Below are my speeches that I have written and given as a Burrard Toastmaster. See them below, listed chronologically least recent to most recent.

– Rebekah
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• Speech #1 – Recipe for Happiness
• Speech #2 – Reasons to Exercise
• Speech #3 – Our Time
• Speech #4 – Attainable Dreams

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Recipe for Happiness (Speech #1)

April 1st, 2009

Good evening fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests,

If you were to ask anyone who knows me to describe me in one word, I have no doubts that word would be “happy”. I find that being overly cheerful comes quite naturally to me, and I’ve never really known anything different. Some people might say it’s because I haven’t been jaded yet or I haven’t been through enough hardships to be bitter about life and its many challenges. However I honestly don’t think it has much to do with that. What I’d like to share with you are the things that keep me so upbeat and cheerful every single day.

Firstly, I have a great many interests and dreams; as most people do. The joy in each of my interests in some form ultimately finds me in some way or another each day. Whether it be listening to the tunes from my favourite musical, Hairspray, or uncovering a great piece of design which often comes from a certain colleague or old classmates. It doesn’t stop there either, I find simple happiness just from dreaming about the travels I hope to have one day, to experience the world I haven’t had a chance to see yet. It all begins when I wake up in the morning to my favourite radio DJ’s, with their upbeat tunes, and their silly banter, I can wake up happy, and then be ready to start my day.

I find that work keeps me happy too. To some, this might seem crazy. Yes, work makes me happy. What a notion, I know! Even back in the day when I used to be the opening manager of McDonald’s, getting up at 4:30am to go and make eggs and get yelled at in the drive-thru. The truth is, being cranky and working at McDonalds at 5am doesn’t really get you anywhere. So I found ways to keep me happy – singing and dancing while you’re making Egg McMuffins helps A LOT, although it does get you some weird looks.

Now, I work as a Production Assistant, for a web development company, and it doesn’t require singing and dancing to keep me happy. I just simply love what I do and I love the people that I work with; I see something amazing in each of them, just the chemistry that we have together is what makes me happy. In all honesty, even though work is tiring, I don’t know what I would do with myself in all that free time or if I would be nearly as happy without being able to go to work everyday and see all the people I enjoy spending time with.

Another thing that makes me happy is just singing and dancing in general, neither of which I do well, I might add. A lot of people don’t know this about me, but when I’m walking to and from work, I mouth the words to my favourite tunes and even bust a move once in a while, especially if I’m walking up Lonsdale Ave from the Seabus. Yeah, strangers probably think I’m weird (and you probably do too), but it makes me happy and that’s all that matters. Singing isn’t something I do out loud in public very often, however I love to sing, I just wouldn’t subject other people to the painful sound of my voice. Although I’m probably sure that people in my apartment building have heard me belting it at least once or twice to the melody of “You Can’t Stop the Beat”.

There’s a phrase I often use with my friends as we get older. Have you ever heard of being “maturely immature”? As we get older, we get more and more mature, or as some people put it, more serious. Serious? I just don’t do serious… unless it’s absolutely necessary. Sometimes to remember that not all things have to be taken so seriously we need to have our childlike immature moments. This is how I describe “maturely immature”, and it’s what I tend to be a lot. If something makes you feel like you wanna laugh, why hold it back? As some others say, “Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”

There are so many factors in my day to day life that keep me cheerful, so many, in fact that I can’t begin to think of all of them. Maybe, most of all, its just that I enjoy being happy and being a positive happy influence on the people around me. I hope that today, not only have you learned a few crazy things about me, but that you have also been able to take a piece of my happiness and add it into the recipe that is your life, to make the flavor just that much better.

And remember, it will always take more muscles to frown, than it does to smile.

Reasons to Exercise (Speech #2)

May 20th, 2009

Good evening fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests,

Reasons to Exercise. By the title of my speech tonight, I’m sure you all had the initial impression that I would be talking to you about being healthy, feeling good, and just exercising in general. But I have fooled you! What I want to talk to you about are the reasons to exercise your rights. The reasons why you should take advantage of your abilities in the culture and country you live in; the reasons why you should exercise your right to vote.

A couple of weeks ago, only 50% of the eligible BC population voted in the provincial election and referendum. This turn out is pitiful. Now, I know we don’t have cool, hip choices, like Barack Obama who make politics interesting and fun in a weird sort of way. And understandably, in my opinion, the choices we had weren’t necessarily outstanding, and even I myself had troubles picking the lesser of the two evils – however that’s no reason why you shouldn’t at least give some sort of opinion. Even if you don’t want to vote for either of the likely winners, you can still go, vote for the long shot, and at least say you exercised your right to vote.

In a discussion I had last week with a friend, I was reminded of the reasons we fought in the world wars. Much of the reason so many soldiers went to war was to protect our way of life and protect our rights. We remember this on specific days, such as Remembrance Day, out of respect. However why can we not remember this all the time? It is shameful that many men and women gave their lives and fought for our way of life and yet we cast it away without a second thought, because we “have better things to do” or because we “didn’t know who to vote for” because we didn’t take the time to educate ourselves. And it’s not only the soldiers we should be thanking, but also the countless women who fought for females and their right to vote and their equality as well. Not to mention the other under-represented groups who did the same. This is a great reason, in my opinion, out of respect and thankfulness, to exercise your right to vote.

Thirdly, I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. You just simply have to stop being lazy, make the time, get out there, and get it done! It’s not like it takes a whole lot of time, and they give you plenty of time to vote. And especially since, even if who you voted for doesn’t get elected, you’ll still have the right to whine and complain with everyone else. But if you don’t get out there and voice that opinion and put that magic ballot into the box, then you can’t whine that the wrong person got elected – cause yah didn’t vote! And bonus… if you voted, you get this awesome little sticker you can put on that says “I voted!” Definitely fashionable, no doubt about it. If that’s not a reason to exercise your right to vote, then I don’t know what is!

So, you see, it’s very important that we exercise our right to vote. We need to show that we care about our country, and our futures, and our children’s futures, by giving more than a 50% voter turnout. We need to remember and respect the reason so many soldiers fought to protect our way of life and the choices we have. We need to thank the countless under-represented groups who worked so hard to give us the rights we have now. We need to give ourselves a reason to continue to have a voice in the society we live in, whether it be pointless complaining with family, friends, and colleagues or active protests in your city to raise awareness.

If we don’t vote – those in power have no reason to care about our issues, or us. Voting won’t change things overnight – but it is a tool. It’s one way to make the world more like the place you want it to be. Exercise your right to vote – it means more than you might think it does.

Our Time (Speech #3)

July 8th, 2009

Some people look to drugs, others to an insane amount of exercise to achieve a high happy feeling. Of course, one of these is more acceptable than the other. However there is another way of getting this amazing feeling. It is by achieving something great, something extraordinary, and that’s exactly what I want our club to do this year.

Our new district governor, has coined this year’s phrase to be “Aim High!”. And that is exactly what we’re gonna do! We call ourselves Vancouver’s leading business-oriented toastmasters club, but how are we going to PROVE it to all the other clubs around us? How are we going to make all the other clubs love to hate us because we’re just so awesome? How are we going to be the example and the leading club of our division? our area? our district? How are we going to become British Columbia’s leading business-oriented club, or Canada’s leading business-oriented club?

There are so many important things in our lives. Achievement is only a part of the equation that can help us be happy. After all, isn’t it why we’re all here? Are we not all here to achieve something great? It doesn’t matter if you want to achieve something for yourself, or for the club, it is still achievement, and it still benefits everyone. Each and every member of this club has something to offer, every one of you has the tools to help this club be the best. We all have the tools, the resources, and the mentors to bring our club to President’s Distinguished club status.  Ken, and Malcolm, Nam, and Sharleen… we have some tremendous assets to our advantage!

Not only can we become a President’s Distinguished club, but we can also help each other to get our own Competent Communicator , or Advanced Communicator, or Competent Leader or whatever it is that you want to achieve here. We can continue to be one of the warmest, the friendliest, and the most fun clubs for miles and the people will come, and the people will become members like us.

I’m not saying its gonna be easy. Life gets busy, things come up, sometimes you can’t come to all of our meetings and you do your speeches at your own, slower pace because life gets hectic. But that is exactly the time you have an even bigger reason to aim higher. Thomas Edison was wise to say that “If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.” So let’s astound ourselves! Let us do MORE than what others think we are capable of and astound them too.

I realize that not everyone can have the same level of enthusiasm that I do. But I do believe that we already have so much of it here and it just needs to be unleashed! Not only do we have the enthusiasm, but we also have the passion, and the drive, and the ambition. The only barriers we have are the imaginary ones in our minds. Break those barriers down and unleash all that you are capable of! I want us to combine unbridled ambition, extreme enthusiasm, and fiery passion to raise our club to the top.

This is OUR time, this is our time to SHINE. Why is now our time? Because we say it is! Because why ISN’T IT our time? As long as I am president of this club, failure will not be an option. Only success. Who’s with me?

Attainable Dreams (Speech #4)

December 9th, 2009

Immense, inspiring, unbelievable ambition, exists in many people. You’ll find it often, right here in the business district of downtown Vancouver, from the important CEO at a large company, right down to a dedicated young intern looking to make their place in the world. Not everyone is always looking for something new to reach for though – some people are happy reaching one general goal in their life, and living simply from that point, which is ambition in its own sense. Unfortunately, there are also so many fully capable people out there not reaching for what they are most certainly capable of. The reason? They don’t believe in themselves. They don’t know how. They’ve been told they can’t. Most of all, they let the voices of other people, and the subconscious societal pressures surrounding them, force them to have the idea that perhaps what they dream of isn’t possible. Dreams are not fairy tale stories, they are not things you need to “believe in”, like Santa Clause. They are things that need support and fuel to stay alive and become reality.

I want you now to picture in your mind, a young man. I want you to see, standing beside me, a tall 22 year old man, with the world in front of him… he can have whatever he wants. This man’s name is Markus. He has spent the majority of the past 5 years working hard, doing whatever jobs have come to him. Whether it meant living in a small solitary town far away from anyone he knew while working in the oil fields of Alberta, or doing electrical work alongside the father of a friend. He works hard, puts immense dedication into his work and does what it takes to get the job done. He no longer has to look for work, because people all over his hometown are offering it to him. Now he feels like he can’t get out of the labour jobs so many people are offering him. There is something else he dreams of doing but doesn’t know how to do it. Markus only wants to sing. He is a true musical talent with an amazing voice, but not knowing how to make more of this dream. I can spend an ample amount of time convincing Markus to follow his dreams and give him optional pathways and suggestions to kick-start the process. The dream is there, the motivation is there. The ability is there. But what is missing? He also needs to believe in himself that that is enough, and one day before he knows it, he’ll be living that dream.

Dreams come in a few different types. Markus’ was in the shape of ambition for career. Then there’s the type of dream for overall lifestyle. This time, see the small town girl. She graduates high school, and gets two jobs to live the lifestyle she wants because, quite frankly, she doesn’t belong in a small town. Her name is Julie and she dreams of the big city life. This dream isn’t one that she necessarily broadcasts but more communicates in the way of saying “I want to live here! It’s so cool!” every time she visits Vancouver. When it was likely that she might get laid off from her job in her small town and wasn’t likely to find another job paying as much as she needed in her current location, I suggested she move to Vancouver. But I met resistance. As soon as the dream became an option, she still found excuses. Things like “I can’t afford to move”, “I wouldn’t find a job that pays enough for rent in Vancouver”, “All my family and friends are here”. What is stopping her is the uncertainty of not making it, she has doubt. As Stephanie Da Silva told us a few weeks ago, it is important that we value uncertainty because if it wasn’t there we wouldn’t learn the important life lessons that come from taking chances or have the highs and lows that make life as interesting as it is. What does Julie need? She needs to value uncertainty, use it to her advantage, take a chance and have confidence in herself that she can do whatever it is that she wants to.

Confidence is something that many people lack, and it happens for a few different reasons. In most cases it materializes out of images from society or an unsupportive environment. In the case of the shy girl I met a decade ago, it was the environment she grew up in. Lisa is the invisible girl who is extremely creative. When you first meet her she doesn’t talk much and is careful about what she does say. Once you get to know her, she has a vibrant personality and is very funny. For many years she dreamed of being an interior designer, something I know she would be very good at. When she graduated high school she wasn’t sure how to go about following that dream, she didn’t know for sure if that was what she really wanted to do. Instead, she let her parents choose a path for her – one that she eventually failed to cross the finish line for. So why did Lisa allow this to happen, rather than doing whatever it would take to follow her dream and discover how to do it? She didn’t put up resistance because her entire life, she had been told by her family that she would never amount to anything, that she was the type who would live in the small town forever and live at home with her parents for a long time. It was engrained in her that she wasn’t good enough. So Lisa’s dream type is an overall quality of life, what she knows she is and is not capable of.

I know a great many people who will constantly make excuses for why they cannot do something. We all make excuses and justifications to ourselves first. The truly successful and happy people are the ones that believe in themselves and recognize that they will no longer allow excuses to get in the way. There are some excuses that cannot be avoided. I’d like a nice vacation in Mexico or a trip across Europe, however the cost stands in my way. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have a plan. Countless people say “I can’t do this” but this is not true. You can do whatever you set your mind and will power to. If there is a surmountable obstacle, then you need to change your mind set from “I can’t do this” to “I can’t do this right now” and make a plan as to how you CAN do it. Whether it’s getting a promotion, changing your lifestyle, going on a vacation, going after a dream that you thought was impossible, or becoming a better speaker… I challenge you to stop making justifications to yourselves, to stop making excuses, value uncertainty and face it with guns blazing! I want you to think now, when you look back on your life, would you be happy knowing you just settled with what you got, rather than reaching for your dreams and accomplishing them? Do not doubt what you are capable of because any dream is attainable and you cannot let anyone or anything stand in your way.

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