Meeting Invitation: Dec 14, 2013 - Holiday Potluck Meeting

Lambs to Lions Toastmasters invites you to our Holiday Potluck Meeting!

Date and Time: Saturday, December 14th from 11:30am to 1:00pm

Location: Mississauga Central Library, Room CL2

Address: 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W. Mississauga, ON L5B 3Y3

Learn. Socialize. Enjoy!

DCP Progress: We've become a Distinguished Club!

It's time for the club to celebrate again!

Lambs to Lions just got it's 5th point for the 2013-2014 Distinguished Club Program (DCP). With the 5th point, our club has earned the status of Distinguished Club.

Bhushan completed all the requirements to obtain Advanced Communication Silver (ACS). By earning his ACS designation, he helped our club get the 4th DCP point.

We got our 5th DCP point when four new members joined our club. Welcome to those new club members and a big thank you for helping us earn the 5th point.

We need 4 more points to become a President's Distinguished Club this year.

Meeting Role Prep: The Meeting Chair

What is a Meeting Chair?

The Chair is basically the meeting director who runs the meeting. You exercise overall control of the meeting and make sure that it runs smoothly.

Toastmasters International recently combined the roles of Meeting Chair and Toastmaster, but our club still keep both roles separate with few duties each so that more club members can participate without being overwhelmed.

Do I have to get my CL manual filled?

Yes. In your CL manual, you can get your performance evaluated under the title of Toastmaster

Projects that have a Toastmaster section are: Project 4 (Time Management), Project 5 (Planning and Implementation), Project 7 (Facilitation), Project 8 (Motivation) and Project 10 (Team Building).

Who evaluates me?

Before the meeting starts, hand your CL manual to the VP of Education who will find you an evaluator. Or you can directly ask any club member in the audience to evaluate your performance.

What does the Meeting Chair do?

Before the Meeting

1. Choose a meeting theme as early as possible. This lets other members who have a meeting role to prepare accordingly.

The theme can be anything you want- a word, phrase or even a celebration. Put the theme on the EasySpeak agenda. If you have any problems doing so, contact your VP of Education.

2. Talk to the VP of Education about the line up and the times on the meeting agenda. Ask for a copy of the final agenda if you didn't get one. Check which roles are still empty, etc and get a general idea of who will be doing what. This will help you prepare.

If you need something specific put on the printed meeting agenda, tell the VP of Education in advance so that the agenda can be changed.

On the Meeting day

1. Come to the meeting place early so that you can get comfortable with the podium setup and get your required materials (the gavel and printed meeting agenda) from the Sergeant-at-arms.

2. Go through the agenda. Keep track of who is present for their roles. Take note of roles that are empty and need to filled up. Try and fill up any empty positions by asking the club members in the audience. Ask a club executive for help if you need it.

3. When it's time to start the meeting, have someone close the meeting room door and hit the gavel on the podium to officially begin.

4. Your Opening Remarks: You can talk about the meeting theme you chose or just tell the audience what they can expect from the meeting and why it'll be helpful for them. Keep this introduction 3-5 minutes long.

5. Call on the club member with the role of Humor.

6. If there is no Humor section, call on any guests present to introduce themselves. Give clear instructions when you call on them. Say something like “Please stand, tell us your name and why you came to today's meeting...”

7. Call on the club members who have taken up the Grammarian, Timer and Quizmaster roles. Ask them to stand and give a short explanation about their role and it's importance to the meeting.

8. Introduce the meeting's Toastmaster. Wait till they come to the front podium, shake their hand and then go back to your seat until it's time for you to come back front.

9. After the General Evaluator gives their meeting report near the end of the meeting, they will call you back to the front. Shake the General Evaluator's hand and take your place at the podium.

10. For the Club Business session, call on the Club President and ask if there's any club business to discuss. If the President is absent, call on another executive.

11. Call on the guests once again and ask them for their thoughts and opinions about the meeting.

12. Call on the speaker for the Thought of the Day, if any.

13. Give your closing remarks for the meeting.

14. End the meeting by hitting the gavel on the podium.

Some Tips

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you are unsure about your role. Talk to the club executives or other club members about their own experiences as the Meeting Chair. They'll share their own tips for the role.

2. Have your watch or cellphone with you so that you can track the time. You could even arrange with the meeting Timer to have them give you a cue at the appropriate times so that you won't have to constantly check your watch. Start and finish the meeting on time to make a good impression on the audience.

3. Applaud. During most meeting, the audience doesn't know when it's time to applaud. As meeting chair, you can make this simpler by leading the applause at the appropriate times such as:

• After each guest introduces themselves at the start of the meeting. And again when they comment on their meeting experience at the end of the meeting.
• When members with meeting roles are first called on and then again when they are done speaking.

4. Check your CL manual. Each project has a different set of requirements for completion that will help you better prepare for your role.

DCP Progress: We got our 3rd Point!

It's time to celebrate!

Why, you ask?

Lambs to Lions just got it's 3rd point for the 2013-2014 Distinguished Club Program (DCP).

Bhushan completed all 10 projects in his Competent Leadership (CL) manual. By earning his CL designation, he helped our club get a DCP point.

We need 7 more points to become a President's Distinguished Club this year.

Invitation to the Area Contest

The Fall 2013 Club Contest

On September 21^st, an excited group – of contestants, judges and club executives- gathered on the top floor of the Mississauga Central Library and talked in hushed whispers while people filled the meeting room behind them. At 11:30, the group entered the room and the Lambs to Lions Toastmasters club officially began it's annual 'Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest'.

The Contest Chair, Jocelyne, prepped the audience for the Table Topics Contest with a brief overview of Toastmasters' contests. Rajan, the Area Governor, then went over the contest rules and requirements.

In the Table Topics contest, contestants have 1-2 minutes to talk on the topic or question given to them. But they only get their topic right before they move to the front to speak.

On this particular Saturday, contestants had to speak on the topic of 'Participation'. All four contestants filled their allotted speaking time with personal experiences, interesting thoughts and ideas.

After the judges submitted their ballots, the club took a quick break to socialize before starting the next contest segment- the Humorous Speech Contest. Contestants have 5-7 minutes to make the audience laugh with an original and well-structured speech.

Elizabeth, the Humorous Speech Contest Chair, introduced Robin- the only contestant- to lively applause from the audience.

After the entertaining speech, the contest chairs deftly began the awards ceremony. Amidst loud applause, the contest chairs announced Maha as the winner of the Table Topics Contest and Robin as the winner of the Humorous Speech Contest.

Both Maha and Robin will represent the Lambs to Lions Club in their respective categories at the Area Contest on October 17^th.

Meeting invitation: Saturday, August 17 Open House

Meeting Recap: July 20, 2013

Pearl, the chair for this meeting, started the meeting by explaining how the theme of “Teamwork” helped all Toastmasters learn and grow. After notifying the audience of the changes in the agenda, she handed over the meeting to the meeting's Toastmaster, Raj.

SPEAKERS

Maha gave her Icebreaker speech from the CC manual titled “Myself”. In this introductory speech, she talked about her life, her inspirations and her family. 

Judy did her third project from the CC manual. Her speech, “Information Policy in an Organization”, informed the audience about the laws an policies in place about information being used. She detailed aspects like information loss and theft. 

Parimal gave a speech “On the Other Side”. She talked about how the grass always seemed greener on the other side and how we always want something that we don't have.

Kenny gave a speech titled “Travel Insurance: My Experience” for his fourth CC manual project. He talked about an injury scare during his vacation and how that made him more aware of travel insurance.

During the Table Topics Session, Atika called on audience members to come forward and give imaginary toasts during various happy and sad occasions.

BUSINESS SESSION

 

• An Open House Meeting will be held on August 17
• The Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest will be held on September 21

Meeting Recap: June 22, 2013- Summer Potluck

Viash, the chair for this meeting, started the Summer Potluck meeting with a few words about the change in season. He later introduced the two speakers of the meeting.

SPEAKERS

Atika gave her final speech from the CC manual, “Why should you change your accent?” in which she talks about her communication problems when she first came to Canada. She also went on to explain why people should not be afraid to change their accents.

Bhushan read parts of a story in his speech “An Inspiring Story”. The story about three mice who questioned their circumstances emphasized his suggestion that people should not be afraid to question things if they want to progress in their life.

Later on, Kenny held a Table Topics Session connected to the Summer Potluck theme, where volunteers from the audience enthusiastically answered all sorts of questions about summer, vacations and potlucks.

BUSINESS SESSION

• The club will be moving to and using the EasySpeak Website in the future for all club and meeting related things like meeting planning, etc.

Meeting Recap: June 15, 2013

Pearl, the chair for this meeting, opened the meeting by talking about the theme 'Celebration' and how people in the audience needed to celebrate the small things they accomplish in life. She then introduced the four speakers of the meeting.

SPEAKERS

Judy gave her first speech from the CC manual, the Icebreaker Speech titled “Me” in which she talks about how and why she learnt to speak up for herself in small steps.

Raj gave a speech called “My 'Ouch' Moment” where he talked about how the most embarrassing moments in life usually ended up teaching him the most valuable lessons.

Atika gave her ninth speech from the CC manual called “How to Really Listen.” In her speech she gave the audience strategies to listen well and explained why we need to listen when someone is talking to us.

Bhushan gave a humorous speech titled “Marco Polo” where he talked about his own experiences in coming to a foreign land.

In connection to the theme, Pearl held a Table Topics Session called “Give A Toast”, where volunteers from the audience came forward and gave an impromptu toast for whatever occasion was written down on their paper.

 

BUSINESS SESSION

We have planned an extra meeting in the month of June- a potluck meeting on June 22nd. More information about the location of this meeting and other details will be emailed by the club executives in the coming days.

Meeting Recap: May 18, 2013

Elizabeth, the chair for the meeting, enthusiastically opened the “Election” meeting. Pearl, the toastmaster of the meeting introduced the four speakers.

SPEAKERS

Tiffany gave the final speech from her CC manual titled “Keep trying, always.” where she talked about why we need to keep tyring even when we fail at certain things.

Kristina Johnston, a guest speaker, gave a helpful speech titled “Easy-Speak: How can it help?” She used a slideshow and informed the audience of a helpful program that can be used by Toastmasters' clubs to keep track of members' TM progress.

Bhushan's speech was “The Next Step”. In his speech, he talked about how Toastmasters started and how it came to be so useful.

Raj gave an educational lesson about “Impromptu Speaking.” He told the audience the best way to tackle any impromptu speaking situation.

BUSINESS SESSION

• The new club executives were chosen during this meeting's election.
  
• An end-of-year newsletter will be published on June 30. Members are encouraged to send in articles about their TM experiences by June 24. More information about the newsletter will be sent out in the club emails.
  
• On the final meeting of June- there will be a potluck meeting. More information and details will be emailed once everything is finalized by the club executives.
  

Meeting Recap: May 4, 2013 - Open House

 

Raj, the chair for the Open House meeting opened the meeting by telling the audience how and why they needed to “Step out of their comfort zone”. As the toastmaster of the meeting, Elizabeth enthusiastically introduced our three speakers of the meeting.

SPEAKERS

Cheryl gave a speech “Will there really be a morning?” She detailed why we should treat people nicely and touched upon the topic of depression.

Tiffany gave a personal speech called “When I say you should, you should.” where she talked about the benefits of joining Toastmasters and how it has helped her in life.

Frank Waldner, a guest speaker from Trillium Toastmasters, gave an entertaining and humourous speech about his experience with getting a colonoscopy called “Up the Wazoo.”

After a short break where guests and members socialized over snacks, Bhushan, the Table Topics master, provided a series of 'What would you do if you were a...' questions. Guests and members volunteered eagerly to participate in the session providing fun and imaginative answers.

BUSINESS SESSION

• The club elections for the year 2013-2014 will take place on May 18.
  
• We finally received our club banner.
  

May 4th Open House Invitation

Meeting Recap: April 20, 2013

Meeting Theme: Earth Day

Mike, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting by talking about the accomplishments of our club members. As the toastmaster of the meeting, Mike also introduced our four speakers.

SPEAKERS

Patricia gave her Icebreaker speech “The Story of my Life.” She told the audience about her life and her parents.

Kenny gave a speech called “Protect Our Winter”. He explained what we could do to protect our winters.  He encouraged the audience to do so by drawing on his own example of driving a small car.

Bhushan gave an entertaining speech called “The Two Principles.” He gave a descriptive retelling of the story 'Life of Pi'.

Rajan presented a speech titled “Why not now?” He talked about the seven principles of highly effective people and explained how we can be successful in our everyday life.

Molly conducted an Earth Day discussion during the Table Topics Session. She divided the audience into two teams and gave each side a different question. After a quick discussion amongst group members

BUSINESS SESSION

• Our club will be holding an Open House meeting on May 4, 2013. All members are encouraged to bring in guests.
  
• The club elections for the year 2013-2014 will take place on May 18. Nominations will be collected over the next few weeks. Feel free to email your nominations to the VP of Education.
  

Meeting Recap: April 6, 2013

Meeting Theme: Easter- Coming out of your Shell

Pearl, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting with a a few words on the theme “Easter:Coming Out of your Shell”. Tiffany, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our speakers.

SPEAKERS

Cheryl gave a speech “We Welcome your Feedback, Maybe.” where she talked about the rareness of people (businesses) actually wanting honest feedback that may not be completely positive.

Atika gave a speech on “Sedona Method”. She explained how the Sedona Method helped her in her own life and encouraged the audience to look into it.

Tiffany conducted a Easter Hunt during the Table Topics Session. She asked the audience to look under their chairs for 'eggs'. Everyone had a lot of fun trying to find one.
The person who found an egg was asked to come up front and choose a question to answer.

BUSINESS SESSION

• The District 86 Spring Conference will take place from April 19- 21, 2013.
  
• Our club will be holding an Open House meeting on May 4, 2013.
  
• The club elections for the year 2013-2014 will take place on May 18. Nominations will be collected over the next few weeks.

International Speech & Evaluation Contest Area Contest

(Area 45, Division C, District 86 Toastmasters)

When is the contest?

Monday, March 18, 2013

Where is the contest being held?

Mississauga Central Library, CL# 3

What time does it start?

Registration starts at 6:oo p.m.

Is there an Entry Fee?

Yes. $5

Why should you attend?

*You'll be able to see speakers from different clubs compete.
*You'll be supporting our clubs's representatives in the contest.

Meeting Recap: March 16, 2013

Meeting Theme: St.Patrick's Day- Go Green

Jocelyne, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting with a a few words on the theme “St.Patrick's Day:Go Green”. Some members wore green clothing and even brought green items to match with the theme. Bhushan, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our speakers.

SPEAKERS

Tiffany gave a speech “Talk about Bones” where she talked about Osteoporosis. She explained what it was, who it affected and how it can be prevented.

Since we were short on speakers, Jocelyne stepped up and gave an impromptu and brief educational talk about what made a good speech opening. (Remember that a good opening contains a Bang, Promise and a Roadmap)

Pearl conducted a St. Patrick's Day themed Table Topics session. All speakers who volunteered for the session picked a 4-leaf clover that had their question on it and kept the clover after they were done.

BUSINESS SESSION

Jocelyn and Bhushan will represent our club at the International Speech and Evaluation Area Contest which will take place in the Mississauga Central Library. More details will be available in a future post.

Meeting Recap: March 2, 2013

Elizabeth, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting with a a few words on the theme “We Create Opportunity”. Raj, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our guest speaker of the day.

SPEAKERS

We had a 40 minute seminar workshop from guest speaker, J.Brett Abbey. In his seminar titled, “Discover how to get your audience to buy into your message”, he talked about how we can get our audience to buy into our message and move them to action.

After his detailed talk, he held a brief Table Topics session to test how the club members would use the lessons from his talk when they were called upon to talk.

Elizabeth also held an additional Table Topics session in the form of a lively debate, where members were asked to debate over serious and even fun topics.

BUSINESS SESSION

Jocelyn informed members about a comedy presentation on March the 22^nd. She will be one of the opening acts for Judy Croon at the Speaker's Think Tank's 2nd Annual Showcase on March 22nd at the Noel Ryan Auditorium in Mississauga from 7:30-9:30 pm.

Visit http://speakersthinktank.com/member/?page_id=575 to more information. You can even buy your tickets online. Ticket price is $25 if you purchase online and $30 if you buy them at the door

Meeting Recap: February 16, 2013

Evaluation Contest

Raj, the contest chair started off the contest by giving a brief explanation of how the contest would run. Mike, the chief judge, took a few minutes to go over the contest rules for the benefit of the audience just before the Target Speaker could be called upon.

Elizabeth, a toastmaster from another club who volunteered to be our contest Target Speaker, talked about how having a mentor helped her succeed in life in her speech "Secret Weapon."

Speech Contest

Elizabeth, the contest chair, started off the speech contest by introducing the chief judge, Mike, who gave the audience a brief explanation about the rules.
The order in which the contestants presented their speeches was decided by lots, chosen before the meeting.

Raj gave a speech titled "The Plan" where he explained that having a plan was the only way to reach your goals and ambitions.

Jocelyne gave a speech titled "To be or not to be is your choice". She talked about knowing your strengths and weakness and how you can turn your weakness into strengths with effort.

Tiffany gave a speech titled "I almost took it" where she talked about anti-anxiety medication and why she chose not to take it.

The Results

Nikesh, our Area Governor, presented all the winners with certificates and handed gift cards to the first place winners.

                                 For the Evaluation contest               For the Speech contest
                                 1. Bhushan                                       1. Jocelyne
                                 2. Viash                                            2. Tiffany

Club Contest Speeches

In the spirit of the upcoming club contest, here are a few videos from past International Speech contest winners to show you what a contest speech entails.

1. "Crossing No Man's Land" by John Zimmer

2. "The Empty Chair" by Christine Robinson



Hope to see everyone at the club contest on February 16, 2013.

Meeting Invitation: Feb 16, 2013- Club Contest

Meeting Recap: February 2, 2013

Raj, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting with a Toast. Jocelyn, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our two speakers of the day.

SPEAKERS

We had two prepared speeches in this meeting.

Molly introduced herself in her Icebreaker Speech, titled "Choices I Made", by talking about how the countries she lived in, her family and even her job has shaped her into who she is.(Speech no. 1 from the Competent Communication Manual)

Tiffany spoke of a personal learning experience about communication and respect she had at her work place in her speech "Lesson of Respect". (Speech no. 6 from the Competent Communication Manual)

For the Table Topics Session of the meeting, Jocelyn divided the audience into two sections and gave a topic for both sides to debate over. Every person in the audience took turns either supporting or arguing against the given topic.

BUSINESS SESSION

Raj discussed the club-level Speech and Evaluation Contest Meeting coming up on February 16, 2013. He urged members who are eligible to participate as contestants.
For the Speech contest, you need to have completed 6 speeches from the CC manual. There is no restriction for the Evaluation contest. If you have any questions or would like to participate, contact one of the club executives.

Jocelyn informed members that the District 86 Spring Conference will be held in Burlington from April 19-21, 2013. To register or find out more about the conference, please visit the District 86 website.

Pearl, the club's new VP of Education introduced herself. She will start sending out club agenda emails from now on.

Meet The Execs: Secretary, Tiffany Chen

Handling internal and external club correspondence, maintaining accurate club files, documenting meeting minutes, updating the membership roster- these are just some of the duties entrusted to a Toastmaster's club Secretary to ensure that things run smoothly.

Sounds like a role that just deals with a lot of paper work, right? Why would anyone actually volunteer for such a role?

To get a better understanding about the benefits of this role, let's have a chat with Lambs to Lions Toastmaster's current club Secretary- Tiffany Chen.
  
1. How long have you been a part of Toastmasters?
TC: I have been a part of Toastmasters for almost a year.

2. Why did you join Lambs to Lions' executive team as the Secretary?
TC: As the election time was approaching, I actually had little intention of joining the executive team. I thought, maybe I'd join next year. However, Elizabeth encouraged me to run for secretary. After I gained more understanding about the role, I decided to run for the position. Then the election came, I was voted on and here I am!

3. What is the best part/aspect of your role?
TC: The best part of my role is to sort of act as someone who keeps an eye and has a general idea of what the club is doing, documents and keeps records of what’s happening at the executive meeting and club meeting, suggests and implements initiatives to promote the club.

Also, as a new member of Toastmasters, I’m glad that I’m given the chance to work and learn with experienced Toastmasters on the executive team. Their knowledge and passion for Toastmasters help me understand of how this organization is run, and what I need to do to be a good secretary, a successful Toastmaster, and how to take our club to the next level.

4. What is the most challenging part/aspect of your role?
TC: The most challenging part of my role is, to both actively participate in the meeting and to take detailed meeting minutes. Sometime I might be too involved in the meeting-whether it's listening to others, or I’m doing the speaking- and I might miss out on taking the information down.

5. Have you learnt any skills from being a club Secretary? Have these skills helped you outside of toastmasters?
TC: I learned organizational skills, when I’m required to take detailed but succinct meeting minutes to document who presented what ideas.

I learned time management skills, when I needed to send out communications well in advance about meeting times, meeting minutes and any Toastmasters related notices to executives and members. Actually, the experiences outside of Toastmasters helped me realized the importance of time management. You need to make sure that you leave enough time in case you need to fix and correct mistakes.

I learned communication skills, when I had to convey ideas about implementing initiatives for the club to executives and members, such as the club blog and themed meeting ideas. I realized the importance of using direct and straight-forward language to communicate ideas anywhere.

6. What would you say to motivate other club members to apply for club Secretary next year?
TC: I would say, go for it.

It’s an encouraging place to use and sharpen the skills you already have. You’ll learn and discover new skills that help building your character. Always think of ideas that will make a difference for the club. Make good use of your time as an executive, commit and enjoy every moment, and absorb as many experiences as you can.

Meeting Recap: January 19, 2013

We're moving along great to the second meeting of January 2013.

The meeting chair, Jocelyn, opened the meeting with the theme - "Great Expectations." Actually, this theme came to Jocelyn just moments before the meeting.

SPEAKERS

Tiffany, gave a speech from the Competent Communication manual on her life experiences about divine revelation.

Elizabeth, gave an interactive speech on plagiarism, where members asked questions about the topic. Her idea is inspired by a recent scandal in the news. One of the reasons that people plagiarize is that people simply don't have time.

Mike, gave an educational speech about "Happy peasants, unhappy millionaires," which involves the use of chart paper as his visual aids.

BUSINESS SESSION

Elizabeth, did a show of hands, allowing members to find out who the mentors are at this meeting, and allowing mentors to find out who the mentees are. 

She also mentioned that there will be a free session about how to deliver a presentation. This information is from one of the clubs under her area as an Area Governor. (Possibly more information to come.)

Meeting Recap: January 5, 2013

Happy New Year!

To all guests, welcome!
To all members, welcome back!

To start the first meeting of the year off, Mike, the chair of the meeting invited us to consider what should be the mission statement for Lambs to Lions Toastmaster?
He then introduced the Toastmasters educational program – the communication and leadership paths for becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).

SPEAKERS

Mohammed, a newly joined member of our club, gave an engaging speech on a topic that’s very relevant at the moment – New Year’s Resolution. What’s your new year’s resolution?

Raj, gave a speech with realistic simulation as if he was a representative from a company, who delivers a bad news from a company in a tactful way.

BUSINESS SESSION

Our Club President, Elizabeth, announced that there will be a speech contest for this club on Saturday, February 16. The speech contest is for both prepared speeches and evaluations. Winners from this contest will be advanced into the area contest. Date, time and location are to be determined.

Also, we will be talking more about mentorship program in the next meeting.

Lastly, there will be a club officer training on Saturday, January 12, at the same location (Mississauga Secondary School) as the phase one training for current club officers.