Recently I attended the annual Toastmasters Maxicon conference. The theme in 2013 was Leadership, hence the name Leadercon. Congratulations to Jabulani Mangena of Midrand Toastmasters Club for being placed first at the District 74 International Speech contest held recently at Indaba Hotel & Conference centre. Winner of the District 74 humourous contest in 2010, Jabulani…
With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk, he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom. He first came to my attention via the monthly Toastmasters International magazine. In this talk poetically…
This was my final Toastmasters speech for the year and my 10th, which I passed. It is also the final speech in the first level: Competent Communicator: Madam Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen… For the longest time, I did not understand the difference between motivation and inspiration. However, as I kept studying and learning, I believe…
My friend Ronnie Apteker published a book in 1999 called “Do you love IT in the morning?” This was a great play on words because it could imply “it” as in perhaps sex or “IT” as in “Information Technology.” Sadly, this book is now out of print, and I remember picking up over 50 copies…
This is a speech I gave last night for my Toastmasters club… I only had my first girlfriend when I got to university, after high school. So I was a bit of a slow starter back then. Every weekend I would rely on my best friend and neighbour to give me a lift to and…