October 22 Is Toastmasters' 87th Birthday!   The first official Toastmasters meeting was held on Santa Ana, California, on October 22, 1924.

When people hear the word “basement,” they’re not likely to picture the home of a global communication and leadership-development organization. But a basement in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), in Santa Ana, California, is exactly where Ralph C. Smedley held the first meeting of what would eventually become Toastmasters International. 

At that first Toastmasters meeting, members practiced speaking skills in a supportive, informal atmosphere. The seedling club blossomed. Then another sprung up in nearby Anaheim. Word spread about Smedley’s experiment and soon people in other communities, and even other states, began to request permission and help to start their own Toastmasters meetings. 

Felice Miranda joined Barrhaven Toastmasters 7 years ago to improve her speaking skills and to gain confidence speaking to larger groups. Today, she is a confident speaker who delivers the speeches to 200 people at United Way campaign and is interviewed on the YouTube video show.

Toastmasters has given me the confidence and has helped with my communication skills to allow me to be interviewed and to speak in front of large crowds. Toastmasters is a valuable program for everyone on so many levels.
-- Felice Miranda

 Barrhaven Toastmasters Club will be holding Year-end party to celebrate the success of 2010-2011 Toastmaster year.

It was extremely busy evening at Barrhaven Toastmasters club on May 11, 2011. 

Congratulations to all who were elected as the club officers for the Toastmaster year 2011-2012.

Barrhaven Toastmasters had a themed meeting night on March 09 - Barrhaven Speech Idol -

Three speakers, Heather Pardon, Gord Bell and Sue Zheng entered the Speech Idol contest and spoke in front of the audience and a panel of judges.

Barrhaven Toastmasters Club welcomes two new club members Abdul Mottalib and Marvin Welsh. Enthusiastic new member Abdul took the first meeting role - Joke Master at the meeting. Way to go Abdul!
Barrhaven Toastmasters club is a safe, fun laboratory to explore your abilities and challenges as a public speaker, as well as to learn leadership skills. You will enjoy spending Wednesday evenings with us.

We had a great meeting Jan 5 - first meeting of 2011!

Congratulations to all who participated in Barrhaven Club Speech Contest. We had very successful contest meeting on Sep 22. 5 contestants competed in Evaluation Contest and 4 contestants competed in Humorous Speech Contest. Heather Pardon was the winner of Evaluation Contest, and Gord Bell was the winner of Humorous Speech contest. They are representing our club at the area 3 contest on Oct 6.

Thank you for all contest officials, guests, and members who helped in the success of the contest meeting.

The meeting on Sep 8 was filled with the members achievement awards.

Picture on the left, our honored guest won the Best Table Topics award, in the middle - Sue Zheng received the district 61 pin in recognition of the completion of Competent Communicator, on the right - Felice Miranda received the district 61 pin in recognition of the completion of Competent Leadership. Great work and congratulations to all three. We have amazing members and enthusiastic guests who try their best to be a better communicator at our weekly club meeting.

On Sep 1, Barrhaven Toastmasters hosted "Speech Evaluation Workshop" led by Harry Kingston. Harry, a champion of Speech Evaluation Contest at District 61 in 2008, and Distinguished Toastmasters, shared us valuable tips on evaluation that can apply not only on Toastmasters context but on different situations in our lives. Thank you Harry.

Our next big event is Barrhaven Toastmasters Club Speech Contest on Sep 22. Mark your calendar  as you do not want to miss a great educational night.