MR: Crazy Ma and Food Banks

Tiffany opened the meeting with the quote, “Even if you are on the right track, you can still get run over”. She used this quote to remind the audience that it's easy to remain in your own field of expertise and get overtaken by others if you don't improve yourself and keep moving forward.

PREPARED SPEECHES

Connie- “The Story of Crazy Ma”

For a project from the “Entertaining Speaker” manual, Connie regaled the audience with the story of the founder of the internet site Ali Baba. It served as a story of persistence that she used to encourage the audience not to give up in the face of failures.

Mike - “Food Banks and Food Insecurity”

Giving a serious talk about the history and necessity of food banks, Mike educated the audience on the topic of food insecurity in Canada. Using statistics, he gave the audience a clear picture of how much food insecurity existed. He also gave recommendation on how the issue should be handled.

TABLE TOPICS

Pearl, the Table Topics Master chose to have the table topics revolve around words. Participants were given a word and told to speak about it for at least a minute.

Some examples:

• Lavish
• Awkward

MR: Exploration, Toasting and Mind-Mapping

With the meeting theme of “Exploration”, Mike opened the meeting by telling the audience how Toastmasters makes it's members improve by having them explore their communication skills.

Exploration is important because it

1. Takes you out of your comfort zone.
2. Puts you in least expected place.
3. Makes you feel a sense of achievement at the end.

PREPARED SPEECHES

Mike- “Toast to Ralph Smedley”

For his first project of the Special Occasion Speech manual, Mike chose to give a toast to Ralph Smedley the founder of Toastmasters.

Susan - “Mind-Mapping”

Giving a presentation , Susan chose to speak on the topic of Mind-mapping and how it could be used to do all sorts of projects but more specially to write and give speeches.

Using a speech that she used to get to the semi-finals of the Toastmasters International Speech contest, Susan showed the audience how she came up with the core idea of the speech and then expanded on that with the help of mind-mapping.

TABLE TOPICS

Pearl, the Table Topics Master chose to have the table topics revolve around crime. Participants were asked to “Tell us about the time you got arrested for...”

Some examples:

• Hacking into Facebook
• Selling fake brand items

STATS FOR THE MEETING

Word of the day “Plenteous” was used 1 time.

MR: Commitment, Garbage and Mentoring

With the meeting theme of “Commitment”, Mike opened the meeting by telling the audience how commitment is a big part of the education process especially in Toastmasters.

 

We are all part of the education process and there are two ways that we can make the most of each meeting.

• Be proactive.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions.

PREPARED SPEECHES

 

Connie- “Let's Talk Rubbish”

For her “Demonstration talk” from an advanced manual, Connie chose to do a speech about garbage and how we can reduce the amount of garbage we produce.

Everyone knows about the three R's.

1. Reduce- Buy and use less items
2. Recycle- Don't just toss anything in the bin.
3. Repurpose- Find new and interesting ways to use 'garbage'

Connie concentrated on the 'Repurpose' method for paper garbage because of the limited speaking time that she had. With the help of props, Connie was able to explain how to make each item.

Take flyers and turn them into usable trash bins.

Cut cereal box to use as magazine or document organizers.

 

Convert a toilet roll into a gift box for small items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jocelyne - “Mentoring”

Giving a presentation from the “Successful club” series, Jocelyne chose to speak on the topic of mentoring in Toastmasters.

She covered a variety of topics such as

• What is mentoring?
• What qualities does a mentor have? And what qualities does a mentee have?
• What are the benefits of mentoring?
• What are the first steps to starting a mentorship?

TABLE TOPICS

Parimal, the Table Topics Master chose to have the table topics revolve around careers and how they could benefit the community.

Some examples:

• If you were a lawyer, what would you do to improve your community?
• If you were an athlete, how would you change things in your community?

STATS FOR THE MEETING

Word of the day “Gratifying” was used 9 times.

Open House meeting recap

Lambs to Lions had a successful open house meeting on November 1st.

To start off the meeting, Mike, the meeting chair provided us a brief history and timeline of Toastmasters International - just in time for the organization's 90th year anniversary.

Bhushan, our first speaker gave a lively contest-winning speech about his dependable friend that he cannot live without - his Blackberry.

Jocelyne, our second speaker gave an educational workshop titled: "Build it and they will come." She taught us some techniques and tips on how to structure your speech.

Then, the table topics master, Tiffany, warmed up the audience by asking some interesting and fun table topics questions. The guests had enthusiastic participation.

The guests enjoyed some free refreshment and mingling time with others while having a productive morning learning about Toastmasters.

Thanks to all who made this event an enjoyable one. Lambs to Lions is looking to hold more open house events in the new year.

Club table topics and humourous speech contest

Toastmasters International offers the club to hold speech contest twice every year. The most important lesson from participating in the speech contest is the overall experience. Members who participate in the contest are given the opportunity to test their skills and limits, prove to themselves their capabilities, and challenge themselves to do their absolute best.

Lambs to Lions had a club contest on Saturday, September 6th. The contest ended with enthusiastic participation from club members.

To start off the contest, the table topics contest chair wrote a word on a piece of paper. The participants came up to the stage to showcase their impromptu thinking and speaking skill by coming up with a short table topics speech. All participants lived up to the challenge and delivered inspiring table topics speeches.

We then had two humourous speech contestants. Each contestant delivered great speeches.

Although there could only be one winner in each contest, everyone did a fantastic job and all of them is a winner.

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.
  

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.

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

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.

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.

Meeting Recap: December 15, 2012

We welcome the last meeting of the year - a time to celebrate the end of the year and holidays, and a time to reflect our accomplishments - with a Christmas Potluck. (Is it really the end of 2012 already?) Guests and members had a fun meeting while trying out a variety of dishes.

Elizabeth, the meeting chair, started the meeting by talking about the theme "Connection" and how we need to do our best to connect with our relatives and friends- even those who we're not too fond of. Bhushan, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our speakers of the day.

SPEAKERS

We had two prepared speeches and an informative video session in this meeting.

Surekah spoke about the many different ways a person can be assertive in different situations in her speech "The Art of Assertiveness".(Speech no. 3 from the Competent Communication Manual)

Kenny gave a speech filled with tips on how to drive safely in the Winter, titled "Winter Driving". (Speech no. 2 from the Competent Communication Manual)

After the speeches, we had a short break to enjoy the food that members brought.

Thank you to everyone who brought food and made our Potluck a success!

Later, during the video session, Issa played two clips from the official Toastmasters website. "Finding Speech Topics" and "5 Public Speaking Skills".

For the Table Topics Session of the meeting, Mike asked a wide variety of Christmas/Winter themed questions such as, "What's your favourite winter sport?" to "What makes you happy?".

BUSINESS SESSION

Since there is still some time until the next meeting in the new year, Elizabeth made sure that members signed up for all the roles for next meeting.

Meeting Recap: December 1, 2012

What a great way to start the month of December!

Pearl, the chair for the meeting opened the meeting by elaborating on the meeting's theme of "Preparation" and how preparing can lead to success. Bhushan, the toastmaster of the meeting, introduced our three speakers of the day.

SPEAKERS

We had three prepared speeches in this meeting.

Jacque gave a personal account of her past and spoke of her future aspirations in her Icebreaker Speech, titled "Who am I?".(Speech no. 1 from the Competent Communication Manual)

Tiffany gave a thought-provoking speech on how she learnt to converse with strangers and ask them questions in her speech, titled "How should I ask?". (Speech no. 4 from the Competent Communication Manual)

Raj inspired everyone in the audience when he gave a captivating speech about how change (going out of your comfort zone) can help you become successful in his speech, "Are you successful in life?" (Speech no. 4 from the Advanced Communication Series -Speech by Management)

For the Table Topics Session of the meeting, Elizabeth called two members to the front for each turn and made them debate on an impromptu topic. The audience laughed, giggled and actively participated in the session (even the guests).

BUSINESS SESSION

Elizabeth encouraged each member to do more to help our club to grow and gain points for the Distinguished club program.
There are a few ways to help our club achieve points by June 30th 2013:
1. Complete all ten speeches in you Competent Communication manual
2. Bring in new members to the club.

Tiffany gave out more details about the "Potluck" meeting on December 15th- the final meeting of the year. Members are asked to pay attention to their emails for all the necessary information.