Speak with JOY

❓ Have you ever wondered what your superpower is?
❓ Or perhaps wished you had one?

If you could choose any superpower, what would it be?
What would you be willing to sacrifice for it?
And how would it change your life?

👉 These were some of the questions we explored at our Toastmasters meeting this week, where the theme of the day was "Superpowers" and the word of the day was "phenomenal."

Joy led the Table Topics session and prepared a series of thought-provoking questions around superpowers that made us reflect, share our ideas, and, of course, have a lot of fun.

❓ Did you know that although Speak with JOY is primarily a safe and supportive place to improve your public speaking skills, we also vote for the Best Speaker, Best Table Topics Speaker, and Best Evaluator at every meeting?

👉 This time, we had the pleasure of welcoming an amazing guest speaker, Hélio Vogas, whose speech was titled "Don't Just Show Up, Level Up." Hélio is also a three-time TEDx speaker, and despite joining us online from Germany, it felt as if he were right there in the room with us.

👉 His evaluator, Panni, did a fantastic job as always. She has a remarkable ability to highlight both the strengths of a speech and opportunities for improvement with care and encouragement.

👉 The winner of the Table Topics session was Gabriella.

Our club mentor, Tamás Szőke, also joined us online. It is always valuable to receive feedback and insights on how we can continue improving our meetings.

✨ In addition to all these, Burcu shared her experience about the Toastmasters International District 110 Conference in Split, Croatia. Burcu was invited to lead a workshop there on building a brand that converts and she shared her entrepreneurial journey and the A.U.T.H.E.N.T.I.C.ity™ Code framework with attendees from across the district. Besides, she was also invited to lead the conference energizer session. We are really proud to have her as the President of our club!

🔥 We were also delighted to welcome two guests this week. As a guest, you can attend two meetings completely free of charge, giving you the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of our club before deciding whether you would like to become a member.

Our members are dedicated to improving their public speaking and leadership skills, but we are also a joyful community. We believe that growth happens best when learning, connection, and fun go hand in hand.

📍 We meet every Monday from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
at Helen Doron Language School (Darabos Street).

If you are thinking about joining us, either in person or online, feel free to send us an email. We'd be happy to answer your questions and welcome you.

📩 [email protected]

What a weekend! 🎤✨

Our founder and president, Burcu Onaranel Erten , recently represented Speak with JOY at the Toastmasters International District 110 Conference in Split, Croatia.

A few months ago, Burcu was invited to lead a workshop on building a brand that converts as a speaker and entrepreneur, sharing her entrepreneurial journey and the A.U.T.H.E.N.T.I.C.ity™ Code framework with attendees from across the district.

In addition to her workshop, she was also invited to lead the conference energizer session after the first day's lunch break, bringing energy, interaction, and plenty of fun to the audience through questions about their Toastmasters journeys.

The conference brought together inspiring keynote speakers, international speech contestants, workshop leaders, and Toastmasters members from different countries, creating an incredible environment for learning, networking, and connection.

This event was particularly meaningful as it marked the final District 110 Conference before the transition to the newly formed District 231.

For Speak with JOY, it was also a proud milestone. This was Burcu's first district conference as the founder and president of Speak with JOY, representing our club on the district stage and sharing our mission with the wider Toastmasters community.

We are incredibly proud of Burcu and grateful to everyone who made this memorable event possible.

A special thank you to Amani for the invitation and Anna for organizing such a wonderful conference.

Here's to new friendships, new opportunities, and the exciting journey ahead in District 231! 🎉

👉 What does FAITH mean to you?
👉 How is it connected to RESILIENCE?

It is not an easy question. And nobody is expected to give a perfect answer in a split second.

However, it is great to start conversations about this topic. It is exciting to go a bit deeper, to express ideas, to share insights, tell stories about faith and resilience.

You may already know that every Toastmasters meeting has a theme. This week, our club's theme was “faith”.

Every meeting, we have a “word of the day”, which speakers are encouraged to use. This week, it was “resilience”.

It gives us the chance to have a clear focus for the day and at the same time we enhance our active vocabulary.

Although the primary goal is to improve our public speaking and leadership skills in an encouraging and safe environment, we also have our dose of excitement every meeting. Badges are awarded to the best speaker, the best table topics master and the best evaluator.

Panni was voted the best speaker of the day, Reema won the table topics part and Burcu was the best evaluator.

We had the pleasure of welcoming our area director, László Balatincz, who participated in the meeting online.

Even though our club is pretty new, he did not mention many improvement areas. We are already running our meetings in a very structured way.

He pointed out that in our Club everybody has a bright smile on their faces.

🔥 We are true to our name: Speak with JOY.

We also had the pleasure to welcome two guests in the meeting.

Joy is the feeling that connects us. It is an important value in our club. If you join us, you’ll feel it.

We meet every Monday from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
at Helen Doron Language School (Darabos Street)

Please email us if you are thinking of participating either in person or online so we can share with you the details and welcome you.

E-mail: [email protected]

🔥 “When the plan collapses your journey begins”

This was the title of the speech delivered by our amazing Sergeant at Arms, Gabriella.
Her speech was so dynamic, exciting, and insightful that it stayed with us long after Monday’s meeting ended.

We have all heard about bucket lists, vision boards, and unexpected difficulties during a journey — but not in the way Gabriella presented them. She elevated these concepts to a whole new level.

We also had the honour of welcoming an online guest speaker from the US. From Walter Clark, we learned that “Toastmasters Are Diligent Girls; Not Lazy Girls.”

Walter delivered his speech through Zoom with such professionalism that we almost felt he was in the room with us. His body language, eye contact, vocal variety, and sense of humour were truly remarkable.

Reema led the Table Topics session, and whenever Reema takes the stage, we know we are about to experience joyful, kind, and humorous moments. “Small moments, big impact” was the theme of the day, and all the impromptu questions revolved around this idea. Éva and Gabriella were the winners of this section.

Veronica, as the Toastmaster of the Day, made sure the meeting ran seamlessly.

We are also lucky to have Burcu as the President of our club. Her mentoring and leadership are exceptional. Back in December 2025, nobody — except perhaps her — imagined that this club could become both this joyful and this professional in such a short time.

🔥 Every Monday, we truly speak with joy, just as our club’s name suggests: Speak with JOY.

Joy is a defining emotion at all our meetings. It is the bond that connects us.

Would you like to experience the joyful atmosphere of our club?

📍 We meet every Monday from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
at Helen Doron Language School

Please email us if you are thinking of participating either in person or online so we can share with you the details and welcome you.

E-mail: [email protected]

👉 Quit, let it go, give up, forego

❓How are these words related? ➡️ The art of quitting was the theme of our last meeting, and we discovered a lot about the meaning of these words.

❓Have you ever experienced the feeling you would like to quit something, but it was challenging?

👉 One thing is for sure - at our Toastmasters club in Debrecen, Speak with JOY, we were happy to discuss the art of quitting, but we would never quit this club.

Open discussions, encouraging comments, honest connection, curiosity, friendships, adventure … what a vibrant meeting we had on Monday!

Éva gave us her ice breaker speech about anger and we were astonished how amazing metaphors she used to show her point. At some points of her speech we were even close to tears.

John was able to grab everybody’s attention in a split second with his ice breaker speech. His calm vibes, his deep message was something that stayed with us long after the meeting ended. He spoke about “earning your no” and as always, his approach was unique and his voice stable and warm at the same time.

Fanni inspired us at the beginning during the inspirational minute. She reminded us that even if you fall, if you can look up, you can get up.

Anis, the Toastmaster of the day made sure the meeting was running smoothly and of course he has a remarkable sense of humour, and you cannot feel bored when he is in the room.

Speak with JOY has been an official club since 1st April. And it is a feat! Our President, Burcu dreamt big and started the club last December. In only four months she managed to take it to the next level - as we have now 20 members we had the honour to become official this month. It means we are registered under Toastmasters International. We can participate in the international speech contests that happen every year between all the Toastmasters Clubs in the world. As we have fast improving, mind-blowing speakers, we will definitely be competing next year, no doubt about that.

🎉John was the best speaker of the day, Reema was voted for the best evaluator and Joy won the table topics part.

❓ Have you been wondering how nice it would be to part of this community?

Stop wondering, take action and join us.

You’ll be warmly welcome. Speak with JOY is a safe place to improve your leadership and public speaking skills.

We meet every Monday at 7 pm and you can join online as well.

I would like to encourage you to send us an email to [email protected] and feel free to ask any questions you have.

See you in the next meeting.

First meeting of 2026!

Of course, we talked about New Year’s resolutions — but in a way that is uniquely us 😉.

I’d like to congratulate Anna Maria, who delivered her Ice Breaker speech, the very first speech Toastmasters members give at their club. She did an excellent job for a first-time speech!

We also had a special guest, a dear friend of mine, Daniel Midson-Short, who joined our meeting from California, USA. Daniel is a speaker, writer, and marketing consultant, and has been a Toastmasters member for 14 years. Throughout his journey, he has benefited greatly from the experience. He has spoken at TEDx conferences, keynote events, and even competed in the World Championships of Public Speaking.

Last night, Daniel shared powerful ideas about the importance of choice and how we can empower ourselves in the year ahead. It was a great topic and a thoughtful speech that we all truly enjoyed.

Thank you again, my dear friend, for joining us — it was wonderful to have you with us😊.

We also welcomed three guests to our meeting! Debrecen Toastmasters is growing slowly but surely, and I can’t wait to officially call it a chartered club!

Our next meeting will be next week, January 12th at 7:00 PM, at the Helen Doron Language Center (same time, same place every week!).

If you’d like to join one of our meetings, I’d love to welcome you — please send me a message and let me know.

Looking forward to our club’s continued growth! 🥳🌟

Happy New Year everyone! 🥳🌟

Here’s some good news: as you may know, I’ve been working on starting a new Toastmasters charter in Debrecen, and we now meet in a hybrid format.

We only need 6 more members to become an official club 🎉 If you’re looking to improve your communication, presentation, public speaking, and leadership skills, this is the perfect time to join—and you won’t regret it 😊

You’re very welcome to join us as a guest and get a taste of Toastmasters while supporting this new club.

We meet every Monday at 7:00 pm, and I’ll post the meeting link in the comments. Please let me know if you’re planning to join so I can welcome you. :)

Looking forward to seeing some new faces soon!

This past Monday night we wrapped up our final Toastmasters meeting of 2025 here in Debrecen — and honestly, it felt like a milestone. 💛✨

Not because it was the last meeting of the year…
but because something about the group, the energy, and the momentum suddenly clicked.

And a big part of that was thanks to our special guest:

Deniz Senelt Kalelioglu, DTM District 109 Past Division H Director Executive Coach • International Master Trainer • L&D Consultant • Founder of ProAkademi Consulting

Deniz brought the kind of insight that stays with you long after the meeting ends — thoughtful, grounded, and deeply inspiring. We were truly honoured to host her. 🤍

What surprises me most is how quickly things are taking shape.

We’ve only had four meetings.

Four meetings… and already:
• People are stepping forward with more courage
• Members are supporting each other naturally
• Stories are being shared with honesty
• A sense of community is forming without effort

This is the quiet power of hashtag .

You come for “public speaking,”
but you stay because something inside you starts shifting.
You begin trusting your voice.
You notice yourself growing.
You become braver — not only on stage, but in life.

And for a brand-new club, with limited resources and lots of improvisation…

I’m proud of what we’re building.

Every meeting has been proof that when people show up authentically, transformation happens.
As we head into a new year, I feel more certain than ever:

✨ In 2026, Debrecen Toastmasters will officially become a chartered club.

And it will make an impact —not only for its members, but for the city of Debrecen and every voice that finds a home here.

We are just getting started.
More growth, more courage, more leadership is coming.

Thank you, , DTM 🤗, for being part of this chapter, and thank you to everyone who continues to show up — your presence is turning this dream into reality. 🤍🙏🏻

If you’d like to visit our club — either in person or online via hybrid connection — I would love to welcome you.

Send me a message, and I’ll share the details with you.

Our next meeting will be in January 2025. 🎤✨
Here’s to a confident, connected, and inspiring new year.

Debrecen Toastmasters… we’re ready. 💛✨

And I have to share this…
We ended up doing the meeting in our slippers 😄
It’s a no-shoes space, so everyone got super comfortable — and honestly, it made the whole night feel even more like family. 🩵✨

Sometimes the small details create the biggest sense of connection.