Ice Breaker Speech - Engaging Humor, 'Practical Gardening'

Practical Gardening
(Ice Breaker, Level 1-Engaging Humor, Jul 24, 2021, Regular Meeting, BF Community TMC, Online Zoom. Evaluated by Ed Ramirez)

INTRODUCTION

When the pandemic came about up to this moment, many of us had to stay at home. And during this time, many buzzwords have come about. Have you noticed that? Words like 'Ayuda', 'SAP'. One of those buzzwords that came about is the word ‘Plantita’ and/or ‘Plantitos’. Correct? It’s as if, overnight (snap finger), many pinoys have become gardening enthusiasts. Yes? I bet some of you here, if not people you know, have become ‘plantitas’. Toastmasters and friends, Good Afternoon!

BODY

Way before the words ‘plantitas’ and ‘plantitas’ came into vogue, my wife and I have been longtime gardening enthusiasts. My wife, especially, has been propagating different plants (two-hand shifts) in many different ways.

Now, some of you know me as a retired IT professional. But did you know that I’m also a youtuber. Or youtoober? I think that’s how some folks, especially in showbiz, pronounce it. I don’t know how ‘Youtube’ becomes ‘Youtoob’ for them. But the channel that I do have in youtube is a gardening channel.

The name of the channel is Practical Gardening (wave hands) and the web address is youtube.com slash practicalgardening. Yeah, the title of my speech. Practical gardening is one word.

HOW DID THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL START? My peregrination (Word-of-the-Day) as a youtuber segued from another social media activity called blogging which I’ve been doing for years. From that experience (two-hand shifts), youtubing became a natural spinoff.

The youtube channel Practical Gardening started in 2013 when I published my first gardening video. Videos then were just picking up and the ones I made were very simple. They looked more like simple slideshow (front palms) videos and not action live videos. Now, with better phone cameras, the videos are easier to make.

If you look at these youtube videos, they’re not the vlogging kind like where a celebrity like Alex Gonzaga brushes her teeth or what she ate for breakfast. The videos I create are gardening tutorial videos.

The topics range from plant propagation, grafting, marcotting or air-layering, and many more gardening techniques. The plants discussed include adeniums, cactus, flowering ornamental plants. To know more about it, I invite you to look at the channel - practicalgardening.

WHY DO I MAKE THESE TUTORIAL VIDEOS? One of the reasons, and that reason remains valid until today, is this. Through the many years that my wife and I have been gardening, we’ve gained some knowledge and expertise in gardening. I felt I could share that knowledge to viewers in youtube.

Presently, the Practical Gardening channel has 5,000 subscribers already and yes, the channel is making a little bit of money from advertising. No, it’s not a huge amount of money. 5,000 subscribers is nowhere near the 11 million subscribers that Alex Gonzaga has.

But the 5,000 subscribers that I do have are legit and I’m quite proud and happy that I’m able to impart a bit of knowledge by way of gardening tips and techniques to these subscribers.

Another reason I make these tutorials is because I also learn. When you make a video tutorial, you do not simply record a video and then upload. You also need to do some research on the topic like what are the correct botanical terms to be used for a procedure like grafting. That way, the tutorial video is more credible and has authority.

CONCLUSION

The whole youtubing experience has been exciting and, yes, it’s one that keeps me quite busy nowadays.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a voice that you want to be heard? Is there some kind of newly-found expertise that you’ve been wanting to share? Especially now that everything’s on social media, hey, a youtube channel may just be that venue. Your social media presence may be your peregrination (Word-of-the-Day) towards becoming a successful communicator. Toastmaster of the day.