Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Celebrating Achievements

Pathways achievements

Level 1, Visionary Communications - Chamila 
Level 1, Engaging Humour - Darlene
Level 5, Strategic Relationships - Ali

Reaching Out in D42

Ellen - new member of D42 Dispatch Team
Nandini & Marvin - Pathways Education Team
Fola - Area 6 Director

Turning Pages achievements

Darlene - online presenter for Turning Pages with Kelly Kaur, 
                "Bring Your Book to Life"
              - participated in her first book signing event with Turning Pages
                 Her book Laughter Makes You Stronger, based on her
                Toastmaster speeches, was published in 2024.

Congratulations Igniters!


Tuesday, December 03, 2024

Humour Tournament a Success

Our final open house in November was the funtastic November 26 Humour Tournament. 

We were delighted to welcome our new member, Emma. Welcome also to the guests who assisted us with roles, applauded enthusiastically and enjoyed the fellowship and the snacks.


Our Tournament Master, Mark led us adroitly through the tournament with an amazing eight humour contestants: Ali, Marvin, Glen, Trevor, Jeff, Jey, Diane and Elaine.

They all had uniquely funny stories to tell. Will we ever forget Marvin crawling through his cat door, or Diane demonstrating the attributes of a perfect outhouse, or Elaine's husband's prosthetic leg sticking out of the pool while they tried to rescue him? Every speaker had a story that tickled our funny bones and left us giggling, chuckling and laughing out loud.


                    And the winners are:
                    1st place - Trevor
                    2nd place - Jeff
                    3rd place - Diane 

All eight contestants gave us a gift of laughter - a royal treat indeed. Congratulations all!

Monday, November 18, 2024

Time to Laugh!

On Tuesday November 26, Igniters Toastmasters will be holding a much awaited Humour Tournament. 
Members will delight us with a 5-7 minute humorous speech and compete for the top prize - perhaps Royal Jester? It will surely be a night of smiles, giggles, and guffaws.
Competitors can practice speaking, complete a speech requirement for a pathway level, or test your power to be funny, all within the welcoming, supportive Igniters environment. This is an unofficial in-club contest, meaning the winner doesn’t qualify for an Area-Level Contest, nor do the speakers have to satisfy any requirements in order to be eligible to participate. 

You can be involved and have a great time too! We need volunteers: jesters (competitors), Toastmaster, judges, ballot counters, timers. The more members involved the merrier. 
Members, please contact Mark Samcoe, our club president, to sign up now. 
Guests are welcome to come and enjoy the fellowship, the laughter and hilarity. Guests may also volunteer in roles that support the tournament. Please email info@igniterstm.ca to let us know you are coming.

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Dust Off Your Funny-bone

Is there anything more fun than laughing with your friends while you listen to a hilarious speech? 

Being the one to help them laugh!

Give the gift of a smile, a chuckle, or a guffaw to your fellow members in our upcoming club Humorous Speech Tournament on November 26. Start now. Dust off your funny-bone, and start writing your funny 5-7 minute speech. We will be glad that you did!

More details are coming soon. 

Sunday, November 03, 2024

Halloween Spooktacular

On a dark and fateful October 31 evening, witches and pirates and gangsters gathered. There was a pumpkin, a werewolf, a devil and a hula dancer, a giant spiderman, and more. The music started and they all began to dance — and eat — at the sumptuous buffet. 

A man with an eerie black cape banged a gavel on the lectern. Suddenly there was order and the meeting began. It was Toastmasters after all! We were happy to welcome six guests to our Open House event and welcome our new member, Jeremy to our club.

Ali was our Toastmaster. Darlene shared humour tips to help us tell funnier stories. David and Chamila inspired us with their Pathways speeches on rising like a Phoenix and coping with traffic in Calgary.

Best costumes were: Bentley the gangster, guest Rebecca the Pikachu, and Nandini and Marvin the friendly pirates. Scary Table Topics was led by Wizard Trevor.

Next Open House Event: Tuesday Nov 5 Games night on Zoom and our inspiring guest speaker Meghna Bhagat who will share tips on how to be a stronger speaker.

To come as a guest, please RSVP info@igniterstm.ca.


Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Toastmasters 100th Anniversary


With our 100th anniversary backgrounds and some brilliant smiles, our members sparkled in our Zoom celebration. Jeff gave a speech about how he found his courage to speak in public, Marvin shared highlights of  Toastmasters 100 year journey, and Nandini gave a thoughtful toast to an organization that has helped us all to learn and grow. 

Our table topics led by Ali revealed interesting facts about our members: we have two couples who met and fell in love in Toastmasters meetings, a member whose name means a flower blossoming, someone who has a shoe collection. Welcome to our guest Jeremy who cheerfully participated in table topics!

Congratulations to Chamilla who partnered with Marvin to take on the role of Toastmaster for the first time. Other members taking on a role did so demonstrating great listening skills, insight and a dash of humour.

An inspiring evening!  Next week is the Halloween Party! :)

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Special events coming

Fun, fellowship, and great learning opportunities!

Toastmasters is celebrating its 100 Year Anniversary - October 22, 2024! 

To mark the occasion, Igniters Toastmasters has planned a number of special events in October and November. We look forward to seeing everyone. Guests are very welcome, please just let us know ahead so that we can welcome you. Details are in the poster below.