Toastmasters Area Conference

In my role as the Area Governor for Toastmasters International, I was honoured to organize, the Area Conference last weekend at the Hilton Plaza Hotel in Vienna. This conference turned out to be (as planned) a great Success Story.

Our keynote speaker had to cancel last minute, therefore I stepped in to give a keynote speech by myself. I was making a presentation about achieving goals in toastmasters and in life; metaphorically training for running a marathon one run at a time.

We had a great mix of educational workshops ranging from “Attention Grabbers” to “How to Achieve anything and everything in life” as well as the famous speech competitions on 1) impromptu speeches as well as 2) humorous speeches. The venue at the Hilton was great (an executive meeting room in the upper floor), the service was excellent (BIG thanks to Mr. Björn from Denmark), the speakers were superb, the attendance was excellent (50+) and the dinner ceremony later on at the Café Schottering Club Room was very cosy. There we could enjoy traditional Austrian food, with some awesome acoustic music, played by a friend of mine, Lee Hoffmann. (Lee is also competing at the local IDOLS (Starmania) so please remember to vote for him - he is a great talent.

Diashow of the Conference (Click me)

After Café Schottenring shut its doors at around midnight, some of us still took the opportunity to go out together in a cocktail bar at the city centre for one more drink. Once we got in, I immediately smashed into a pretty girl, who was carrying a strawberry tranquili in her hands. Now three quarters of her cocktail landed on my freshly pressed suit. It was a mess. My handsome, expensive, hand-tailored suit was a complete mess. And damn sticky…The Bangladeshi guy in the kitchen was very friendly and doing his best to rub the sticky liquid off, but he was chanceless.

Although I am a very positive person, I am a bit doubtful that the laundry will be giving me a clean suit back later on this week…Let’s wait and see… At least the Manager at the Cocktail Bar promised to take care of the laundry bill….

Success and Leadership

Last Saturday I held a presentation about Success & Leadership for the “Leadership Academy” of Finland.

The students of the Leadership Academy are 15 hand-picked, most talented young entrepreneurs and leaders of Finland that have been selected for the one year Academy that consist of three parts.
The first part is a 3-day intensive seminar in Northern Finland, the second part is a one week retreat in Cyprus, and the third part is the closing session held in Vienna, at the Hotel Tulbinger Kogel.
Last year I took myself in this Academy as a student, and it was a great experience. This year I was invited there as a Speaker, and it was a great honour for me to present for this great audience. I spoke about success and leadership; what I learned from my own experiences in Timbuktu, Kazakhstan and California. I am very much looking forward doing similar session next year as well.
Thanks Ollis for inviting me over.
Respect, Niko

The Starbucks Story

I was enjoying a cup of hot coffee at the Starbucks, 1st district in Vienna. I sat down close to the window looking at people going to work at 7am in the morning. I then realized that young friendly looking man stting near to me. He was dressed in dirty jeans and reading a newspaper.
Suddenly a homeless man in his fifties came in from the main entrance, and went to the counter. Immediately the young man stood up and said to the staff: “He is my guest, I will pay for his coffee”. The homeless man got his coffee, said “Thank you” to the young man, and left. Soon after this the young goodhearted man left too.
When I finally got out of Starbucks, I realized that the young goodhearted man was only 15 meters from the Starbucks to the left, sitting down on the cold asphalted street and playing guitar. He had his guitar bag for collecting coins. I left him 5 Euros and winked. I was thinking “What a great man he was; he had not much himself, but he still invited another homeless person for a cup of hot coffee in the morning…