Your Life Resume

Speech 1

JOY Group

Ma. Cecilia Yap · Persuasive Influence, Level 3 · Evaluated by Lord Anjelo Guia

Ma. Cecilia opened the speeches with "JOY Group", her project for Deliver Social Speeches. We don't have a recording of this one, so we'll leave the details to the people who were in the room.

Speech 2

Are You Ready?

Raymond Angana · Engaging Humor, Level 1 · Evaluated by Raynan Roflo

Raymond started with a confession. A few days before the meeting, someone asked if he was ready to give a speech, and he said yes on the spot. Very confident, no hesitation, and no speech. Not even a title. Then he remembered a Facebook reel that said being ready is not a feeling, it's a decision.

From there he walked us through two other times life asked him the same question. He became a father at 20, with no manual and no pathways to fatherhood, and learned that sometimes being ready comes after you accept the responsibility. Then it took him ten years to decide he was ready for marriage, which he says stands on four pillars: forgiveness, understanding, compromise and kindness.

He closed with three lessons. Some responsibilities come before you're ready, so show up and grow. Some decisions will never feel perfectly timed. And saying yes is only the start, because you still have to put in the work.

I didn't become a father because I was ready. I became ready because I was a father.

Try this: Hang your whole speech on one short question and come back to it after every story. Raymond's "Ready?" did that job all night.

Table Topics

Four ways to answer on the spot

Table Topics Master Niño Joseph Sumampong · Evaluated by Van Woodrue Perpetua

Before the first question, Niño gave everyone, guests included, a few simple ways to organize an answer when you only get a minute to think.

• HAH: an interesting opening to grab attention, an aim (inspire, inform or amuse), and an impactful closing with a take-home message.
• PREP: point, reason, example, point.
• AREM: answer, reason, example, message.
• SMG, the crowd favorite: story, message, game.

Try this: Pick one of these and use it for your next three answers. Once it's automatic, your mind has room for the actual story.

From the floor

Small wins count

Two of the Table Topics answers stayed with us. One member said that when she started with Toastmasters she wasn't really confident, and that joining Table Topics this past month was her biggest achievement so far.

Another speaker talked about a vision board with three things on it, dancing, cooking and painting. He can do all three now, and he said what it took was patience, perseverance, and being okay with looking like a fool while you're still learning.

It's just that I don't know how to speak in front of people. I don't know how to share, but with Toastmasters, I was able to do it.

A member, during Table Topics