Lingo Meeting Recap - Nov 21 2017 - Post Conference

Submitted by Edith Baraniecki

While "Eight is Enough" was a very good TV show, it was a little skimpy for a Toastmasters meeting; however, we pulled off a very informative and entertaining meeting.  Get well soon to those that could not attend due to illness.

Replacing Melanie as Toastmaster, was Eileen, who also attend the "last" Fall Conference in Prince Albert.  Eileen very competently led our meeting and during introductions, she asked our opinions on attending conferences.  Most said they enjoy them for various reasons like meeting new and old friends, the information obtained, the contests and being able to go to interesting places.  There was one "it depends" and one member (Dave) confessed to be a "conference/convention junkie."

With added information from Dan and Dave, Eileen informed us about the interesting things learned at the "last" District 99 Fall Conference, especially from the 2014 World Champion International Speech Contest Winner from Sri Lanka. Some items mentioned were: want it as much as you want to breathe, make small changes, stand on the balls of your feet, and let go of your ego. Congratulations to Humorous Speech Contest Winner Tom with his excellent speech "Lushes Lips of Winter" and Tabletopics Winner Blaine Zuk who very aptly responded to the question about describing winter to someone who has never experienced snow before.  The future District education development training program was touched on as well.

As well as Tabletopics, our meeting consisted of two advanced manual speeches:

1. Peter gave an entertaining speech (project 1 - Entertaining Speaker Manual) entitled "Journey to the Sunless Citadel" about his role-playing adventures based on a Dungeon and Dragons game.  There was a Wizard and Goblin somewhere.

2. Edith gave an impromptu speech (project 1 - Specialty Speeches Manual) entitled "Being Neighbourly" as chosen by Evaluator Cherry. She gave a chronological and a cross country run down of how she has always had wonderful neighbours "her community" (proof her driveway was shovelled this morning before she got up). Edith won best speaker.

Speech evaluators, Dan and Cherry, and the eyes and ears evaluators were noted by General Evaluator Rick to not have just "whitewashed" their evaluations.  Rick also complimented Eileen on threading the theme of the meeting throughout the meeting.

Tabletopics was led by Edith, who had facilitated  the last workshop on the Specialty Speeches Manual.  She asked questions on the five projects from that manual.  Peter won best Tabletopics speaker and Rhys won best Evaluator for his evaluation of Tabletopics.

A lot was jammed into 90 minutes while building on the last workshop.  Now we look forward to our next workshop December 5th on "Speaking on Video" facilitated by Cherry, assisted by Rick and of course the Spring District 99 Convention in Edmonton May 4-6/18.

Workshop: Specialty Speeches Nov 7 2017

Submitted by Edith Baraniecki DTM

On November 7th, Lingo Advanced Toastmasters, surrounded by poppies, used their last workshop to "remember," not only our fallen heroes but why we joined an advanced club, and in particular, Lingo Advanced Club.  We heard comments such as to get opportunities to learn about the advanced manuals, to give more advanced speeches, to learn from and be evaluated by DTMs (over 50% of members are DTMs), to be supportive to others, to have the opportunity to be creative especially in putting on workshops and because the members are darn nice.  Thus, Lingo has become an advanced manual workshop club. 

Toastmaster/Facilitator Edith B engaged speakers, through lures of winning a million dollars, into presenting the projects in the Specialty Speeches manual. For project #1, Impromptu Speaking, Cherry C explained how touched she was by Robert Munsch's book "Love you Forever" and its meaning to her.  For project #2, Inspirational Speaking, Dan M inspired us with his insights for a successful club with his speech entitled "What is Your Big Hairy Audacious Goal." For project #4, Reading Out Loud, Eileen S read "Danceland" from the late Stuart McLean's 2015 book “Vinyl Café Turns the Page."  It had an interesting and humorous storyline with a surprising twist about a husband and wife voting for opposing candidates.  Just before the break, for project #3, Sell a Product/Service, Wendy L tried to convince the unconverted about the value of a Costco membership by luring them with the evening snacks and telling us about her love of poutine.  Not sure Melanie K was convinced as she gave valid reasons not to have a membership but she enjoyed the snacks anyway. Project #5 Introducing a Speaker was demonstrated throughout the entire workshop and previously during our Open House. All members contributed to the oral evaluations and we all learned by doing and observing.

Our next meeting is November 21st where Melanie K, Toastmaster for the evening, will tell us about the happenings at the last District Fall Conference being held November 17-19 in Prince Albert, Sask.  We will also have opportunities to give speeches.  Our next workshop December 5th is on Communicating on Video facilitated by Cherry C assisted by Rick L.  Stay tuned for details of this exciting workshop.