Los Gatos Silver Tongued Cats Toastmasters

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Los Gatos Silver Tongued Cats Toastmasters

Los Gatos President's Distinguished Club with 35 years history
Weekly Hybrid Meetings on Thursdays
Contact us at [email protected]
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We are Los Gatos Silver Tongued Cats Toastmasters community club with more than 35 years of history. Silver Tongued Cats has been recognized as a President's Distinguished Club for 19 years in a row! Our learn-by-doing club provides a professional, friendly, and supportive environment for developing your speaking and leadership skills. Our members attend regularly, practice actively, are committe

d to self-improvement, and encourage and support their colleagues. We meet weekly: on Thursdays at 7:30am, on the 1st, 3rd, 4th week of the month and
on Saturdays at 8:30am on the 2nd week of the month.

07/24/2026

Meeting Theme: Adventure

The theme of today's meeting was Adventure, led by Bud. What better theme could there be for the summer?

We had two prepared speeches, and coincidentally, both were related to sports.

The first speech was presented by Lixia, titled "Summer All-Star." She shared the story of her son, Sam, who was selected for an All-Star team for the first time and competed in his first tournament. Although his team lost the opening game, Sam handled the disappointment with maturity. Instead of dwelling on the loss, he reflected on his own performance and said, "I know my batting isn't good enough. I'd like to work on my fundamentals and mechanics." His attitude perfectly embodied the All-Star spirit—keep improving, keep practicing, and master the fundamentals.

The second speech was presented by Lance, growing up playing football. He offered a unique perspective on soccer. His presentation was both humorous and refreshing, bringing plenty of energy and laughter to the meeting.

The Table Topics session was led by Chris, who prepared a variety of engaging questions that encouraged guests to participate. Our guest Lynn shared her adventure of traveling for three years, while another guest, Nancy, talked about how traveling changed her life. Their inspiring stories reminded us that adventure can take many forms and often leads to personal growth.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and inspiring meeting filled with stories of sports, travel, resilience, and adventure.

03/19/2026

We’ve had two wonderful and energizing meetings over the past week — a perfect reminder of how much inspiration and connection can happen early in the morning!

March 14 — Special Guest Speaker

Under the leadership of Toastmaster of the Day Margo Walton, we welcomed a very special guest: Alan Feinberg, founder of the Lost Gatos Project (https://www.lostgatos.com/) and creator of the Discover Lost Gatos app, which offers self-guided historical walking tours of the Los Gatos community.

Alan delivered a fascinating 25 minute presentation titled “Remembering the Railroads.” He took us back to the late 19th century, when Alfred Edwin Davis and James Graham Fair helped establish the railroad linking Los Gatos, Santa Cruz, and San Jose — a transformative development for the region.

His talk highlighted both progress and sacrifice. He shared the tragic story of the Summit Tunnel explosion, where more than 30 Chinese railroad workers lost their lives — a powerful reminder of the immense risks taken by Chinese laborers who helped build California’s rail infrastructure. Alan also described how the railroad opened convenient access to Santa Cruz beaches and connected communities at a time when most travel was by foot or carriage.

With only one featured speaker, we enjoyed an extended Table Topics session — giving everyone the opportunity to participate and share their thoughts.

🌸 March 19 — Theme: “Spring Training”

Toastmaster of the Day David Singer led a lively meeting focused on growth, preparation, and fresh starts.

We enjoyed a full program with three excellent speakers:

Lixia shared how she plans and executes training projects with her colleagues

Chris entertained us with a humorous story about negotiating with his wife for a happy marriage

Lance, joining from the Seattle area, delivered a vivid speech titled “Our Eccentric Neighbor Served Us Many Dishes of Mindfulness,” filled with rich descriptive language

✨ We are proud to be one of the few clubs that meets early in the morning — and one of the most energetic! Guests are always welcome to visit and experience the inspiration, learning, and camaraderie for themselves.

02/20/2026

❤️ What Is Love? – A Morning Full of Energy and Inspiration! ❤️

Our Toastmaster of the Day, Lixia, did a wonderful job guiding us through a lively and heartfelt meeting.

We enjoyed two outstanding speeches:
🎤 Jennifer delivered her Tall Tales competition speech, keeping us entertained with creativity and humor.
🎤 Anastasia inspired us with her speech titled “Bend So You Don’t Break,” reminding us of the strength found in resilience.

Our Table Topics session, led by Qifeng, sparked thoughtful and fun discussions about love. One of the most imaginative questions of the morning:
👽 How would you explain love to aliens if they visited Earth?

As one of the very few clubs that meets bright and early at 7:30 AM, we proudly prove that mornings don’t have to be sleepy — they can be powerful! Our early start brings focus, commitment, and incredible energy to every meeting.

If you’re looking to sharpen your public speaking skills in a supportive and energetic environment, we would love to welcome you.

✨ Guests (yes, YOU!) are always welcome. Come experience the energy for yourself! ✨
We are one of the very few clubs that have early morning meetings (our meeting starts at 7:30 am). Therefore, we are one of the clubs that have the most energy during the meeting! We welcome guests (i.e., YOU!) to visit us as a guest to experience our energy and dedication of improving our public speech skills.

10/30/2025

We had a blast at today’s Toastmasters meeting — filled with laughter, creativity, and a touch of Halloween spirit! 🕸️✨

Want to see what it’s like to grow your confidence, sharpen your public speaking skills, and have fun at the same time? Join us at our weekly meetings!

Guests are always welcome — no pressure at all. You can simply sit back, enjoy the speeches, and skip Table Topics if you’d like.

Come see what makes our club such a supportive and inspiring community! 💬🎤

08/21/2025

🌟 Meeting Recap – August 21, 2025 🌟
By Qifeng Shan
The Los Gatos Silver Tongued Cats gathered for a lively Thursday morning with the Toastmaster of the Day, Gordon Mattingly, with the theme: “Time”

We began with the Word of the Day: “Fleeting”, reminding us how quickly moments pass — and how important it is to use them well. Acting as Presiding officer, Jennifer Hall Thornton opened the meeting in place of Chris, bringing warm energy to the room.

🗣️ Prepared Speeches

Margot Walton shared her impatience in daily life with humor and reflection.
Lance Milbrand took us under the sea with stories of his video-taking experiences, bringing vivid imagery and adventure into the room.
David Singer tackled a very modern challenge: email overload. He showed us how organizing a Gmail inbox with filters can restore calm and clarity to our mornings.

🎤 Table Topics & Evaluations

Our Table Topics Master, Adam Zermeno, challenged members to think on their feet with impromptu responses. Evaluations followed, with Anastasia Fefilova evaluating Lance, Angel Rampy evaluating Margot and Qifeng Shan evaluating David — each offering thoughtful and constructive feedback. David Lim closed the evaluation section as General Evaluator, tying together insights from across the meeting.

✨ Takeaways

The morning wrapped up with recognition of our role players and winners. It's always great to start a day strong with a joyful Toastmaster meeting!

06/20/2025

（Reported by GE: Lance Milbrand)

Qifeng was our Toastmaster of the Day, and his theme was The Longest Day.
The longest day could be several things, the upcoming summer solstice or possibly the never-ending challenges in life. Lixia selected the word bright for our word of the day – giving out or reflecting a lot of light. Steve gave an inspiration speech and shared his stories in early days after he came to the US, which is really inspiring!
Jennifer gave a speech about the need to overcome serious health issues and the ways that helped her manage her stress. Life lessons that we all learn along the journey. Angel was Jennifer’s evaluator.
Gordon gave a speech about the benefits of reading books, how they expand your knowledge, open the door for empathy and help us grow. Anastasia was Gordon’s evaluator.
Our Table Topics were asked by Eleanor, and we had many contestants. David S., Lixia, Chris, Lance, Jayne, Steve, Bud and Qifeng.
Summer officially begins tomorrow, overall, a nice beginning of summer meeting.

02/03/2025

Last Thursday Toastmaster theme by Gordon was “Happiness” and the meeting made everybody smile.
Our first speech was by Chris and he discussed the importance of mentoring and being mentored. Ironically, his evaluator was Bud and Bud is his club mentor. Chris did a fine job explaining the difference between the two and the importance of helping others when it’s your turn to mentor.
Our second speech was by May. She shared with us a social speech and it happened to be about giving a eulogy for her uncle. A eulogy can often be a time for sadness but May brought up times her uncle made her laugh. Everyone in the audience could relate to the joy that uncle brought to life and that made everyone happy. Great job May. Anastasia was May’s evaluator.
Our Table Topics by David S. carried on with the same theme and it was an overall great meeting. We had one repeat guest, her name is Margot and she did well during Table Topics.

01/28/2025

Our Toastmasters meeting on 01/23 Thursday, themed “Changes,” was a great success!

We enjoyed two inspiring speeches: Jayne Schurick shared tips on using the TMOD template, and Bud Everts demonstrated effective use of AI to assist your presentation skills. Table Topics sparked lively participation, as members and guests shared personal stories and perspectives on change.

Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed! See you on 01/30 this Thursday for more learning and fun. 🎤✨

09/30/2024

The theme for today is "What Are You Celebrating?"
It’s the fall season, harvest season, and many people’s favorite time of the year as we approach the holiday season. So, today's theme is “What Are You Celebrating?”

We have two prepared speakers today.
Chris Weilert’s speech was titled “The Gift of Aging.” The project was Body Language from the Presentation Mastery path, Level 2. Chris shared stories about his mother and brother, who both passed away in the same year. We could deeply feel his sense of loss through his speech. He also reflected on the valuable lessons he learned about the gift of aging.

David Singer’s speech was titled “All Decked Out.” His project was Evaluation and Feedback from the Innovative Planning path, Level 2. David shared the process of replacing and fixing a deck. Through photos and descriptions, we learned about the entire project.

The Table Topics session was led by May, with questions focused on how to celebrate, who you would like to celebrate with, and your most memorable celebrations. Qifeng’s Halloween celebration story was the winner!

Hybrid meetings are always challenging due to the technical setup. Although the meeting started 2 minutes late due to an unstable internet connection, it went smoothly overall and even finished early.

Summarized by Jessica!

09/20/2024

🌟 Inspiring Speakers - A Recap of Today's Meeting 🌟

Today’s meeting was all about finding inspiration in those around us! The word of the day is "uplifting"! We had two amazing prepared speeches:

🗣️ Jayne shared heartwarming stories about the new member of her chicken family...a cat named Layne! Her speech was made even more memorable with photos of her chickens and Layne, reminding us that inspiration can come from the animals in our lives.

🗣️ Lixia took us on a journey through her inspiring experience of becoming a board member of a non-profit organization. Her story was a powerful reminder of how leadership and perseverance can make a big impact.

Our Table Topics session, led by David, was filled with engaging personal stories about moments in life that have inspired each of us. It was truly a highlight to hear such a range of experiences!

Sonya led the evaluation session with valuable feedback for both speakers. Bud and Eleanor provided thoughtful and encouraging evaluations, helping our speakers grow even further.

Qifeng, our Toastmaster of the day, closed the meeting with a powerful reminder that inspiring speakers aren't just famous figures—we can find inspiration in the people we meet every day, including our fellow Toastmasters.

We ended the meeting on a high note, filled with excitement and energy to bring even more inspiration into our speeches and into our club! 🎉

See you all next time! 💪

Address

Office Evolution 16185 Los Gatos Boulevard #205
Los Gatos, CA
95032

Opening Hours

7:30am - 9am

Website

http://www.silvertonguedcats.com/

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