It's a Tie !

We did the vote and there was a Table Topics Tie!  Seema, Malcolm and Margaret followed the secret recipe to success in answering the Table Topics questions from Rob's Google Top 60 Fill in the Blank questions with the theme of thankfulness and mindfulness. Their evaluator Diane did recommend using more personal stories to increase the impact in Q & A situations.  We can't wait to see and hear more success from our members and guests.

New Member Induction

Malcolm was inducted into Igniters tonight.  It is an important occasion for new members and existing members to acknowledge their responsibilities of positive mentorship to everyone in the club.  Rob as VP Membership and Marion as President coordinated the induction ceremony.

Theme Building or Team Building ?

The synergy was obvious for the dynamic team of Stephen and Casey as our Toastmasters.  Their commitment to teamwork was experienced by all at the meeting.

Table Topics also became a teamwork endeavour as Rob guided the teams to develop questions based on our interests.  The winning questions were determined through voting to experience the value of decision-making as a team.

Contest Season has Arrived

Our contestants Stephen, Chris, Brenda, Malcolm and Ellen were enlightening, composed...and hilarious...at our Club Contest.  We are cheering on the winners and will be there for support at the upcoming Area Contest.

Welcome New Members !

Ksenija, Heather and Jason were inducted into Igniters.  We encourage their ongoing growth as public speakers in pursuit of their professional goals.  Tonight's meeting theme was "Grab Bag" in which all of us had to be prepared for a surprise role...Public speaking can be "like a box of chocolates in which you never know which one you are going to get".

Aloha at Igniters

Rain or shine...It's always a good time to express the theme of the meeting in every way possible.  All we needed were some coconuts then it would have been the Hawaiian vacation that was planned for by Nandini, our Toastmaster for the evening.

Visual Aids Galore !

Mona harvested a delicious salad from her garden for our meeting with a plethora of visual aids! 

Marvin has been acquiring souvenirs and memorable collectibles for years.

Chinese versus Japanese: Similarities and Differences.  JianLi enlightened us with informative research.

Yvonne is an avid sewer who enjoys finding beautiful silks and new patterns for her family and friends.

Iris Talbot - Special Guest for Vocal Practice

Marion invited Iris to be our special guest speaker tonight.  Iris instructed us about vocals including practice in using our voices with confidence during public speaking.  Breathe deeply with your diaphragm and use the lower register then everybody will clearly hear your message!

First Speeches of the Summer

Malcolm was the first speaker during our summer meetings during which we were intrigued by his CC#1 for the timeline of finding a career to be passionate about. Igniters has meetings throughout the summer and we welcome visitors from other clubs including Deepika who presented "Spain, the 2.0 Way."

Induction of Igniters Executive 2016 – 2017

The new members of Igniters Executive were inducted with enthusiastic commitment to uphold their responsibilities. From "Oh Henry, can you set up the room, Sergeant at Arms?" to "Mr Big, big shoes to fill, Madam President", Nandini sweetly inducted the new executive with chocolate to commemorate the beginning of the 2016-2017 term.

PRESIDENT'S CHOICE "HELPERS" AWARD

When Chris G talked about the President's Choice Award, he acknowledged the support he received from many Igniters and he shared with us the contribution each made to the club and how they helped him throughout the year. 
Left to right:
Marvin, Marion, Chris G, Brenda and Stephen.  Missing from the picture - Clemens

PRESIDENT'S CHOICE AWARD

PRESIDENT'S CHOICE AWARD

Chris choose Mona for the President's Choice Award because of her total involvement in Igniters.  She worked tirelessly to start and maintain a Mentoring Program by  arranging conference calls and organizing mentoring groups.  This in turn helped encourage new members to set goals quickly. Mona was also able to achieve the ACS  (Advanced Communicator Silver) while helping others succeed.

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SPIRIT OF SUCCESS SPEECH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS SPEECH  ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Chris said that Brenda recently completed her CC after giving several inspiring speeches. She competed in the Area contest in table topics and grew in many ways both inside and outside the club.  This award is given to a member that continually encourages other members to improve and hone their skills.

MENTORING TEAM

AWARDS NIGHT

Our mentoring team was congratulated and given Awards and Toastmaster Mentoring Pins for all the support they gave to Ignitor's throughout the year. Their guidance helped each of us work through our Competent Communication Manuals.
Thanks to Nandini, Chris G., Stephen, Mona (Mentor Leader), Marvin, Marion, Chris C.,  Glen and Diane for all the energy they have put into Igniter's  and the time you have spent with our new members. 

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS NEW MEMBER AWARD

                                                                          


SPIRIT OF SUCCESS NEW MEMBER AWARD

Margaret was an enthusiastic contributor to our meetings.  She completed six speeches towards her CC and represented Igniter's in the Area contest. Chris talked about how her achievements, participation and enthusiasm represents the spirit of Igniter's club and defines our mission statement.

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP AWARD

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS COMMUNICATION
         AND LEADERSHIP AWARD

Chris was excited to present Diane with this award for her upbeat and happy way of showing us what to do to become a "Distinguished Toastmaster". She achieved her DTM this year by working hard to succeed at her goal.  Diane has actively promoted Igniters for several years by sharing her knowledge and joy of Toastmasters with us .

MEMBER MAKING A DIFFERENCE AWARD

MEMBER MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Chris presented Marion with this award for her constant support for Igniters.  She planned many delicious potlucks.  Marion spent many hours calling and e-mailing guests to encourage them to become a Toastmaster and once they joined she was always available to check on their progress and update them on upcoming events.  Marion's contributions will be recognized on the District 42 website. Marion you really did make a difference to Igniters.

Year End Celebration and Awards Night

Igniter's held their Year End Celebration and Awards Night at June 20, 2016 at Mona's house. 
As usual our pot luck dinner was delicious right from the appetizers  though the main course and including the deserts.  I have concluded that our food options are as varied as our speech presentations. 
We would like to thank Mona and Ted for their hospitality .

Igniters is excited to have reached the PRESIDENT'S DISTINGUISHED STATUS
We have many people to thank for helping us achieve the 10 goals set out by Toastmasters International.
1 & 2.  Ellen and Julie successfully completed their 10 speeches and obtained their CC award
3.  Nandini completed her ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze)
4.  Mona  achieved her ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver)
5 & 6.  Diane added our second ACS and her DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster)
7 & 8.  This goal is to add 4 new members to our club twice.  Our plans to get 8 members was almost tripled as we had a total of 22 new members joined Igniters'.
9.  Required that we have 4 executive members trained in each of the two sessions
10. The last goal is administrative in nature and we completed it easily

GREAT YEAR FOR IGNITERS.  Thanks to our President Chris G. for his guidance, for the executive for the work that was completed, to the founding members for everything they have taught us by allowing us to fill positions and learn through their experience and to all the members that helped us have fun while we shared the Toastmaster Experience.

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS IGNITING SPIRITS AWARD

SPIRIT OF SUCCESS IGNITING
SPIRITS AWARD

Chris presented Brenda with this award for her contribution to Igniters in a variety of ways.  She completed her CC, entered a speech contest and helped to plan Diane's DTM party.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

As Rookie of the Year, Anne not only gets recognized at our club level but she moves on to Area .  She   completed many speeches as well,  she also acted as a test speaker at a different clubs evaluation contest and  a judge at a few contests. She also  served on the executive and helped out in several of our contests.  Chris presented Anne with a plaque.

TOASTMASTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

TOASTMASTER OF THE  YEAR AWARD

Chris kept us in suspense as to who would be the Toastmaster of the Year and the last award he presented was to Nandini.  During the year she completed her ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze), spoke several times outside the club, helped with officer training, and mentored us.  Nandini also found time to represent Igniters and win at the District 42 final for table topics. Her hard work is an inspiration to all of us and we thank her for all that she does for our club. 

PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE YEAR

PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE YEAR

As VP of Public Relations, Brenda was nominated for this award.  She worked on the blog to share Igniter's exciting special events and their meeting information. Chris mentioned that she also helped with special events and other areas of the club's life.   

COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR SPEECH 1, 6 and 10

It is always exciting to hear an Ice Breaker from a new Toastmaster, and Paul did an excellent job of his speech called "Has Paul Made a Difference.  He shared some very interesting parts of his work and volunteer life. 

Our second speech, CC # 6, Vocal Variety was presented by JianLi and his passion was obvious in "A Little Girl - A Big Difference", as he shared the story of a young girl who worked to save children from getting malaria  by supplying nets to their villages in Africa.

To conclude our trio of speeches a Julie presented her CC#10th,    "Do Something Different- Make The Change", you could see the confidence she has gained completing the Competent Communicator.

New Member Inductions

Thanks again to Marion, our VP of Membership, for inducting three new members, Michelle, Casey, and Partik.  It was great to have Reed, Matt and Yvonne, members that have only been with Igniter's for a few months, step up and  introduce them to us.

Igniter's 2016/2017 Executive

    Igniter's 2016/17 Executive

We are proud to announce our new executive:     Left to Right
Juin Li  --Treasurer
Marion -- President
Rob ------ VP Membership
Ellen ----- VP Education
Yvonne --- Secretary
Anne ----- VP Public Relations
Clemens-- Sargent At Arms

Igniting Spirits at Convention

Igniters celebrate with all of District 42 one last time. The Spring Convention in Red Deer celebrates the growth in District 42. Starting July 1, 2016 we will have two Districts 99 (N. Alberta and N. Sask) and District 42 (S. Alberta & S. Sask). The theme of the Convention was Looking Back, Moving Forward.

 

 

Keynote Mark Brown - World Champion of Speaking shared How to Make your Stories Come Alive. Tips: 1) Make your 1D speeches a  3D experience. 2) Give an experience - audience needs to see, feel, hear, taste, touch. Choose your words carefully. 3) Don't tell us story - take us into your story.

        

 

 

 

Friday - Retro night. Pink Ladies Rock!                  
Sat - Masquerade Ball, Igniters celebrate Diane achieving her DTM.

It was a memorable weekend enjoying the International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest.  Learning, networking, and growing as leaders.

Diane's DTM Party

At our May 10th weekly meeting, we surprised Diane with a  celebration to honor her  completing the projects to become a Distinguished Toastmaster.  Chris G, Igniter's president, gave a speech sharing with us the requirements of a DTM.  After, taking us through each of the requirements he  presented Diane with her ALS (Advanced Leader Silver and her DTM  (Distinguished Toastmaster) ribbons.
Her excitement was seen by all those in attendance!!!

2016 Area 41 Context Awards Plaques

Poorna,  the J46 Area Director,  attended the May 10th  Igniters'  meeting to  present two of our members with  the spring 2016 Area 41 Award plaques.


Ellen received  first place in the Area 41 International Speech Contest

Glen received  first place in the Area 41 Evaluation Contest

DTM Party

Everyone was thrilled to celebrate Diane's DTM

Diane wished to say "I have learned and grown so much since joining Igniters! Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement along the way."

Diane's DTM PArty

Stephen did an excellent job as Toastmaster at Diane's DTM Party by entertaining our guests and members as he took us through the agenda. 

 Nandini, Doris (past District Governor), Mona, Glen, Deb (a friend of Diane's) and Poorna(Division J Director)  each shared a bit about Dianes life.  They talked about the speeches Diane has given in the past, the different positions she has held within the clubs and how Toastmaster's had become

such an important part of her life.  Diane's enthusiasm for life and her dedication to helping others was a constant in each presentation.throughout the evening. 

          


         CONGRATULATIONS

                      DIANE

                       

                        

Competent Communication Speech 1 and 10

Igniter's had another awesome meeting.  Marvin our Toastmaster brought us news from Toastmaster District 42, Spring Convention in Red Deer. 
On this beautiful day we were pleased to have 22 Igniter's, 2 past members and 3 guests at the meeting to hear two speeches from the Competent Communication Manual.

Ellen gave her CC#10 speech "Your Choice" and shared with us a presentation she will be giving to a group of high school students.  She shared the  difference between our  goal and our purpose here on earth and with the excellent addition of her slide presentation, we were able to learn how to apply the information to our lives.

We were fortunate to hear Kenneth's CC#1 Icebreaker speech "My Love For Books" where he walked us through parts of his life and shared some of his favorite books and how they applied to his life. He ended the presentation by finally taking the lid off of a box he had placed in the centre of the floor and surprised us by telling us that the empty box had contained his FEAR  (false evidence appearing real)

Memtor Moment

Toast of the Town welcomed Anne as a guest during their Pecha Kucha contest meeting. Pecha Kucha is "the art of concise presentations" with a 20x20 format of 20 seconds description for each of 20 slides. The theme can vary and Toast of the Town was very convincing about scenic locations throughout the world to enjoy retirement.
If you have a free lunch hour or evening, visit a nearby club to meet  TM members and bring new ideas back to Igniters.
Thank you Anne for the very inspirational "Mentor Moment" on Tuesday and for the contribution to the blog to spread the word about Pecha Kucha

New Members for Igniters

We are so excited to have our VP of Membership Marion, induct Reid and Deb into Toastmasters.  Marion is always enthusiastic when introducing new members to the opportunities that are available to them.  We are looking forward to their upcoming Icebreaker speeches.


 

Spring 2016 International Speech Contest

The 2016 Evaluation and International Speech Contest winners and the Area Directors
 Left to Right Below:  Ho Man 2nd International Speech,  Ellen (Igniter)| 3rd International Speech,  Saya 2nd Evaluation,  Ulzhan 3rd Evaluation, Brenda 1st Evaluation , and Flo 1st International Speech, Susan - J45 Area Director, Kathy  - J41 Area  Director,  Nazlie - J60  Director, Darlene - J46 Area Direstor,  Poorna - J Division Director, Michael -  J48 Director

Congratulation to all of the competitors (missing from photos - Glen (Igniter), Andre,  and Rob) you gave us a very entertaining and educational evening.  Thanks to those who volunteered and everyone that came to support Toastmasters at its best. 

SPRIING 2016 EVALUATION and INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST

Chris ,Igniter's President,  proudly preparing to carry our Banner  on stage before the contests began.






The parade of banner for District J - Division 42

Storytelling - learn from a Pro

Once again we had a tremendous meeting with two awesome guests.
Darlene Davies presented a storytelling workshop "Igniting Interest with Stories" which took us through the steps required to find an idea, write an inspirational story and to tell it with style.  Her passion for Toastmasters was infectious.
Our second guest, Kathy Young (J41 Director), walked us through the six "Moments of Truth" that are fundamentals of any Toastmasters' club and helped us understand how we are doing great and where Igniter's could set goals to improve.

Marvin, Nandini, Darlene and Michel, founding members of Igniters'.  Kathy (in centre of photo)

22 Members attended tonight

We had an awesome meeting tonight with a full slate of volunteers stepping up to fill the required positions to run a exciting meeting.  The tables were filled with 22 Igniters, some of which were our founding members and a few who joined less than a month ago. Everyone participated with the round table introduction by sharing their favorite memory or fascination with SPRING.

Clemens, the SAA, started the meeting on time and did an excellent job of introducing Stephen, our Toastmaster.  Mona and Nandini educated and entertained us with two speeches and then a short presentation that informed us of our voting privileges at the up-coming convention.  Marvin, Anne and Chris imparted valuable insight when the gave their evaluations.

Thanks again for an enjoyable evening.