SHENZHEN TOASTMASTERS EST. 2003
Recovered material

The Douban Archive

Shenzhen Toastmasters kept a Douban site from April 2013. It stopped being updated in late 2019 and was deleted some time between March 2021 and September 2025.

The pages themselves survive in the Internet Archive. The photographs did not: the Archive never captured a single image from the album. They turned out to still be sitting on Douban’s image servers, which had outlived the page they belonged to, so we pulled all twenty-three of them back at full size.

Comparing the archived snapshots shows the album grew in two goes. Six pictures were already there in August 2014, all of them explanatory material. The other seventeen arrived some time between May 2015 and October 2019, and they are photographs of meetings: the projected slides in two of them carry meeting numbers, which places the whole batch in the summer of 2015, in the club’s old room on the sixth floor of Xinghua Building.

Meetings, summer 2015
“The 434th Meeting.” The ribbons hanging from the banner are the club's accumulated awards.
Meeting #434 about 14 July 2015 “The 434th Meeting.” The ribbons hanging from the banner are the club's accumulated awards. More →
“Evaluators.” The slide behind them is the one that dates this whole batch: Theme Balance, Word of the Day Prioritize, “decide which are the most important and do them first”.
Meeting #434 · Evaluations about 14 July 2015 “Evaluators.” The slide behind them is the one that dates this whole batch: Theme Balance, Word of the Day Prioritize, “decide which are the most important and do them first”. More →
“Facilitators.” The projected slide reads 434th Meeting, and the club's own logo of the day sits in the corner of it.
Meeting #434 · Facilitators about 14 July 2015 “Facilitators.” The projected slide reads 434th Meeting, and the club's own logo of the day sits in the corner of it. More →
“Theme-Balance.” Speakers on the evening's theme; the name badges read Cherry and Seaborn.
Meeting #434 · Prepared speeches about 14 July 2015 “Theme-Balance.” Speakers on the evening's theme; the name badges read Cherry and Seaborn. More →
“Dear Guests!” Nine visitors, each taking a turn to introduce themselves. Guest sharing time is still on the agenda today.
Meeting #434 · Guest sharing about 14 July 2015 “Dear Guests!” Nine visitors, each taking a turn to introduce themselves. Guest sharing time is still on the agenda today. More →
“Table Topic session.” Eight speakers, two minutes each, no preparation. Run through a pencil-sketch filter, which is very 2015.
Meeting #434 · Table Topics about 14 July 2015 “Table Topic session.” Eight speakers, two minutes each, no preparation. Run through a pencil-sketch filter, which is very 2015. More →
“Distinguished guests.” A second collage of visitors from the same evening.
Meeting #434 · Guests about 14 July 2015 “Distinguished guests.” A second collage of visitors from the same evening. More →
“Looking forward to our 436th Meeting.” Around twenty-five members and guests behind the banner. The club posted this to announce the meeting, so the picture itself may have been taken the week before.
Meeting #436 about 28 July 2015 “Looking forward to our 436th Meeting.” Around twenty-five members and guests behind the banner. The club posted this to announce the meeting, so the picture itself may have been taken the week before. More →
“Together!!” Twenty members and five guests raised RMB 5,700. The slide lists every donor by name, and the president handed certificates to four of them.
The collection summer 2015 “Together!!” Twenty members and five guests raised RMB 5,700. The slide lists every donor by name, and the president handed certificates to four of them. More →
A talk on the club's mentoring programme, 从会员到导师, and an award handed over afterwards. The photo app stamped the date onto the picture: 2015/07. The whiteboard behind carries the running order: Cherry, Edward, Seaborn, Yoki, Lilia.
Mentoring session July 2015 A talk on the club's mentoring programme, 从会员到导师, and an award handed over afterwards. The photo app stamped the date onto the picture: 2015/07. The whiteboard behind carries the running order: Cherry, Edward, Seaborn, Yoki, Lilia.
“Mentoring Matters!”, presented by a visiting speaker from CEO Toastmasters.
Mentoring session July 2015 “Mentoring Matters!”, presented by a visiting speaker from CEO Toastmasters.
“Happy to be a member.” New members holding their certificates, and the row behind them applauding.
New member induction summer 2015 “Happy to be a member.” New members holding their certificates, and the row behind them applauding.
“Distinguished guests.” A selfie-stick group shot beside the club banner, which reads Shenzhen Toastmasters, Club No. 594537, Guangdong, China.
Guest session summer 2015 “Distinguished guests.” A selfie-stick group shot beside the club banner, which reads Shenzhen Toastmasters, Club No. 594537, Guangdong, China.
“Moment of Truth”, the segment where a club rates itself against the Toastmasters standards. The badge reads Louis.
Moment of Truth summer 2015 “Moment of Truth”, the segment where a club rates itself against the Toastmasters standards. The badge reads Louis.
“Speeches Evaluators.” The project objectives are still up on the screen behind each evaluator: “strive to make eye contact”, “Time: 5-7 minutes”.
Speech evaluations summer 2015 “Speeches Evaluators.” The project objectives are still up on the screen behind each evaluator: “strive to make eye contact”, “Time: 5-7 minutes”.
“Pay attention to every words carefully!” The room from the back, mid-session.
Meeting in progress summer 2015 “Pay attention to every words carefully!” The room from the back, mid-session.

Captions in quotation marks are the club's own, written onto the pictures at the time. Everything else is read off what is visible in the photograph. Dates marked “about” are worked out from the mailing list, where meeting #429 is dated 9 June 2015 and the club met weekly.

How the club explained itself, 2014 and earlier
Two parallel tracks, Competent Communicator and Competent Leader, both leading to Distinguished Toastmaster. Pathways replaced this system a few years later.
Education programme on the page by August 2014 Two parallel tracks, Competent Communicator and Competent Leader, both leading to Distinguished Toastmaster. Pathways replaced this system a few years later.
“How does it work?” Built around the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals, the printed workbooks members used before everything moved online.
Explaining the club to visitors on the page by August 2014 “How does it work?” Built around the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals, the printed workbooks members used before everything moved online.
How Toastmasters International is organised, from club to area to division to district, alongside the paper membership application form.
Explaining the club to visitors on the page by August 2014 How Toastmasters International is organised, from club to area to division to district, alongside the paper membership application form.
Features, benefits and value. The dues quoted are US$36 every six months.
Explaining the club to visitors on the page by August 2014 Features, benefits and value. The dues quoted are US$36 every six months.
“How do you join?” Three steps: visit a club, ask the VP Membership for a form, hand it back with your dues. Still exactly how it works.
Explaining the club to visitors on the page by August 2014 “How do you join?” Three steps: visit a club, ask the VP Membership for a form, hand it back with your dues. Still exactly how it works.

These six were already on the Douban page when the Internet Archive first captured it on 20 August 2014, so they date from 2014 or earlier. They describe the education programme Toastmasters ran before Pathways replaced it.

Where this came from

Pages: the Internet Archive's captures of site.douban.com/210036, taken between August 2014 and March 2021. Photographs: Douban's image servers, retrieved August 2026 at original size. Meeting numbers and dates: the club's mailing list, [email protected].