Albany Toastmasters Club

Albany Toastmasters Tabletopics and Humorous Speech Contests – August 27th, 2025

This meeting diverged from our usual format as we hosted our annual Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests

Two participants competed in the Table Topics contest, and two more delivered pre-prepared Humorous Speeches.

Table Topics Contest chair Ying Li posed the question to the contestants: "What’s one thing you miss about your childhood?".

Ravi Karre, and Daksh*ta Dantanarayana showed their impromptu skills and effectively presented their quick speeches with total confidence.

Then followed by a Humorous speech contest and the contest chair was Delia Yang.

The second part of the meeting featured two fantastic humorous speeches: Kevin Duoung's "My Appetite" and Yogi Nehra's "The Tech Roast."

Kevin's speech was highly amusing, detailing his application of the CRC method to his wife's cooking. Yogi's speech was equally engaging and funny, reflecting on the impact of technology and our addiction to devices and social media.


Congratulations to all contestants and winners. We would like to thank everybody who has supported assistance in making this contest successful!

Thank you to those who volunteered to be Chief Judges, Contest Chairs, Tally Counter, Sgt In Arms and Timekeepers.

This contest would not have happened without you!

Albany Toastmasters Meeting – 23rd April, 2025

A humorous, memorable and insightful meeting we had. With 6 guests and members tuning in to listen to three speeches by Justin, Yizhou and Shishir, we all had the pleasure to hear led by our wonderful Usman Waseem who did really well for his first time as Toastmaster.

Justin Bayangos had the audience engaged when he started off his speech with a bit of Q&A, then it led down to his story about learning how to swim and told everyone how he secured his job as a Swim coach (best of luck for that new role!) :)

Next up, Yizhou Dai educated us on the differences as a coach, mentor and mentee based on his pathways program. A thoughtful speech that benefited the guests as well.

Lastly, Shishir Kumar delivered a ten min speech on his reflection on his pathways program. As all members can relate, he gave us a story of when he first started his speech, how anxious and bad it was. But as it led down the way, he also mentioned how he grew as a better speaker but also in other areas in his life.

Table Topics Master Patrick Khang gave a very thoughtful theme, you name it: Toastmasters. We all felt this time to be very insightful and deep because all did very well and speech time was long! It gave some members and even the guests to express how they feel about public speaking. Ranging from what advice would you give to someone attending their first meeting to Imagine you're giving your final speech what would you talk about?

It proved to be ubiquitous (word of the day)

New year, new beginnings! The holiday season is over, and Toastmaster Rob Wrightman settled in and encouraged all toastmasters and six guests on the importance of "timing" (which was the word of the day). Along with his wisdom of being a great speaker, he provided snippets to ensure we were on the right track to improve.

We had two amazing speeches presented by Xinghao Chen and Delia Yang. Xinghao's speech titled "Sleeping late is the problem" was a reminder of how sleep plays a big part in our lives and how having enough is good for increasing productivity and wellbeing. Delia's speech was vastly different unlike the usual speeches, her project involved inviting three members to the stage and conducting a panel on "How to become a good Toastmaster,"

Table Topics Master Ying Li challenged and asked us about our goals, dreams, and holidays, all related to the new year season.

There's always room to improve as a better leader and a speaker. Make your stories heard by kickstarting your public speaking journey today!

🎉 Congratulations to Simone Tongatule on Winning the Division K Table Topics Contest! 🎉

Simone’s accomplishment reflects what Toastmasters is all about – bringing people together and fostering close bonds. Her family’s presence and support added warmth to the event, creating a meaningful atmosphere for everyone involved.

Congratulations again, Simone, and we look forward to seeing you at the District 112 level!

Congratulations Albany Toastmasters Club!

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23 October 2024 - Albany Toastmasters Club

A little different than the usual Toastmasters meeting, it was Diwali-themed!

Ravi Kerre lead the way as the Toastmaster for the evening and hosted wonderfully in traditional Indian clothes, giving our six guests an authentic experience.

Four inspiring speeches tonight by Mikaela Pole (On Board or Over Board), Sabby Singh (Million Dollar Round Table), Shishir Kumar (The Story of Diwali) and Akshy Sud (Friendships For Success).

Xinghao Chen asked us Diwali-themed table topics about new beginnings, challenges and gifts. The word of the day 'Bright' inspired us to dress bright and colourfully for the meeting.

Most Outstanding or Improved Speakers: Akshay Sud and Mikaela Pole

Most Outstanding or Improved Evaluator: Ying Li

Most Outstanding or ImprovedTable Topics: Delia Yang and Gary

Hey Fellow Toastmasters!

We have got some very good news to share! Two of our members Akshay Sud and Thao Trinh represented Albany Toastmasters and competed for the Area K4 Humorous & Table Topics speech contest last week.

Firstly, Akshay was placed 1st overall for the table topics contest. This means he'll advance into the next round which is the division contest coming up in November 😲 🎉

And with the humorous contest, Thao was placed 3rd overall signaling hard work and talents showcased from both of them competing with other contestants from other clubs.

Well done to both of you! 🙏

With a total of six guests, we had the pleasure of observing four outstanding speeches from Lachlan, Ying, Nick, and Yizhou

Led by our warm and welcoming Toastmaster, Kevin Duong, he ran the meeting smoothly and easily announced some last-minute changes to the schedule. He also shared some of his own stories relating to each speech presented!

Firstly, Lachlan McGill debuted with his first icebreaker speech, which we got to know him better. He also talked about his ambitions, hobbies, and future aspirations as he is in his final year as a university student. Ying Li then spoke about the importance of networking (which Toastmasters you'll also gain by interacting with our friendly members!). Nick Woods talked about the two steps he has learned online to control emotions better, as his speech pathways program were about emotional intelligence. Lastly, Yizhou, who recently returned from his trip to South America, talked about his adventures in Machu Picchu along with the pictures and backpack he showed the audience.

Table Topics Master Delia Yang, provided a list of quirky but exciting questions relating to "Which colour describes you best?" and "a furniture to describe yourself"

The word of the day "Erudite," was eccentric to use, but in total, the word was used 4 times turning it into an erudite discussion

Most Improved or Outstanding Speaker: Lachlan McGill
Most Improved or Oustanding Evaluator: Skye Lu
Most Improved or Oustanding Table Topics: Anand Antony