Meeting #553 - May 30, 2006

We had another good meeting on May 30, 2006, with another guest. Our theme was How does your garden grow? and we were ably led by Toastmaster Marcos. Toastmaster Louise brought us a Word of the Day: Herb, which is a plant whose stem is not woody or persistent; a plant of which the leaves are used for food, medicine, scent, flavour, etc., and which was in keeping with the meeting's theme. Toastmaster Marcos brought us a couple of Quotes of the Day, again keeping with the theme. Toastmaster Guy then amused us with an suitable Joke of the Day.

It was then time to move to our first speech of the day. First, we heard from Toastmaster John H. with the objectives for a Competent Toastmaster (CTM) speech #1, or Icebreaker. Then, we got to know Toastmaster Robert a little better through his first speech. Then we heard from Toastmaster Sharon with the objectives for a CTM speech #2. Then, Toastmaster Yola encouraged us all to avoid Mid-Career Burnout.

While we again had to dispense with Table Topics, we had a little bit of club business from Toastmaster Louise, who encouraged us to bring guests as we push to build the club's membership and "Beat the Clock" of the end of the Toastmaster year.

We then moved in to the evaluation portion of the meeting with an Speech Evaluations from Toastmaster John H., and Toastmaster Sharon. Then we heard from Toastmaster Guy with a General Evaluation of the meeting, assisted by Toastmaster Kathryn as Grammarian/Ah Counter and Toastmaster John H. as Timer.

Toastmaster Marcos returned to review the agenda for next week - when we will be treated to a special presentation from a guest speaker. Then we adjourned.

Looking forward to seeing you on June 6!

Meeting #552 - May 23, 2006

We had a lively meeting on May 23, 2006, with a number of guests. Our theme was Victoria Day Traditions and we were capably led by Toastmaster Louise. Toastmaster Robert brought us a Word of the Day: Prude, which is a person who affects an excessively rigid attitude in matters of personal modesty and proper conduct. Toastmaster Kathryn brought us a couple of Quotes of the Day, from Queen Victoria, herself. Toastmaster Carrie then amused us with an suitable Joke of the Day.

It was then time to move to our first speech of the day. We heard from Toastmaster Gisèle with a Competent Leader (CL) speech on Mentoring. Then, we heard from Toastmaster Guy with objectives for the following Advanced Toastmaster Bronze (ATM B) speech. Next up was Toastmaster Marcos with his ATM B speech, which was "A Briefing", when he informed us about the "Pest Management Centre: Integrating Risk Reduction, Minor Use, and Research".

While we had to dispense with Table Topics, we had a little bit of club business from Toastmaster Guy. We then moved in to the evaluation portion of the meeting with an Speech Evaluation from Toastmaster Guy, and a General Evaluation of the meeting from Toastmaster Angie, assisted by Toastmaster Carrie as Grammarian/Ah Counter and Toastmaster Guy as Timer.

Toastmaster Louise returned to review the agenda for next week and we adjourned.

Looking forward to seeing you on May 30!

Meeting #551 - May 16, 2006

We had another small but lively meeting on May 16, 2006. Our theme and main objective for the meeting was Elections , as we held our club elections for the 2006/07 Toastmaster year. We were capably led by Toastmaster Guy. We had one guest.

Toastmaster Bill provided a couple of relevant Quotes of the Day: "Polls are for dogs." and "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Then Toastmaster Carrie amused us with a couple of relevant Jokes of the Day.

It was then time to move to our main purpose for the meeting. First, Toastmaster Guy explained the officer roles and responsibilities. Then we elected the following slate of officers for the upcoming year:

President - Toastmaster Kathryn
Vice-President Education - Toastmaster Angie
Vice-President Membership - Toastmaster John S.
Treasurer - Toastmaster Carrie
Vice-President Public Relations - Toastmaster Robert
Sergeant-at-Arms - Toastmaster John H.
Past President - Toastmaster Guy

We have yet to identify a Secretary and plan to recruit this position at next week's meeting.

After the formal election, Toastmaster Guy, also the current President, formally installed the new slate of officers.

Toastmaster Guy then reviewed the agenda for next week. This week's guest was encouraged to come back next week to observe a more standard Toastmasters meeting, and we adjourned.

Looking forward to seeing you on May 23!

Meeting #550 - May 9, 2006

We had a small but lively meeting on May 9, 2006. Our theme was Electoral Reform: What's your take? We were capably led by Toastmaster Rebecca. We had one guest/turned member - Toastmaster Robert!

Toastmaster John H. amused us with a Joke of the Day.

It was then time to move to our first speech of the day. First, we heard from Toastmaster Kathryn with the objectives for our speaker's CTM* #6 speech. Toastmaster Bill then showed us all some vocal variety, with his speech The Basis for Democracy, a nice symmetry with the meeting's theme. We then heard from Toastmaster Guy with an Advanced Leader (AL) presentation on Working in a team environment.

While we had to dispense with Table Topics, we did have a bit of time for some Club Business from Toastmaster Guy, who helped us welcome our new member, Toastmaster Robert.

We then heard from Toastmaster Kathryn again with an evaluation of Toastmaster Bill's speech.

We then continued in evaluation mode with the Meeting Evaluation. Toastmaster Sharon, ably assisted by Toastmaster Robert as Grammarian/Ah Counter and Toastmaster Angie as Timer, informed us that we had a successful meeting!

Toastmaster Rebecca returned to review the agenda for next week and we adjourned.

Looking forward to seeing you on May 16!

* CTM = Competent Toastmaster

Meeting #549 - May 2, 2006

We had a lively meeting on May 2, 2006. Our theme today was Food Experience and we were capably led by Toastmaster Marcos. We had two guests, and we look forward to future visits!

Toastmaster Carrie provided us some new vocabulary with the Word of the Day: soupçon (noun), which means "a very small amount". Toastmaster Sharon provided a Quote of the Day and Toastmaster Angie amused us with a Joke of the Day, drawing amusing extracts from instruction manuals.

It was then time to move to our speech. First, we heard from Toastmaster John H. the objectives for our speaker's ATMB* #2 speech. Toastmaster Rebecca then demonstrated her ability to read a presentation prepared for management and told us "What the heck's the CGDI?".

We then had some Club Business from Toastmaster Guy and visiting Toastmaster and Area Governor Toastmaster Nena, who had both participated in the District Conference over the preceding weekend.

We then had an opportunity for impromptu speaking with Table Topics, led by Toastmaster Bill. Our Table Topics Master encouraged two volunteers to tell us their thoughts on what they thought should change.

Next up was an evaluation of Toastmaster Rebecca's speech from Toastmaster John H.

Then we moved into the evaluation portion of the meeting. Toastmaster Marcin arrived at the lectern as General Evaluator, ably assisted by Toastmaster Carrie as Grammarian/Ah Counter and Toastmaster Louise as Timer. Turns out it was a very successful meeting!Toastmaster Marcos returned to ask the guests for comments (which were positive) and we adjourned.

Looking forward to seeing you on May 9!

* ATMB = First level of Advanced Toastmaster (Bronze)