Lingo Meeting (July 18) Recap & Membership Induction

We had one of our regular meetings on July 18, 2017.  I know you are thinking regular meetings? Doesn't Lingo Advanced Communicators do workshops?  We do both.  Workshops are usually the first Tuesday of the month.  Regular and other meetings as well as educational are on the third Tuesday of the month.  That way members get an opportunity to do speeches, often based on earlier workshops, and to practice table topics.

The theme of the meeting this week was "culture."  Culture in the sense of social beliefs and norms. Toastmaster Rick L started the meeting with an explanation of the current culture of our club.  For example, fairly unique to our club is having an ears and eyes speech evaluator along with the objectives speech evaluator.  Rick challenged us to explore our culture and roles and responsibilities further in future gatherings.

We had the privilege of hearing a good will speech (Public Relations Advanced Manual) by President Melanie K.  Her speech about self-confidence gave us six points to guide us in developing self-confidence of which Toastmasters is the perfect place to do that.  Peter K entertained us with an almost mythical speech that left us guessing until the very end.  Well done Melanie and Peter.

Robin C asked some very challenging scenario questions concerning guests and club customs.  Perhaps he could be convinced to publish the questions for everyone to ponder. Bob B won the best table topics invisible award.

One of our newest members and most experienced toastmaster, Dave C, led the evaluation team, in giving meaningful evaluations. Something as simple as telling us to consider what our background looks like.  Now it would have helped if the writer would remember to bring the banner.  

Ellen (L) and Eileen (R) got inducted at our Year End Celebration in June 2017

L to R: Dan, Melanie, Dave, and Von got inducted at our Club meeting by President Melanie

President Melanie took the opportunity to present new member certificates to Dave C, Dan M, and Von Eric T.  Two other new members, Eileen S and Ellen S, received their certificates at our year end celebration when we saluted Canada's 150th birthday and had new club officer installations.

We have an exciting year ahead with several workshops and educational sessions already scheduled. Upcoming workshops are listed on Lingo Website

Lingo Workshop Recap: The Power of Ideas - July 4, 2017

Nine members and five guests took the opportunity to explore expanding their ideas.  Thank you to Peter K in leading this exploration.  We learned the difference between "divergent (broader) and convergent (narrower) thinking." We were asked to "develop our imaginations" with a "what if" situation. Then we were able to use "option thinking" regarding several Toastmasters issues. Next we used "opportunity thinking" discussing the things that bug us and possible marketing opportunities to correct the "bug."  "Creative guesswork" gave us several laughs when determining why we may have received a huge shipment of dog food delivered on our doorstep.  One suggestion was a fatigued drone. Using "mental calisthenics" we suggested several alternate uses for a paper clip or a ball-point pen.  When "creating combinations" such as  ice cream writing or blanket computer, we really stretched our thoughts.  Lastly we used "brainstorming" to discuss ways to enhance membership - some very interesting suggestions - one - we will definitely not go with.  All in all, it was a fun and informative workshop.  Well done Peter.  Thank you guests John, Cherry, June, Julie and Tonya for attending.  Our next meeting is July 18th with Rick L as the Toastmaster for the evening. 

Submitted by Edith Baraniecki