Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned in to the Mac city morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start this episode the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. And the fact that you spend with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro,
Speaker 1 00:00:20 Dave, where your two to like homes where you're at or tune in again to the Mac city show
Speaker 3 00:00:29 Everybody Keith Simpson here from there, Alto, uh, just quick chat about, uh, the wonderful community we live in here. As you guys know, we support the El parents. We've joined the drive-in movie theater. We're involved in the marathon here in Fort McMurray and make sure we're taking care of the kids and all the local businesses, all the local charities and all the local foundations guys. That's what makes this community such an amazing place to live.
Speaker 0 00:00:54 All right. Now we're back. Todd. I got to ask like, cause I know you were playing the plugs and intro. Was I talking over the intro or I was talking over the neurotic spot.
Speaker 4 00:01:05 Nailed it right in the middle. Oh yeah. Right when we were switching over you just body clocks off
Speaker 0 00:01:12 A pump fake.
Speaker 4 00:01:13 Yeah. That's it. All right. Well
Speaker 0 00:01:14 Anyways, for
Speaker 4 00:01:15 Everybody who was watching we're back for real we're back
Speaker 0 00:01:18 For real hope. You enjoyed that a little spot from neurol Toyota, big shout out to Keith Nehmer fat and all the boys and girls down at Doral. Thank you for being the title sponsor for the Mac city morning show. It means the world to me that you help keep this going. So thank you, Norelle Toyota. Now on that note, we have a great guest today. Um, mainly because I don't know who it is. I don't know what we're going to be talking about. So I'm excited as you guys know, I don't introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than myself. So sir, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 5 00:01:46 Thank you so much, Elliot for inviting me, me representing my club. My name is Raffi Jimeno and I am the vice president for public public relations for wood Buffalo Toastmasters club. Well, as you all know, wood, Buffalo Toastmasters club is a group of people, or it is a club of BC young professionals who are interested in public speaking and leadership skills. So we offer a safe and supportive environment for those people who would like to develop their communication skills.
Speaker 0 00:02:31 Okay. Very cool. How long have you been a part of that organization
Speaker 5 00:02:34 For two years now?
Speaker 0 00:02:36 Two years now. Okay. And so when I say part of the organization, you've been in a mentorship or leadership role for two years, how long was that your introduction into Toastmasters as well? Or had you attended some of their programs and courses prior to
Speaker 5 00:02:49 Yes. Well, prior to coming here in Fort McMurray, um, I was in Qatar and I joined Toastmasters club and Doha, Qatar and 2019. So that's the time that I learned about Toastmasters Toastmasters international. It's a non-profit educational organization. So that teaches public speaking and leadership skills, um, through a worldwide, um, network of club. And the reason being why I joined Toastmasters is because I have a fear and talking to many people.
Speaker 0 00:03:27 Right. And most people do. Yeah. I think it's, isn't it like the number one biggest fear of most people is actually public speaking.
Speaker 5 00:03:35 True. Yeah. And, um, people think that, especially here in Canada, we know that the vernacular language is English. And just so you know, um, my first language is not English. It's it's Filipino.
Speaker 0 00:03:51 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:03:52 And the gala. Yeah. Yes. There we
Speaker 0 00:03:58 Go.
Speaker 5 00:03:59 That's correct
Speaker 0 00:04:00 Gala. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 5 00:04:02 And people think that in order for you to be a good communicator, you need to be good in English.
Speaker 0 00:04:10 Right.
Speaker 5 00:04:11 But being a Toastmaster. So learning Toastmasters along the way, I've learned that that's not the case. Right, right. Being good in communication, not necessarily mean that you have to be good in English. That's correct. Public speaking is an art. So there's many ways to communicate without even mastering English, but learning basic English is paramount.
Speaker 0 00:04:35 Yes. No doubt. No doubt. So when it comes to English, because you obviously speak it extremely well, have you always had English as like a backup secondary language or is English something new that you've picked up since you've moved to Canada
Speaker 5 00:04:49 And Philippines? The secondary language is really English. We know for a fact it's a universal language and even the medium in, in schools and institutions back in the Philippines. So this is the language that we are using. And the other, another thing that helped me really speak good in English is when, after I graduated from college. So, um, I work in American express. Okay. Okay. That was, um, base and, and the Philippines. So basically it's, it's a call center. So I got my training from American people and they, they taught me the accent. Okay. Because they said that it is much better if you also learn the accent. So we have that kind of communication, um, skill assessment where they really have to teach us how to speak that American American slang. That's
Speaker 0 00:05:49 Right. Yeah. A hundred percent.
Speaker 5 00:05:50 And then, um, I fell in love. I fell in love with, um, with speaking American American slang. Right. Keep honing my, um, that skills. Right. So I exposed myself by watching English movies, television series, and reading a lot of English books, newspaper. It very cool and same goes with Toastmasters. So if you become a Toastmaster member, so it will really help you. And the benefits that you will get out out of it is, um, you will get regular and constructive feedback. So that's very important. Um, it will help you learn how to, um, speak on the spot because, um, it is also, it is also essential, right? Like maybe this is the same thing that we are doing today. Like this is not scripted and I don't know what will be the flow of our conversation. But I said to myself that I have to be ready because I am representing our, our club.
Speaker 5 00:06:56 And another thing is, um, it will help you build your confidence and while you're gaining experience and, um, it will develop your leadership skills through training opportunities and club involvement. So the more that you involve yourself in the club, the more that you're going to learn and bonus bonus point is it will expand your network. That's correct. Right. So I was new here. So two years I've been with Toastmasters and I am also two years old here in Canada. So after I married my wife, so I decided to, to move in with her and to settle down here in Canada. And that time that was March, March 1st, when I first landed in Fort McMurray and March of 17, when there is a global pandemic and then everybody's closed down and there's restriction. So I didn't enjoy so much. I haven't seen the, actually the, the places here I haven't been asking.
Speaker 5 00:08:03 Um, the things that everybody loves doing, especially most of the activities are outdoor. I haven't done that so much. So the only thing to cope up is to join in a club. And I found this, um, Toastmasters, food, Buffalo Toastmasters club right there. They're conducting their meeting through zoom, right. So that's where I joined and very cool from there. Um, I enjoyed, I enjoyed being a Toastmaster. So, um, I even fell in love with, with Toastmasters. So I even watch some of the public speakings and those people actually, um, doing great. And in this, in this craft and, um, I'm doing YouTube. So I keep on visiting the, the Toastmasters international website, right? Because another thing that you will benefit once you become a member is this is actually voluntary, right? And no one is forcing you to join or, or not to join. But another thing that you will really, um, be fond of being a member is, um, understanding the Toastmasters, uh, pathways learning. So it's like a modular activities that you have to go through readings. A lot of it comes on theories, right? So it will teach you, um, how to focus. It will teach you how to properly pause and, um, to give emphasis to everything that you are saying. So how you open your mouth, how you positions your eyes towards your audience. So that kind of thing, right? So you have to go through with those, those modules and your applications is you do it in your club during the meeting.
Speaker 0 00:09:55 That's right. It's a safe work environment where you can, like, you can work on it with people that you're comfortable with. So when you can actually have an opportunity to talk in front of a bunch of strangers, you've put the time and effort in. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:10:08 So I want to walk you through Elliot and in our clubs. So normally it happens. Um, we meet every Tuesday from 7:00 PM to eight, 15:00 PM, and then our precedent is going to open, okay, this session. And then there will be a Toastmaster. So a Toastmaster is the one, introducing everybody introducing explain what is Toastmasters. And also explain to the guests because you can actually join our club for free forever. Anytime you want it, until you decide that you want to become a bonafide member of there was masters because you want to benefit from the pathways learning experience. So that's the time that you have to pay, um, pay, uh, for the, um, for the Toastmasters internationals access, because you will have your own profile. So they will create a profile for you so that you can always see your growth in Toastmasters. So there will be two sessions normally that happens.
Speaker 5 00:11:13 So there is a speech session where you do the formal speeches. So this will give you time to practice and to learn. So this is where you are applying the modular activities that you are doing with your pathways learning, and then you do it with, um, on your formal speech. And then there will be evaluators who will do, uh, we'll, we'll evaluate you. Okay. We will give you feedback about what you're doing. And what's good about it is because when you are receiving feedback, you don't find it people because sometimes when people are giving feedback, some, some people see it condescending right now, or they are having fear or they, they find it very embarrassing. Right, right. So here, there is no right or wrong. Right. So you learn through your own facing. Yeah. And then we tell you where you are good at. Right.
Speaker 5 00:12:14 We're like, um, go grow and glow. There you go, go shoot with your speech, say it, okay. The way you understood in your modular activities. And then we will tell you where you glue as a speaker. Right. And then after that, we will tell you where you can grow as a speaker. So we will tell you what are the areas of opportunities where you can be better at. Yeah. Yeah. And then another session is the table topics. So I like personally the table topic sessions because the table topic is an impromptu speech where guests are also invited to participate in. Right. Okay. And it is at this for two minutes and we have a timer literally like, can you see the traffic lights? So the green light. So when you see that the green light is on. So it means that you pass one minute when the yellow light is on.
Speaker 5 00:13:13 So you pass one minute and 30 seconds. And when the rate at red light is on, it means that you have to run and you need to summarize your everything and, um, finalize your speech because, um, that is the cue that you need to end your speech. Okay. Okay. And, and then after the sessions, so we do the evaluation forum, right? When we open the evaluation forum. So the evaluators for the speech are coming in and they will evaluate each speaker and then they will evaluate, um, the people who participated in the table topic session. So the table topic could be anything. Okay. Or it depends on the theme theme per, per week, for example, last meeting. So we had Valentine's state. So the theme and the topic is all about love. Right? So something to do with Valentine's. So any, any question can be asked, they're very
Speaker 0 00:14:09 Cool.
Speaker 5 00:14:10 And it's an open, it's an open discussion. Right. So feel free to express your thoughts. So it kind of does, and then we give an award, we give recognitions. Okay. We'll actually, um, we did their best on that particular meeting. And, um, those, um, were really Excel in doing, in doing their job. Right. So this is what we basically do and in our work club.
Speaker 0 00:14:41 That's awesome. Yeah. So, awesome. Well, listen, speaking of Toastmasters and presenting and asking questions, Tanner has a segment called the Mac city minute. Now a big component of talking though is you have to have nice teeth, right? Downer.
Speaker 4 00:14:55 I would say I don't, but most people do.
Speaker 0 00:14:57 Yeah. And to have nice teeth, you could brush them. Right. You can floss them.
Speaker 4 00:15:02 Sometimes. That's not enough though.
Speaker 0 00:15:03 Sometimes it's not enough. Sometimes you need dentures. And if you need dentures, I
Speaker 4 00:15:07 Think we've got a guy.
Speaker 0 00:15:08 We got a guy for you make Marie denture center, cram, and his staff down on Franklin avenue. They hook you up. Now there may be a video. And then when I say may, there will be a video at some point, but we're not going to show it to you now, but we got to give a big shout out to Coram and everybody down. I mean, Marie denture center for sponsoring the maxi CD minute. Now on that note, Tanner, this gentlemen is here. You've got some questions for him in, with the Maxine a minute.
Speaker 4 00:15:34 All right. Question number one. What is the biggest trick you have learned about speaking to groups that you learned from Toastmasters?
Speaker 5 00:15:45 Thank you for that question. Well, actually the, I wouldn't say it's the biggest break, but the secret or the, um, the recipe of how to, um, speak in the group is how to be comfortable with the people. And I think, um, with those masters, it allows you to overcome your fear, right? Because you understand the technicalities and speaking, right. And your subconscious mind would always tell you that, okay, maybe this is what they're thinking, or maybe this is what they want to say. So you eradicate those kind of emotions where when you are speaking and sometimes you can cover up, you know, that fear, that fear because you already have that mental outlines. Okay. When you are, when you are giving your speech, because it gives you a lot of time to, to prepare because you know that when you are coming into a certain, certain group discussions, for example, or if you are, if you're in a meeting, you know that you are going in that meeting, right. You're not going some, or like, you're just going there for no reason. So you know that when you are going into a certain group, there will be people who are talking about this kind of things. And of course you have the ready yourself. And in Toastmasters, we, we are thought how to prepare. Okay. So I think, um, the trick, if I would put it that way, is it give you, um, a sense of readiness
Speaker 0 00:17:35 Readiness? Love it. Next question.
Speaker 4 00:17:38 Question number two. What is the story behind your most memorable toast?
Speaker 5 00:17:45 Oh, wow. That's a very good question. Okay. In 2019, I told you that they joined Toastmasters in 2019, and I had a mentor. I met someone. So he, he was my mentor and the question and answer portion that I joined because I joined the beauty pageant for men and women and in cancer. Okay. So we call it, um, mega world. Okay. Okay. So mega world, it's a real S state. Okay. Mega world international. It's a, it's a real estate in, in the Philippines. And they created this, um, like a fashion show, um, a beauty pageant for, uh, for a man and we men who leave in, in Qatar. Okay. So I was doing good and modeling. I was doing good in presenting myself. I was doing good at everything. Except that thing when I stand up in front of the stage and here we go with a question and answer portion, right.
Speaker 5 00:18:48 Okay. I didn't do really bad, but I didn't like what I said. And I told to myself that that could have been better if I have done this. And if I did that, okay. So the mentor, the one who is, um, giving me mentorship okay. During the pageant. So he is a member of Toastmasters and he told me, Rafi, you know, you ha you had so much potential. So you have so much potentials and you can really, really do so much better. And then that's the time that they introduced those masters. To me, I only won first runner up. I could be the Wiener, the champion, if I was able to, to nail, you know, the, the question and answer portion. And I told, um, I told my mentor that really, this is my fear. You know, like, you know, when, when you are able to answer it directly and you nailed everything, I think that's, that's the point.
Speaker 5 00:19:49 You know, that you can really win that, um, that competition because, you know, Q and a is very essential, you know, in any, in any competitions. So I believe that this is the most memorable experience, you know, that I have gained. And, um, every time that I attend, um, the formal speech session during Toastmasters. So I see to it that I prepared, I see to it, that I have this mental outlines, because you can choose, you know, to memorize your speech, but there will come a time that you don't want to memorize them anymore. And you just want to create a mental outline. All right. Because it's very important how you start your speech. Of course, the buddy, you can go anywhere. But then, you know, the most, the most crucial part in giving a speech is how you're going to end it. Okay. And sometimes when people end their speech, you have to think of something that they can, they can remember you forever. Right. Right, right. And that's how you make a mark. That's how you become a remarkable speaker. There we go.
Speaker 4 00:20:57 Question number three for you today. What is your favorite piece of media that helped you learn English slang
Speaker 5 00:21:08 Right now in the birth of, um, birth of social media? I really enjoy reading, um, through the website because by just one click, you can have everything. Right? Of course, I still do the traditional things like reading, reading books, and reading newspapers. They are very helpful. However, you know, the new speaker can be read also through the website. So you go through through the website of this particular newspaper, so you can read everything in there. So you are sitting in one place, okay. You don't need to go anywhere just to access them. I don't need to go to live library to get all of this encyclopedia just to have them, but just Google is very helpful. Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:21:58 Question number four. What is one skill that you've gained from Toastmasters that you were not expecting to gain?
Speaker 5 00:22:07 Hmm, that's a very, uh, I would say it's a tough question for me. There are so many things to, to mention actually, but I think one attribute that I am really proud of when I became a Toastmaster is being confident. Okay. I would say really confident because sometimes you can see that you are confident, but it doesn't really show. Right. It's just someone that you are confident when you are confident. Confident. Yeah. Okay. So at this one factor that I would say that I am really proud of because, um, I overcome my fear. I would like to believe that I'm still in the process of overcoming my fear, but right now, unlike before, like I don't have anything, like, I don't have that skeleton, you know, in my head. Right. So what will be the flow of what I'm going to say, where I'm heading to.
Speaker 5 00:23:10 Right. But it gives me so much confidence right now being, being so semester. And I would even apply this when, when being interviewed in a job that's right. Of course. You know, because I always feel that the interview where it's going to devour me going to eat me, you know? And, um, so I feel that, you know, I want to hide somewhere, right? Because I'm not, I'm not confident about, about myself. But when I became a Toastmaster, I feel that I can do everything. I feel that I'm a mutant. Now I feel that I have a super power and that super power allowed me, you know, to be the person of what I am today.
Speaker 0 00:23:59 So it gave you confidence, AKA swag. Nice. I like that.
Speaker 4 00:24:04 And your final question, what is one event you hope to attend to utilize the skills you've gained from Toastmasters? Wow.
Speaker 5 00:24:14 Well, that's very, very interesting and promising, like what I've told you, I'm just new here in Fort McMurray. And I haven't so much, I haven't seen so much of activities that's happening. I know that, um, there is an event in Fort McMurray. We're a group of small business owners are gathering together. Okay. Okay. And I want to host that event.
Speaker 0 00:24:41 Very cool. Okay. There you go.
Speaker 4 00:24:43 Those have been your five questions.
Speaker 5 00:24:45 So thank you so much.
Speaker 0 00:24:46 Listen, man. Good job. You breeze through this
Speaker 5 00:24:50 Exhibition. Yeah. I know that there's a lot of exhibitions exhibits happening here in Fort McMurray
Speaker 0 00:24:56 Going on, like it's hard to like forming is such a busy place. It's hard to get to everything. Even throw COVID. There's so much stuff taking place. It's a busy city with lots of cool stuff to do, man. So listen, the shows only 20 minutes. So I know we've blown by the 20 minute mark, but that's okay. It's been a lot of fun truly. I do want you to come back again and again and again. So there's so much more you can come talk about. We didn't even get to talk about you. We got to talk about Toastmasters, which is great. Um, so please come back again. We'll try to have you back on the show many more times. Thank you. Before I cut you loose, everybody gets a shameless shout out or plug. So we have the mic, the lights and the cameras on you. Okay.
Speaker 5 00:25:34 Thank you so much. Um, so can I, um, all right, great. And I am inviting everyone to please, uh, join wood, Buffalo Toastmasters club. We are precedent in Facebook and our page is wood, Buffalo Toastmasters. And you can also email us, uh, at Toastmasters nine to 28, gmail.com and feel free to message us at a time. And you know, the, the biggest, uh, factor that you will benefit from Toastmasters is the free mentorship. Okay. It's unsolicited. So you don't have to pay the members of those masters to teach you public speakings and leadership skills. And we will teach you how to communicate, not just communicate, but how to communicate effectively.
Speaker 0 00:26:22 Here we go. Awesome. Love it. All right. Well, that's the show. Forming Murray wood, Buffalo, the rest of the world. Thank you for tuning in big shout out to neuronal Toyota. Our main sponsor, big shout out to the McMurry denture center for sponsor in the Mac CD minute. I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty sure there's a little bit of a video from them as soon as I say goodbye. So enjoy that after I sign off. Thank you for watching. Hopefully you're enjoying your day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 7 00:26:50 Hey guys, cram here with Rick Barry denture center. A lot of people are surprised to hear this, but I'm born and raised here. So is this company we're local? Just like you come on in, we'll help you out
Speaker 1 00:27:07 Dalio Wade. And another morning show later by us.
Speaker 8 00:27:15 You
Speaker 9 00:27:24 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
