EP87: Celebrating 4 Years of The Voice4Chefs Podcast: How Toastmasters Fueled a Global Culinary Movement

In this special 4-year anniversary episode of the Voice4Chefs Podcast, host Michael Dugan sits in the guest chair—interviewed by Arthur J Byrnes from Podmasters Advanced Toastmasters Club. Michael shares his deeply personal journey through Toastmasters, revealing how it helped him conquer imposter syndrome, find his voice, and launch a globally recognized platform that amplifies the stories of chefs and culinary professionals worldwide.

This inspiring episode features reflections on growth, leadership, and the power of community—highlighting how a Toastmasters foundation helped shape a podcast that now reaches listeners across continents.

Plus, enjoy featured insights from:

Greg Gazin, co-host of The Official Toastmasters Podcast – On the power of storytelling and digital platforms for leadership

Whether you're a podcast creator, culinary professional, or Toastmaster, this episode will leave you motivated to pursue your passion with courage and clarity.

 Key Takeaways:

• How Toastmasters helped Michael build confidence and launch Voice4Chefs
• Lessons learned from interviewing chefs, bakers, and culinary artists
• The link between public speaking, storytelling, and culinary leadership
• The importance of mentorship, community, and showing up authentically

00:57 Meet Arthur Byrnes

01:58 Interview with Michael Dugan Begins

03:20 Michael Dugan's Podcast Journey

04:28 The High-Performance Leadership Project

09:39 Memorable Podcast Episodes

14:54 Unexpected Opportunities Through Podcasting

26:13 Future Plans for Voice4Chefs

29:31 Podcasting Insights and Challenges

36:36 Round Robin Feedback

Toastmasters Resources

Join our club: https://podmasters.toastmastersclubs.org

Join Toastmasters: https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

Season2

Welcome Chef Steven Leung as our new cohost.

IG: themindfulwok

Transcript

Michael Dugan: 0:54

A heartfelt thank you to Toastmasters around the world for helping me turn a vision into reality. Through the High Performance Leadership Project, I gained the tools, confidence, and community support To launch the Voice4Chefs podcast. This platform is dedicated to all of you in Toastmasters, leaders, mentors, and friends who inspire others to find their voice. And use it to make an impact. A special thanks to digital transformation in Seattle, Washington, where it all began and to Podmasters Advanced where they hosted the four year celebration of Voice4Chefs and where the journey will continue. Let's dive right in with Ali Blakeman, the Toastmaster of the day.

Ally Blakeman: 1:50

Mr. Arthur Burns. Arthur joined Toastmasters 11 years ago in 2014. He is one of the foundational key members of our club here at Podmasters. Arthur has had several interesting careers, including a carnival Barker, an aerospace engineer, an education staffer, and an elected city commissioner. Arthur resides in Daytona Beach, Florida. Tonight, Arthur is making his triumphant debut in his podcasting journey by interviewing Michael Dugan who is celebrating his fourth anniversary of Voice4Chefs. Please help me welcome to the floor and Arthur Burns as we join him in his studio for his triumphant debut of his podcast, Arthur.

Arthur Byrnes: 2:43

Wow that's quite a introduction to live up to. Thank you, Madam Toastmaster. And I'm here, not for myself, but to interview Michael Dugan. First I want to say that Michael, is a hero of mine and a mentor. As he has almost 100 podcast episodes online where he interviews great chefs from around the world, and yet he takes time to help others who are just starting out with his patience and knowledge. Michael holds degrees in culinary arts and hotel and restaurant administration. He began his career in the hospitality industry and then transitioned to a successful tech career in 1995. In 2021 he launched The Voice for Chefs podcast, now heard in over 70 countries connecting audiences with chefs and culinary artists worldwide. It's notable at this point that he has close to a hundred episodes online in his constant mission to help others. He is currently developing a keynote to inspire Toastmasters to share their messages through podcasting. I will say, hello, Michael. It's good to see you. Hello, how are you? I am sitting here. And basking in this wonderful Toastmasters meeting.

Michael Dugan: 4:29

Yeah, we have a lot of amazing people and thanks for doing this I am so excited to have this conversation with you.

Arthur Byrnes: 4:36

I'm always good to chat with you. And I met you through Pod Masters and it is a Toastmasters club, and I know that you've been a Toastmaster for a long time. How long has your Toastmaster's journey been, and did your Toastmaster's journey help lead you towards becoming a pod master?

Michael Dugan: 5:02

A pod master, and a podcaster? I like that. It's almost like an alliteration, I would say. Oh my gosh. I've actually lost count in years, so I think I'm up to about 14 years.

Arthur Byrnes: 5:16

Wow.

Michael Dugan: 5:17

And I'm a lifer. There's no question in my mind. The journey has been amazing, and what I'd love to share is a moment that happened four years ago I was mentoring somebody in our club called Digital Transformation, and I remember anju was very nervous and I wanted to show her pathways, and I wanted to help her understand that once you get beyond level one, level two, there's all these projects. There's all these new and exciting things that you can do. So I saw a seminar on Advanced Pathways. It was led by Kyle Hall of District 32, which is our neighboring district in the Seattle area, and Kyle was leading this concept of helping people understand what do you do when you get beyond the basics? of Pathways. So in the middle of his presentation, he loves to interact. He loves to ask people questions and bring the audience up and do lots of things, and he creates amazing workshops. So he said, is anyone working on a level four? Level five podcast. And I had this idea in my head that I really wanted to do a podcast to interview chefs or to honor chefs. And, it goes back a little bit to the reason is because in 2020, governor Jay Insley in Washington State closed all restaurants because of the pandemic. But I looked around the world and realized all around the world. Restaurants had closed for weeks, even months, and it devastated the hospitality industry. Having spent 10 years in the restaurant business and studying to be a chef I woke up one day with the idea that I wanted to give chefs a voice and do a radio show or do a podcast, but I was so hesitant because I had imposter syndrome. I didn't know what people would think. I didn't know if they were gonna hate it. I thought my family would judge me and so this imposter syndrome crept in. And when I went to this pathway seminar and I listened to Kyle, he was so inspiring that I said, I'm interested in doing a podcast. And I remember his words exactly. He said, that's easy. Your level four project. Is your podcast, but your Level five project is your high performance leadership project. And I went, I've done one of those before. And he goes, the project is about creating your podcast, your mission, your vision, your values, and gathering group of people together to do it. I left that seminar and I was so inspired. I can't even tell you because it broke down all the barriers of imposter syndrome. It broke down all the barriers of planning because I was able to gather an executive assistant, a life coach, and my wife who did all the design and help me with all the creativity helped me get to my why. I was missing one person. And I thought, who am I gonna get? Who's the next person that I wanna bring into the high Performance leadership project? And I said, okay, I know. So I called Kyle up and I got the, number of excuses that I got, I can't even tell you. It's I don't have time. I'm really busy I'm working on this other project. And then I called him again, and then he said yes. And he was amazing. He is so connected all over the world to Toastmasters Baxter Kent's here tonight and another person that I really value, and I know Baxter's nodding his head, I know he is right now because Kyle is in district two, where I was from is in district 32, is in other districts. He's probably in five or six clubs and he was number three. In the world champion of public speaking. He's also a senior marketer and a visionary in Toastmasters. He's worked every role. I think he's been a district director and probably beyond. So for me to have that kind of vision, that kind of high level visibility in Toastmasters was epic. It was just epic and that's how it started. Wow.

Arthur Byrnes: 10:01

I keep saying almost a hundred podcasts. How, many is it? I, believe you just released one today.

Michael Dugan: 10:09

Today? Yes. 83. But technically there's a couple that aren't really episodes. They're just updates and things like that. Don't we don't deal in technicalities here. No. 83. But I will tell you, this is an amazing episode. I worked hard on this. I was working on it till three o'clock today.'cause I had technical failures, but it was so incredible. Ashley Brown is outta Colorado. And I'll just give you a little tidbit. So Ashley Brown is part of an organization called  MAPP. And  MAPP is an organization led by Joanna James, who's one of my heroes. I met her through my friend Chef Mimi and Chef Stevens here. So he knows Chef Mimi and some others. But Joanna basically created this organization. And it's about advocacy, mentorship, and leadership for women in hospitality because they don't get as much of an opportunity as men do. And I was floored when I met her in Las Vegas two months ago. And so this episode I dedicated to her on Mother's Day. And also Ashley is a mother and an incredible chef. She was on chopped. She runs one of the top restaurants in Colorado called Four by Brother Luck. And Brother Luck is a celebrity chef. And when I put this information out, he texted me and said, thank you. Wow. And so for me, this is an incredible episode. It's the launch of season four. She's a  MAPP member. She's connected to everything that I believe in. And she's an incredible storyteller and she's never been on a podcast before. So that's the joy that I have that's happening right now.

Arthur Byrnes: 11:55

So, we build this as, I was gonna give you a grilling and grill me. My first grilling is 83 episodes. That's two a month. And you have a full-time job.

Michael Dugan: 12:13

Yeah.

Arthur Byrnes: 12:14

So why aren't you quit your job?'cause you should be doing an episode every day. We should have. I want to all of those episodes out

Michael Dugan: 12:22

there. It's funny, Arthur, I know so many chefs all over the world now because of this. I, have a list of people that are ready to go and, Chef Steven's here tonight, and I want to give a shout out to him because he's gonna be my co-host and I'm so excited to bring him on board. I've known him for about four years and I have so much respect for him. He used to be the executive sous chef of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, and he has an amazing philosophy on leadership with treating people with respect. Incredible person. So I'm, really excited. So I think we're gonna have more time to produce more episode., yeah, they're 83 is a lot. I, know,

Arthur Byrnes: 13:07

I listen sometimes I do one month, some podcasts that are one a day

Michael Dugan: 13:10

yeah. Yeah.

Arthur Byrnes: 13:11

They

Michael Dugan: 13:11

do it full time.

Arthur Byrnes: 13:14

Yeah. So there's more grilling coming up. That was just a, minor grilling. Good. Good. What did you what? What advice do you give to someone who says, Hey, I want to be a podcaster?

Michael Dugan: 13:31

Ooh. The first thing is what my wife asked me, what is your why? I. Why do you want a podcast? What's the reason? Is it a project in Toastmasters? Because you can check it off the list in a month. But if it's something that you really, wanna do in your heart and soul, like for me. When the pandemic hit and I saw what was happening, I missed that industry. I, I had been in it for 10 years and my why was really connecting to all these people that were suffering with mental health challenges and being able to tell their stories and lift them up, and that was my why. So what is your why? Equipment's easy. It's not that expensive to start. I spend too much. I spend over a thousand dollars a year because I want it, the quality, and I wanna honor the people that I interview. It's so important to me, but you can do it for a couple hundred dollars. You really could. So, there's that. Also, I would encourage them, like I did, and I'm gonna go around the world soon and do this in a keynote, is to think about the idea of the High Performance Leadership Project. Because if you get a group of people together that are charged up and they want to help you, and they're also working towards something in Toastmasters it's a slam dunk. It's something that if you're gonna do a podcast in Toastmasters. That is the way to do it.

Arthur Byrnes: 15:03

You missed the advice that you, gave me because I, forgot. You can see people that do podcasting just using their phone. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars. True. And you've kicked my butt a couple of times. Yeah. The quality, just do it. Like the Nike slogan. And that's the hardest part is just getting up there and actually starting to do it. And you have given me a lot of motivation to get there. That's why I'm happy to be doing this interview with you. I'm really glad. Has your podcast taken you places that you might not have been to before you did that?

Michael Dugan: 15:51

Oh my gosh, so many. I. You know the first part was clubhouse. It Clubhouse isn't as strong as it is or as it was, but approximately three and a half years ago, I joined Clubhouse and I met this amazing group of people in something called Food Is Religion, which was a club online, and you would use your app on your phone and just click on it and people would start talking and they would have moderators, much like we have Toastmasters. So the moderator was basically the Toastmaster leading a group. But what was so interesting is you could push a button on your phone and that person that's listening could now be in speaking, they could be up on stage on the virtual stage. So we were in a club, a lot of us called Foodist Religion. I. And they had 5,000 people all over the world. And so my podcast started to grow internationally because people were listening and I was sharing the information. I was given an opportunity by one of my really good friends, Mimi Land Chef Mimi Lan. She's a Michelin trained chef out of Florida. I remember she would give me these incredible opportunities and one of the opportunities she gave me, I will never forget, was to partner with Chef Steven, who's listening right now. And I came into a room much like we have a Zoom. He was talking about Asian cuisine and he knows so much about this cuisine. And I was hosting, or I was co-hosting with him and learning, and he was teaching me and we would have conversations with people from all over the world about food. And I was like overwhelmed because. I didn't know as much. He's a true chef. He's a very talented chef, and he could connect, and I was connecting. I was learning. And then eventually Chef Mimi had me do my own room. So I started talking about food. I started talking about the podcast and things like that. But then she said, I want you to do a cooking class. Now I want you to imagine everyone that's listening. If you were not seeing what was going on and you were just listening, you would hear the sound of a sizzling in a pan. You would hear the knife cutting. And these were chefs that I interviewed live. Wow. With people coming from all around the world. And the cooking class was the chef making a signature dish. So I met celebrity chefs through Mimi and others in Food as Religion. And then I interviewed them on my podcast. So that's how the doors opened, right? But then it got better because eventually she wanted me to do a food talk show. So it was just like the podcast. And I produced a lot of those episodes and put them on the podcast. So that's a, that's another door that opened. But there's lots of things. Let me share one more. My aunt lives in Vegas and last year we went to the U2 concert because my wife surprised me with tickets for Christmas. So in February we went to the U2 concert, and I remember my aunt saying, do you know who James Trees is? And I said, no I, don't. But I started Googling him and realized that he's an amazing celebrity chef in Las Vegas, and it just turned out that she was connected to him through my cousin Christina. Her husband, Joe Cain he, partnered with James Trees and they built a bunch of restaurants in Las Vegas. She took us to one of 'em, amazing Italian restaurant. On Friday night, on Saturday, we had plans to go to Esther's kitchen and Chef Steven knows,'cause he lives in Vegas, he knows about Esther's kitchen. But the food was absolutely amazing. We had brunch there. My wife loves brunch, so we went there and then that morning out walks the chef. He looks at us and he says, hi, I'm James Trees, and Joe told me that I should reach out to you and introduce myself. And he spent probably about 45 minutes with us and then he gave us a tour of his brand new kitchen. and eventually it led to me asking him if he'd come on the podcast. And so I got to interview a celebrity chef. Wow.

Arthur Byrnes: 20:12

So time flies and I wanna make sure we get to a lot of things. Okay. And I had actually heard that you had to apologize to somebody named Carrie because you went on vacation to a tropical Isle Paradise and ended up doing a podcast there.

Michael Dugan: 20:32

Well, actually, I didn't have to apologize to her because she was the one that made it happen.

Jenn Haston: 20:37

Wow.

Michael Dugan: 20:37

She asked the owner if they would interview on my podcast, so we did a live episode and she was sitting on a couch inside the office of this Tahitian restaurant owner. Named Tia and we did an interview there live, and then she treated us to brunch right after we sat down and had amazing Tahitian food from, the local culture. That was Carrie. Actually I didn't apologize to her. I was really grateful.

Arthur Byrnes: 21:06

That's good. I, and it's a great episode. I hope everybody gets to listen to it now. Here comes the major grill because I happen to know something about you that you may not want to talk about. It's okay with all of these strangers, but can you tell us why with all of your degrees in culinary and hospitality, why you left the food business?

Michael Dugan: 21:40

It's also the same reason I would say I launched the podcast because chefs work really tough hours. If you can imagine, a lot of us have a nine to five or eight to five day. Sure. They work 60, 65 hour weeks. Wow. And they work holidays, they work weekends, they work all the time. And it's really tough to maintain a relationship. When I was in the business, I had a hard, the hardest time I had to work Valentine's Day. I. And every time, Christmas, Thanksgiving and, it wears on you, it wears on your mental health. So feeling that, I thought I wanted to own a restaurant and I was in a restaurant in Napa Valley, one of the top restaurants, chain restaurants that I wanted to work for coming out of college. And I was the assistant manager on duty. And one night we had a drive by shooting. I was the manager on duty. Though I had to deal with the cops. I had to deal with stressful staff members, send them home and, also comp a lot of meals and all this stress. And I got home at four o'clock in the morning.

I started at 3: 22:50

00 PM and I just broke down mentally and I started crying and I went, I don't wanna do this anymore. So then I walked in the next day and my manager Debbie said, did anything happen last night? I said, I don't know, because I forgot. I put it on my mind and she handed me the police report and she said, if something like this ever happens, call me anytime of night. Three weeks later I gave notice and I left the restaurant business forever. So that was the catalyst that really pushed me out.

Arthur Byrnes: 23:26

It's, a sad story, but yeah it's a, backstory that helps us understand. Back to great chefs. You interviewed another chef from Las Vegas. James Trees I listened to that and I was spellbound.

Michael Dugan: 23:49

He's amazing.

Arthur Byrnes: 23:50

You actually had to make a two episode for that.

Michael Dugan: 23:56

Yeah, two parts. Because two parts we've got this limited time and I never wanna cut off the stories of the chefs. And it was so beautiful because we were connected through family. So I was very emotional in the beginning and I had to hold it together. And then he was very frustrated, and he was honest. But then towards the end, it was like this cathartic healing that happened in our conversation. And he's an amazing human being. He worked for Gordon Ramsey. He helped build Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen. And he worked for the top chefs in the entire world in some of the Las Vegas casinos, including Eric Rippert, who was best friends with Anthony Bourdain. Yeah. And to me that was just epic. But he tells that story about having been invited on one of the shows and Chopped. Yeah. Yeah. And he basically told him, heck with you people, I am not gonna do this. Because they were manufacturing drama. And Gordon too. He was doing that and he got sick of it because he wanted to help people. It was very interesting how he felt about it. He was very honest. And this funny part to give you the backside, which we call the green room, which isn't recorded, his PR person. That he works with was with him to make sure that he didn't swear. He didn't say a lot of things, but they're best friends. And honestly, I did it live on video. They were cracking open beers.

Arthur Byrnes: 25:29

Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 25:30

And, who did they It was amazing call

Arthur Byrnes: 25:32

When the meals were horrible, but he wanted to impress some VIPs. Who did? Who did the big top chef call? James. James. Because he built yeah, he built the back kitchen. It was so cool to hear that

Michael Dugan: 25:43

story. I know. It was amazing. And you talk about doors, right? Or you talk about opportunities that after that episode aired, I started getting some very big people reaching out because they heard that I had a PR person that I worked with. I had chef. Kirk Bachman, who's the president of The Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Colorado, which is one of the top cooking schools in the country. That was the result of James, which I wish he was here because I wanted to share that with him. But if you look behind me just, really quick, you see the Purple book? Oh yeah. That was written by Auguste Escoffier in the 18 00's.

Arthur Byrnes: 26:24

Oh wow.

Michael Dugan: 26:25

And literally carried over in generation to generation his. Grandson or great, grandson runs or co-run August esca with Kirk Bachman. And so to me, full circle,'cause I went to cooking school and used that book to learn to be able to interview him was epic. And James was epic. Just, unbelievable the opportunities that happen when you podcast the doors that come open. You would not imagine. That's why I encourage people to podcast.

Arthur Byrnes: 26:56

I, have a ton of questions. Okay. But I can't get 'em all in. I know. Can you tell me what's next

Michael Dugan: 27:04

for Voice4Chefs? Absolutely. So I always feared that question with apo, imposter syndrome, esp, honestly, especially since I got started, right? Chef Steven is going to be a co-host for Voice for Chefs. Wow. And I'm very excited about that because we have a really strong connection. And like I said, it goes back three and a half years because I got the opportunity. Learn from him and now he's gonna have the opportunity to learn from me.'cause I'm gonna teach him how the podcast works and, learn about technology and things like that. But there's that. But  MAPP is, probably the most important piece, I would say of what's going forward because Joanna, James, the CEO, I wanna be involved and I became a MAPP member. And I'm gonna be interviewing a lot of MAPP members to give them a chance to come on the podcast so they can get ready to talk to the media as chefs.'cause they never get those opportunities. So I thought create those opportunities and I'm partnering with a lot of people in MAPP to do a lot of this work and I'm very excited about. So that's one. Also, I've launched a YouTube channel. I'm working on a Patreon. Because again, it's over a thousand dollars a year, so I'm hoping that people are gonna contribute and support the show. My dream is to be able to hire or find someone that would edit the podcast to give me the freedom and creativity to just interview, and then I can produce a lot more episodes very quickly. So that's what's coming next.

Arthur Byrnes: 29:42

That is so neat. I'm, gonna keep watching. It's an amazing podcast. I am a meat and potatoes guy. I don't like all the fancy foods, but yet when I hear you talk to the chefs and they explain how they do things and so much of it, they, some people think of. Cooking as an art. Some people think of it as a science. What do you see

Michael Dugan: 30:17

it as? This is a very interesting question because I never knew I was creative because I can't, when I draw, I can't draw stick figures and things like that. When I write, you can't read it. It's just almost impossible. So for me, I never felt creative. My mom's an artist. My wife is an amazing artist, and my family, there's a lot of artists. But then one day my wife said, you're a chef, you're an artist. And then I realized that artists create. But they say that cooking is an art, and baking is a science because baking is all about exact measurements. Oh yeah. And cooking. You have the freedom to be creative.

Arthur Byrnes: 31:07

Thank you. It was a pleasure and an honor to be able to interview you.

Michael Dugan: 31:17

Everyone that's here today, some of you're considering launching a podcast. PodMasters Here is the place to be. We, are being, we are having the opportunity to reach out to some amazing people and to come and interview. We're also learning from each other. This is a really great place to learn how to podcast, so consider it. The other thing is if you're interested in Voice for chefs and you want to help, I'm always looking for somebody that might wanna learn and I'm a really good teacher. That's what I've been told. And the final thing is. Take today. Before you leave, pick an episode on Voice for Chefs. Listen to it. Go out to our website and write a review. And five stars goes a long way 'cause we wanna lift up the chef's voice. Thank you, Arthur.

Arthur Byrnes: 32:08

Thank you Michael. And I will return it to our Toastmaster of the day.

Ally Blakeman: 32:15

Thank you Arthur, and thank you Michael for sharing your story and being so open with us today. The next portion of our meeting, I would like to introduce our general, our executive producer, also known as our general evaluator, who will introduce the next segments of our meeting, Ms. Tricia Murphy. Would you like to take us into the Q&A and then the round robin please?

Tricia: 32:42

Hello everybody. So, for the next portion of our meeting, I will open it up for audience question and answers.

Jenn Haston: 32:50

Hi, Jen. Go ahead Jen. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. Michael I'd, love to hear more about what makes it hard to do what you do.

Michael Dugan: 33:04

Oh. Oh. What makes it really hard? Honestly, imagine it's Mother's Day? I wanted to spend time with my wife this weekend and I made a really strong effort. But I also knew I had to prepare for this. But I also had to get a really important episode launched, and I was struggling with the technology and I work in technology. And so that made it really hard because I spent three hours today trying to get this technology to work so I could produce this episode to honor this amazing chef and to start the launch of season four and wanting to spend time with my wife and my dog. I. It's very time consuming, but it's incredibly rewarding. And once you get things down, normally when the technology's working, we, there was an outage for one of the products I used this weekend. Normally when it's working. You can streamline a lot of things like editing. You can get done pretty quick. You can knock out reels little video, short video clips for marketing. You can do those kind of things. Really what makes it hard is to spend more time with my wife. That's why I'm excited that Chef Steven's part of our team. And Jen, I'm hoping you come back on 'cause maybe you'll have some time 'cause you've been an amazing supporter. So I think that's what makes it hard. Thanks for the question,

Tricia: 34:29

Ally you have a question?

Ally Blakeman: 34:31

Yes, Michael. Longtime listener. First time caller. So my question for you today is,

Michael Dugan: 34:39

I love it.

Ally Blakeman: 34:40

How do you deal with days and times that you struggle for inspiration and days that you really struggle to record a podcast? Because we all have those days where sometimes we just we're not feeling it. How do you overcome, have you ever had those days? Oh,

Michael Dugan: 34:56

absolutely. Today,

Ally Blakeman: 34:57

Oh wow. Can you tell us how you overcome those times?

Michael Dugan: 35:02

I've learned to step back. So my goal today was to release this episode, this amazing episode for season four with Ashley Brown at one o'clock. I didn't get it out till almost three o'clock. I posted on Facebook and said, I just want you to know there are technical challenges because people expect consistency, right? So it's really hard to always get that on the dot. And again, if you're busy with other things, I. It, comes fast. I try to get a lot of editing and stuff done during the week so that the weekend I have free time and I feel more relaxed. But sometimes when it creeps up, it makes it hard. And the hardest thing for me, like I said, is I really need more help. I want to coach other people. Maybe it's in Toastmasters. Maybe there's somebody that's excited to learn. I'm excited to teach, but I wanna interview more chefs. And that's what makes it hard is I have a list right now that's wide open all over the world. And what makes it hard is I can't do that because I have to slow down, not speed up. It's a great question.

Ally Blakeman: 36:15

Thank you for answering that, Michael.

Tricia: 36:16

Melissa?

Jodi: 36:20

Yes, I'm right here. Michael, I just want to know how do you balance work and your podcast?

Michael Dugan: 36:31

Honestly, I want this to be my work. I was. In conversation with NPR to syndicate this podcast, people say, you have a radio voice. It was really happening, and then they laid off half the staff at the University of Washington. And so my dream fell apart. But for me, it's very hard to balance and I've gotta, I gotta get better at it, honestly, because I wanna be. Spend more time with my wife. I wanna spend more time with other parts of my life. But at the same time, I really love connecting with these chefs and helping them in their careers and helping them get connected beyond what they see. So it's very, I'm very driven to do that, but that's what makes it hard, is that I can't interview all the chefs that I want to interview. Great question. I know we're running low on time, but I want to ask we're, yeah. Or answer this question really quick. Chef Mimi just joined and she asked about i've been waiting to have my own podcast, but know that with a busy schedule as a chef and my perfectionism, I can relate. I'll have to spend a lot of time editing. Just wondering if there's a service out there where you can tell me. To each episode, pay them to edit all the way if needed. I'm just rereading it. How much and is there such a thing? There is, there definitely is. Chef Mimi. There's a lot of, Fiverr I think does a lot of editing. I actually know someone who loves their editor and they're not that expensive. So if you want to reach out, she's a friend of mine anyway, but if you wanna reach out, we can chat about it anytime.

Tricia: 38:22

Okay so, now we will move on to our round robin feedback evaluation. And this is for both podcasters. If you have any comments for either. Either podcaster, anybody's hands up.

Joanie: 38:41

I loved the conversational tone and banter between you. I can say, I am not the podcast. Listen, tor type. I went into this listening as if I were on clubhouse and listening to you on a podcast. The tone made it engaging. I liked both the chef's use of descriptive language, and I like Arthur's banter where there was. Comedy and fun associated with how he was introducing it to keep everyone engaged because though I can see the visuals, I think technically on a podcast, no one would be able to. So the banter gave that kind of a connection with the words, et cetera. What I can suggest is. Putting in more descriptive language on both sides for both the interviewer and for the interviewee. Because technically if it's supposed to be a podcast, I'm not gonna be able to see you. I'm not gonna be able to see the smile, the laughter. So when you made a joke about he having to apologize, the person he was supposed to apologize to, I'm assuming was his wife. I assumed was his wife, but it helps if you told me this before so I could follow along with the story as someone new. But overall, great work on the use of time. Love the banter and the connection back to you.

Fred Bergeron: 40:10

Speaking of, wife, Carrie has her hand raised.

Carrie Dugan: 40:14

No, I just really wanted to compliment both Arthur and Michael. Both have such passion. Number one, Arthur in the interviewing style that you have is very nice. And Michael, your passion just explodes out of the computer here and I'm upstairs. Anyway, congratulations on four years and I know how hard it has been. And yet so rewarding. And I don't know, I think for all of you doing podcasts, I think it's a wonderful way to really excel much faster in Toastmasters, I would say. So congratulations.

Fred Bergeron: 41:03

Greg has his hand raised. Recognize that Greg is the host of the Toastmaster International Podcast and came as a guest to our club.

Greg: 41:19

Michael, thank you for inviting me to come out today. Absolutely. An honor to be here. I'm Greg Gazen first of all, Arthur, great job on the questions. I thought the questions were extremely appropriate. They were well targeted. Obviously you did your homework. I noticed that there was a timing, there was a little bit of a timing issue. So perhaps feel free if you have to, if the questions a little bit or if you find that perhaps your guest is straying help, feel free to call them in. It's not, a rude thing to do.

Michael Dugan: 41:50

Overall very, impressive interview. Thank you, Greg.

Greg: 41:54

Michael. I thought that you did a phenomenal job. I love the fact that you were very specific and very purposeful, and you gave names, dates in places. So that just said, as opposed to saying I talked to this chef, you, gave that information, which was extremely valuable. Your passion and your excitement is just, it's really obvious. I also love the fact that you were transparent, even mentioning how there was challenges with your relationships and of course that creates, it makes you very, real. Two little quick, little tiny points. I noticed you were looking down at your screen. It's because everyone is there on the screen. I felt that you were talking to me and I would've loved for you to, for me to see you directly. So occasionally try to look up. Okay? And one other little suggestion, and this is very valuable, especially if you're trying to encourage someone to do something, is to have them imagine. Imagine yourself having your own podcast or picture yourself on the cover of a magazine, something like that. And if you do something like that, then you pause. It adds even more impact to your appeal. Overall, thank you. I'm glad I was able to get back. In fact, I've managed to just get back in time.

Michael Dugan: 43:05

Oh my gosh.

Tricia: 43:07

Greg. Thank you, Greg. Thank you for that. And we will have to move on to our improv master, our improv portion of the meeting for table Topics. Topics. So with that, I will turn it over to our improv master, Fred.

Fred Bergeron: 43:19

Thank you Madam. Executive Producer. This is a session we rarely have in our club, but for occasion such as this, we decided to have it based on the theme of food and cooking. And I did it a little different. I've got it by categories. So whoever volunteers or gets voluntold, I'm gonna ask you a category you're gonna pick, and then I'm gonna pick a question from that category. So who would like to be my first. Victim table topics, participant, improv participants, any. How about you, Baxter? Oh, actually Greg raised his hand. Okay. Greg let me, pull up, let me pull up the categories here. Your categories are cooking, adventures or disasters. The chef within. Or food for a thought. Which category would you like Greg?

Greg: 44:22

Like cooking disasters.

Fred Bergeron: 44:25

Okay. What's the biggest cooking mistake you've ever made? Would you like me to repeat it?

Greg: 44:33

Nope, I'm good. Thank you very much for that question, Mr. To master, I have to take myself back about 20 years I was dating a young lady who really, loved banana bread. So of course I looked around, I tried to find different types of recipes. I, I looked for ways to try to improve what was in it. For example, I added some walnuts and I looked at using some chocolate chips. So of course I went out, I got all the ingredients. Now I know banana bread is an easy thing for you all, but not for me. When I was finished with the recipe and it came out of the oven, it looked like soup, and for the life of me, I could not understand. I think it's because I mistook baking sugar for flour. They looked very, similar to me, and they were in a jar that weren't marked. Now all was not lost because interestingly enough, it tasted quite interesting. My girlfriend at the time really was not overly impressed, but when I poured it over vanilla ice cream, she said, what? This isn't really bad, but it would be okay if you didn't make it. Again, Mr. Topic, master Fellow, Toastmaster. That was one of my disasters in cooking. I've learned, I've come a long way from it since, but it's a certainly a story that I'll never forget. Back to you,

Michael Dugan: 45:52

There's some very important people that are here that haven't spoken. I wanna make sure they have an opportunity.

Fred Bergeron: 45:57

Oh, I didn't see him on the, yeah, if I didn't see him. Go ahead, Michael. I was calling on who was on the I, I'm

Michael Dugan: 46:01

staring right at 'em. The first one I want you to know about is an incredible person that I recently met, and that's Ashley Brown. Chef Ashley Brown. I released her episode today. She's been extremely busy. It's Mother's Day, she's a mom and a chef, and that is a lot to do. Ashley, if you can jump in for just a second. I know you're here. Hi.

Expo: 46:23

Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 46:24

I'm so happy you're here.

Expo: 46:26

Yeah, thank you for inviting me. Sorry if my voice is a little raspy. I was on expo.

Michael Dugan: 46:32

Ah.

Expo: 46:32

Call it everything. It was a busy, brunch.

Michael Dugan: 46:36

What's an expo for people here that are not in the chef world?

Ashley Brown: 46:39

Expo in the chef world is the one who calls out all the tickets and they are the neck of the service you gotta be looking at everything. You gotta be communicating everything, checking up on quality and time management, all of it, your, the eyes, the ears, the body of service right next to the hostess. Yeah, it was, we had Mother's Day brunch. We did not do a regular service. We, normally open from three to 3:00PM to

10: 47:14

00 PM but today was.

It was at 10:00 AM to 3: 47:16

00 PM and it's six o'clock, six 30 my time, and we just got out. But it was very successful. Happy Mother's Day to the, those in the group that are mothers. Thank you for your service. Thank you Michael for, the invite, and I am excited to be here. And, I want to tell you, I am so honored that you came on the podcast. You are an amazing storyteller. You really are your stories. As I was editing, I could not believe the stories, and everyone that's here right now, there's 22 people. I'm gonna challenge each one of you to click on that link because that is the latest episode of Voice for Chefs and show Ashley some love. Show her some love. She is amazing and she runs Four for a celebrity chef named Brother Luck, who is incredible and her, conversation, the conversation that we had it's unreal. I released it to honor mothers. For Mother's Day. Thank you. And I and Joanna James too. Who started  MAPP and that's how I met Ashley. So it's probably for me one of the most emotional episodes I've had in a long time. Oh. And it's driving the direction of the podcast right now, so

Fred Bergeron: 48:38

Thank you, Michael. And I see other names I miss, so let me know. I see chefs. We'll go with Chef Steven. And then it looks like we have Thanks

Ally Blakeman: 48:45

Ashley.

Fred Bergeron: 48:47

We have Chef Steven. We have Joanie and Beth. So Chef Steven, you're up next.

Steven: 48:56

Hi everyone. I'm driving back from Los Angeles to Vegas I'm just listening. Can't turn on my camera. Thank you, Michael, so much for inviting me. First time I have ever been onto a Toastmasters. Yes I heard, of it a lot, but quite interesting. And so glad to meet everyone. So glad that. Everyone get to grill Michael. I'm just very excited. We have a lot of things going on planned in the future, and, just looking forward to meeting everyone again. Thank you so much.

Fred Bergeron: 49:28

Thank you. Thank you, Steven. And we got Joanie I think I skipped you. Go ahead, Joanie.

Joanie: 49:33

It was a culinary delight for me. I heard Michael say food as a religion. If you say food, you are calling my name. I don't care if I'm watching the food network because I'm hungry and I just pretend that they're doing it all for me. Or just discussing the amazingness of how food is. I really enjoyed this. I like learning about podcasts, but I like the fact that the topic was food more. So overall, I had a great time today and it's the first time I've seen a meeting run like this, so I got to see another way of doing Toastmasters, and I was invited by Alison. Thank you for inviting me. Alison.

Ally Blakeman: 50:14

Thank you for joining. Joni. Loved having you here. You've just listened to your first abbreviated Toastmaster meeting and a celebration of four years with Voice for Chefs. Launched through a high performance leadership project in Toastmasters.