Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Night at the Toastmaster's - Wow Extravaganza

I spent the night at the Toastmaster's Wow Extravaganza. I had never been to a toastmaster event before but had the privelege tonight because my daughter Michaela was invited to sing two songs for the event. She launched the event by singing 'One Kind Hand' and I'll Stand By You'. I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing her perform.

The MC for the night was Mr. Ron Grender, a longtime administrator (retired) in our district and my grade 6 teacher. The headline speaker was Peter Legge, fresh off co-hosting the Variety Club Telethon on the weekend. Next to seeing Bill Clinton live at 'The Power Within', I think Peter Legge would be the most dynamic speaker I have seen in person. His command of the audience, the stage and his delivery were amazing. I think as educators we forget the importance of the 'performance' when we are in front of our students. Just subtle things that we could do that would help engage our learners - intonation, how you move, where you stand. I think that Peter Legge would be a fantastic presenter for a District Pro-D keynote or the CPVPA Conference in 2011 (after Sir Ken Robinson does his thing next October).

What an inspiring night. I bought a copy of Peter's new book called Runway of Life written from notes he has taken from lunches with Joseph Segal for the last 30+ years.

"Life isn't a highway, it is more of a runway, eventually you are going to run out of ashphalt."

Looking forward to reading the book. Will consider attending other Toastmaster events as well. Curious how language and presentation might impact student learning in the classroom.

1 comment:

  1. Great message and insight, Mike. I too was very impressed by the whole evening which highlighted my granddaughter , Michaela's, singing and the gift of public speaking of Peter Legge. He sure knows how to keep the audience with him and get a message across at the same time.
    Dad/Grampa S

    ReplyDelete