Toastcaster Communication Leadership Learning Lab

[27:37] Words are very powerful and this episode, Greg speaks with Paul Ross about Subtle Words that Sell. This is not only the title of his new book, but also a revolutionary concept he's used for the past 30 years to teach tens of thousands of people around the world the power of language not just to sell, but to persuade, influence and also heal.    Paul insists that sales is not about selling but rather about shaping and structuring states on consciousness. He shares some of his wisdom and also lessons from his book which was in part inspired by his competitive nature and his past experience as a dating coach.   In this lighthearted and entertaining episode, you'll learn from the man who's in love with language about categories of words to use and about techniques on how to reframe objections.   You'll also learn about pattern interrupt and the better understand the difference between persuasion or influence and manipulation and how focussing on selling decisions and good feelings rather than selling pr

[29:21] Just when we thought the world had enough jargon, acronyms and other confusing verbiage, Grant Crowell, a self-professed social wordsmith comes along and creates his own words or “Grantasms.” His motives are sincere – his intention, to make communication fun again while helping people build confidence, better relationships and increase their productivity. In this light hearted yet informative episode you’ll learn why he wrote this book, what you can take away from it and how he himself uses his own Grantasms for laughs, socio-emotional wellness, and his own ADHD management.  Listen for new terms like spousish, GERK, fillerflabber, messy-tasking, acronumb, playful mindfulness and more. Grant Crowell is a learning facilitator for Dell Technologies Digital Events team and is the author of GRANTASMS: Twisted Creative words for cool people! He lives in Durham, North Carolina USA. Grant and can be found on LinkedIn and get his book on Amazon.  

[28:50] When the current pandemic became a global reality, suddenly Bob Hooey found his speaking business more or less obliterated.   In this episode, Bob expresses to Greg how he felt and how he dealt with the situation while perhaps realizing his and and maybe our biggest fears.  After overcoming the initial shock, Bob realised, "I can't travel,  but my message can."  Pulling from years of experience, he decided  instead of spiralling downward, he could pivot. So even at age 71, he found his new learning curve and embraced his new playing field. "I'm still learning," he says. What Bob did, many of us can do too as he discovered new technologies and used the power of partnering, creativity and the often forgotten value of simply asking for help to move forward. Additionally Bob also shares the wisdom of some of his past experiences, much of which can apply to all of us and our businesses today in his own entertaining way. FREE BOOK As a gift to our listeners, Bob is offering, free to all readers a cop

[27:41] Looking at how a pandemic has changed the way we dine and how restaurants operate and literally ravaged the industry. As some cities begin to re-open, you can’t help but wonder what the new normal is or might be or what future looks like moving forward.   In this episode, our guest Brittain Brown offers us a little insight into that arena. From his experience, he’ll share some of his observations what’s going on in the minds of restaurant owners and operators, staff and patrons. You’ll hear about some of the changes in store beyond merely servers in face masks, constant cleaning and reassuring customers as factors whether restaurants can successfully reopen and stay in business.  He addresses some of the challenges today’s leaders are facing, but also some of the opportunities that this represents including some food for thought on how leaders need to rethink and evolve their business models and adopt new technologies which are already driving the new normal and what might happen if they don’t. W

[30:30] For Angelo Tirhas, like many around the world, everything more or less came to a dead halt when the current global crisis hit, leaving him stuck with literally nothing to do.  Instead of wallowing in defeat asking the same questions on everyone’s mind, his professional mind kicked in realizing that he had to define the problem and find solutions.  He asked himself: “What’s the biggest problem in the world today, what are people what most scared of and can we help them?” Of course he realized people were already overloaded with data they couldn’t make sense of and he himself didn’t have all the answers. He had an epiphany. “Let’s get all these people into one place and share what the future possibilities are and figure out what to do to survive the future. Get people asking questions in touch with those who have answers and let them have a chat with each other. And thus Future Summits Online series was born. In this entertaining and informative episode we learn more about Angelo’s journey, what h

[29:33] Sometimes the best way to be a better leader and communicator is to learn from others’ stories. In this episode we hear from Paul Finkelstein who created OMGTalk, the small business owners podcast which he publishes on 5 different platforms.   Paul tells us why he created it; how he interviews small business owners and its value to them and other small business owners. Paul also shares his own takeaways and what he has learned from the process. I invited Paul to Toastcaster because when he asked me to be on his show OMGTalk, the four simple questions he indicated he was going to ask I found quite reflective. It forced me to think back and dig deep - which I found quite inspiring. Please have a listen to to our interview on Paul's show. Paul Finkelstein is from Delray Beach, Florida, USA. He’s involved in the Medicare insurance industry and loves running and fundraising. He’s a Distinguished Toastmaster and is the producer of the OMGTalk Podcast. Paul can be reached on all the major platforms and

[26:06] Learning a new language while abroad particularly during these unprecedented times can be a challenge yet rewarding.  But our eight-time guest, Kevin Achtzener, who is currently overseas with his family in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was certainly up for the quest. In this light-hearted episode, Kevin humbly shares how he was first inspired to learn Spanish the traditional way many years ago and some of the things he learned what not to do as he set upon a quest to learn Arabic – a much more challenging task. Kevin also shares a number of techniques he’s been using like a language exchange as well as some of his valuable resources including: Anki– a Flashcard app, 50Languages– 100 Free Audio lessons; LingQ– which helps you learn a language from content you love and his go to book: Arabic Script Hacking by Judith Meyer, which helped him to learn to read signs. Editors Note: Once you have a good working knowledge of a language, there are also many bilingual Toastmasters clubs aroun

[11:39] For a dedicated athlete or fit individual, walking a minimum of 10k steps a day for almost three years might seem like nothing. For me, a few decades older with ancient injuries walking roughly seven to eight kilometres a day that seems more like a pipe dream. Amazingly, I did it. I never thought I could.  In this episode, I share a little about my journey and how beyond the usual benefits of exercise the experience was transformational; I learned new things - many about myself. The text version of this podcast is entitled “What I learned from a Journey of over 11 million steps.”  There’s also an earlier related article, “One step at a time: a simple solution to a better life.”  The companion podcast is Toastcaster Episode: 90. Articles can be found at Troy Media.com Note: The photo shows me as I reached the 1000-day milestone. As I recorded this podcast 70 days later I had reached 12.3 million steps.  Sadly as I publish this podcast my journey has come to an end as a time slot has come up for m

[22:06] Many businesses are finding themselves in an emergency state and are desperately looking to ensure smooth continuity.  In this episode, Greg speaks with Chandrashekar LSP, Head Evangelist for the Zoho Corporation in Canada. Chandrashekar shares his observations on this new unprecedented business landscape and gives us an insight on what people and businesses can do and tools they can use to shift from typical office environments to the new reality without recreating the wheel Working from home for over 15 years, he also offers his personal take on this subject as he currently has three kids under five years of age at home 24/7 and with his teams in India, and clients, partners, analysts and media in North America and around the world. You’ll hear about Zoho’s Cloud-based business services for all departments in an organization including their new Remotely bundle consisting of 11 of their 45  applications in four categories, including: Internal/External Communications, Project Management, Remote

[22:28] In this episode, Greg speaks with Dr. Shawna Pandya whose three page bio and credentials list includes: physician, scientist-astronaut candidate, teacher and martial artist with degrees in medicine, neuroscience, space studies and more. Dr. Pandya shares with us a little about her journey and about her self-proclaimed Batman/ Bruce Wayne persona while opening up on how she’s been able to live out her childhood dreams. She also shares about how her training prep for space travel has helped her prepare not only to deal with life in a COVID-19 world but also gives us lessons in leadership, communication, teamwork and critical decision-making in a high-risk, high-reward situation that can be applied to anyone, anywhere in our world. This includes her very timely insight on how isolation in space can help us better learn about isolation we’re currently experiencing on Earth. Dr. Shawna Pandya lives in Edmonton, Canada and can be reached at ShawnaPandya.com, or on Twitter & Instagram @ShawnaPandya

[29:31] Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading has just about put the entire planet into lockdown mode. In this episode, Greg speaks with Lisa Wentz about her short article on LinkedIn about keeping mentally and physically stimulated and engaged and not feeling frozen during this unprecedented quarantine.  Lisa shares with us her recent journey of self-isolation.  She explains how news overload and too much of the wrong kind of mental stimulation can affect people physically and how we can combat that and ensure we continue to pursue things that are relevant and important to us. Wentz explains how mental stimulation means different things to different people and how we need to find the time to reach out to others, not just those we know. You’ll also discover why getting through these times is not just about balance but about choices we make. You’ll even hear her interesting observations about changes in people like celebrity Stephen Colbert, who was forced to self-isolate, and more. Lisa Wentz is fr

[24:42] Although Fear is commonly associated with public speaking, it’s ubiquitous;  we find it in many areas of our lives and it can be debilitating. In this episode, Host Greg Gazin speaks with Donald Lee who shares his insights on the origins of our fear; its physiological effects and how we can use our minds to counteract the natural effects of those fears. You’ll also learn why the opposite of fear, is love. Donald Lee is from Peace River, Canada. Now in his 3rd career as a spiritual author and speaker, he’s also been a musician, teacher, band director, athlete, and economist who has over 60 years of dealing with fear across many disciplines. He’s also returned to Toastmasters after a 20-year hiatus. having competed in the 1995 World Championship of Public Speaking. He is one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming District 42 Conference in Lethbridge, Alberta. Lee’s 1st book, published December 2019 is: The Band Director’s Lessons About Life: Volume 1 – 50 Parables on Life’s Performance Cycle - mod

[24:28] It’s amazing what a difference one man can make in the world. In this episode Greg speaks with Dan Johnstone, a.k.a Can Man Dan. Dan shares with us a little about his humble journey about how growing up in a less fortunate environment motivated him at a young age to begin a lifelong journey of helping others in need and make a difference in their lives. He shares some of the tasks, activity and projects he’s taken on, including camping out in a truck for 4-5 days at a time 24/7 in sub-zero, -30 degree Celsius weather to collect much needed food of the Edmonton Food Bank.  Dan shares an encouraging message that anyone in the world no matter the age or economic status can also do the same if they take a first step. His actions and leadership in this area are living proof of that. Dan Johnstone is an award-winning activist, philanthropist, community organizer, and motivational speaker. Alongside his newly created non-profit organization, the Can Man Dan Foundation, Dan works hands-on to alleviate pov

[20:39] In a rare live interview opportunity, host Greg Gazin speaks with Daniel Rex, CEO, Toastmasters International during a Fall visit to District 99, Edmonton, Canada. In this episode, Dan talks about why he visited our fair city from Denver, CO and a special connection Dan has to our own Peter Kossowan, a.k.a. Mr. Toastmaster.  We also learn a little more about Dan, what he likes to do, interesting things you may not know about him, how he discovered Toastmasters and how he’s evolved since joining the organization over 25 years ago. As the CEO to one of the world’s largest not-for-profit communication and leadership organizations with 358K+ members worldwide, Dan shares some of his valuable leadership wisdom we can learn from. These include his thoughts on change, being a catalyst for change as well as his take on authentic leadership, and more. Please enjoy this informative yet fun interview with Dan as a perfect close for this year and this decade.

[19:56] When we think of caregiving, leadership is not usually the first word to come to mind. But when you research what this often unexpected responsibility requires, you’ll see how it extends beyond a typical leadership role; often done over and beyond one’s day job and usually has emotions attached to it.  In this episode Greg speaks with Rick Lauber, Author and former co-caregiver for both his aging parents. Rick shares a little of his journey and offers an honest insight as to what’s involved in really being a caregiver, what skills are needed and how it parallels with that of an organizational leader.  Rick shares about how this decade long experience had impacted him as well as some of what he learnt about leadership and about himself as well as what strengths he never knew he had and those skills he needed to learn along the way. The experience lead Rick to publish two best-selling guide books  – Caregiver’s Guide for Canadians and The Successful Caregiver’s Guide which we also hear a little abo

[11:03] On Black Friday our minds seem to wander towards the subject of shopping and for many us, it’s the time to think about getting new gadgets for work, home or when we’re out on the road. In this episode Greg takes a look at the all-new for 2019 Amazon Fire HD 10 which he recently had the opportunity of reviewing. You’ll hear his thoughts on the new model, some of the features, what it can be used for and how it compares to other tablets. It’s a follow up podcast for his upcoming article of the same name, which can be found at GadgetGuy.ca on Dec 1st.

Every leader knows that cashflow is king. Very few use cheques or even carry cash these days. Enter Square a low cost secure mobile payment system. It’s an easy way for you to collect payments for products or services that’s also easy and convenient for your customers allowing them to pay by credit card, debit and other pay systems. In this episode your host Greg Gazin has a quick look at three different options offered by Square, what they do, what they cost including their latest all-in-one Square Terminal. The podcast is based on Greg’s two previously published articles: With Square, you too can accept wireless debit and credit card payments (Gadgetguy.ca) and It’s Hip to be Square published by Troy Media.

[29:57] In this episode, Greg speaks with Diana Peterson-More about her new book: Consequential Communication in Turbulent Times: A Practical Guide to Leadership. Peterson-More draws from her experience as a labor lawyer, HR executive and organizational development consultant to show individuals and business leaders the way to clear, concise, and intentional communication--vital to successful human interaction in today’s fast-paced, volatile (and #MeToo) world.  A short read, this book has a unique format, for example, incorporating step-by-step how-to lists for each chapter, a number of case studies, analyzing what went wrong and food for thought through “What-if“ scenarios, often circling back to previous case studies as new concepts are learned. The book is based on real stories and practical advice, some of which Diana shares with us during our conversation including using “I” statements and the Platinum Rule and more. Diana Peterson-More is from Pasadena, California and can be reached through her we

[31:35] Yes, your non-profit organization may be eligible for a Google Ad Grant giving you $10K per month in free Google Ad Words Advertising and it's not fake news.  In this episode, Greg speaks with David Ries, a Certified Google Ad Grant Professional who’ll give us an insight on this great opportunity for qualified non-profits and share how getting one is not as difficult as you think. David will explain what the grant is all about, how to find out if you qualify and some of the things you need to do and have in order for your application to be successful. He’ll also demystify some of the misinformation about the grant.  David also offers a good primer on Google Ads to maximize a Google Word Ad campaign. He’ll share some tips on using keywords to drive searches to your landing page or website -  information that’s relevant to anyone who may consider using Google ads. He also gives us a real world example of a client with a successful Google ad campaign and some of the ways they used keywords to zero in

[28:55] Great leaders are passionate.  Amongst other things, they’re also motivating, inspiring, innovative and committed to what they do. Our guests today have these attributes and more but you won’t find them in big towers, behind oak desks, but rather find them listed in the Guinness World Records 2020  book or associated with the organization. In this episode, you’ll hear stories of true leadership. You’ll hear about the unusual way the idea for a Guinness Record came about and how these talented individuals faced with a challenge, persevered and overcame adversity while describing how they accomplished their incredible feats. You’ll also learn what motivates them; what they learned about themselves and how it can apply to all of us. You’ll also find out what it’s like to be a Guinness adjudicator, the skills it requires and a few tips on vying for a Guinness World Record. Reverend Kevin Fast from Cobourg, Ontario, Canada is best described as a modern day Popeye. He holds an impressive 31 Guinness Wor