Dec 21, 2021 Christmas theme: Are the holidays only about food and wine?

Are the holidays only about food and wine?  You might think so. Our glasses were charged as we toasted Toastmasters within our club, our guests Toastmasters Jessica M, Karen T, and D99 Program Director Richard M, who dropped in, and Toastmasters everywhere. Sgt at Arms Cherry C got us started by introducing Toastmaster Edith B, who in turn asked everyone to tell us about their favourite food/wine pairing.  Some “commemorated” people, places or events. 

We were treated to two speakers: 

1) Shiao X working on Dynamic Leadership L4 Elective - Manage Projects Successfully Part 1 - planning the project and Part 2 - executing the plan regarding “Create a kitchen garden.” It was certainly a family affair. According to Speech Evaluator Jessica, the speeches and her produce were well done, but wished we knew what dishes Shiao would make with her produce.  2) Eileen S gave her ice breaker speech under Visionary Communication “So this is Christmas!”  Eileen doesn’t seem to be phased by the Covid limitation of this Christmas again. I suspect it is because she is a grandmother, as is her speech evaluator Karen and this blog writer. We liked the “visionary” of seeing the toys she was giving to her grandkids. I guess it really is true “Who needs Santa when there is grandma.” 

Rhys D was Tabletopics Master asking some challenging questions related to Christmas, for the most part. Tabletopics Evaluator Craig B noted all the important parts were there in the responses. Cherry C won best Tabletopics  when she told us about her pursuit of finding a Christmas Eve church service in Hong Kong. 

Grammarian/Ah counter Cherry was not as busy with her grammarian role as she was with her Ah counter role or as Timer Dan Mc was. His red light was blinking as much as Rudolph’s red nose. 

We all wish everyone a very, merry holiday, regardless of how you celebrate it, and all the best in the New Year. We look forward to what Toastmasters has in store for us in 2022.  What Will it be? Perhaps leading a workshop in February on Judges Training. See you back on Zoom on January 4/22. 

Happy New Year from us to you, as our picture shows “Cheers.” 

Submitted by Edith Baraniecki, DTM

Dec 7, 2021 Workshop: Training vs Facilitating

We had a good discussion on Training and Facilitation at the Lingo Advanced Toastmasters meeting December 7/21.  Dan Mc with TM Cherry C’s assistance facilitated the discussion in referring to club officer training, Toastmasters Leadership Institute presentations, Pathways, etc as training and facilitating opportunities. While some of the discussion was done through chat, there were some takeaways.  Clear directions at the onset to set the stage, stick to the timing allocated and ask clear questions. The theme was a favourite of Speech evaluator Xiao X so she appreciated the whole discussion as it increased her “sagacity” on the subject.  There was time for only three Tabletopics and while we heard three good responses as they all acknowledged TT Master Cherry, had an opening, a body using an example and a conclusion, they each excelled in emphasizing one of these areas: Rhys D, the opening - a surprise, Doug K, a TM guest from Athabasca, the conclusion - get better by 5% each day, and Xiao, the body as she most directly answered the question.  Doug won Best Tabletopics. Thank you for joining us Doug. Timer Eileen S, Grammarian/Ah counter Xiao and Sgt at arms/Tabletopics Evaluator Edith  B all fulfilled their roles as experienced TMs.  Our next meeting is December 21/21 where we will end our TM meetings for 2021 talking about wine and food for the holidays. Stay tuned for enhanced Tabletopics, a toast (hopefully Dan will have his voice back by then) or two or more and fun. See you via Zoom at 7pm. Festive wear or props are encouraged as is your favourite libation/drink.  Submitted by Edith Baraniecki, DTM