Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate-filled Meeting

Spirits were high during our last Igniters meeting as everyone in attendance was treated to several different kinds of scrumptious chocolate!
Thank you to the evening Toastmaster Malcolm, and to birthday girl Ksenjia, for both bringing in chocolate to share which definitely ignited the fun, community and creativity of our meeting.

Pictured here is guest Natalie holding our trophy given as award for winner of Table Topics as well as  Igniter member Nandini holding a special kind of trophy, a cacao pod! This dried cacao pod is where the cacao beans come from, which is what makes chocolate. As a chocolate-lover you can see how happy Nandini is!


Sunday, November 19, 2017

Area Awards

Our Area Director, Ken visited our club in November to present some awards. 
Margret received her plaque for 1st place in the Area Humorous Speech Contest, Nandini received her plaque for 1st place in the Area Table Topics contest. The Club also received a certificate for 76% retention. 

Way to go Igniters!





Monday, November 13, 2017

Igniters at District Conference

Several members of the Igniters club had a fabulous time at the District Conference in Medicine Hat. 
They saw great Keynotes by World Champion of Public Speaking, Lance Miller as well as Monique Levesque-Pharoah who is International Director. 
They reported that the contests were excellent and the event was full of amazing people to meet.

I am sure we will be hearing about some of the gems and wisdom received over the next few meetings - looking forward to it!

In contest updates, at the conference Nandini gave a fabulous Table Topics Speech.

The Table Topics contest winners were:

3 - Jocelyn Hattie, High River Toastmasters 
2 - Anthony Sanni, MVP Advanced Toastmasters 
1 - Brad Smart, UR Toastmasters

Congratulations to all the competitors.




Friday, November 10, 2017

Congrats to 3 New Competent Communicators

During our meeting on November 7th both the current and past Club President of Igniters honoured 3 members with ribbons for completing the Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual.
This involved completing 10 speeches, which each of our 3 members had been working on over the last year in their own time and pace.

Congratulations to Malcolm, Yvonne and Margaret for completing this milestone in Toastmasters.


Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Igniters at Division Contest Nov 2017


Igniters did fantastic at the Division Contest! Nandini won the Table Topics contest. Ksenija won Rookie of the Year and Ellen won Toastmasters of the Year. Margaret was entertaining at Humorous Speech contest.  Several members attended the contest sharing the excitement. Nandini, Ksenija and Ellen will represent us at the District Conference,  let's all cheer them on.
November 10 - November 12
in Medicine Hat







Sunday, October 29, 2017

Igniters on Facebook

Igniters Toastmasters now has a Facebook Group page.

You can search Igniters Toastmasters in Facebook or simply follow the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1299367036859797/?source=create_flow

This page is a public page and we hope will offer our club more exposure to new guests and help grow our membership.
Anyone can use this page to share information, stories, video's speeches, testimonials related to Igniters Toastmasters.

Join the group if you are part of the club.


Friday, October 20, 2017

Igniting Winners

Igniters celebrated the success of many of club members during the Area contest

Congratulations go to: 

Margaret who won the Humorous Speech contest. 
Nandini who won the Table Topics contest. 
Ksenija who won Rookie of the Year.  
Ellen who won Toastmasters of the Year for 2016-2017. 

We had 8 club members attend the Area contest to cheer them all on. 

Margaret & Nandini will go on to represent us again at the upcoming Division Contest.
Good Luck Igniters!

Competitions are a great way to increase your public speaking and leadership skills not just as a contestant but also a volunteer and even as an audience member, because watching and listening to other speakers helps you learn. 

Thank you to all those who attended, volunteered and competed!


Details for the upcoming Division contest are:

Division E Humorous and Table Topics Contest

Monday October 276 - 9pm  
Meadowlark Park Community Hall | 623 – 58 Ave SW, Calgary, AB 







Thursday, September 28, 2017

Welcoming A New Member to Igniters


Igniters welcomed new member Judsen to the club!
Marion conducted a welcoming induction ceremony and Ksenjia shared the bio and story of our new member.
As a club we look forward to supporting Judsen in his speaking endeavours and hearing all his speeches to come.



Saturday, September 23, 2017

Please give a BIG - virtual - round of applause to all our contestants who participated in Igniters Club Contest. You did an amazing job! Your personal stories made us laugh and ponder life in new ways.
 
Congratulations to our winners!
 
Humorous Speech Contest
  1. Margaret 
  2. Nandini 
Table Topics Contest
  1. Nandini 
  2. Rob 
  3. Diane D.
Margaret and Nandini will move on to represent Igniters at Area E6 Contest on October 12.
 
 
Thank you to everyone who helped with the contest: all our volunteers and those who came out to support our contestants! Your contributions are very much appreciated.
 
Come and show your Igniters Spirit at the Area Contest! Cheer on Margaret and Nandini, and volunteer. 
Area E6 Contest
Thursday, Oct 12, 6pm - 9pm
Alastair Ross Technology Center (U of C Research Park)

Biggest thanks of all goes to Ksenjia who was a major force in organizing the entire event from start to finish!
Thank you!









Friday, September 15, 2017

Goal Setting

Our current VP of Education Yvonne, is connecting with Igniters to invite each of us to take the time to think about our goals for Toastmasters. 

Remember why you joined Toastmasters...

Think about what you wish to achieve this year in Toastmasters, and write it down. For example: finishing the CC manual, or learning and filling different roles at the club, completing CL, or working on advance communicator bronze, silver or gold, and higher goals.  

"The danger lies not in setting our goals too high and falling short, it is aiming too low and achieving our mark".  In other words, are you aiming too low and playing it small and safe?

What are your goals?

Connect with Yvonne, share with other Toastmasters, and together we can help each other!


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

High Spirits

Our August 22nd 2017 meeting was well attended and everyone seemed ignited in high spirits!
3 guests joined us, 2 speeches were given and an extra lengthy but enjoyable round table of introductions was shared by all.
Our Toastmaster for the evening Nandini Venkatesan offered those who were inspired by extra 'creativity' (word of the day) and found themselves sharing such wonderful stories during the round table introduction to develop out those stories further into a speech - great idea!
Our table topics winner was the friendly Marvin Henry who pictured here happily shows his prize statue.
Thanks to Rob Morris for brining in the statue that he said he 3D printed at home. Rob did a wonderful job sharing the back story on the Venus de Milo which he had learned about while visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
Looking forward to more great meetings to come...


Monday, August 21, 2017

Learning about Vocal Variety


We had a fun meeting in a new temporary location next door while they are renovating the Nifty Fifties. Always good to shake things up a bit, speak in a new venue or location. See what comes up for us! This week both our speakers were focussing on Project #6 Vocal Variety. We learned about the Power of Pause, Rate of Speaking, and the importance of Tone.

Marvin was our enthusiastic Toastmaster spoke on the Theme of Festivals and Food and all the delicious foods he had at the Taste of Calgary. Mmm!  Ayanna gave an inspiring speech about the "The Powerful, Formidable, Terrifying Midnight Robber". This is a character in the Trinad Carnival who is a legendary storyteller using very descriptive language. She also challenged the members to embody the best vision of yourself you can imagine and keep working on your goals. Mona shared funny stories"Going Euro" of her trip to Europe and how she almost missed boarding the Eurostar. We leaned about making an impact by using luggage as a prop to get the audience's attention!

Great having two guests and our members recieved feedback from evaluators who helped them become better speakers. If you were not there, we missed you! Hope to see you this week!!

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Toastmasters Can Help You in Your Personal & Professional Life

Benefits of Toastmasters from an Igniters Member
Listen in on the story of one of our members who in fact has moved away and no longer part of our club because he used the skills and confidence he gained through Toastmasters to land a job... Way to go!
https://youtu.be/JdrWn24UzFI







More Year End Awards & New Board Induction

Our July 4th meeting was celebratory with awards for 

Spirit of Success New Member
Spirit of Success Speech Achievement  
Member Making Difference 
and there was also an Executive Induction 





Igniters Party

What a fun night it was, full of laughters and fun!

Check out some of the photos of Igniters Toastmasters Year End Party at Mona's home where we also celebrated Canada 150 and gave out club awards.













Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Spring Contest District 42, Division E, Area 41 Winners



INTERNATION SPEECH CONTEST

      Contest Chair:  Kathy Young
      Contest Winner: Ellen Pelletier
      Contest Toastmaster: Nandini Venkatesan














 EVALUATION CONTEST                                     
                                                                           Congratulations ELLEN !!!!!! 
  Contest Chair:  Kathy Young
  Contest Toastmaster: Ben Knochel
  Contest Winner: Ellen Pelletier






Come out and support Ellen at
Division E Contest
Thursday, April 20
Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association
1320 5 Ave NW, Calgary





SPRING CONTEST 2017 - THANK YOU

  • Igniter's were thrilled to host the 2017 Spring Contest on April 4, 2017.  This contest could not happen without many volunteers. 
  • We would like to say thank you to the following.
    • Contest Chairs:    Kathy Young & Brenda Jones,
    • Toastmasters:       Nandini Venkatesan & Ben Knochel
    • Chief Judge:         Marvin Henry 
    • Timers:                 Ksenija Crnogorac & Chris Crooks
    • Ballot Counters:    Mona Cooley, Val Erickson & Diane Fox
    • Sargent at Arms:   Marion Butcher & Muhannad Nouri:
    • Test Speaker & Judges:     to remain anonymous
  • A big thanks to those that brought food and drinks.  Once again members and guests left the Igniter's hall with their food craving satisfied as we have a large variety of  appetizers and deserts. 
  • Apologies to anyone I missed in this THANK YOU.  Everyone that came and shared in the evening helped to make the contest memorable.
          

SPRING CONTEST District 42, Division E, Area 42

INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST

Once again our competitors did an awesome job presenting their speeches.  The audience was treated with five very different orations, all of which were entertaining and informative.
Contestants : Brandon Felty, Ellen Pelletier, Julie Wright, Julianna Barabas and Ken Schatzke chell Contest Chair - Kathy Young  Toastmaster - Nandini Venkatesan



  EVALUATION CONTEST

We appreciated and enjoyed our test speaker that shared a life experience that many of us could relate to.  Our Contestants: Geetha Nicodemus, Ellen Pelletier and Supun DeSilva each brought their our style to the evaluations and as an audience member I appreciated and learned from their appraisals.   Toastmaster: Ben Knochel




Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Club Contest March 2017 - Participation, Challenge and Success

All participants in the Igniters Club Contest were acknowledged by President Marion who personally thanked everyone for their participation.  The contest organizers spend weeks making decisions that produced a rewarding experience for contestants and the many guest.

Evaluation Contestants: Stephen (SSA), Ellen, Anne, Marion (TM), Chris
First Place Winner Ellen

International Speech Contestants:  Ellen, Malcolm, Yvonne, Margaret, Marion (TM), Mona (SAA)


First Place Winner Ellen




Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Test Speaker during Workshop

Nandini's Evaluation Workshop created a full house with 18 guests.  Her presentation was informative and interactive.  Michelle volunteered to be the Test Speaker for our evaluation practice.  "The Act" was well researched and challenged our thinking about food choices, especially our fast food treats that sneak into our meals.  It is always a treat to see the collaboration between two speakers in one meeting!