The U-CAN-SPEAK Open Night: along with our club members, more than 15 University of Canterbury students visit the meeting of one of Christchurch’s leading Toastmasters Clubs. Young – dynamic – multicultural: our members and guests are mostly students, undergraduate and postgraduate, domestic and international, native and non-native speakers of English.
VP Membership Dwayne, also acting as the General Evaluator of the night, enganges the audience. He explains the numerous benefits of joining the U-CAN-SPEAK Toastmasters Club to our large number of guests.
Helen, a PhD student at the University of Canterbury and member of the Christchurch Toastmasters Club, not only showcases outstanding speaking skills, but also successfully recruits volunteers for her research on transport in Christchurch. In the background: the word of the day “anticipation” displayed on the screen.
Helen also shares her story of how and why she became a Toastmaster a few years ago: at a scientific conference, attendees went into raptures over an apparently brilliant speaker. Helen, being the speaker in a parallel session, was jealous of the permanent laughters of the audience next door. Consequently, she made the decision to become a speaker of equally high calibre. From her speech “Help!” at our Open Night, we can confirm that she has realised her resolution with no doubt!
Cherry, Club President and Table Topics Master of the night, had prepared a great challenge for all guests: to come up to the front and deliver an impromptu speech on a given topic! All of our guests are brave enough to participate, and even though many questions are very hard to answer, speakers deliver creative answers, share their stories and handle difficult situations very well. We hope that many of our guests will join our club: an inflow of members with such skills and potential will massively contribute to our learning experience, making our club even more beneficial for everyone!
U-CAN-SPEAK 