Up, Up and Away

I had the opportunity over the last few days to participate in 3 Area Speech Contests here in the city.  There were some very creative answers to the Table Topic questions and the Humorous speeches were every entertaining.

Well this Saturday Prairie Schooners' very own President Jane did an excellent job representing our club.  By excellent, I mean she won both the Table Topics competition and the Humorous Speech competition.  The competition venue was a beautiful retirement community called The Bentley.  It is located off  Acadia Drive, tucked away behind the fire hall located on Taylor Street.  This was a great place to hold our competition.  They have a beautiful courtyard with a huge open area just inside the main door.  The competition was held in the facility's Chapel.  This was a large room with comfy chairs and a huge speaking area.  This huge speaking area allowed Jane to be even more animated and show more excitement in her presentations, who would have known that Jane had more energy .



Pictured are (L-R), Fritz our Contest Chairman, Vijay our Area  Governor, Maureen our Chief Judge and Jane with her first place certificate.



It was unfortunate that there weren't more Toastmasters in attendance but there were a fair number of residents that sat in to be entertained and learn a little about Toastmasters.  Given the sparkle in their eyes and flush in their cheeks when they introduced themselves and the laughter during the competition, I think they enjoyed themselves just as much as the Toastmasters did.

Jane is off to the Division contest next weekend.  It is going to be held at the Alice Turner Library on Saturday October 20th at 12:30.  If you want to hear presentations from proficient speakers representing the seven Areas in Division E why not come out and show your support.  Make sure you arrive early to get a good seat.  I know Jane and the other contestants will appreciate your support.

Are We Getting too Big?

After the meeting today a fellow Toastmaster mentioned he didn't think Prairie Schooners would ever out grow their accommodations.  Well, in actual fact, we have out grown our previous 2 locations.  It seems that once a guest sees what the Toastmaster program is all about and what it has to offer, they are quick to join.  Of the four guests in attendance last week, three were back at our meeting today.  One is coming back next week with her membership application completed and the other two indicated that they were wanting to join as well.  More people in the club makes for interesting and diverse meetings, more learning opportunities and the opportunity to get know people from different backgrounds.  Yes, we had 14 people in attendance today and had to bring in extra chairs so everyone could have a place to sit.  Outgrowing your space is a good thing.  It shows the club atmosphere is healthy, inviting and a great place for self improvement.

Today's program had our President giving a presentation on Leadership and how Toastmasters can help you develop your leadership skills all within the club environment.  We all know Jane is full of excitement and enthusiasm and she didn't disappoint while giving her top notch presentation.  We learned we are all leaders, some by the position we hold and some by the skills we demonstrate.  We also had an interesting Table Topics session that followed the "Thanksgiving" theme.  The evaluation portion was a little different.  Instead of having a single person assigned to evaluate Jane's presentation, everyone had a chance to share what they liked about her presentation and what they thought could have been delivered differently for more impact.

All in all, I think we had a pretty good meeting,  Fourteen people in attendance willing to share their feelings on Thanksgiving, practicing their listening skills and learning  how Toastmasters can help them develop their leadership skills.  All the while trying to weave Cornucopia, the word of the day, into their introductions and speaking spots.

With any luck at all, we might be looking for a larger meeting room in the near future.  Wouldn't that be grand?

Toastmasters, Where Leaders are Made

Toastmasters, where leaders are made.  This was the speech title of the presentation delivered by Richard at today’s Toastmasters meeting.  He briefly explained the Toastmasters Leadership track and where he fit in the program and explained extensively what the High Performance Leadership (HPL) program is all about.  An HPL project is one of the requirements to achieve your Advanced Leader Silver (ALS) educational award.  We learned what project Richard is taking on, what his vision is and what the desired results should be.  Along the way leadership skills will be learned and practiced while leading a team.  Good luck in your project Richard.

The rest of the program was a little out of the ordinary.  We had a Table Topics session as well as a Business Meeting.  Normally we would have one or the other, but today we had enough time to fit both in.  Table Topics was enjoyable with questions being asked of three members.  The questions weren’t meant to stump anyone but allowed us to practice listening and thinking on our feet so we could deliver a two minute mini speech.  The Business meeting was run with a little monkey business thrown in for fun.  There was no actual business to discuss so a motion was made, seconded and debated on having the meeting chairman bring a beverage besides water to the meeting.  There were many points made for and against the motion, which eventually was defeated.  I am not sure what the problem was with the motion.  I guess people didn’t pick up on the word “besides” which could have been interpreted as “in addition to”.  Oh well, maybe next time we may have something else to toast with instead of water.  Whether monkey business or actual club business is discussed, it is a great opportunity to practice Roberts Rules of Orders.

We also had 2 guests in attendance.  John came back for a second look and Meg joined us as she is shopping for a club to join.  We told her Prairie Schooners was the best and she didn’t need to look any farther.  We also had two young ladies join us half way through the program.  I didn’t get to speak to them.  I hope they got their questions answered and will return for another visit soon.

All in all we had a pretty productive meeting with a few new faces.

Hope to see you for a visit next week.

The Moon and the United Way

You might wonder what the moon as to do with the United Way.  Don't think to long as the only connection that I can find is they were the subjects of the two presentations we heard at this week's Toastmasters meeting.

Dawn's presentation, project nine in the Competent Communication manual, told us about her involvement with the United Way.  When her son was younger she used the services of agencies that were partially funded by the United Way and now she is part of her employer's United Way committee.  She likes the fact that the money raised in Saskatoon stays in Saskatoon.   As a United Way Leader she also is happy that the United Way had an anonymous donor last year that matched your donation and this year her employer is matching contributions dollar for dollar.

Dawn's presentation tried to persuade us to support the United Way campaign in Saskatoon.  I think she hit her mark and should be confidant in her message when she delivers it to her coworkers.

Now, on to the Moon.  Shuqing completed her second project by telling us about the Chinese Moon Festival. How this festival is celebrated in the fall similar to North America's Thanksgiving and a time to give thanks.  It is also a time to honour the Moon Goddess.  A time when youth in love can watch the moon and be together with their partner, even when they are apart.  It is a time to relax as normally the crops are in and the fall hard work is done.  It's also a time when you get to eat Moon Cakes.  Something Shuqing really didn't like when she was younger.  But it seems these cakes have caught on in the west as she informs us they are available in some of the grocery stores in Saskatoon.

So you never know what you are going to learn when attending a Toastmasters meeting.  It could be anything from Moon Cakes to the benefits of supporting the United Way.

On a closing note, this is the season for Toastmasters Speech contests. The fall contests include Table Topics as well as Humourous Speech and start at the club level with winners going on to compete in their Area, then their Division with the competition culminating at the District 42 Fall Conference being held in Edmonton, November 2nd through 4th. So if you want to observe proficient speakers and be entertained with a little humour, why not visit a local club when they are holding their contests.

Club contests over - On to Area Contests

Well it has been a very busy two weeks since my last post.  As you could probably tell, we are in the fall contest season and this has been consuming my time.  But it is a very exiting time at the club level with all the competitors vying for the position to represent Prairie Schooners at the upcoming Area Contests. The contest organizers were also feverishly getting things organized so feedback and credit could be granted in their Competent Leader manuals.

Well two weeks ago we had our club Table Topics contest.  There were five competitors who all did a very good job at answering the general question asked of them.  Well with any competition there has to be one person that rises to the top.  With the help of our guest Judges, one who was our Division Governor, a winner was selected by following the judging guidelines.  I am happy to report that our President, Jane, will be representing Prairie Schooners at the Area Table Topics Contest that will be held October 13th.  Why not come out and support Jane.  I am sure she would love to see you in the audience.

Well after the excitement of the contest there were a few more events that filled up our noon hour time slot.  If you remember, we had an on-line scavenger hunt in the fall.  It turns out the the winner of this contest has been hiding out in San Francisco for the last few months and is now back in Saskatoon.  Our President took the opportunity to present her with the first place prize, a hand painted silk scarf.  A beautiful item that was painted and donated by last year's Division E Governor, Rena.  Thanks Rena and congratulations Dawn.

Near the end of the meeting we received a membership application from one of our guests.  She had stopped in as a guest at a prior meeting.  She liked what she saw and decided Toastmasters could help her with her communications skill development.  Welcome aboard Christine.

This happened two weeks ago and last week we had our humorous speech contest.  Everyone in the audience really enjoyed the presentations. You could tell by their reactions when we heard about Melissa's "Little Monster" and how Jane gained her independence when she graduated from "The Pop Can".  I think we could put ourselves in the situations they described.  Again we had the help from judges who were outside our club.  Special thanks to Ed and Vijay, our Area Governor for coming out and supporting our contest.  Well, again only one contestant can go on to the Area contest.  For the second year in a row, our President Jane will be representing our club. With her infectious smile and good natured humour we know she will do well.

If you are interested in hearing a few proficient speakers stop by any toastmasters club or visit an Area Contest.  Visit us on Wednesdays for more details and see how Toastmasters can help you develop your communication and leadership skills.

Are you up for a contest?

We had a great meeting yesterday.  All the seats were full and we listened and participated in an educational presentation by Melissa on next weeks Table Topics Contest.

She explained to those in the crowd why Toastmasters Clubs hold contests and went over some of the rules.  She then proceeded to explain how the judging was scored, how a winner was picked and she handed out the judges forms.

Time permitted questions to be asked of 3 members.  All the audience used the judging sheets to rate the responses they heard.  Once the speakers were finished the ballots were sent to the official ballot counter and a winner was announced.  I can tell you the scores were very close.  It was really any ones game to win.

Hopefully this prepared our members for the real contest next week.  The organisers have arranged for members of other Toastmasters Clubs to participate in the Judges roles.  This allows the maximum number of our club members to try their hand at a question they don't know anything about in advance and come up with a 2 minute mini speech.

It will be great fun.  Why not stop in and see what it is all about and find out how Toastmasters participation can help you develop your own communication and leadership skills.

We meet at noon, Wednesdays on the 4th floor of Saskatoon Square.  Turn left off the elevators.  Hope to see you there.

P.S. 

If you can't make it next week, be sure to stop in the week after.  On September 19th, we will be holding our Humourous Speech contest.  These are always a lot of fun.

Every Week in the Future

Yesterday marked the end of our summer schedule.  Starting in September, Prairie Schooners Toastmasters will be meeting on a weekly basis again.  We are moving away from our modified summer schedule as most people are now either back to work or school after a well deserved break.

But enough of that, even though we were few in numbers, this week's meeting was very entertaining.  Something we have come to expect over the summer months.  Entertaining, funny and there were some presentations made.  Christmas in August you ask.  Not really, keep reading for more details.

We started our noon hour meeting with self introductions where we tried to fit in the theme of the meeting, "Children" and the word of the day, "Expiscate" into our presentation.  You could tell expiscate was a new word for most of us just by the way we tried to not get tongue tied with the pronunciation We all did very well, even Marloes.

Our first prepared speech was from Kris who entertained us with his recent experiences with home renovations.  With a speech tittle of "Be Aware of Simple Home Renovations" he had the audience captivated with his dry sense of humour.  Who hasn't started a seemingly small, simple project that turned into something much bigger.  Kris explained how the simple removal of a built in fireplace turned into two bathroom renovations, a new ceiling as well as new flooring.  This was speech number 3 with an objective of getting to the point.  Kris certainly did get to the point and had us all thoroughly entertained because I think we have all experienced what he was describing.

Speech number two was from the advanced "Special Occasion Speeches" manual.  Julia presented a brief roast to what we thought was a fictitious manager named Eric.  It turns out Eric was very challenged when it came computers.  Eric also happens to be a real person that Julia as well as Jane had work with in the past.  Julia's animated gestures showing the staffs ability to touch type while Eric had a hard time with just two fingers really added to the humour and her overall presentation.  Again we were entertained as I think we have all know some one like Eric.

We also had a Business Meeting.  It has become a standard to have a business meeting right after the club Executive have their monthly meeting.  It gives the rest of the members a chance to hear what is going on at the Executive level, allows us to practice our Robert's Rule of Order and sometime have a little monkey business discussed.  There were a few hiccups along the way and we ran out of time so no monkey business was conducted.  But it was a good review and learning experience for all.



Julia receiving a gift from our  President, Jane



Lastly there were two presentations.  The first was to Julia, our president last year.  Under her guidance and motivation, Prairie Schooners finished the year as a President's Distinguished Club achieving all 10 of the Distinguished Club Program goals.  Thank you Jullia for leading us to this level.



Jane recieving her ALB badge from Rathan

Now while Julia was directing us toward our goals last year, our then Vice President of Education, Jane, was busy completing some of her Leadership Goals.  Our current Vice President of Education, Rathan presented Jane with a new name badge engraved with her new leadership designation, Advanced Leader Bronze.  One more leadership level and Jane will be a Distinguished Toastmaster.  But hold on to your hats.  I think Jane is also a "Triple Crown" winner last year, achieving 3 awards in one year.  We will have to wait and see if my calculations are correct.  Congratulations Jane.

Our next meeting will be September 5th.  Why not come out and give us a visit.  Who knows, by expiscating Toastmasters, you will find out the benifits of the training you can experiance as a member. 

Have a great week.

How to Say It

July 25th brought  another fun and successful meeting.  The theme of our meeting was Games.  Shuquing's word of the day was Olympic.  We had good fun incorporating the theme and the word into our introductions,speeches table topics and evaluations.  Our area Governor  Vijay paid us another visit.  You would never know that it was July and summer holiday season , most of the club members attended the meeting. Two guests, Owen and Anita came to visit.  We enjoyed having you and hope that you return!

There are 10 speeches on the path to becoming a Competent Communicator.  As it happened, at our last meeting July 25th we had 2 speakers giving the 4th Speech from the Toastmasters International Competent Communicator Manual, How to Say It. The objectives of this speech are to examine sentence structure, word choices and rhetorical devices. 

Our first speaker, Melissa gave us a lot of insight and food for thought when she spoke of Hospice Care in Saskatoon.   As her speech concluded, Melissa let it be known that volunteers are needed.  Training is provided to volunteers.  Melissa is available for inquiries.
Rathan, our club's Vice President of Education combined his 4th speech with his executive duties and spoke on SMART goals (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Tangible).  Although at the end of his speech he gave us sheets return to him with our personal Toastmasters Goals, his speech applied to goals in every situation.
Tanya did a great job filling in at the last minute with our Table Topics.  Her topics were related to the theme of our meeting, Games and were ably answered. All in, a lot is accomplished in 50-55 minutes at our meetings.

Our next meeting is August 8, room 436  at the Saskatoon Square, the corner of 22nd Street and 4th Ave. Guests are always welcome. 

Summer Schedule

Well the last few days the temperature has shown us it is summertime and Prairie Schooners are still meeting over the summer but on a more relaxed schedule. 

We are having quality meeting on the second and forth Wednesdays of the month.  Quality meeting like the one on the 11th.  Not only did our new Area Governor pay us a visit but we had an Ice Breaker speech as well as a (monkey) Business session.



Shuquing

 Shuquing's Icebreaker was very interesting.  We found out that she is originally from Beijing China and moved to Canada, specifically Regina, to full fill two of her goals.  One of Shuquing's goals was higher education.  This was attained at the University of Regina with a Masters in Environmental Engineering in 2005.  Her second goal was another child.  A second child if frowned upon in China with their one child policy.  This goal was achieved with the arrival of a healthy baby girl who is now 5 years old.  Shuquing's son is now 12.

Shuquing went back to Beijing with her family, but was reminded of the fast, hectic pace that the education system expects for the students.  She didn't want that for her children so back to Regina she moved and is now working in Saskatoon.  She is looking forward to moving to Saskatoon and eliminating the commute.



All in favour?

Our Business Meeting was entertaining as well as educational.  A few meetings back there was a motion on the table that the club member who works at the company that hosts our meeting, should provide a beverage for our toasts that was something other than water.  Some how this motion was amended to replace their name with the Treasurer.  Unfortunately, I was the Treasurer at the time.  This amendment was passed but the amended motion was never dealt with because of time restrictions.  Somehow this unfinished business came forward to be dealt with again..  I am no longer the Treasurer so I was all for the motion.  However it was amended twice more before time came to our rescue.  It was interesting to see those in the group try to keep track of which part we were commenting and voting on.  Was it the main motion or the amendment?  And if it was the amendment was it the amendment to the main motion or the amendment of the amendment?  With the help of a few members with parliamentary experience, the business was handled in a fair and respectful manner.  More importantly the motion and resulting amendments are still on the table to be dealt with.  I look forward to their resolve as it might mean a different beverage at our meetings.



Area 47 Governor



One of our honoured guests was our New Area Governor,  Vijay Kachru.  She in new in the role, taking on this position July 1st,  but not new to Toastmasters.   Her comments at the end of the meeting were encouraging as she though she would learn more from us than we would from her.  She liked the club atmosphere as well as our manual presentations and business meeting.  This wasn't her "Official" visit and plans on returning after the summer to complete that one.

The club welcomes her feedback and looks forward to her coaching and resourcefulness as we pursue our individual educational and leadership goals.

If you want to see more picture of our meeting check out our facebook page, or come for a visit.  You never know what we may be toasting with.

Have a great summer.

Happy Canada Day and Happy New Year

Here it is July 1, Canada Day.  It is also the beginning of a new Toastmasters year.  All the club offices from last year were discharged from their responsibilities and the new officers have been installed. 

This all happened on Wednesday at the Senator Hotel.  The crew from Prairie Schooners conviened their noon hour meeting at Rembrantds Resteraunt (http://www.rembrandts.ca/).  The lunch orders were placed the day before, so within 5 minutes of arrival, we were presented with our meals.  This allowed some extra time during the noon hour to conduct a little club business.

As I mentioned above, last year's officers were discharged and the newly elected executive installed with their new duties.  We had the pleasure of dining with our Area Governor, Joan,  With her help we were able to finish the year with a President's Distinguished status, achieving 10 of the 10 Distinguished Club Plan goals. 

The Club Rookie of the Year and Toastmaster of the Year awards were also presented at lunch.  To qualify as a rookie you must have joined Toastmasters within the last 18 months and to be considered for the Toastmaster of the year you need to be a member in good standing. 

This year the Rookie award was presented to Melisa, our club secretary and next year's Treasurer.  Melisa joined Toastmasters last January and quickly jumped into an executive position and let her name stand again for the next year.  Increaseing her family with the addition of a beautiful baby girl in Febrary, didn't slow her down (much).  She completed a number of manual presentations as well as continue her duties on the executive.  Congratulations Melisa.

The Toastmaster of the year was presented to Jane.  Without a doubt the most energetic member of the club.  With her infectious smile and attention to detail, she kept the club on track making sure the goals we had set for our self were realized through out the year.  Jane also represented our club at contests and conventions and dealt successfully with the change of club website and a new way to assign club meeting role.  Great job Jane, we all appreciate your efforts and look forward to your leadership as our President for the coming year.

As you can see we had a great year, a great lunch and met all of our club goals.  If you are interested in seeing some pictures of the festivities, head on over to our facebook page and look at the our album (http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.404745789561029.80918.251844318184511&type=1).

See you in the new year.
Stop by for a visit and check us out.