Winnipeg Toastmasters on the Power of Positive Thinking

Our meeting today was exciting and full of laughter with Toastmaster Selena taking full control of a smooth run, bringing the meeting to a timely end.  Selena showed her leadership skills once again with charm and confidence.

First speaker Trevi gave a dynamic speech on the power of  “positive thinking”.  She  emphasized how important it is to think positive taking control of  one’s thoughts, words and actions which can have a tremendous impact on who you are.   Trevi said this state of mind was influenced at the early age of 15 and has remained a part of  her life ever since.  She  is now assisting young adults to deal with peer pressure.  Trevi left her audience with the  message to always think and take positive action in all areas of  their life.    

Second Speaker Bev gave a rich and informative speech titled “How long do they stay”.   She began with the history of the Toastmaster organization, how long it have been established, 87 years in 117 countries says Bev.   Surprising results from a well researched information showed  that  47% of members leave the organization after the first year, why?  because their original need had  been met.   Bev left her audience with the encouragement  to stay on seeking help from other members, working with a mentor and going on to other leadership skills that the organization has to offer.  It is important says Bev to set one’s own pace in achieving goals. There is no hurry.

Kudos to Ehsan for taking on the role of speech evaluator for the first time.  Ehsan did an excellent job evaluating Trevi’s speech.   He used what is known as the sandwich method very smoothly giving Trevi lots of  positive feedback,  a point to grow on and ending with more positive feedback.  It was a pleasure listening to Ehsan.

Overall another inspiring meeting.

If you are in Winnipeg and are interested in dropping by and visiting our club, we meet Wednesdays from 12:05 – 12:55.  We have currently “moved house” for the summer to room 125 St. John’s in the University of Manitoba but please do drop by and see what our members are up to next week.

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.

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

Winnipeg Toastmaster on Taking Leadership

Our President, Andrea, opened the meeting with an inspired pitch for taking a leadership role on our club’s executive.  It’s time for elections and everyone is encouraged to consider taking on a role.  June reinforced the theme by using the word Leadership for our word of the day.  Members used the word of the day in their introductions by telling the group about the leaders who had influenced them in their lives. 

We were treated to an icebreaker speech which is always a great way to get a peek inside a new member.  Matt delighted the group by telling us about the three areas that would help us to get to know him the quickest:

• he likes to help others
• his habit of procrastination
• why he joined Toastmasters

Matt’s speech offered all of us something to think about and helped us get to so much more about him!  Congratulations, Matt on doing your icebreaker speech!

This meeting was a special meeting because we had time for two speeches and our second speaker was Bev Doern.  Doing the Research Your Speech project from the Competent Communicator manual, the title of her speech was Stress 101.  Bev’s work mission is to help people sail through life without capsizing so this speech topic was definitely one that she is an expert in!  She sited statistics that indicate that stress is the #2 reason for long term disability in Canada and mentioned that stress is now a socially acceptable form of mental illness.  Fortunately for the members in the room, Bev also gave us a few ideas for helping our bodies stand down from the stress response:

• become aware
• create rituals around relaxation
• take charge of your life

Our evaluations and reports were supportive, effective and well delivered.  Tiffany demonstrated great evaluation technique by reminding the audience that evaluations were the opinions of the evaluator only.  Selena gave excellent, succinct examples of what she liked about Bev’s speech.  Both of them used the sandwich technique very well.  Vicent did a great job of the ah counter role even though he was not even a member yet and it was clear that June was listening very closely for colorful language and phrases.  She gave us all some great examples for future grammarians to emulate!

Andrea ended with the quote for the day by J.P. Morgan – “ Go as far as you ca see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.”

If you are in Winnipeg and are interested in dropping by and visiting our club, we meet Wednesdays from 12:05 – 12:55.  We have currently “moved house” for the summer to room 125 St. John’s in the University of Manitoba but please do drop by and see what our members are up to next week.

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.

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

Winnipeg Toastmastes at UM Masters talk Fireworks

Our Toastmaster this week was Andrea who chose the theme of Victoria Day.  During introductions we were asked to share how we spent the holiday.  We had 9 regular members out and 3 guests.  We were also excited to have Bonnie, our Area Governor visiting our club.  June was the Grammarian and she chose the word  “Fireworks” as the word of the day to go along with the theme of Victoria Day. 

Charith entertained us with his speech number two entitled “Why we use Technology”.   He shocked us when he explained that the first time they sent a man to the moon there was less power in their computer then there is today in a cell phone.  Wow, that is amazing.

Cathy challenged Trevi with an interview question.  She was asked “what mistakes have you made in your job and what did you learn from them”.  Trevi sparkled as she told us about three mistakes and gave us examples of what she learned from them.

One of our guests was brave enough to answer the second question “tell us about one of your most rewarding experiences on the job”.

Bonnie, our Area Governor was our General Evaluator and she awarded the gold star award to Cathy for her innovative interview questions as Table Topics Master.  The gold star is awarded to a person who the General Evaluator felt contributed the most to the meeting or challenged themselves the most.  A trophy is awarded and you can enjoy it for the remainder of the meeting.

If you are in Winnipeg and are interested in dropping by and visiting our club, we meet Wednesdays from 12:05 – 12:55.  We have currently “moved house” for the summer to room 125 St. John’s in the University of Manitoba but please do drop by and see what our members are up to next week.

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.

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