Dynamic December!

Dec 17 - A wonderful party of fun, food, and friendship.

Ugly sweaters rocked the evening, with models walking the catwalk. Congrats to Ellen, Rob, and Glen for their winning fashions!

Gifts were unwrapped, Table Topics - members shared why they had the best present! Oh yes! Gifts were stolen :) Lots of fun gifts including a screaming goat! Mona was delighted!

A huge thank you to Diane and Glen for their kindness in hosting. A huge round of applause to welcome Marci as a new Igniter! Happy Holidays Igniters! Each one of you makes our club better. See you in person on Jan. 7.  A great time to work on your goals for the New Year!

Dec 10 - Ellen gave an inspiring Keynote and finished her Level 5 to a standing ovation! Congrats Ellen on your achievement! She inspired us by sharing strategies she had learned as a leader, contestant, and joining Toastmasters! " Let your speech be better than silence - or be silent!" One memorable tip to help in delivering a speech - write your speech, rip it up, and write again. This way you internalize your speech. Let's get ripping and delivering!!

 Nandini VP Membership had a fun induction for new members Emma and Jeremy. The members offered their support and encouragement and cheered for our new members. We learned some fun facts about Jeremy. He can speak Spanish at an intermediate level, backpacked to 10 different countries, and enjoys physics and space. Emma also loves to travel including a European river cruise, lived in Japan and survived an earthquake, and has had several brain surgeries and looking forward to marrying her fiancé. Cant wait to hear more stories!

100 Years Of Toastmasters! District 42 Celebration!

Igniters on Dec 6, celebrated with Toastmasters from many clubs in Calgary at the Royal Taste Chinese Cuisine. Igniters Ali, Marvin, Nandini, Mona, Yvonne, Ksenija, and Jey along with friends Dorothy, Myrna, Dana, and Mary. Over 80 members came to connect, network, and   enjoy an 8 course tasty Chinese meal. 

Igniters were making a splash! Ali helping with audio, Mona (voted by our table) to dance with 5 other lucky Toastmasters to the song by Mrs. Claus aka Molly Hamilton. Marvin shared his passion for TED Talks at the Calgary Advanced Club. 

Daisy the District 42 Director shared her passion for Toastmasters and we all celebrated with delicious cake. The evening had Dave speaking ( a member for 50 yrs), a few dancers, and yes Elvis made an appearance!! Dancing and singing across the stage, Marvin entertained the audience with Jail House Rock!  

Nandini VP Membership

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!

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!

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.

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. 

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.