Here's to a great toast

By Cindy Card Buchholz, Journal correspondent | Friday, January 09, 2009

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

Before the stroke of midnight tonight, and before the start of “Auld Lang Syne,” take a moment to reflect on the past year and ring in the new one with the perfect toast.

Longtime member of Toastmasters International, Joann Edstrom of Rapid City, has some toasting advice that she said can be customized to fit any occasion.

“First, you have to recognize your audience,” she said. “Who is there? If it is family or if it’s the workplace, you would probably not speak the same to both of those groups.”

If toasting a person or a couple, mention them by name, your association to them and a thought about the occasion.

“At a wedding, of course, you want to be cordial to the bride and groom,” she said. It’s nice if you know the couple well enough to bring in a couple of amusing anecdotes because people love to be entertained, she said. But do not be long-winded.

“One of the things they told us in Toastmasters is to be brief and try to have a theme. You don’t want to ramble on. Shorter is sweeter,” she said.

Speak slowly and loudly enough for everyone to hear. If you are giving a toast at a wedding, you should think of the bride’s or groom’s 90-year-old relative who might not hear well.

Most importantly, she said, speak from your heart.

Edstrom said she has learned through Toastmasters that a good wedding toast inspires laughter or tears, but a great toast evokes both.

If at all possible, she said, rehearse what you will say beforehand, especially if you are working on gestures or facial expressions.

“Some people are deadpan-ish. They don’t make any eye contact and have no expression in their face at all. If somebody is watching you while you are speaking, that can be a real detriment to your speech.” She said having no animation in your voice can have the same effect.

She also suggests trying out the microphone in advance if possible.

Fellow Toastmaster Mike Buckingham has given a toast or two in his life, and also has some advice. First, if you know you will be the designated toaster tonight, avoid consuming alcohol, he said.

“Folks tend not to gather their thoughts before they start speaking, and  I suspect on New Year’s Eve — and I’ve seen this once or twice — they’ve tended to consume a little too much alcohol prior to the toast and say things they shouldn’t have,” he said.

Second, prepare ahead of time and know what you are going to say. He said if he were to give advice for New Year’s Eve, especially if it’s for a business engagement, it would be to practice in front of someone you trust who can give you some honest feedback.

He said to practice your toast to the point where you do not need to follow notes, but try not to memorize it.

“I think it would be a disaster to give a toast that’s read from a piece of paper. You want to be looking out across the group and making eye contact,” he said.

When you stand in front of the group, take a deep breath, pause, collect yourself for a moment, smile and present your prepared thoughts in a natural voice that is friendly, he said.

Edstrom said people would rather die before they would get up and do a toast. “Anybody who gets up in front of a group, if they haven’t had any sort of speaking experience, they just go bonkers,” she said.

Belonging to a Toastmasters group eliminates some of that fear, she said, and generates more self-confidence. “You still have butterflies, but they say we teach them to fly in formation.”

She has had plenty of experience in her 20 years with Toastmasters International. She joined in 1987 specifically to learn how to do employee evaluations. Now she belongs to four chapters of the group.

“I’m kind of a Toastmaster-aholic. I really believe in it. It’s something I do for myself for self-improvement and the camaraderie,” she said.

Buckingham said public speaking is still the No. 1 fear.

“That’s why Toastmasters is such a strong program,” he said. “It gives people the opportunity to speak in front of groups on a variety of topics. It’s a great training ground for any type of public speaking. And making a toast — whether it be in front of your company, at a wedding or in front of family and friends — can be intimidating.”

Buckingham has been in Toastmasters for nearly a decade. He is currently the Toastmasters Area 51 governor, which covers Rapid City, Deadwood and Spearfish.

When it comes to toasting in a new year, Buckingham said author Joanna Fuchs has some good tips and poems on her Web site, www.poemsource.com.

“Talk about the past year and try to find a memorable event that the whole group was at least aware of, even if they did not participate in it. I would say something like, ‘We’ve had some tough times, but there have been valuable lessons learned.’ I would acknowledge the people around me and say what a privilege it is to be there with them. Then I would raise my glass a little higher and make a positive statement that I’m looking forward to the opportunities and the challenges of the new year and the memories to come.”

And don’t forget to finish the toast with the perfect ending.

Cheers!

Champagne reigns in toasting game

The perfect toast would not be complete without the perfect accoutrement — champagne.

While there are many wines produced around the world that are labeled champagne, authentic champagne is made in France.

Erich Orris, president of the corporation that runs Vino 100 in downtown Rapid City, said all champagne is made exclusively in the Champagne region of France.

“Everything else made outside of that region is technically sparkling wine,” he said.

Champagne is one of the more expensive of French wines that has a long history of accompanying special occasions.

“I think with the way the kings of France and England treated champagne over all the years gave it a celebratory feel. It’s bubbly and it’s pretty fine, so it tends to inspire a more upper-class feel to it,” he said.

Orris said there are several different types of champagnes. The primary types include blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs and rose. Champagne is the classic example of sparkling wine. He said there are a lot of sparkling wines made in the same method as champagne that taste very similar to it, such as those that come out of California or Chile.

Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine that tends to be a little bit fruitier and lighter than champagne. Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine that is also very light and fruity. Both cava and prosecco are a little less bubbly than champagne, he said. “There are a plethora of other little nichey ones,” he said.

Proper etiquette for serving champagne differs depending on the culture. He said as Americans, we tend to throw custom out the window and concentrate more on the act of opening the bottle.

“We’re a free-spirited people. The champagne cork is supposed to be removed while just making a very soft and slight noise, but we tend to pop corks forcibly,” he said.

He said there are even the very eccentric people who are into the old saber opening method where they cut the head off a bottle with a sword.

Vicki Honerkamp, a sommelier or wine steward at Jake’s Restaurant in Deadwood, said she has no problem with the celebratory exuberance of popping a cork after a horse race or a car race.

“That’s all in good, fun celebration, but at home you should not let the cork loose. You’re toasting, and it’s not appropriate,” she said. She added that a flying cork can be a dangerous weapon.

She said there are several steps to properly serve a bottle of bubbly. The first is to present the bottle to your guests so they can see what you are serving. Next, remove the foil from the top and loosen the cage — the little wire that goes around the cork — but do not remove it. Take a cloth or a napkin and grip tightly around the cage and the cork.

“The most important thing is you then twist the bottle back and forth. Do not twist the cork. You should hear a pretty nice pop, but not a really loud one. Then you can serve,” she said.

Champagne should always be served in fluted wine glasses. The shape of the glass prevents too much air from hitting the surface of the beverage, which would make it go flat, she said.

Champagne is always served cold. “Champagne is wonderful, and the colder the better,” she said. “They say there are certain temperatures that are proper, but really, people like it cold.”

Orris said champagne sales start to increase before Christmas when more people start drinking it again. “But it really makes a great everyday beverage. I’m pretty fond of sparkling wines.” He said champagne and sparkling wines are some of the more versatile wines that can be served with just about anything.

“It’s acceptable because it has that little bit of a special-occasion (feel) to it.  People often hold on to bottles, waiting for a special occasion, and they forget the old adage that the day you open a bottle of champagne is the special occasion.”