Lingo Advanced Communication's Meeting April 19, 2022 - National Poetry Month

Did you think sitting around discussing poetry may be boring? Wrong! Lingo  Executive had a great meeting last night, but we did miss our other members and guests. We heard these words that described the evening: family, team, fun, prepared, and of course “poetic,” the word of the day, per Cherry C, grammarian.

I led off the poetic meeting by introducing myself as Sgt at Arms in limerick style (“finicky” rhymes with Baraniecki!) and the TM for the evening Eileen, the square dancing Queen.  Eileen S had given us a heads up a few days earlier asking us to come ready with our favourite poem, which was mentioned either during introductions or Tabletopics. 

Always thinking food, we had a “PIE” meeting: prepared speeches, impromptu speaking (of sorts), and evaluations.

Xiao gave us a Dynamic Leadership L5 speech regarding “Lessons Learned” - she gave a very articulate rendition of a work project she and her team worked together on. Her speech evaluator Rhys D, said she did “a bang up job.”  Lots of description, we felt like we were there without doing the work. Well done Xiao. 

We then heard Dan Mc recite Robert W Service’s poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”  The poem had special meaning to him as the setting was places that he had been.  Dan used the perfect inflection in reciting the poem. Given Dan’s recent voice issues, he deserved double applause.   He also recited a second poem. He was also timer so did double duty.

Eileen was also Tabletopics Master asking us to recite our favourite poem and why we selected that poem. As TT Evaluator, I noted everyone picked a poem that reflected their personality and/or interests. Cherry’s poem, with lots of rhyming reflected on the meaning of life but she asked if it was poetry or prose. My poem, “In Flanders Field” was emotional to me as I saw it written in John McCrea’s own handwriting and in the specific setting “where the poppies blow between the crosses row on row.”  Rhys recited, without an ah or um, Alfred Lloyd Tennyson’s poem about the “Kraken.” Given Rhys’ love of sports, we were not surprised, other than where was the cat?  Xiao made us all smile and clap, as this mother of two young boys, recited a short kids poem. Eileen laced poems within her TM role but recited a Robert Frost poem about the year 2000 from a book, yes, a book. She is always aware of what is happening around us, like in the City of Edmonton.  Well done everyone. 

It was a close race for best Tabletopics but Dan and Rhys tied. Eileen closed out the evening with a play on the words from Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” …”and now my friends the meeting is done.”  

What an enjoyable evening and we have another coming up. On Tuesday at 7 pm May 2/22, when your taxes are all done, join us for our “2022” meeting, Lingo’s fourth annual version of presenting slides, this year in recognizing the year 2022, 20 slides of 22 seconds each on your topic of choice, where pictures help tell your story. So far we have three members presenting (Dan, Edith and Cherry) and can accommodate three more presentations. Other members and guests, accept the challenge, first come first served. There are prizes. Eileen enjoyed being TM so much, she is willing to do it again. Xiao will be our Zoom master so the slides upload and run smoothly. Contact one of us to register.  So looking forward to real spring and the upcoming evening.  Submitted by Edith Baraniecki VPPR

April 5/22 - Communication is Leadership - How can you up your game?

Sgt at Arms Craig B opened our meeting in a very skilled manner, citing the housekeeping items and then introduced the TM for the evening Cherry C.  We welcomed guests from near and far, Kris S from Edmonton and Miles G from St Albert and from the other side of the globe, Suzanne F from Brisbane, Australia. We were pleased that our member dignitaries were also present, Richard M, D99 Program Quality Director, Dan Mc, D99 Club Growth Director and Rhys D, Area B51 Director. 

For introductions, Cherry had us picked our leadership/communication style from a list on screen: 1) Assertive 2) Aggressive 3) Passive-Aggressive 4) Submissive 5) Manipulative 6) Direct 7) Indirect 8) Authoritarian 9) Laissez-Faire.  There was a tie between "Assertive" and "Direct".

Next we had three interactive presentations, plus Tabletopics

1) For my Ice breaker presentation, I kept timer Shiao X spinning and Zoom master, Richard, busy. He divided the ten of us into five rooms where each team of two were given a picture of an object to come up with creative ways to use the object.  They were 1) Eileen S and Miles - a candle 🕯(or as they referred to it as a beacon of hope), 2) Edith B and Rhys - a salt shaker 🧂 referring to the use of many types of salt, 3) Dan and Cherry - a clock ⏰ even throwing it at noisy neighbours, 4) Shiao and Kris  - a long screwdriver 🪛 topping us all as the “winners” with their many uses and 5) Craig and Suzanne - a 💡 light bulb giving them the bright idea to discuss Craig’s book display virtual background. As far as was reported, there was lots of good “communication” between group members and no arguments.

2) For Presentation #2, Eileen discussed how to use a “Positive Approach” giving us ten tips to help build stronger, positive relationships. She added a dash of humour in explaining them. What great tips. Using polling, we rated our own present ability to carry out the ten strategies. The rank of 75-95% was the highest. There was no ranking below 45%. The top strategy that people would most like to work on, was “be considerate with the feelings of others.” No one listed “be friendly and helpful.”  We must be already there.  

3) For Presentation #3, Dan discussed “What is a skilled communicator.”  He asked us who we thought were good communicators. Several suggested celebrities and past and present leaders of various countries or political parties, although some leaders very noted to not be good communicators. We also discussed when we were a good communicator and when we were not.   There was lots of lively discussion. 

Rhys led Tabletopics, which were “Two Dichotomies,” where participants was to name all the advantages of being  (1) Introverts vs Extroverts   (2) Authoritarian vs Laissez-Faire Leadership.   Miles won best Tabletopics, although he argued all sides.

It was a full and enjoyable evening according to guests and members. Guests are welcomed to join us again. Perhaps April 19/22, where we will recognize National Poetry Month - “Roses are red, Violets are blue, Lingo wants you…..”.