Toastmasters in Winnipeg Challenge Obstacles

What a wonderful meeting we had today – February 22nd, 2012.  We had 10 members and 1 guest in attendance.  Our Toastmaster Deb chose the theme Creating Challenge and she shared with us how she challenges her clients to enter into the 100 day Challenge where you pick something you will do everyday for 100 days. 

Our speaker Selena was working on her fifth speech in the Competent Communicator manual.  The objectives of this speech were focused our body language and using effective gestures.  The title of Selena’s speech was “Why I came to Canada”. Selena is originally from England and it was fascinating to hear what enticed her to come over to Canada.  Apparently she came for the snow in the winter and the excitement of canoeing in the wilderness of Canada in the summer.

Julia led us in an intriguing session of Table Topics where Andrea shared what the color green in her mood ring meant.  Tom did an excellent job of explaining all about the color burnt charcoal, relating it to a winter fishing expedition.

I found the quote on the bottom of the agenda to be interesting.  It read:  “Most people rust out due to lack of challenge.  Few people rust out due to overuse – unknown”.

The gold star was awarded by June our General Evaluation.  Selena was the recipient this week. 

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, phone 204-256-7550.

UM Masters Are Sweethearts!

Toastmaster Andrea gave us the theme of 'Sweethearts' for the meeting, which gave us all a warm friendly feeling, as she asked us to think about friends/colleagues/family members who were good to us and who we considered sweethearts. Cameron entertained us with his humour which was so enthusiastically delivered, and Deb encouraged us to speak in a 'cogent' manner.

This week the meeting was a mix of seasoned members, those who joined in the last year, and a couple of really fresh members, and under Andrea's encouragement almost everyone had soon volunteered for a role (or two).

Cathy delivered Competent Communicator speech number 6. Her challenge was to use data and information in a way that informed us. She told us about how the scheme for learning English as a second language works. Cathy demonstrated why it helps to choose a topic you know a lot about or are passionate about. As a trainee TESL teacher, Cathy showed her enthusiasm and interest in helping others learn English. It was a pleasure to listen and learn.

Selena walked to the podium as Table Topics Master carrying a black tin, which created an air of mystery in the room. The tin was passed round and Toastmasters helped themselves to cookies with messages on them - Selena had been inspired by the topic of the day, which had reminded her about candy called 'love hearts', which come with messages. 

Everyone had a cookie, and they waited in anticipation to see who would be called. With everyone taking a role, Selena's choice of 'victims' was limited, but she persuaded just enrolled Charith, and new member Sharon to talk about the topic on their cookie, or not - rules of Table topics allow for participants to choose their topic if they can't think of anything to say on the topic provided. Charith did this confidently and to good effect.

Our evaluators Julie, Tiffany and June did a fine job of evaluating all aspects of our meeting, and Sharon and Deb showed they had been listening hard as they fed back on 'ah's' and use of grammar, and Cameron gave a through breakdown of our use of time.

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, phone 204-256-7550.

Winnipeg Toastmasters: Striving to focus on the present

Well we are very happy to welcome back our wayward traveler Dianne Winser, who was missed for sure!

She had a lovely time in Hawaii and came back looking well rested and dare I say Mindful?

Actually Dianne was our Toastmaster and she choose a very fitting theme in light of how busy January and February can be.........Dianne reminded us to be "mindful"

I loved to hear the stories as we went around the room during introductions. June and Bev shared some helpful strategies as to how they stay mindful. June takes a few minutes everyday to just sit and clear her head, I believe the word she used was contemplate.

If it is wrong I can guarantee June will correct me at our next meeting! 

And Bev shared how her family adopted an introductory phrase when speaking to each other after a busy day....the Doern's begin with a question, so the speaker knows right from the get go, if their questions is answered they know they are being heard and will continue....I like that!

I love coming to Toastmasters as there is always a surprise...Bev was a talk show host today and asked me to come up and be her guest. Wow, that was FUN!! She had it videotaped by Haley and I'm hoping it will appear here on our Toastmasters Blog.

Bev put me, the guest,  right at ease by asking me questions about my own blogging experiences and then turned up the grill by asking me some tougher questions with regards to security etc. etc...so then it was my turn to practice composure.

Andrea's Table Topics was great, she went "off the cuff" in light of our segue on security, and Haley and Tiffany had no problem speaking for 2 minutes.

I also have to congratulate Haley for "kicking it up a notch" by being our General Evaluator, which I believe can be the toughest job!! She was organized, relaxed and had great voice volume matched with thorough content. Way to go Haley!

With all the activity and interesting topics of yesterday's meeting I didn't get a chance to chat with Dianne and hear about her trip to Hawaii...hmmmm maybe I'll get to hear about it in a speech???? (just a

thought)

Have a great week everyone, see you all on the 22nd.

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

Join us at UM Masters!

UM Masters, a Toastmasters club located in the University of Manitoba, has a long and celebrated history of helping people develop confidence in their speaking and improve their listening, thinking and speaking skills. We continually encourage and support one another to be the best that we can be.

With a dedicated executive, I am confident that our club will once again excel in achieving the highest status as a President's Distinguished club.

Ralph Smedley, founder of Toastmasters International once said "we learn best in moments of enjoyment". I always come away from our noon meeting inspired and full of enthusiasm. I have made many friends along my journey in Toastmasters and look forward to many more moments of enjoyment.

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