Dear Fellow Toastmaster,

As the weather is turning rainy and unfriendly, Toastmasters meetings are still warm and sunny. Come and see for yourself!

This Monday, we had a warm welcome from Ivett Molnár, and the meeting was spiced up with Table Topics by Katarina Bánfi. As for the speeches, Judit László shared some personal stories about body language, Ildikó Szilágyi advocated the use of personal wedding vows, and Zoltán Szrenkó recalled memories from the Budapest-Bamako rally. The Best Speaker award went to Judit, Best Evaluator to Júlia Szűcs, and Table Topics was won by Tamás Deák, who encouraged us to look for the right boss and leave the wrong one.

On Tuesday, a small yet enthusiastic crowd gathered in the coffee house, with Viki Sárkány’s second-time toastmastering, brilliantly navigating around the obstacles in her way. There were two speakers with two different passions: Gábor Pető was all about sailing, and Endre Szeghalmi broke the ice with his personal story about tango dancing. Endre was rewarded with the Best Speaker title, and Jennifer Blanck, DTM, doubled as Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics speaker, after explaining why travelling in business class is such a hassle (for fun, of course).

We encourage you to book your speech and roles for the next meetings. Interestingly, while in spring people were queueing for speech slots, and there was a 1-2-month waiting line, next week we still have plenty of opportunities open. If you need help using EasySpeak, please write to Gábor Klinger, CC, Vice President of IT (admin@budapesttoastmasters.org). The Monday meeting will be hosted by Tamás Deák, and Tuesday is yet looking for a host. Pick a role today to make sure the meetings run smoothly for everyone’s benefit and development. Access EasySpeak at tmclub.eu with your personal username and password, monitor the meeting schedule, and track your own CC and CL progress.

Do not forget to bring your Competent Leadership (CL) manual with you. It is much more fun if you get evaluated for the role you do, and collect credits on the way. The Leadership track in Toastmasters is designed to acknowledge your effort and to give you a feeling of pride about how much you have contributed and achieved.

Just one more note on giving and taking. We are very grateful to the CEU for providing us the Monday evening venue recently in the spacious 2nd floor room. In return, senior members from our club give presentation technique trainings to CEU students, with one of those sessions having happened this week. Bea Bincze, CC, Veró Tóth, CC, Atis Szabó, CC, and Dani Faragó, ACB, the club is grateful for your efforts.

Having saved the best for last, here comes the big news: The District Conference is landing in Budapest in just 10 days! Make sure you check out continental Europe’s winners in Humorous speeches and Table Topics, not only in English, but also in German and French. In addition, there will be exciting workshops with tips & tricks for improving your public speaking skills and making an impact. Finally, come and watch how the keynote speaker, John Zimmer, seven-time Europe champion, mesmerizes the audience. The motto of the conference is “Laugh and Learn”, which is a promise in itself. Date of the District Conference is November 15-16-17th, and the venue is ELTE University Campus „Gólyavár” building at Astoria in Budapest (Múzeum körút 4-6-8.).

Browse the program here: budapestlal.com

Tickets are available for 160 Euros (with gala dinner in the Hilton on Saturday evening) and 130 Euros (conference-only).

Online registration and payment at: toastmasters.hu/lal

Please register online now, as the opportunity for buying a ticket on the spot is not guaranteed! By the way, did you know that several members of the Budapest Club have a key role in organizing this major international event? Headed by Hans Peterson, CC ALB, the team includes Veró Tóth, CC, Bea Bincze, CC, Ildikó Szilágyi, Niki Lakatos, Eszter Hámori, Judit László, Kata Szilvási, Henry Scullion, Gábor Klinger, CC, Balázs Gergely and András Lukács, as well as members from other Hungarian clubs and even one from Bratislava.

Have a nice week,

and see you soon,

Julia and the ExCo Team