UM Masters Meeting - 21st May 2014 - Kindergarten

This week’s meeting was quite a cheerful one, considering the gloomy weather. The Toastmaster for this week’s meeting was Cathy, and her theme was kindergarten.   This theme lent itself very well to our introductions, as a lot of the stories shared of kindergarten experiences were quite amusing.

Our speaker for this week was Amy, who did her icebreaker speech   and educated us all on landscape architecture.  Congratulations to her   on taking the plunge, and thanks for letting everyone know that there is more to landscaping than having the perfect backyard.

Charith was Table  Topicsmaster for this week, and, in addition to providing challenging questions as he usually does, also turned it into an exercise in role playing by having 2 people come up at the same time and have a conversation.  Who knew that asking someone to let you take their picture could be so awkward!  The four participants- Ali, Laura, Mohsin and Moonah- did very well considering.

Dinesh was the grammarian, and gave us the word of the day.  Danielle filled in as ah-counter and counted all our crutch words- apparently we use a lot of crutch words in this club. Bev, our speech evaluator, and June, our Table Topics Evaluator, both did very well in evaluating their respective areas (the General Evaluator was me so I can’t comment on that part).

Overall it was a good meeting and  I hope we  keep getting this many people- members and guests- attending our meetings in the coming weeks.

Blogged by Nicole


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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca

UM Masters Meeting - 7th May 2014 - Leadership Excellence

Dianne was our Toastmaster today, and her theme was Leadership Excellence.  She used the theme to be an enthusiastic proponent of Toastmasters, explaining and praising the program for the leadership and speaking skills we are all working to achieve.  Her timing was excellent, not only to remind us of the upcoming elections to the executive committee next week, but also to explain to our guests what Toastmasters is all about.  We had three new and two recurring guests this week, all of who managed to find us despite our meeting being slightly harder to find due to a breeze in the hallway blowing over our standard several times.

As grammarian, Charith chose the word “illimitable,” meaning “without limits”.  This encouraging word fit in nicely with the theme of the day and was willingly adopted by many in attendance.

Randy, too, as our speaker for the day, incorporated the theme of the day.  His speech, “Give It Back,” was an impassioned call for every one of us to find the time to give something back to those people or organizations that give so much to us.  With the upcoming elections, this was another excellent reminder to step up and take on an executive role in the club.

Bev introduced humour to her Table Topics opening, suggesting that our timer, Nicole, would alert speakers to their rime being up by throwing the red light at them.  Nicole showed remarkable restraint, given the opportunity for mild violence, in not actually following through.  Bev’s two questions to her speakers were about leadership, and she opened the floor to volunteers to step up and take on the challenge of answering.  Mohsin talked about the importance of coming to a consensus within a group, while Mouna stressed learning from experience and always being willing to listen to feedback, because while we are all born with certain abilities, we can most effectively develop through doing.

For stepping up to participate in table topics during her first meeting, Mouna was awarded the Gold Star this week.

Again, elections will be next week, May 14

Blogged by Amy Whitmore

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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca

UM Masters Meeting - “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes” - 30th April 2014

Today I had a lot of fun being Toastmaster. Our theme was

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes”

Nicole did an excellent job of being Grammarian; our word of the day “Substantial”

Many of us talked about the substantial amount of mistakes we’ve made throughout our lives and how we choose to deal with them.

I loved Bev’s interpretation of FAIL

First

Attempt

In

Learning

So very true!

Ali completed Speech #4 – he captivated his audience with a personal story and then proceeded to explain that we are in control of our reactions.  Charith evaluated Ali’s and reported that he was confident and had  a great speaking pace. Great job Ali!!

Randy chaired an insightful Table Topics as he asked Charith to reflect and share a time where he made a mistake and how he learned from it.  Charith had a complete “mini” speech with an opening, body and conclusion which engaged his audience.

Dianne was asked to share how she deals with her mistakes and I personally loved Dianne’s response; a little Hawaiian anecdote that she promises to email to us as well as a forgiveness prayer.

Everyone did a great job, we can all learn from our mistakes so don’t be afraid to make them!

Blogged by Cathy

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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca

UM Masters Blog - “New Beginnings” - 29 January 2014

Our Sergeant-At-Arms, June LaRonde, started the meeting off by introducing the Toastmaster of the Day, Bev Doern. The theme was “New Beginnings”, which complemented our meeting well, considering it was our Open House meeting. Amy, the grammarian, presented the word of the day, inchoate, meaning not yet completed or fully developed. David, a guest from another Toastermasters club, lightened the mood with a humorous story about a man, a plane, and a coat of paint. We kicked off the introductions by talking about our new beginnings. Ru Li did an excellent job presenting to us the evolution of the book in her speech, “E-book or Hard Copy,” which discussed the changing technology and simplicity of the enigmatic e-book. In our table topics session of the day Diane asked Yvonne, “What role has toastmasters played in your life?” Yvonne responded with a well-organized impromptu speech that clearly displayed the confidence and expertise that she has gained from joining toastmasters. Diane then asked Brenda, a recurring guest, “What benefits do you wish to gain from joining toastmasters?” Brenda graciously accepted the challenge and spoke with poise about her hopes for her future as a toastmaster.

Bev then led us into the evaluation section of the meeting, which she dubbed “the heart of the Toastmasters program.” Pegah evaluated Ru Li’s speech and provided Ru with great feedback while using the sandwich method. Yvonne evaluated the table topics session and did an equally excellent job as Pegah did using the sandwich method and presenting feedback to those that participated. Charith was our general evaluator who provided the group with feedback regarding all other aspects of the meeting that hadn’t been evaluated thus far. As general evaluator, Charith also presented the Gold Star Award to Yvonne for evaluating and participating in the table topic session. 

On a whole, this week’s meeting was another great meeting that was as uplifting and motivating as usual. Don’t forget that next week is the Junior Speech Contest and we will be meeting in room 205! 

Blogged by Danielle  

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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca

UM Masters Meeting - Wednesday, January 22nd 2014

UM Masters had an amazing meeting today.  There were 19 people in attendance and 6 of them were guests – one guest joined today and another 2 expressed interest in joining next week. 

Nicole was our Toastmaster and she chose the theme “Memory”.  During introductions members and guests gave a brief talk on what the theme meant for them.  Our President Dianne presented the club with their Sunshine Ribbon.  She explained that we were awarded this ribbon because we had met at least twice a month in July and August always having a prepared speech and we had at least 2 new people join our club in the summer.

Randy gave an excellent speech on “What it means to be a good coach”.  He used great vocal variety and gave 5 qualities of a good coach.  He is currently coaching his son’s basketball team.

June led the club in the Table Topics session and challenged Dianne and Laurie to questions which required them to use their memory.

Ru and Pegah gave excellent speech and table topic evaluations.

The gold star was give to Aaron (a guest) who took on the role of Grammarian.

Next week is our Open House and we welcome all visitors.  February 5^th the club will have a Junior Speech contest.

Blogged by Dianne

Club President.

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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca

UM Masters Blog - "A Fresh Start" - January 8, 2014

The weather outside was fresh but inside St John's College it was warm and welcoming as our Toastmaster Dianne led us in "A Fresh Start" for 2014. The word of the day was "ambivalence" although people showed little of that as they shared their fresh plans for the year.

Irina got to the point in her third speech as she shared her journey to become Canadian. The club appreciated her humour as she shared her family's preparations to pass the citizenship test. Many in the audience were wondering if they could answer the test questions correctly? Why not give it try at http://www.v-soul.com/. Congratulations Irina for earning your Canadian citizenship!

The impromptu speaking segment of the meeting asked participants to share tips on how to be successful in making a fresh start. UM Masters was thrilled to hear from two of our guests. Yvonne, a past member making a fresh return to the club, gave some excellent advice on how to set goals and achieve them. Geethika, a guest from the IEAP program, shared the importance on being clear on your definition of success.

The evaluators - Dinesh, Cathy and Danielle - provided helpful feedback giving all participants a way to improve along with many examples of what was done well. Nidish gave us an excellent word of the day, Nicole helped us identify our crutch words and Pegah kept us on track with our time.

The meeting ended with a quote from Oprah Winfrey, "I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible". UM Masters is embracing this philosophy by making it possible for people to expand their listening, thinking and speaking skills every Wednesday!  Come join us if you are ready for a fresh start.

Blogged by Bev

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 Catherine Plouffe at Catharine.Plouffe@umanitoba.ca