A Taste of Toastmasters

Checked out a Toastmasters meeting in Port Moody on Thursday. It was just as delightfully nerdy as I'd expected. About 15 people, mostly middle-aged, sat around wearing business casual and sipping water from dixie cups. The meeting began at precisely 5:30 p.m. and ended at exactly 7 p.m. The anally retentive part of my personality was overjoyed at how well this group kept to the scheduled agenda, which included introductions, a formal welcome of the guests (me), a prepared speech about whiskey, a "table topic" section, (three or four people speaking off the cuff about various things), and some other random house-keeping items. A brand new member received her name badge, which she will wear at every meeting, or suffer the consequence of having to pay a dollar fine. Nerdfest!

Towards the end of the meeting I was asked if I wanted to speak for a couple of minutes during the Table Talk. I thought about it for a quick second and declined. I wasn't ready. There are a few things in life... okay, there are a LOT of things in life that scare me. Public speaking is one of them. I know I'm not alone on this one. But this is the first step on the path to enjoy, rather than avoid, speaking in front of a crowd. I have visions of one day, when I become a Toast Grandmaster or whatever it's called, being asked to speak at events all over the world. Just like this guy:

Going to check out one or two other clubs to see what kind of vibe they have going on, then pay my dues and start on the path to perfect diction and awesome anecdotes.

365 days of Dining in Richmond

So Tourism Richmond has come up with a brilliant marketing scheme, in the same vein as last summer's Live@YVR campaign. This time, it's finding a blogger to eat a great meal every day for a year (yes, that's 365 consecutive days of free food!) and exclaim about it online so the world can find out about the variety of amazing culinary options the city has to offer.

They're looking for someone who's already into blogging, Tweeting, and Facebookery, with a general love of food, travel and adventure. Sign. Me. Up. Doesn't hurt it pays 50 grand and comes with a gym membership!

I think this one's awesome. Everyone in this city loves food. I think the term "foodie" may even originate in the Metro Vancouver area. If not, it should have. We like our food, and we like it good.

New camera!

Bought a new DSLR camera today - the Canon EOS 7D kit, with a 15-85 IS lens. It's going to be main tool (besides my laptop) for doing business with Rogue Wave Communications. Can't wait to start playing around with it, get used to all the bells and whistles. Not only does this camera take great shots, it's also on the forefront of digital camera technology for shooting nice video.

Now to get a shotgun mic and a good tripod with fluid head.

Open for Bidness

Registered my business name today on the government website. Took all of five minutes, and now I have a business number, so I'm officially accepting contracts for writing and editing. Don't have a vid cam yet, so I'll have to hold off on web video production, but I'm getting there. It's pretty exciting!

Final Cut Pro

Took the next step in launching my writing/editing, web video business: installed Final Cut Pro 7. Or rather, the local web video guru, Ian MacKenzie, installed it for me. Thanks, Ian! Can't wait to get a camera now, and get to creating some awesome mini docs and promo videos! 

Master of Toast?

So I'm thinking about joining Toastmasters to improve my speaking and communication skills. On paper, there's always time to delete and re-phrase, check over spelling or grammar mistakes, and there's never any "ums" or "ahs." On the phone, or in talking to someone, however, there's much to be improved upon.

I remember elementary and high school speeches being mandatory in English class. I didn't mind them, but I was never great at delivering a knock-out talk. Watching Ted talks makes me think it would be pretty amazing to hold an audience's attention and move and inspire people with my spoken words...without using cue cards.

I've heard Toastmasters is a well-organized program to learn to give a good speech. I'm sure many a best man has signed up for the program in order to get some tips in being a better orator. Nothing impresses like a good, witty speech delivered with confidence and eloquent turns of phrase. I'd like to be able to be ready at any moment to step onto a soap box and gesticulate wildly about anything at a moment's notice. Be good to have that skill in my back pocket.

But is Toastmasters all it's cracked up to be? I haven't heard of any of the "famous Toastmasters" listed on the organization's website. They seem to be mostly American senators. I have no aspirations to wax poetic about US politics... so maybe there are other options I've yet to discover. But I'll check out what a membership to Toastmasters is all about and maybe drop in on a meeting at least once, just to see if it's actually a cult. If anyone has any advice about other ways to improve speaking skills, I'm all ears.

Setting (or revising) goals

Stumbled upon a post on 30Sleeps.com this morning that talks about the most common mistake people make when setting goals. The trick is, according to the author, you've got to make it measurable. I've realized, after reviewing my bucket list, that many of my goals are kind of vaguely defined. Become fluent in French? Collect original art? How will I know when I can check these off and feel they've been accomplished?

Things like run a marathon, earn a Masters degree, and knit a scarf are clearly defined with a tangible goal that has either been met or not been met. I like to have goals that take a while to reach, because the harder it is, the better it feels to finally complete the journey. Going to a Canucks game is something I'd always wanted to do, but it in no way gave me a sense of accomplishment for having sat and watched some hockey players do their thing. It was fun, but it took no effort and really didn't teach me anything about the world or myself.

So, I may spend some time next month revising my list to reflect more concrete, measurable goals to have a better sense of exactly what it is I want to achieve with each one.

Hmn, now how to better define "earn a cool nickname"?