I Wanna Raise My Glass Tonight

Only three projects left. Facing the next giant Toastmasters milestone – the Advanced Toastmaster Gold title – I decided to give one of the remaining three speeches during our Barcelona-Mallorca area conference in Palma de Mallorca on April 6 2013. The occasion couldn’t have been more special; it was a speech from the Special Occasion manual. My task: to give a toast!

I wanted to give a special toast. So I took MLK’s immortal I have a dream speech and adapted its style to the event and audience.

The toast was a plain success – with several applauding breaks, roaring laughter and goosebump moments.

Sheila, Seb, Jim, Jeff, Olivia, Sergio, Ania and all you other healthy souls in a wounded world – thank you for having made this toast so special!

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The Toast

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because I’m looking into the eyes of the most inspiring people in the universe that we know.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we’re a living Wikipedia. Do you think we only learn how to speak in public at Toastmasters? No, we also learn many other things. For instance, I will never ever, ever, ever buy any other egg than an egg that has a big fat zero stamped upon.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we turn even the most fully-fledged, hard-wired, hardcore introvert into a charismatic super monster!

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… for all these miles and miles and miles of human skin we turn into goosebumps.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because for us mentorship is not a dull word in a dull business book printed on dull paper in a dull letter. Mentorship is part of our genetic code!

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we’re growing, growing, growing… together!

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we’re the best killers in the world. We’re the best killers in the world because we kill them in Tennessee, we kill them in Mississippi, we even kill them in vicious Alabama… We kill them all… the Ums and the Ahs.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we climb those magical mountains together. We climb the mountain of adrenaline. We climb the mountain of euphoria. We climb the mountain of acknowledgment.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we make the great Charles Chaplin proud. For he said, A day without laughter is a day wasted. We don’t waste a f*** single day!

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we’re not too vain, we’re not to arrogant, we’re not too weak to share our weaknesses and failures like the seven sins – pride, envy, lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because we have found our passion. And we do let the feeling of fear fester in others like Olivia mentioned today. We use our passion to help others fight the feeling of fear.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because not all family members are friends. But the friends we make here are like family members.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because of all the couples that have popped up like Ana and Riccardo from Barcelona Toastmasters or Julia and Jesús from Prestigious Speakers or like the future couple Emilia and Evgueni… [Lots of laughter] It’s coincidence, of course, that in a room of 60 they’re sitting next to each other! [Even more laughter]

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because you are the healthy souls in a wounded world.

I WANNA RAISE MY GLASS TONIGHT… because of… YOU!

Cheers!