November 9, 2025 • 33 mins
Join us for an insightful interview with Greg Gazin, a distinguished Toastmaster and host of both the Toastcaster and The Official Toastmasters Podcast, recently named a Top 25 Higher Education Podcast by AcademicInfluence.com. In 2009, Greg received the Toastmasters International Presidential Citation for his innovative use of technology to benefit the Toastmasters community. This prerecorded session was live from PodMasters Advanced Toastmasters and is hosted by Michael Dugan, a storyteller, career, and podcast coach. They explore Greg's 23-year journey with Toastmasters, his evolution from a shy introvert to a global podcasting leader, and his creative approach to both storytelling and podcasting. Greg provides invaluable advice for Toastmaster podcasters, shares tips on honing your craft, and highlights the critical role Toastmasters played in his podcasting success. Learn from Greg's memorable experiences and gain practical tips to elevate your own Toastmaster podcast.
01:20 Introducing the Special Guest: Greg Gazin
03:51 Greg Gazen's Pizza Obsession
05:41 Greg's Journey into Podcasting
08:26 The Toastmasters Podcast Explained
10:22 Memorable Podcast Episodes
19:06 Podcasting Challenges and Funny Moments
28:04 Advice for Aspiring Podcasters
29:23 Toastmasters for Chefs
30:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Contact Greg:
https://gadgetgreg.com
https://toastmasterspodcast.com
https://instagram.com/gadgetgreg
Join our club:
Advanced Podmasters Toastmasters: podmasterstoastmasters@gmail.com
Season2
Welcome Chef Steven Leung as our new cohost.
IG: themindfulwok
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michael Dugan (00:52):
Please join us today for a special interview.
This is a prerecordedsession from Pod Masters
Advanced Toastmasters.
It was a live interviewwith Greg Gazen and is
dedicated to Toastmastersand podcasters around the
world who wanna share theirmessage through storytelling.
Fred Bergeron (01:13):
So now on to our podcasting portion of the
meeting where I introduce ourinterviewer, Michael Dugan,
and he is a storytellercareer and podcast coach,
distinguished Toastmasterpod master and recipient
(01:34):
of the 20 17 20 18 DistrictToastmaster of the year.
Award.
He is also the host of theVoice Worship Podcast, a global
platform that amplifies thevoices of culinary professionals
by sharing their stories,passions, and journeys.
His podcast has reachedlisteners in over 90
(01:56):
countries and more than800 cities worldwide.
Through podcasting, Michaelhelps people connect, lead,
and create with confidence.
Today, he's thrilled tointroduce a guest who
embodies those same values.
Our special guest isGreg Gazen, distinguished
Toastmaster writer, speaker,and the official host of
(02:20):
the Toastmasters podcast.
Please welcome to the virtuallectern, Michael Dugan.
Thank you, Mr. Host,master Toastmaster.
Before I get started,I just want to tell you
a really quick story.
A couple months ago, it wasmidnight and I was inviting
(02:45):
people to a celebration,a four year celebration of
the Voice for Chefs podcast,and we decided to have it
right here in Pod Masters.
So I decided why not?
So I texted.
Greg and I said, wouldyou be open to coming?
And he was like, I'm busyright now, but I'll try.
(03:06):
And sure enough, he showedup and he brought this
amazing energy, like Ican't even describe it.
Just this incredible feelingof connection around the world.
And so now I'm so excitedto introduce Greg.
So today's guest is Greg Gazen.
He's a proud Toastmasterfor 23 years.
(03:28):
Six time distinguishedToastmaster past district 42
director, known as Gadget Greg.
He's a serial entrepreneur,a syndicated columnist, a
speaker and author of QuaOutsmarts, the Butterflies,
helping readers Build confidenceand Communication Skills.
(03:49):
Since 2006, Greg hasproduced the award-Winning
Toastcaster podcast.
Is the voice of theofficial Toastmaster
International Podcast.
Recently named a Top 25 Highereducation podcast from a
shy introvert hiding behindhis keyboard to a global
(04:11):
podcasting leader, Greg Credits,Toastmasters, and mentors for
opening doors he never imagined.
Please welcome VTM Greg Gazen.
Greg Gazin (04:24):
Thank you, Michael.
I am thrilled just likeeveryone else that you're here.
It is very special to haveyou here at our open house.
It's my honor.
I thought we'd kick itoff with something that
we talked about together.
Can you tell us.
(04:44):
And I understand you havealmost like an obsession
with a certain food.
Can you tell us about that?
I'm almost sorry I mentionedit to you, Michael,
'cause you're a chef.
I, I love pizza and of course,as you are aware, there's
so many different types ofpizzas, but also the commercial
pizza is quite often verysalty or maybe too spicy.
(05:07):
And I always have all kindsof leftovers in the house.
So I decided that I willattempt to make pizza with
whatever leftovers I have, and Itypically take pictures of them
and I put some on Instagram andsome on Facebook, and I know you
had mentioned to me somethingto mention, something unique.
Sometimes you get tired ofthe same old sauces on top
of a pizza, but I'm a personwho loves to consume hummus.
(05:29):
I love barbecue sauce,so I will use hummus.
I will use barbecue sauce.
I will use.
Greek yogurt, mix it withall different kinds of
spices to to make a baseand whatever bread I have.
And in fact, there is a localbakery called the Happy Camel,
and they show their wares atthe local farmer's market.
(05:49):
And they had this neat little,I guess you would call it a
little pita, about six inches.
It's caramelized onions andspinach flavor, and I showed
him some pizzas I had made fromit, and he was so impressed.
He was absolutely amazing.
Can you please sendme those pictures so
that I could post it?
So yeah, I make pizza justabout out of everything.
(06:10):
Maybe not to the caliberand finess as to what you
can create, but it's food.
That's wonderful.
Now I know.
Like me, you've been aToastmaster for a long time.
I've been Toastmaster since2009 and absolutely have
loved the journey and Ithink I'm gonna be a lifer.
(06:30):
There's just noquestion about it.
But can you tell us a littlebit about, if we take you back,
how did you first start gettingto podcasting, but also did
you have a passion for radiowhen you were growing up,
or is it just something thatjust happened and you said.
I'm gonna jump into podcasting.
(06:52):
Well, if we go backfar back, yeah.
I guess as a kid I didhave a passion for radio.
I think every kid wants to be adj introducing music and songs.
Oh yeah.
Or be a sports broadcaster.
Now you can see myvoice is now deep.
When I was young,it was much higher.
Think of the Bee Gees, just TaleAlive, or Hi, Kermit The Frog.
Something really high pitch.
(07:12):
So I guess it reallywasn't in the cards.
I was a very quiet and shyintrovert, so when I had a
school project to do, insteadof getting up in front of an
audience, I made audio visual.
And for those of you who arelittle long in the tooth,
and remember the reel to reeltape, I used to cut tape with
a razor blade and I'd mixall those things together.
Didn't havetechnology back then.
(07:34):
And so I would do that when Ican as far as podcasting goes.
My background is as a gadgetguide technology, individual
writer, speaker, and whenI. First started, I thought
when podcasting came around,I thought I would really
love to do a tech podcast.
And you, how many of us saywe wanna do podcast, we wanna
write a book, we wanna dothis, we wanna mow the lawn.
(07:56):
But one of those thingsthat we never get to.
And then when it came time todo my HPL project, which is
the High Performance LeadershipProject, now I believe it's part
of level five in Pathways, Ithought, why not do a podcast?
And I thought, who betterto in, to interview than
our district governor?
(08:16):
And her name was Mona Cooley.
And I said, Mona.
And I was a, what was,what my, what was I at?
What was I at that time?
I think I was adivision governor.
Now they call it director.
Okay.
So I approached Mona.
I said, Mona, I'm doingmy HPL and I want to
interview for a podcast.
She says, great, Greg,what's a podcast?
So I explained to herwhat a podcast was.
(08:38):
I did the first podcast, Icalled a podcast Toastcaster,
a podcast for Toastmasters.
And what started off asone episode is now I think
about 180 or 190, and Istarted that back in 2006.
So that was like 19years ago when there were
maybe seven or eight.
A thousand podcasts as timewent on, the district was
(08:59):
no longer interested in thepodcast, so I rebranded it
as toastcaster Communication,leadership and Learning Lab.
Not necessarily Toastmasterspecific, but it continues
to be complimentary tothe Toastmasters podcast.
Uh, that's amazing.
And can you tell us about.
What is the Toastmasterpodcast all about and what
(09:22):
is the relationship withthe Toastmaster magazine?
That's a really good question,Michael, because I get so
many requests that, Hey,I really wanna be in your
podcast, Toastmasters podcast.
And this is of course,very important.
Anyone who has apodcast, you need at
some point to have a why.
What's the raison detra?
Why is it there?
(09:42):
You don't necessarily need itwhen you're starting, but if you
are gonna have a long lasting.
Podcast that's gonnaresonate with people.
You need a why Now, what manyof you may not be aware of is
the why of the Toastmasterspodcast is to amplify the words,
the stories, and the pictures.
Of the Toastmaster magazine.
(10:04):
So we will interview peoplewho have written articles.
They may have be, they mightbe a subject matter expert
who was quoted in an article,or we also interview every
year the accredited speakers,the incoming international
president, the worldchampion of public speaking.
And of course they're alltied somehow to, to articles.
(10:24):
So that's our goal becausewhen you have a magazine
article, there's limited space.
And quite often when youread an article, you go.
I'd love to knowa little bit more.
Can you tell me more?
So what we do is we're ableto dig a little deeper, but
also we're able to put a voiceto those words, especially
if it's an article that'swritten by the author.
(10:47):
Oh, that's fantastic.
I love the relationshipand I'm a big fan grad.
I've been a big fan fora while and listened to
probably 15 to 20 episodes.
And what I've noticedand what I love.
You call back to otherepisodes, but you also connect
the magazine articles to theinterviews and that's really
(11:11):
powerful for me to feel that.
So since we're talking aboutyour episodes, are, are there
any that really resonatedwith you when you look back?
Is there any that you hadthis interview, you really
connected to a guest and youjust walked away feeling.
Inspired, energized, oryou walked away with a
(11:36):
really powerful lesson.
The truth is there's so many andeach, each one is so different.
Some of them are, sir, sosome of them are serious,
some of them are deep, someof them are lighthearted,
some of them are fun, andthere are some with topics
that I know nothing about.
So of course itneeds a lot more.
In depth research, but theone that resonates with
(11:59):
me, it's probably the mostmemorable, and it was episode
1 0 4 where I intervieweda lady named Sarah Safari,
that's actually her name.
I did ask her if that washer real name or whether
that was a pen name.
She was hanging offMount Everest when the
earthquake hit in 2014 thatkilled 20,000 people in.
(12:20):
Cat Mandu and she was literallyhanging for dear life.
And she's also a Toastmaster.
And I still remember, and infact as I'm thinking about
it now, I've got shivers downmy spine because listening
to her recount her story.
And you see this is alsointeresting because.
I had nothing but the image onthe front cover of the magazine,
(12:41):
but her recounting the story.
Just put an image of it.
Put an image in my mind.
And this is also,video is great too.
It's the power of audio.
Yes.
And when, so when peopleask me, which is the one
that's impacted me the most.
It's probably that one, and Ithink about it and every once
in a while I'll listen to it.
In fact, that wasin 2014, I think we
(13:02):
interviewed her in 2015.
In 2022, Netflix actuallycreated a series called
Aftershock, the Everestand Nepali Earthquake.
So if you're interested inthat, listen to the podcast,
episode 1 0 4, and then pleasego ahead and check out that one.
That's probably theone that has the most.
(13:23):
Impact for me ifI had to pick one.
Wow.
And then you mentioned tome, we've had some amazing
conversations getting readyfor this interview, and one
of the things that stoodout to me was you said
you had some fun episodes.
So you mentioned William Hung.
Can you talk alittle bit about him?
(13:43):
I had to go back, soyou're smiling already.
I had to go back andlook at, look it up.
For those of you whodon't know, William Hung.
If those of you who knowRicky Martin shebang, William
Hung, let's just say he, heearned success by a failed
American Idol interview.
Yep.
And the funny thing is, Williamwas actually, I'm not sure if
he still is now, but at thetime we spoke to him, he was
(14:06):
actually a, a Toastmaster.
So he shared a littlebit about his journey.
At that time he was putting outa new book and I remember him
saying, yeah, I did my audition.
And the producers loved it.
And the staff loved it, and theaudience loved it, but he said.
Paula and Simon and Randy,he said, not so much.
(14:27):
And when you think about whatToastmasters evaluations are
like, they're very supportive.
Simon wasn't very supportive,so we had a really good time.
We also interviewedanother gentleman, and
now his name eludes me.
He talked about being a clown.
That was another onethat was, that's right.
That was a lot of fun.
And even interviewing the world.
Champs, the great thing aboutinterviewing the world champs
(14:47):
is you can catch their speecheson YouTube if you don't.
If you don't, if you hadn'tattended the conference.
But what's great is tolisten to some of their,
to some of their backstory.
So for example, we interviewedCyril Junior, dim, who I
think it was 20 20, 22.
He went from Zimbabweto Poland and.
(15:07):
His, I remember hisphrase was, Nini, it's me.
I think that's whatit, that's what it was.
(16:08):
But when we interviewedhim, he shared about this,
these sort of untraditionalways that he rehearsed.
So he talked about going into acrowd of a whole bunch of people
and he would just start talkingto gain some of that confidence.
Or another one wasMohammed Katani, 2015.
I don't know if thoseof you who remember.
(16:28):
He gets onto a stageand pretends to light a
cigarette, he goes, ah, what?
But he had said, first of all,he wasn't supposed to be there.
He was the second place person.
But I guess the first placeperson couldn't get transport
or couldn't get a visa.
Hmm.
And so he ended up comingin at the last minute and he
made changes to his speech.
He figured, youknow what, I'm here.
It's okay.
Everyone is practicing,rehearsing their speech.
(16:50):
He's playing video games.
But he had said he hadmade a change to the
speech at the last minute.
So of course I asked him,what was that change?
And he shared it.
So those are some of thethings that you don't
get just listening tothe actual speech itself.
And so this is wherewe get a deeper dive.
And of course therewas a companion article
to go along with it.
So that was, we try to laugh atin every episode, and we try not
(17:12):
to take ourselves too seriously.
We, of course, we takethe topic and the guests,
but there's always lotsand lots of laughing.
I wanna see.
I'm just curious.
This is gonna be a littleinteractive, okay, within
everyone that's listeningand watching today.
Show of hands, have you listenedto Greg's amazing podcast?
Because I am addicted, so I'dlove to see some hands up there.
Paul, I see a lot ofthem, which is Jen.
(17:36):
I see a lot of mywife has listened.
So anyway, if you haven't,I'm just gonna stop right now.
You have to go out and listen tothis podcast because if you're
at all interested in podcasting.
This is an education, theway that Greg connects to
his guests, the way thathe paces himself, the
cadence, all of those thingswe learn in Toastmasters.
(17:59):
But he's perfected those,and to me, I told him this,
and I'm just gonna say it.
When I listen to theseepisodes, I feel like I'm
listening to Santa Claus.
I just feel there'sthis certain.
Energy that you have, and it'ssimilar to mine, and I really
have respect for that becausethere are podcasters out there
(18:20):
that they use it to intimidatepeople and it's horrible.
It's, I don't know why theydo that, but I interview
chefs and when they comeon, I want them to feel so
comfortable and so energized.
That's what you give people.
That's what you giveyour guests, Greg.
And not only that, you do thisamazing deep dive research.
Preparing for this, you putme through the ringer and I
(18:43):
am so glad you did because Ifeel like for the past month
and a half I've been mentored.
By someone that I reallylook up to, so I had to
just put that out there.
It was just burning inside me.
Santa Claus.
Hey, Santa Claus.
That's right.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I'm not kidding.
I have, I have put on alittle weight late lately.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Have you ever dressedup as Santa Claus?
No.
No.
Not recently.
(19:03):
No.
Okay.
I could feel the energy inthis virtual room as I said
that I could just feel it.
I appreciate what you're saying.
I wanna say that a lot ofhow, a lot of how things
have evolved have, be, arebecause of Toastmasters.
When I produce a podcast,I make sure that I will
listen to it over and overagain, and that's not just
(19:25):
because I'm vain or anything.
It's because I wannalisten to what I did well.
And where it can improve.
And in fact, I always ask myguests for feedback as well,
and it's really importantbecause sometimes there's a
better way of doing things.
Now what you hear, of course,is a. Polished episode, but let
me just tell you how much isleft on the cutting room floor.
(19:48):
Yeah, because I flub and tripover my words all the time,
and in fact, now I forgotwhich episode number it was.
I wrote down most of the oneshere that I was gonna mention.
It's called Confessionsof a Podcast Host.
It was released January1st, 2021, and it was the
start to the new year.
And it was to, itwas a companion.
(20:08):
Toastmasters had askedme to write a, an article
for the magazine called,I created the, they didn't
tell me what to call it.
They asked me to writea magazine article
for on podcasting.
So I created an article, isThere a Podcast in Your Future?
And I was very blessed of thefact that they loved it so much
that they put it on, that theyput it on the cover and as a
companion instead of just goingthrough what was in the article.
(20:31):
Ryan and I, my former co-hostat the time, he said, why don't
we just have a little fun.
I love it.
In reality, you know what goeson in, in the background, but
we try to be transparent andsometimes when there's funny
things, we might leave it in.
But again, , wevalue people's time.
And there are thousandsand not thousands.
There are millions of podcastsout there and we want to
make sure that people getvalue for, for our time.
(20:54):
But if you'd like,if you'd like, can share
a couple if you'd like.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's do that.
First one was funny.
In fact, if you listen tothe episode, I have to go
back and listen to it againto remind myself of our
faux PAs and the miscues.
And the first one isironic, Michael, because we
were interviewing a chef.
(21:15):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Yeah.
Her name is Shelly.
Shelly Ann Lovel.
She's from Trinidad andwe call it going from
frying Pan into the fire.
It was for her, the episodewas entitled, leadership
in the Kitchen, and shewas on the cover of that
episode of the magazine.
And what had happened was shewas in Trinidad and she had
said to me, she says, Greg,I'm in the Atlantic time zone.
(21:36):
I said, okay, Atlantic,I'm in Mountain.
She's in Atlantic threehour time difference.
So I phone her and she'sin her car and she's
really not impressed.
No, actually she waspretty good with it.
What I hadn't realized wasthat they, we are in three
different, and it's threetime zones, Uhhuh, but they
don't change their clocks.
We do.
(21:57):
It was a different time at thetime I had phoned her and
in between the time I hadscheduled the podcast and the
time that we had spoken, Ibelieve there was a time change.
So again, we encourage to,that's why I always make
sure whenever I'm speakingwith someone is to make sure
I use time and date.com.
Especially when you'vegot multiple people on the
podcast at three differentplaces in the world.
(22:17):
You wanna make surethat you get your time.
Judy Carter, and I dunnoif you, those, you who
know who Judy Carter is.
She's a comedian.
Very funny lady.
So of course we'rerecording an episode.
And Ryan, my former close Ryanand Judy were talking, and while
they were talking, my microphonewent to sleep unbeknownst to me.
(22:38):
Oh my gosh.
So of course it was just a mess.
We had to restart.
Mm-hmm.
We get back on, we cut outsome of that part where
there was a little bit of akerfuffle, but she says, Greg,
you gotta get rid of that.
Radio Shack Specialmic you used?
Yeah.
Okay.
Which, it wasn'twhat had happened.
Again, this is also a lessonfor those of you who are
(22:58):
looking at podcasting.
I had purchased, I'd gone froma MacBook Air to a MacBook.
I'm now back to a MacBookAir, and the MacBook
only has one port on it.
So I had a, I had a dock andI plugged the mic into a dock.
So what happenedwas the mic was not.
Getting any signalbecause I was listening
as opposed to speaking.
(23:19):
So it shut the micdown unbeknownst to me.
And then of course, the otherone that's funny is sometimes
you have your guest who ishelping you do tech support.
Yeah.
We spent 20 minutes tryingto figure out why we
could not hear our guest.
We tried everything andeverything, and it turned
out it was ironic becausethis particular guest, she
was an equestrian rider andshe had very little vision.
(23:42):
In fact, her vision wasthat of basically what you
would look, what you wouldsee is if you look through
a straw, and she had said tous, Greg, Mike, Greg, right?
I'm wondering if it's becausemy laptop cover is closed.
She was using two giant 27inch monitors, but her laptop
cover was closed and shewas using the built-in mic.
(24:04):
In the laptop.
So there you go.
Anyway, we're notperfect, but oh gosh.
You know what?
Every time you're notperfect, you'll learn.
And in fact, a friend of mine,those of you who know a very
famous hockey player, I won'tmention the name 'cause I don't
have permission to use it.
He got to interview thegentleman's father at an
arena with 3000 people.
(24:24):
He got the interview, butbecause a cable wasn't
plugged in properly,he was not able to get.
A recording andunfortunately that gentleman
actually passed away.
The whole idea is that youwanna make sure that you check
your technology and you alsomake sure you, if you can, is
to have a redundant recording.
Yeah, there you go.
That does, thatdefinitely makes sense.
I had a situation where I wasin the middle of interviewing a
(24:47):
celebrity chef and my computerdied and it took me four or
five minutes to come backup and because he was such
a good sport, I could hearhim saying, where did he go?
Is he gonna come back?
As the computer was dying.
'cause everythingjust disappeared.
And so you justgotta roll with it.
And the great thingabout Toastmasters is
that we roll with it.
(25:09):
It's amazing what happens.
You get that forward, thecon, you get that confidence.
Okay?
Okay.
When things go wrong.
Yeah.
Along with that, how do youthink you've changed from
the first podcast that youstarted to now, and are there
any lessons, any really keytakeaways that you think that
(25:30):
you've had in podcasting?
As long as you had?
As long as you have.
So what's changed?
First of all, the butterflies.
When I first started, I hadbutterflies because I was.
I would sc I wasscared, speechless.
That's not the word I woulduse in, we're in the public
here, so that's what we used.
I was very fearful.
Fearful of making a mistake,fearful of looking silly.
(25:53):
Feel, feel fearful of notseeming professional, but
I overcame that over time.
Now I still have butterflies,but it's for a different reason.
See, the hair's gettinggray and the memory isn't
as good as it used to be.
Mm-hmm.
That's why I've got somenotes in front of me.
I'm not reading them per se.
In fact, one of the thingsyou had asked me was a episode
(26:14):
number, and it's like I'mscrolling and I can't find it.
It's here somewhere.
So that's the different, it's alittle bit of a different type
of butterfly because for me it'sreally important that, again,
I mentioned earlier value.
You want people walking away.
Feeling good about thetime that they spent
wanting to learn something.
Or maybe you want themto, you wanna encourage
(26:34):
them to do something.
The other thing that changed iswhen I first started podcasting,
it was more wearing, it waswearing a geek hat and I
thought, oh, this is so cool.
'cause when I was a kid.
I didn't have eventually, bythe way, eventually I did get
a mixer, and when Beta tapescame out, you could put four
and a half hours on a tape.
I had two turntables anda mixer, and I was mixing
(26:55):
into a VCR to be ableto get lots of music.
So for me, doing the podcastwas from a tech perspective
going, wow, this is cool.
I can do this podcast.
And of course of interview theindividuals as time went on.
I find that what I love aboutthe podcast is the stories that
(27:17):
you can tell, the stories thatyou can pull from individuals.
For example, I'll interviewauthors, and they may be
great at the writing craft.
They've written this mostincredible book, but yet
they're just not comfortable.
Speaking, they're happierbehind the keyboard, and so if
you can find a way of askingquestions and driving the story.
(27:39):
I call it story building.
You help drive the story sothat at the end you've put them
on a pedestal and you've giventhe audience some incredible
information and a great story.
So for me, it's to beable to pull that story.
It's like a good journalistwho interviews someone.
They're, they've got, they havean interview and the person
has their whole life thatthey're interviewing or they're.
(28:02):
Let's just say a book.
Let's say there's a bookabout a person's life.
How can you cover a whole lifein 30 minutes or 20 minutes?
Well, you need to find a hookand you need to find a story.
And sometimes you have to help.
Yeah, you have tohelp them drive it.
So I think that'show I've changed.
And in terms of learning, I'vebuilt a lot more confidence.
(28:23):
I feel a lot more comfortable,and I've met some incredible
people along the way.
I hope that answersthat question.
Absolutely.
And as we talk about incrediblepeople, is there anyone that
mentored you in podcasting?
Is there anyone thatmentored you along the
way in Toastmasters thatyou could share about?
Or just shout outa couple names.
(28:44):
I know you have a few interms in terms of specifics.
It's hard to pick onespecific, but I'll just
give you an example of agentleman named John Beau.
He's an author.
He gave an educationala couple years ago at an
international convention.
He, for example.
We were speaking, andsometimes it happens that
you get through an interview,you answer the questions,
or you may have a series ofquestions, but yet in, in a
(29:06):
way, your guest has answeredthem all and you're trying to
figure out, okay, what's next?
So sometimes you'll stop.
So my co-host and I, at thetime, we were thinking about
how are we gonna go with this?
And so the guest cut in.
And said, you know what, whydon't we talk about this and
then I can say this and that.
And we thought, this is great.
(29:27):
They were very helpful.
My clubs, anyone from theclubs has been very helpful.
Of course, my, my formerco-host Ryan Levek, I've known
him for almost 20 years now.
So he's been very helpful.
And of course he's anEnglish major, so he would
always correct my grammar.
Of course, I'd keep the CanadianCanadians a, but that's okay.
There's a lot of people herefor all of you to join us.
(29:52):
What advice can you give tosomeone that's on the fence
about launching a podcast?
They're ready.
They've got ideas, but they'vegot just this fear, this
challenge ahead of them.
What advice can you give 'em?
Well, I'm gonna give youthis in two parts because
you had indicated you weregonna ask me about getting
chefs to come to the meeting.
(30:13):
No, that's next.
Okay.
I'll leave that one for after.
What advice can you givethem is, first of all.
If you wanna do a podcastfor the sake of a pod, just
doing that, you just wanna doa podcast, you might find it
a little bit of a challenge,but think about something
that either you're passionateabout or something that
you wanna learn more about.
So if you wanna learn moreabout cooking, for example,
(30:36):
who better to interview thana chef and steal from Nike?
I would say just do it.
Uh, everyone has aphone in their pocket.
They got a computerin front of them.
You've got a voice recorder.
You might as well just takea chance, record something.
You don't have to releaseit, but try it and then
maybe even get somefeedback from your club.
Okay.
(30:56):
We have links in thechat for how to find you.
So the last question I have,it is about chefs 'cause
I have a chef podcast.
Chefs have to deal withmental health challenges,
communication issues withcustomers and staff challenges.
Why would you recommendToastmasters for them?
It's funny when you mentionedthat I was wondering, I
try to put myself in theshoes of a chef, so I made
(31:19):
myself a pizza anyway.
I would say if I had to sumit up, I would say a good
chef lets the food speakfor itself, but a great chef
helps the food tell the story.
Now, of course as Toastmasters,we think media, right?
We think tv, radio, we thinkabout the tv, different
(31:41):
TV shows, cooking shows.
But of course, even justlearning those skills that
you learn in Toastmasters,they can, how do I put this?
They can be better inthe kitchen, right?
Because it's chaotic.
I'm sure not every kitchen islike Gordon Ramsey where he says
It's raw, you donkey, get out.
But good leadership andcommunication skills in
(32:03):
the kitchen can certainlymake or break a restaurant.
And at the same time, itcould also inspire and
invigorate the staff.
So I would encourage thechefs, even if it's not
about getting better atspeaking, try to find out,
encourage them to figure out.
What they wanna be betterat or what things that they
feel that they're havingsome challenges with because
(32:26):
maybe it's a staffing issue.
They're having troublecommunicating with their
staff or keeping their staff.
Maybe that's something thatToastmasters can help by
building those communicationand leadership skills.
And then of course, Michael,you could encourage them
to create a podcast.
I'd love it.
Greg, we're out of time.
I can't thank you enoughon behalf of Pod Masters
Advanced and everyone herefor being our guest and
(32:48):
sharing your journey with us.
It's incredible and I'm trulyhonored and humbled to have
this interview with you.
Yeah, it's been an honor,Michael, and I do appreciate
it, and I've actuallylearned a few things from
you over our conversationsover the past few months.
Thanks for having me.
Okay, I'm gonna turn it back toour Toastmaster and thank you.
Please join us today for a special interview.
This is a prerecordedsession from Pod Masters
Advanced Toastmasters.
It was a live interviewwith Greg Gazen and is
dedicated to Toastmastersand podcasters around the
world who wanna share theirmessage through storytelling.
Fred Bergeron (01:13):
So now on to our podcasting portion of the
meeting where I introduce ourinterviewer, Michael Dugan,
and he is a storytellercareer and podcast coach,
distinguished Toastmasterpod master and recipient
(01:34):
of the 20 17 20 18 DistrictToastmaster of the year.
Award.
He is also the host of theVoice Worship Podcast, a global
platform that amplifies thevoices of culinary professionals
by sharing their stories,passions, and journeys.
His podcast has reachedlisteners in over 90
(01:56):
countries and more than800 cities worldwide.
Through podcasting, Michaelhelps people connect, lead,
and create with confidence.
Today, he's thrilled tointroduce a guest who
embodies those same values.
Our special guest isGreg Gazen, distinguished
Toastmaster writer, speaker,and the official host of
(02:20):
the Toastmasters podcast.
Please welcome to the virtuallectern, Michael Dugan.
Thank you, Mr. Host,master Toastmaster.
Before I get started,I just want to tell you
a really quick story.
A couple months ago, it wasmidnight and I was inviting
(02:45):
people to a celebration,a four year celebration of
the Voice for Chefs podcast,and we decided to have it
right here in Pod Masters.
So I decided why not?
So I texted.
Greg and I said, wouldyou be open to coming?
And he was like, I'm busyright now, but I'll try.
(03:06):
And sure enough, he showedup and he brought this
amazing energy, like Ican't even describe it.
Just this incredible feelingof connection around the world.
And so now I'm so excitedto introduce Greg.
So today's guest is Greg Gazen.
He's a proud Toastmasterfor 23 years.
(03:28):
Six time distinguishedToastmaster past district 42
director, known as Gadget Greg.
He's a serial entrepreneur,a syndicated columnist, a
speaker and author of QuaOutsmarts, the Butterflies,
helping readers Build confidenceand Communication Skills.
(03:49):
Since 2006, Greg hasproduced the award-Winning
Toastcaster podcast.
Is the voice of theofficial Toastmaster
International Podcast.
Recently named a Top 25 Highereducation podcast from a
shy introvert hiding behindhis keyboard to a global
(04:11):
podcasting leader, Greg Credits,Toastmasters, and mentors for
opening doors he never imagined.
Please welcome VTM Greg Gazen.
Greg Gazin (04:24):
Thank you, Michael.
I am thrilled just likeeveryone else that you're here.
It is very special to haveyou here at our open house.
It's my honor.
I thought we'd kick itoff with something that
we talked about together.
Can you tell us.
(04:44):
And I understand you havealmost like an obsession
with a certain food.
Can you tell us about that?
I'm almost sorry I mentionedit to you, Michael,
'cause you're a chef.
I, I love pizza and of course,as you are aware, there's
so many different types ofpizzas, but also the commercial
pizza is quite often verysalty or maybe too spicy.
(05:07):
And I always have all kindsof leftovers in the house.
So I decided that I willattempt to make pizza with
whatever leftovers I have, and Itypically take pictures of them
and I put some on Instagram andsome on Facebook, and I know you
had mentioned to me somethingto mention, something unique.
Sometimes you get tired ofthe same old sauces on top
of a pizza, but I'm a personwho loves to consume hummus.
(05:29):
I love barbecue sauce,so I will use hummus.
I will use barbecue sauce.
I will use.
Greek yogurt, mix it withall different kinds of
spices to to make a baseand whatever bread I have.
And in fact, there is a localbakery called the Happy Camel,
and they show their wares atthe local farmer's market.
(05:49):
And they had this neat little,I guess you would call it a
little pita, about six inches.
It's caramelized onions andspinach flavor, and I showed
him some pizzas I had made fromit, and he was so impressed.
He was absolutely amazing.
Can you please sendme those pictures so
that I could post it?
So yeah, I make pizza justabout out of everything.
(06:10):
Maybe not to the caliberand finess as to what you
can create, but it's food.
That's wonderful.
Now I know.
Like me, you've been aToastmaster for a long time.
I've been Toastmaster since2009 and absolutely have
loved the journey and Ithink I'm gonna be a lifer.
(06:30):
There's just noquestion about it.
But can you tell us a littlebit about, if we take you back,
how did you first start gettingto podcasting, but also did
you have a passion for radiowhen you were growing up,
or is it just something thatjust happened and you said.
I'm gonna jump into podcasting.
(06:52):
Well, if we go backfar back, yeah.
I guess as a kid I didhave a passion for radio.
I think every kid wants to be adj introducing music and songs.
Oh yeah.
Or be a sports broadcaster.
Now you can see myvoice is now deep.
When I was young,it was much higher.
Think of the Bee Gees, just TaleAlive, or Hi, Kermit The Frog.
Something really high pitch.
(07:12):
So I guess it reallywasn't in the cards.
I was a very quiet and shyintrovert, so when I had a
school project to do, insteadof getting up in front of an
audience, I made audio visual.
And for those of you who arelittle long in the tooth,
and remember the reel to reeltape, I used to cut tape with
a razor blade and I'd mixall those things together.
Didn't havetechnology back then.
(07:34):
And so I would do that when Ican as far as podcasting goes.
My background is as a gadgetguide technology, individual
writer, speaker, and whenI. First started, I thought
when podcasting came around,I thought I would really
love to do a tech podcast.
And you, how many of us saywe wanna do podcast, we wanna
write a book, we wanna dothis, we wanna mow the lawn.
(07:56):
But one of those thingsthat we never get to.
And then when it came time todo my HPL project, which is
the High Performance LeadershipProject, now I believe it's part
of level five in Pathways, Ithought, why not do a podcast?
And I thought, who betterto in, to interview than
our district governor?
(08:16):
And her name was Mona Cooley.
And I said, Mona.
And I was a, what was,what my, what was I at?
What was I at that time?
I think I was adivision governor.
Now they call it director.
Okay.
So I approached Mona.
I said, Mona, I'm doingmy HPL and I want to
interview for a podcast.
She says, great, Greg,what's a podcast?
So I explained to herwhat a podcast was.
(08:38):
I did the first podcast, Icalled a podcast Toastcaster,
a podcast for Toastmasters.
And what started off asone episode is now I think
about 180 or 190, and Istarted that back in 2006.
So that was like 19years ago when there were
maybe seven or eight.
A thousand podcasts as timewent on, the district was
(08:59):
no longer interested in thepodcast, so I rebranded it
as toastcaster Communication,leadership and Learning Lab.
Not necessarily Toastmasterspecific, but it continues
to be complimentary tothe Toastmasters podcast.
Uh, that's amazing.
And can you tell us about.
What is the Toastmasterpodcast all about and what
(09:22):
is the relationship withthe Toastmaster magazine?
That's a really good question,Michael, because I get so
many requests that, Hey,I really wanna be in your
podcast, Toastmasters podcast.
And this is of course,very important.
Anyone who has apodcast, you need at
some point to have a why.
What's the raison detra?
Why is it there?
(09:42):
You don't necessarily need itwhen you're starting, but if you
are gonna have a long lasting.
Podcast that's gonnaresonate with people.
You need a why Now, what manyof you may not be aware of is
the why of the Toastmasterspodcast is to amplify the words,
the stories, and the pictures.
Of the Toastmaster magazine.
(10:04):
So we will interview peoplewho have written articles.
They may have be, they mightbe a subject matter expert
who was quoted in an article,or we also interview every
year the accredited speakers,the incoming international
president, the worldchampion of public speaking.
And of course they're alltied somehow to, to articles.
(10:24):
So that's our goal becausewhen you have a magazine
article, there's limited space.
And quite often when youread an article, you go.
I'd love to knowa little bit more.
Can you tell me more?
So what we do is we're ableto dig a little deeper, but
also we're able to put a voiceto those words, especially
if it's an article that'swritten by the author.
(10:47):
Oh, that's fantastic.
I love the relationshipand I'm a big fan grad.
I've been a big fan fora while and listened to
probably 15 to 20 episodes.
And what I've noticedand what I love.
You call back to otherepisodes, but you also connect
the magazine articles to theinterviews and that's really
(11:11):
powerful for me to feel that.
So since we're talking aboutyour episodes, are, are there
any that really resonatedwith you when you look back?
Is there any that you hadthis interview, you really
connected to a guest and youjust walked away feeling.
Inspired, energized, oryou walked away with a
(11:36):
really powerful lesson.
The truth is there's so many andeach, each one is so different.
Some of them are, sir, sosome of them are serious,
some of them are deep, someof them are lighthearted,
some of them are fun, andthere are some with topics
that I know nothing about.
So of course itneeds a lot more.
In depth research, but theone that resonates with
(11:59):
me, it's probably the mostmemorable, and it was episode
1 0 4 where I intervieweda lady named Sarah Safari,
that's actually her name.
I did ask her if that washer real name or whether
that was a pen name.
She was hanging offMount Everest when the
earthquake hit in 2014 thatkilled 20,000 people in.
(12:20):
Cat Mandu and she was literallyhanging for dear life.
And she's also a Toastmaster.
And I still remember, and infact as I'm thinking about
it now, I've got shivers downmy spine because listening
to her recount her story.
And you see this is alsointeresting because.
I had nothing but the image onthe front cover of the magazine,
(12:41):
but her recounting the story.
Just put an image of it.
Put an image in my mind.
And this is also,video is great too.
It's the power of audio.
Yes.
And when, so when peopleask me, which is the one
that's impacted me the most.
It's probably that one, and Ithink about it and every once
in a while I'll listen to it.
In fact, that wasin 2014, I think we
(13:02):
interviewed her in 2015.
In 2022, Netflix actuallycreated a series called
Aftershock, the Everestand Nepali Earthquake.
So if you're interested inthat, listen to the podcast,
episode 1 0 4, and then pleasego ahead and check out that one.
That's probably theone that has the most.
(13:23):
Impact for me ifI had to pick one.
Wow.
And then you mentioned tome, we've had some amazing
conversations getting readyfor this interview, and one
of the things that stoodout to me was you said
you had some fun episodes.
So you mentioned William Hung.
Can you talk alittle bit about him?
(13:43):
I had to go back, soyou're smiling already.
I had to go back andlook at, look it up.
For those of you whodon't know, William Hung.
If those of you who knowRicky Martin shebang, William
Hung, let's just say he, heearned success by a failed
American Idol interview.
Yep.
And the funny thing is, Williamwas actually, I'm not sure if
he still is now, but at thetime we spoke to him, he was
(14:06):
actually a, a Toastmaster.
So he shared a littlebit about his journey.
At that time he was putting outa new book and I remember him
saying, yeah, I did my audition.
And the producers loved it.
And the staff loved it, and theaudience loved it, but he said.
Paula and Simon and Randy,he said, not so much.
(14:27):
And when you think about whatToastmasters evaluations are
like, they're very supportive.
Simon wasn't very supportive,so we had a really good time.
We also interviewedanother gentleman, and
now his name eludes me.
He talked about being a clown.
That was another onethat was, that's right.
That was a lot of fun.
And even interviewing the world.
Champs, the great thing aboutinterviewing the world champs
(14:47):
is you can catch their speecheson YouTube if you don't.
If you don't, if you hadn'tattended the conference.
But what's great is tolisten to some of their,
to some of their backstory.
So for example, we interviewedCyril Junior, dim, who I
think it was 20 20, 22.
He went from Zimbabweto Poland and.
(15:07):
His, I remember hisphrase was, Nini, it's me.
I think that's whatit, that's what it was.
(16:08):
But when we interviewedhim, he shared about this,
these sort of untraditionalways that he rehearsed.
So he talked about going into acrowd of a whole bunch of people
and he would just start talkingto gain some of that confidence.
Or another one wasMohammed Katani, 2015.
I don't know if thoseof you who remember.
(16:28):
He gets onto a stageand pretends to light a
cigarette, he goes, ah, what?
But he had said, first of all,he wasn't supposed to be there.
He was the second place person.
But I guess the first placeperson couldn't get transport
or couldn't get a visa.
Hmm.
And so he ended up comingin at the last minute and he
made changes to his speech.
He figured, youknow what, I'm here.
It's okay.
Everyone is practicing,rehearsing their speech.
(16:50):
He's playing video games.
But he had said he hadmade a change to the
speech at the last minute.
So of course I asked him,what was that change?
And he shared it.
So those are some of thethings that you don't
get just listening tothe actual speech itself.
And so this is wherewe get a deeper dive.
And of course therewas a companion article
to go along with it.
So that was, we try to laugh atin every episode, and we try not
(17:12):
to take ourselves too seriously.
We, of course, we takethe topic and the guests,
but there's always lotsand lots of laughing.
I wanna see.
I'm just curious.
This is gonna be a littleinteractive, okay, within
everyone that's listeningand watching today.
Show of hands, have you listenedto Greg's amazing podcast?
Because I am addicted, so I'dlove to see some hands up there.
Paul, I see a lot ofthem, which is Jen.
(17:36):
I see a lot of mywife has listened.
So anyway, if you haven't,I'm just gonna stop right now.
You have to go out and listen tothis podcast because if you're
at all interested in podcasting.
This is an education, theway that Greg connects to
his guests, the way thathe paces himself, the
cadence, all of those thingswe learn in Toastmasters.
(17:59):
But he's perfected those,and to me, I told him this,
and I'm just gonna say it.
When I listen to theseepisodes, I feel like I'm
listening to Santa Claus.
I just feel there'sthis certain.
Energy that you have, and it'ssimilar to mine, and I really
have respect for that becausethere are podcasters out there
(18:20):
that they use it to intimidatepeople and it's horrible.
It's, I don't know why theydo that, but I interview
chefs and when they comeon, I want them to feel so
comfortable and so energized.
That's what you give people.
That's what you giveyour guests, Greg.
And not only that, you do thisamazing deep dive research.
Preparing for this, you putme through the ringer and I
(18:43):
am so glad you did because Ifeel like for the past month
and a half I've been mentored.
By someone that I reallylook up to, so I had to
just put that out there.
It was just burning inside me.
Santa Claus.
Hey, Santa Claus.
That's right.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I'm not kidding.
I have, I have put on alittle weight late lately.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Have you ever dressedup as Santa Claus?
No.
No.
Not recently.
(19:03):
No.
Okay.
I could feel the energy inthis virtual room as I said
that I could just feel it.
I appreciate what you're saying.
I wanna say that a lot ofhow, a lot of how things
have evolved have, be, arebecause of Toastmasters.
When I produce a podcast,I make sure that I will
listen to it over and overagain, and that's not just
(19:25):
because I'm vain or anything.
It's because I wannalisten to what I did well.
And where it can improve.
And in fact, I always ask myguests for feedback as well,
and it's really importantbecause sometimes there's a
better way of doing things.
Now what you hear, of course,is a. Polished episode, but let
me just tell you how much isleft on the cutting room floor.
(19:48):
Yeah, because I flub and tripover my words all the time,
and in fact, now I forgotwhich episode number it was.
I wrote down most of the oneshere that I was gonna mention.
It's called Confessionsof a Podcast Host.
It was released January1st, 2021, and it was the
start to the new year.
And it was to, itwas a companion.
(20:08):
Toastmasters had askedme to write a, an article
for the magazine called,I created the, they didn't
tell me what to call it.
They asked me to writea magazine article
for on podcasting.
So I created an article, isThere a Podcast in Your Future?
And I was very blessed of thefact that they loved it so much
that they put it on, that theyput it on the cover and as a
companion instead of just goingthrough what was in the article.
(20:31):
Ryan and I, my former co-hostat the time, he said, why don't
we just have a little fun.
I love it.
In reality, you know what goeson in, in the background, but
we try to be transparent andsometimes when there's funny
things, we might leave it in.
But again, , wevalue people's time.
And there are thousandsand not thousands.
There are millions of podcastsout there and we want to
make sure that people getvalue for, for our time.
(20:54):
But if you'd like,if you'd like, can share
a couple if you'd like.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's do that.
First one was funny.
In fact, if you listen tothe episode, I have to go
back and listen to it againto remind myself of our
faux PAs and the miscues.
And the first one isironic, Michael, because we
were interviewing a chef.
(21:15):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Yeah.
Her name is Shelly.
Shelly Ann Lovel.
She's from Trinidad andwe call it going from
frying Pan into the fire.
It was for her, the episodewas entitled, leadership
in the Kitchen, and shewas on the cover of that
episode of the magazine.
And what had happened was shewas in Trinidad and she had
said to me, she says, Greg,I'm in the Atlantic time zone.
(21:36):
I said, okay, Atlantic,I'm in Mountain.
She's in Atlantic threehour time difference.
So I phone her and she'sin her car and she's
really not impressed.
No, actually she waspretty good with it.
What I hadn't realized wasthat they, we are in three
different, and it's threetime zones, Uhhuh, but they
don't change their clocks.
We do.
(21:57):
It was a different time at thetime I had phoned her and
in between the time I hadscheduled the podcast and the
time that we had spoken, Ibelieve there was a time change.
So again, we encourage to,that's why I always make
sure whenever I'm speakingwith someone is to make sure
I use time and date.com.
Especially when you'vegot multiple people on the
podcast at three differentplaces in the world.
(22:17):
You wanna make surethat you get your time.
Judy Carter, and I dunnoif you, those, you who
know who Judy Carter is.
She's a comedian.
Very funny lady.
So of course we'rerecording an episode.
And Ryan, my former close Ryanand Judy were talking, and while
they were talking, my microphonewent to sleep unbeknownst to me.
(22:38):
Oh my gosh.
So of course it was just a mess.
We had to restart.
Mm-hmm.
We get back on, we cut outsome of that part where
there was a little bit of akerfuffle, but she says, Greg,
you gotta get rid of that.
Radio Shack Specialmic you used?
Yeah.
Okay.
Which, it wasn'twhat had happened.
Again, this is also a lessonfor those of you who are
(22:58):
looking at podcasting.
I had purchased, I'd gone froma MacBook Air to a MacBook.
I'm now back to a MacBookAir, and the MacBook
only has one port on it.
So I had a, I had a dock andI plugged the mic into a dock.
So what happenedwas the mic was not.
Getting any signalbecause I was listening
as opposed to speaking.
(23:19):
So it shut the micdown unbeknownst to me.
And then of course, the otherone that's funny is sometimes
you have your guest who ishelping you do tech support.
Yeah.
We spent 20 minutes tryingto figure out why we
could not hear our guest.
We tried everything andeverything, and it turned
out it was ironic becausethis particular guest, she
was an equestrian rider andshe had very little vision.
(23:42):
In fact, her vision wasthat of basically what you
would look, what you wouldsee is if you look through
a straw, and she had said tous, Greg, Mike, Greg, right?
I'm wondering if it's becausemy laptop cover is closed.
She was using two giant 27inch monitors, but her laptop
cover was closed and shewas using the built-in mic.
(24:04):
In the laptop.
So there you go.
Anyway, we're notperfect, but oh gosh.
You know what?
Every time you're notperfect, you'll learn.
And in fact, a friend of mine,those of you who know a very
famous hockey player, I won'tmention the name 'cause I don't
have permission to use it.
He got to interview thegentleman's father at an
arena with 3000 people.
(24:24):
He got the interview, butbecause a cable wasn't
plugged in properly,he was not able to get.
A recording andunfortunately that gentleman
actually passed away.
The whole idea is that youwanna make sure that you check
your technology and you alsomake sure you, if you can, is
to have a redundant recording.
Yeah, there you go.
That does, thatdefinitely makes sense.
I had a situation where I wasin the middle of interviewing a
(24:47):
celebrity chef and my computerdied and it took me four or
five minutes to come backup and because he was such
a good sport, I could hearhim saying, where did he go?
Is he gonna come back?
As the computer was dying.
'cause everythingjust disappeared.
And so you justgotta roll with it.
And the great thingabout Toastmasters is
that we roll with it.
(25:09):
It's amazing what happens.
You get that forward, thecon, you get that confidence.
Okay?
Okay.
When things go wrong.
Yeah.
Along with that, how do youthink you've changed from
the first podcast that youstarted to now, and are there
any lessons, any really keytakeaways that you think that
(25:30):
you've had in podcasting?
As long as you had?
As long as you have.
So what's changed?
First of all, the butterflies.
When I first started, I hadbutterflies because I was.
I would sc I wasscared, speechless.
That's not the word I woulduse in, we're in the public
here, so that's what we used.
I was very fearful.
Fearful of making a mistake,fearful of looking silly.
(25:53):
Feel, feel fearful of notseeming professional, but
I overcame that over time.
Now I still have butterflies,but it's for a different reason.
See, the hair's gettinggray and the memory isn't
as good as it used to be.
Mm-hmm.
That's why I've got somenotes in front of me.
I'm not reading them per se.
In fact, one of the thingsyou had asked me was a episode
(26:14):
number, and it's like I'mscrolling and I can't find it.
It's here somewhere.
So that's the different, it's alittle bit of a different type
of butterfly because for me it'sreally important that, again,
I mentioned earlier value.
You want people walking away.
Feeling good about thetime that they spent
wanting to learn something.
Or maybe you want themto, you wanna encourage
(26:34):
them to do something.
The other thing that changed iswhen I first started podcasting,
it was more wearing, it waswearing a geek hat and I
thought, oh, this is so cool.
'cause when I was a kid.
I didn't have eventually, bythe way, eventually I did get
a mixer, and when Beta tapescame out, you could put four
and a half hours on a tape.
I had two turntables anda mixer, and I was mixing
(26:55):
into a VCR to be ableto get lots of music.
So for me, doing the podcastwas from a tech perspective
going, wow, this is cool.
I can do this podcast.
And of course of interview theindividuals as time went on.
I find that what I love aboutthe podcast is the stories that
(27:17):
you can tell, the stories thatyou can pull from individuals.
For example, I'll interviewauthors, and they may be
great at the writing craft.
They've written this mostincredible book, but yet
they're just not comfortable.
Speaking, they're happierbehind the keyboard, and so if
you can find a way of askingquestions and driving the story.
(27:39):
I call it story building.
You help drive the story sothat at the end you've put them
on a pedestal and you've giventhe audience some incredible
information and a great story.
So for me, it's to beable to pull that story.
It's like a good journalistwho interviews someone.
They're, they've got, they havean interview and the person
has their whole life thatthey're interviewing or they're.
(28:02):
Let's just say a book.
Let's say there's a bookabout a person's life.
How can you cover a whole lifein 30 minutes or 20 minutes?
Well, you need to find a hookand you need to find a story.
And sometimes you have to help.
Yeah, you have tohelp them drive it.
So I think that'show I've changed.
And in terms of learning, I'vebuilt a lot more confidence.
(28:23):
I feel a lot more comfortable,and I've met some incredible
people along the way.
I hope that answersthat question.
Absolutely.
And as we talk about incrediblepeople, is there anyone that
mentored you in podcasting?
Is there anyone thatmentored you along the
way in Toastmasters thatyou could share about?
Or just shout outa couple names.
(28:44):
I know you have a few interms in terms of specifics.
It's hard to pick onespecific, but I'll just
give you an example of agentleman named John Beau.
He's an author.
He gave an educationala couple years ago at an
international convention.
He, for example.
We were speaking, andsometimes it happens that
you get through an interview,you answer the questions,
or you may have a series ofquestions, but yet in, in a
(29:06):
way, your guest has answeredthem all and you're trying to
figure out, okay, what's next?
So sometimes you'll stop.
So my co-host and I, at thetime, we were thinking about
how are we gonna go with this?
And so the guest cut in.
And said, you know what, whydon't we talk about this and
then I can say this and that.
And we thought, this is great.
(29:27):
They were very helpful.
My clubs, anyone from theclubs has been very helpful.
Of course, my, my formerco-host Ryan Levek, I've known
him for almost 20 years now.
So he's been very helpful.
And of course he's anEnglish major, so he would
always correct my grammar.
Of course, I'd keep the CanadianCanadians a, but that's okay.
There's a lot of people herefor all of you to join us.
(29:52):
What advice can you give tosomeone that's on the fence
about launching a podcast?
They're ready.
They've got ideas, but they'vegot just this fear, this
challenge ahead of them.
What advice can you give 'em?
Well, I'm gonna give youthis in two parts because
you had indicated you weregonna ask me about getting
chefs to come to the meeting.
(30:13):
No, that's next.
Okay.
I'll leave that one for after.
What advice can you givethem is, first of all.
If you wanna do a podcastfor the sake of a pod, just
doing that, you just wanna doa podcast, you might find it
a little bit of a challenge,but think about something
that either you're passionateabout or something that
you wanna learn more about.
So if you wanna learn moreabout cooking, for example,
(30:36):
who better to interview thana chef and steal from Nike?
I would say just do it.
Uh, everyone has aphone in their pocket.
They got a computerin front of them.
You've got a voice recorder.
You might as well just takea chance, record something.
You don't have to releaseit, but try it and then
maybe even get somefeedback from your club.
Okay.
(30:56):
We have links in thechat for how to find you.
So the last question I have,it is about chefs 'cause
I have a chef podcast.
Chefs have to deal withmental health challenges,
communication issues withcustomers and staff challenges.
Why would you recommendToastmasters for them?
It's funny when you mentionedthat I was wondering, I
try to put myself in theshoes of a chef, so I made
(31:19):
myself a pizza anyway.
I would say if I had to sumit up, I would say a good
chef lets the food speakfor itself, but a great chef
helps the food tell the story.
Now, of course as Toastmasters,we think media, right?
We think tv, radio, we thinkabout the tv, different
(31:41):
TV shows, cooking shows.
But of course, even justlearning those skills that
you learn in Toastmasters,they can, how do I put this?
They can be better inthe kitchen, right?
Because it's chaotic.
I'm sure not every kitchen islike Gordon Ramsey where he says
It's raw, you donkey, get out.
But good leadership andcommunication skills in
(32:03):
the kitchen can certainlymake or break a restaurant.
And at the same time, itcould also inspire and
invigorate the staff.
So I would encourage thechefs, even if it's not
about getting better atspeaking, try to find out,
encourage them to figure out.
What they wanna be betterat or what things that they
feel that they're havingsome challenges with because
(32:26):
maybe it's a staffing issue.
They're having troublecommunicating with their
staff or keeping their staff.
Maybe that's something thatToastmasters can help by
building those communicationand leadership skills.
And then of course, Michael,you could encourage them
to create a podcast.
I'd love it.
Greg, we're out of time.
I can't thank you enoughon behalf of Pod Masters
Advanced and everyone herefor being our guest and
(32:48):
sharing your journey with us.
It's incredible and I'm trulyhonored and humbled to have
this interview with you.
Yeah, it's been an honor,Michael, and I do appreciate
it, and I've actuallylearned a few things from
you over our conversationsover the past few months.
Thanks for having me.
Okay, I'm gonna turn it back toour Toastmaster and thank you.
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