Saturday, November 26, 2011

Winnipeg Toastmasters Talk Mentorship



“Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.”

This quote by Sydney Harris set the stage for another intriguing meeting by UM Masters - a Toastmasters Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The theme was Unforgettable Mentors and Dianne, our Toastmaster, got us thinking of who in our lives have left an impact.

The word of the day was appreciate – a fitting word to use as we shared in our introductions the mentors we valued in our lives.

Our club President, Andrea, presented an educational on Mentoring and how integral it was to the toastmasters program. We enter as new members and are guided by mentors.  We in turn pass on our knowledge to others.  The Toastmaster way is to pay it forward!

In our impromptu speaking segment, our Table Topics Master Cathy got us thinking of what advice we would pass on as Dear Abbey (or Albert).  Our new member Julien and our guest Julie had excellent advice to share!

The meeting wouldn’t be complete without evaluations. Our evaluators, Deb and June, gave insightful feedback on what they liked and where they would encourage members to try something different.

Our meeting closed with a thought from John Crosby, “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.”  If you need a push in the right direction, try UM Masters

Try Toastmasters – the proven way to grow your communication and leadership skills.

If you would like to take part in a UM Masters meeting, we’re located in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba. Our meetings are held every Wednesday from 12:05 –12:50 PM in Room 111 at St. John’s College (which is part of the University of Manitoba).

If you're in Winnipeg and interested in sitting in on a club meeting to see if Toastmasters is right for you, please feel free to contact Dianne Winser at
dianne_winser@umanitoba.ca

Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Winnipeg Toastmasters Club and Remembrance Day


Our meeting this week  in our WInnipeg Toastmasters club, UM Masters, was an innovative hit thanks to creative ways to master roles starting with Jessica as Toastmaster for her first time. She spoke confidently throughout her role. Her chosen theme of “Animal Companions” prompted pet experiences shared by each member and most welcomed guests. We could all relate to animal companions. Tom shared a most memorable literary experience during his travels in Swahili which helped him choose a name for his family pet. They chose Jambo Piki-Piki which translates into English as Hello Motorcycle. Who would have known? Thanks Tom.
Our enthusiastic speaker of the day Cathy P. once again astounded us with humor to convey the importance of fulfilling Toastmaster Role Projects. She described Competent Communication as the Soup and Competent Leadership as the Sandwich which make a complete wholesome lunch. Leadership without clear communication means “No soup for you”. She encouraged us to challenge our projects to progress through the steps to confident leadership. “While you have your soup remember to take a bite of your sandwich.”
Table Topics Master of the day Dianne creatively prepared notes ahead of the meet listing five unrelated words to challenge the Table Topics Speaker of the day, Mari-Ann. In response Mari-Ann successfully crafted a masterfully expressive speech on the fly including both as animal companion theme and “Remembrance” word of the day.
Bev’s speech evaluation for Cathy P. noted Cathy’s clever ending “Now that you’ve all has lunch how about dessert?” It left us with thoughts of food. After all we meet at lunch. Bev finished her evaluation ingeniously phrasing “Sharing food gives us something to dig into.”
This week’s meeting was well presented, creative and intuitive. Our Grammarian of the day, June, left everyone in our Winnipeg Toastmasters club, UM Masters, with one last thought about “Remembrance”. November 11 is Remembrance Day and “Lest we forget”.
Try Toastmasters – the proven way to grow your communication and leadership skills.

If you would like to take part in a UM Masters meeting, we’re located in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba. Our meetings are held every Wednesday from 12:05 –12:50 PM in Room 111 at St. John’s College (which is part of the University of Manitoba).

If you're in Winnipeg and interested in sitting in on a club meeting to see if Toastmasters is right for you, please feel free to contact Tiffany Lui at  tpylui@hotmail.com

Monday, November 7, 2011

A Peek Inside a Winnipeg Toastmasters Meeting


We had another great meeting at UM Masters this past week, with the theme of “Magical Memories”!
Members had a good time discussing fun, significant, and even embarrassing memories from their past.
The toastmaster this week was Bev Doern, one of our distinguished Toastmasters as part of our Winnipeg Toastmasters club.
The grammarian was Cathy Plouffe who chose the word “reminiscence”. This word was hard to pronounce, but everyone managed to use the word while speaking!
Our main speaker was Selena who gave her 4th speech of her Competent Communicator designation. Her speech called “Remember, Remember the 5th of November” was very well done, and we got to learn about an important day in British history that none of us knew very well!
A speech very well done and very educational - the best of both worlds!

Try Toastmasters – the proven way to grow your communication and leadership skills.

If you would like to take part in a UM Masters meeting, we’re located in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba. Our meetings are held every Wednesday from 12:05 –12:50 PM in Room 111 at St. John’s College (which is part of the University of Manitoba).

If you're in Winnipeg and interested in sitting in on a club meeting to see if Toastmasters is right for you, please feel free to contact Tiffany Lui at  tpylui@hotmail.com