ The Truth about Killing Robots

Gilberto gave a glimpse of various movies that center on robots. He then provided Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. With that as background, he shared several current examples of what robots are beginning to do in our world, and the impact on humans. Robots allow for automation, which is helpful for humans, but there are offsetting costs, too. As the world evolves, the boundaries between humans and robots is blurring: we have much to think about and learn.

Table Topics was run by Thanh, with rapid-fire questions that brought a diverse range of information and experiences including, Lonesome Dove, using AI for Good, the evolution of mankind, comedy sitcoms (used for mollifying different human conditions), tips for binging alone or with others!

During the meeting, the chat received a couple of leads:

❶ The Truth about Killer Robots
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5715832/

❷ The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (2003)
Based on a book from 2002. The author is the main narrator in the documentary.

Next week, Goal Achievers will not be meeting, in honor of Memorial Day.

Our meeting after that, June 1st, will be a regular meeting agenda, but no less interesting. We hope to see you then.

I’m enjoying Chess more than French!
05/18/2026

I’m enjoying Chess more than French!

I’m enjoying chess more than French!
05/18/2026

I’m enjoying chess more than French!

I just enjoy these puzzles!
05/18/2026

I just enjoy these puzzles!

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Meeting Via Zoom At This Time
Lafayette, CA
94549

Opening Hours

Monday 7pm - 8:15pm

Telephone

+19255972046

Website

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