Toastmasters of Paris
Founded in 1975, our club is the oldest English-speaking Toastmasters Club in France.
We are a family of nations where everyone who masters English is welcome.
Toastmasters International
This worldwide organization establishes guidelines for all clubs, ensuring that they follow the paths of integrity, service, respect, and excellence.
The Venue
Since early on, the club’s meetings have been held in an elegant restaurant in the heart of Paris: ‘Les Noces de Jeannette’
The pleasure of enjoying together a three-course meal and wine enables our members to relax while listening to excellent and informative speeches.
Does the wine help in stimulating its members to give such creative speeches and ingenious evaluations? Does the environment, together with the restaurant’s friendly service, contribute towards the enthusiasm of its members and their guests for these club meetings?
We think so!
Credentials
Since 1975, Toastmasters of Paris has been winning awards almost annually, including the President’s Distinguished Club. The banners seen in the photos are a testimony to the many distinctions TMP has won over its 45-year history.
CLUB VALUES
Toastmasters International stresses four core values: Integrity, Respect, Service, and Excellence
and these are at the heart of our meetings.
Aligned with these values, Toastmasters of Paris provides a mutually supportive and positive learning environment: every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, fostering self-confidence and personal growth.
Birthday Celebrations!
Toastmasters of Paris is forty-five! Older than any other Parisian Toastmasters, the club was determined to celebrate this landmark in style. Taking place under COVID conditions, this took a good deal of creativity, but the meeting of Tuesday, November 17, 2020 was a masterpiece of stylish fun and festivity.
Club president Vicki Gerber, ably assisted by the executive committee, wanted a fitting commemoration of a forty-five-year history, and so, in addition to the traditional trappings of jokes, toasts, speeches and evaluations, there were some surprises with special guests and unusual moments.
A warm welcome was extended to former members who returned to join in the occasion. VIP guests included Toastmasters International President Richard E. Peck, DTM, who kindly agreed to serve as General Evaluator. He performed the role generously, concluding with fulsome praise for the event organization and the speakers.
Vicki coordinated the evening with aplomb, later remarking that she felt like a conductor of a talented orchestra. While our rendition of Happy Birthday – with its dissonant Zoom echoes – was perhaps less than classical, the theme, quotation, and table topics provided a subtle harmony, and there was talent aplenty in the speeches and subsequent evaluations.
The idea of the evening was that it takes a long time to become young (Picasso). Bertrand recounted the important events of 1975, and club historian Peter Kenton talked about TMP’s progress since that founding year, showing how the group continues to build upon rich traditions and heritage while cultivating a youthful spirit. Teamwork is responsible for the success of this club, he suggested.
Vicki has acknowledged this, thanking Peter for his contributions as well as the many other people whose work made the evening such a success. She singled our several ‘orchestra’ members, including Sam (Woodman) for the fabulous birthday card design, Martin (Raim) and Oana (Nitescu) for their creative ideas, Bertrand (Le Bris) for the excellent agenda, and Danielle (Willi) for her management skills.
The evening was an incontestable success and will be long remembered. Silly hats and party clothes, flags and birthday candles… It takes a long time to be this young at heart!