Contagious Random Acts of Kindness

Two great presentations and a business meeting today.  The business meeting was just getting started when time ran out.  Of course the important aspects of the meeting were dealt with.  We had a little extra time so “Monkey Business” started.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at things, there will be a motion on the table that we will have to attend to at our next business meeting.  It’s just another opportunity to practice running meeting as I am sure we all have been to some that are poorly run and very unproductive.  Toastmasters tries to rectify these situation.  The more we practice, the better we become.

Both presentations today were from the Competent Communication manual.  Erin presented a great speech, Project 3 – Get To The Point, that spoke of random acts of kindness. Something she feels is contagious.  Her examples and excellent word choice painted pictures that we could certainly see ourselves in.  Here personal examples were well explained and appreciated by the group.  She certainly got to the point.

Our second presentation was by Richard, an experienced Toastmaster.  He was completing project 10 – Inspire Your Audience.  With a speech title of “Not In My Back Yard” the audience was persuaded to consider their environmental footprint as it extents outside their immediate area and think about the amount of garbage they generate.  The key message was to reduce and recycle, not just throw away and forget about the impact of your actions.  I think the audience was inspired.

Again we had top notch evaluations from Marloes and Julia.  Feedback is always important and happily received.  It is important to know the things the speakers did well and also the areas that could have been changed to better fit the objectives or make a more powerful and compelling presentation.  It was nice to hear the assigned evaluators but also nice to see notes being passed to the speakers from the rest of the audience.  This way the speakers get additional feedback on their presentations.

I am looking forward to our next Business meeting so we can continue our monkey business.  In the mean time, I will be thinking of a new subject for my next presentation.

Maybe I will see you next week.

Fun with April First

As you can guess, the theme of this weeks meeting was April Fools.  With this theme and the word of the day being “Kibitzer”, there were some interesting introductions.  We all had a laugh, either while describing pranks that had been played on us or hearing of those played on others.  If you don’t know the meaning of kibitzer, look it up and try to use it in a sentence or two.  You will then have a better understanding of what I mean when I say we had some Interesting Introductions.

We also had 2 very interesting and entertaining presentations on the program.  Meg presented speech number four from the Competent Communication manual entitled “The Grammar Nazi”.  Meg explained and showed us how the proper use of grammar, either written or oral, has declined over the years.  The excellent example she used were the song lyrics of two popular heartthrobs, Frank Sinatra and Justin Bieber.  By reading a few lines from each of their popular songs, we could certainly see what she meant.

Julia then presented speech number five from the Advanced Communication manual, Speaking to Inform.  Julia’s presentation, “Wonder Where We Live”, explained to us the impact and evolution of The Hudson Bay Company.  She went on to explain how many of our northern communities are a direct result of the commerce they carried out.  An interesting subject steeped in history that most people are unaware of.

Table topics were eliminated due to us running out of time.  I can just imagine the fun we would have had given the theme and word.  We wrapped up the program on time after some excellent speech evaluations given by Marloes and Rathan.  We were also reminded that before next weeks meeting the Area we belong to is holding the Area Spring Contests. This is an excellent opportunity to observe the best speakers in the Area as they vie for a position at the next level of competition. It was also suggested that it would be a good opportunity to come out and show support for Jane and Richard who are representing Prairie Schooners.

Till next week.

Puppies, Chicken and Curry

That's right folks.  Puppies, Chicken and Curry.  No, not Plane, Trains and Automobiles.  But just as entertaining.

Well if you are wondering what I am talking about.  These were the subjects of the two presentations given at this weeks Toastmasters meeting. 

Melisa was presenting project number 6 from the competent Communication manual and told us all about the 5th member of her family.  Upon hearing this I was a little surprised as I work with Melissa and know she is married and has 2 children.  Who is this 5th family member she is talking about?  Well it turns out that there is a chocolate Lab living with them.  Melissa explained to us how the dog training had progressed since they adopted this bundle of joy.  It seems there is quite a bit involved in training your puppy to sleep through the night, be kennel trained, learn where to go to the bathroom and how not to bark All The Time.  It was a very entertaining presentation, especially if you have ever owned a puppy.

Our second presentation, another very entertaining story, described a major kitchen disaster that occurred to Christine.  You guessed it, that is where the chicken and curry comes in.  The story starts out with Christine describing this delicious chicken curry recipe that she was preparing for her slow cooker.  With all the ingredients were described in great detail and the time being around 12:30, I am sure the whole audience were wishing she had brought in some samples.  The story goes on to describe how the slow cooker was set and the evening meal would be cooked while everyone was at work.  Only to return home at the end of the day to a delicious meal.  Somehow, Christine thought she could hurry up the process when she got home by removing the pot from her slow cooker and put it on the stove top for the final heating,  Christine was so distraught when the bottom of the ceramic pot cracked, which resulted in curry and chicken flowing all over, she just didn't know what to do.  Fortunately her husband saved the day by cleaning up the mess and advising her that tonight would be a perfect time to go out for dinner.

Two happy stories that were well presented.  But the theme of the meeting was Easter and the word of the day was Rabbit (bunny) so you knew that the Table Topics questions would probably revolve around these things.  Jane didn't disappoint.  We learned where Easter eggs come from.  Ask anyone at the meeting and they will tell you the secret place.  We learned the rules around when Easter occurs.  It was very technical.  As well we learned all about Maundy Thursday.  I am still not sure about this one as the answers we got were probably made up.  I will have to do a little research to find out for sure.  Never the less, it involved Easter.

There were a lot of laughs during the meeting and a lot of information explained.  If you want to know more about Toastmasters and have a Wednesday lunch hour free, why not stop in for a visit.  If you have read any of my other posts you will quickly learn we always have fun.  It's the best thing that can happen when you are learning.

See you soon.

Fluffy Pink Teddy Bear

You can imagine my surprise when our guest speaker, Julie, pulled out a teddy bear for her demonstration speech at our Club Evaluation Contest.  I wasn't really surprised to see a teddy bear, but because of the title of her speech, I was expecting something fluffy and pink.  Her bear was actually fuzzy and white.  Boy, I really had to listen closely to get the whole story.

Julie went on to describe her first best friend and how it followed her everywhere.   Parties, family pictures and even a made up graduation picture.  Julie's bear was everywhere and they were inseparable.

In her speech, Julie demonstrated great eye contact with the audience, had many good visual aids and excellent facial expression.  Here humour was accentuated by her short vivid word choice which painted pictures the whole audience was drawn to.

Well that was the scene for our Club Evaluation Contest this week.  There were five contestants, all listening intently and observing the presentation.  They would soon be ushered out of the room and given five minutes to collect their thoughts before being brought back in, one at a time, to deliver their evaluations.

I happened to be one of the competitors and had drawn the third spot.  Although I didn't get a chance to hear the first two competitors, the last two competitors and myself recognised many similar strengths and areas that could be improved in Julie's, very entertaining and somewhat emotional story.  It is interesting how 5 people can hear and observe the same presentation yet come away with different feelings, emotions and suggestions.  I guess that is why an evaluation is really only the personal feeling of that person.  I am sure Julie appreciated all the feedback she received from the contestants.

If you are interested in knowing who won the competition, I am not going to tell you.  You will have to attend the next level of competition to see who will be representing Prairie Schooners.  This competition will be held on April 6th, between 1 and 4 in the afternoon at The Bently, 1622B Acadia Drive Saskatoon.

Hope to see you there.

Mountain Top Household

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live on a mountain?  

Well today Jackie gave her ice breaker speech, after joining the club just a few short weeks ago.  We learned how she grew up, literally, on the side of a mountain in British Columbia.  Her dad had to park at the end of the block because their road was too steep for traction in the wintertime and her front yard proved to be an excellent toboggan run.  That is, as long as you banked the snow up at the end or else risk ending up over the cliff.

Jackie lived close to a glacial fed lake that was crystal clear and very, very cold.  She wasn’t too fond of summer time swimming.  She informed us those dips were very short.  Thank-you Jackie for sharing your story and congratulations on completing your first speech.

 Table topics were replaced this week with a business meeting.  I think this caught the members a little off guard.  This was evident by the apparent confusion among the executive members.  Oh well, we practiced our parliamentary procedures and had many opportunities to learn as reported by the Parliamentarian.

An interesting meeting, all in all, with much buzz around the table about the club’s International Speech contest being held next week.  It turns out we have a potential of 3 competitors and will have judges from outside the club.  The winner of this contest, as well as the winner of the Club Evaluation contest being held March 20^th, will go on to represent Prairie Schooners at the Area contest being held April 6^th.

Why not stop in next week to hear some fantastic presentations.  All are welcome.

What is around the corner?

Today's Toastmasters meeting started out like all the rest.  After some of the roles were filled, the meeting started, pretty much on time.  We went through our introductions trying to use the word of the day.  This is when I knew we were in for a little challenge.  You see, the word of the day was the South African word Ubuntu.  A word used to describe the allegiances and relationships with each other.  We are all individuals but are influenced by those we interact with.  We are all individuals, at the same time we are community.  We were all able to use the word in our introductions, if only to re-iterate the definition.  The Grammarian reported that we weren't able to use the word at any other time.  A tough challenge to say the least.

The speaking portion of the meeting also progressed as expected.  Two presentations were made.  Meg completed project number 3 in the Competent Communicator manual and talked to us about the joy of attending live performances.  Richard presented the last speech in his High Performance Leadership program and told us the results of his project and some of the lessons learned.  Both of these presentations along with their evaluations were well prepared and delivered.

Rathann, our Vice President of Education, who always has a trick or two up his sleeve, was the Table Topics Master.  This is when the second challenge was revealed.  He asked us all to indicate if we believed social media was a good thing or not.  He then picked two members that were for and two that were against social media.  The four individuals were then asked to the front of the room to participate in a mini debate.  The twist however, was that the team for social media had to argue against it and the team against social media had to argue for.  This mini debate was very interesting as well as entertaining.

So you can see, Toastmaster meetings follow a prescribed format that might seem routine, but there will always be something to learn and often there will be a twist along the way.  Why not stop in for a meeting and see what excitement will be revealed around the next corner.

Does the Status Quo Need Changing?

Well at today's meeting, that was the question.  Well, the actual question was "Be it resolved that chickens be allowed in the yards of  houses within the Saskatoon city limits".  Well you guessed it, we had a debate.

Actually it was a very enjoyable and educational debate.  There was a heated discussion on why we should allow chickens in our back yards.  There was a team trying to convince the judges that the resolution should be passed and an opposing team that were adamant the status quo did not need to be changed.

We were entertained with facts like chickens are a sustainable food source except one hen will not produce enough eggs for your daily breakfast and if you decide to have some BBQ chicken, your source of eggs dry up.  Did you know that chickens smell?  Some might say they smell and make just as much noise as small children .  If we can have children, why can't we have chickens.  There is also a belief that chickens carry germs and diseases and should not be allowed in an urban area. While there is an opposing belief that chickens eat bugs and other things that are much more undesirable than the germs they carry.  There was also some personal experiences shared about chickens being scary, some may say just as much as children.

Actually there were quite a few comparisons between chickens and children.  There was also a suggestion that your property values would go down if your neighbour raised chickens.  Did you know the mega corporations are force feeding the chickens that end up in our supermarkets, free range chickens must be better for you, right?

The judges had a hard time determining which team did a better job in their arguments.  By a close margin the team that was for the Status Quo won out over the team that was for the proposition.

There were great presentations today that created a lot of laughter and an exceptional learning opportunity   A learning opportunity not only for the debaters, but also for the organisers and the audience. You never know what you are going to experience and learn at a Toastmasters meeting.  Why not stop by next week and see what you can take away.  It's nothing to cluck about.

What has happened while I was Away?

I have been away from Toastmasters for the past two weeks and really don’t have anything to report.  However I do have two ghost writers that have contributed on the events at Prairie Schooners.  Their input is appreciated as it gives me as well as you, an idea of what has been going on.

Our first reporter is Kris, who is involved in the 4-H organization.  Kris had earlier canvassed the club to see if there was anyone who could help out at the Silver Shadows Light Horse 4-H Club.  They were having their annual speaking competition and were looking for some judges.  Here is what Kris has to report:

A great big thanks to the members of the Prairie Schooners Toastmasters Club, Meg and Bonnie, for volunteering to judge the public speaking competition for the Silver Shadows Light Horse 4-H Club.  This local 4-H club has 16 youth members ranging in age from 6 to 18 years old.  They were divided into four age groups and delivered self authored speeches in front of the panel of judges.  The audience consisted of both club and family members.  The club members greatly appreciated the written and verbal feedback that the judges provided as it will continue to help them develop their confidence and public speaking skills into the future. 

Kris

Here are some pictures that Kris sent along with his report.

Thanks Kris.  It sounds like everyone enjoyed themselves and the contest was a success.

Our second reporter is our President Jane who tells us about our club meeting held on February 13^th.  It seems this was a memorable event for Jan.  Here is what she has to report:

The Club meeting held February 13^th was a memorable event for me.  We were honoured with the presence of our Division Governor - Carol Harrison.  At our club meetings  we often introduce ourselves and greet participants, toastmasters and welcome our “ honoured guests", when the guests are just guest!  But at this meeting we actually had an honoured guest and I, as president was able to show the members exactly what an honoured guest is :-) 

The theme of the meeting was the heart and we were privileged with a number of heart wrenching stories. We heard of deaths, kids with heart defects and the strength of friends - all very heart warming. 

Julia was the only speaker and gave a passionate and impeccable speech on the Inuit language. She taught us Inuit pronunciations and how to interpret the written language.  She finished off with a few words in Inuit. 

The Divisional Governor honoured us with her presence and presented me with the Toastmaster's "Triple Crown" award.  Last year I managed to achieve three awards: my Competent Leader, my Competent Leader Bronze and my Advanced Communicator Bronze. My hard work helped to ensure the club receive the highest award last year and resulted in an award for myself that I was not aware existed.  The Division Governor also praised us for our control of time in that we were able to complete an entire meeting in one hour - not many clubs do this.

Yes, we had a typical toastmasters meeting where we learned something, shared something and had fun.

Jane.

Thanks Jane.  Well it certainly is nice to see others in the club pick up the torch.  My experience has shown this happens quite often.  When positions on the program need filling, there is never a shortage of volunteers ready to help and grow as Communicators and Leaders.

Brrrr!

Wasn’t it a cold one today?  I bet most people would have rather stayed indoors, but instead we got out of our nice warm beds and ventured out to work this morning.  Some of us actually took the time to go to a Toastmasters meeting during the lunch period.

Well, that is what I did, and was pleasantly surprised to find steaming hot coffee and sweet treats for our club meeting.  Most of our members came from the down town core and enjoyed the refreshments.  It was a chance to warm up after a brisk walk to the meeting.  Those members that work in Saskatoon Square didn’t need the warm up, but appreciated the treats just as much.  Thanks must go to the Executive for providing such a nice surprise.

The theme of the meeting was “Playing in the Snow” and with the word of the day being “frost” we were quickly transported back to the cold reality of the day.  

Our meeting room was crowded today with thirteen members present.  We had prepared speeches by Shuqing (project 4) and Christine (project 2). It was very interesting to learn about the Chinese New Year and traditions that surround that time of year.  We also heard some interesting facts and anecdotes regarding our ill fated penny.  Both were excellent, interesting and exciting presentations.

Table topics kept with the snow theme as well.  With questions about playing in the snow and whether it is better to shovel or use a snow blower.   Judging by the answers; I don’t think the respondents had any trouble answering the question.  We heard very good mini speeches which lasted up to two minutes.

For those that couldn’t make the meeting, I think there was still some coffee and treats left at the end.  But they will be cold now.  Just like the temperature outside.

Why not come out for a visit and see what Toastmasters has to offer?  You will certainly get a chance to warm up and you never know, there might even be some treats for your enjoyment.

The Cart before the Horse

 “Well, why don’t you stop by for a visit and see what Toastmasters is all about?” 

This is the way I would normally finish my posts.  At today’s meeting it was appropriate to start at the end and work toward the beginning of our typical meeting.  You see, our meeting today was in a backward format.  We closed the meeting at noon and opened the session at 1 o’clock.  The speech evaluations were presented before the speeches and the awards for best presentations were awarded before the votes were counted.  So I am starting the way I normally conclude.  A little confusing, you are right, but a whole lot of fun.  Because of the format, speakers really had to pay attention so they could incorporate those things pointed out in their evaluation into their presentation.  I think everyone was somewhat successful and we all had a lot of fun. 

As far as the presentations go, both were project 5 from the Competent Communicator manual.  Chris talked about his experiences while being a perfect Horse Dad. It turns out his daughters are heavily involved in showing horses and we heard about all the different jobs he takes on before, during and after a show.  Not only is he the driver but also the meal/snack planner, barber, supporter, cleaner and tack jockey at his daughter’s events.

Melissa asked us if we were loosing the art of communication.  She started by asking us who remembered using the old style rotary phone and who sends text messages with their cell phones.  Melissa went on to explain that in the past most conversations were either in person or over the phone where now a lot of information is relayed with text messages.  She explained some of the benefits and drawbacks with text messaging, concluding that you can see the change in our communication skills even when you are not connected to your phone.  She gave example of poor spelling and the inability to carry on a conversation.  Things which we often see in our daily lives.

The meeting theme was HUGS, January 21^st was National Hug Day, and our table topics questions followed the same theme.  It turns out that for most of those in attendance, hugs were appreciated but everyone liked to receive them in a non-public area.  Public Displays of Affection were frowned upon.

We ended the meeting by introducing ourselves while trying to use the theme and word of the day in our introduction.  After our introductions the word of the day was announced.  I am not sure if the two guests at the meeting could follow what was happening.  I hope they return to see how one of our regular meetings is conducted.

Hello