Secrets from Storytellers

Dermot always has a story up his sleeve. Every week he knows how to make us laugh! How does he do it?! He shared some tips to help you become a better storyteller.

Secret #1 A good story should be at least 80% true, the rest can be attributed to a bad memory.

Secret #2 Humour goes a long way and helps to gauge the listeners reactions.

Secret #3 I generally have two endings to my stories...a soft ending and a crash landing. Depending on the audience response I deliver one or the other. Both are the same ending, just delivered differently. For example : if the audience laughs at the sad parts I will go with the flow and deliver in a humorous fashion.

Secret #4 Remember that the story is to entertain the listener, not to feed the ego of the storyteller. 

Craig Valentine, World Champion of Public Speaking  has a masterful way of helping you communicate with more power? He has some great tips on being a better storyteller. How could this help your speeches? Bonus Secret . . .

We have some terrific storytellers and writers at Igniters. Come to a meeting and meet them. What can you learn this week to make you a better communicator?!

Igniters Warm Up their Speaking!

What did we Learn this week?

Igniters are a hearty bunch! Although it was snowing, it was a full house. Speaking and a friendly meeting will warm you up quickly!

Tips This Week: Trevor shared in the Meeting Mentor Moment. He has learned to be a better audience member. He turns off phone. Pays attention to the speaker. Listens!
Pause - A good pause can do the heavy lifting
Speech - Aim for crafted. Not perfectly polished.


Mentoring Power
Our members are able to grow because of the strong mentoring in our club. Marion does a fantastic job of mentoring for the major roles. More members willing to step up.

This week she used her creativity and even created a sign for Dermot - Toastmaster in Training! She shares a script to help newer member learn the Toastmaster role and share the role so they can learn and feel more comfortable.

Congratulations! Nandini finished her Level 3 in Pathways with an inspiring speech about Wellsprings a fantastic resource for providing support and care to cancer patients and their family.
Yvonne used the acronomyn H.O.P.E. from the speech to give feedback and getting the audience to imagine a scene will have more impact.

Gil shared his Communication Style of Intitiating and shared his goal of wanting to speak more off the cuff and from the heart. He left us with two questions to think about this week. What is in You? What Is your Story? Mona gave helpful feedback about a well organized speech and focussing on 3 key parts - Heart, Energy, and Purpose.

Way to go Lindsay!- she won the TT award this week sharing her insights about fireplace guy on tv.

Start Strong! How To Do It

Every wonder how to start a speech with more power? Looking for examples to help you do it?
Press Play!

Educational Achievements

What can we learn this week?
Our Toastmaster Gil shared the importance of Rememberance and how we all have stories where we have been summoned to make decisions with courage. During the introductions, we all shared our stories and got to know each other better.

Getting Better! Speakers and Evaluators

Glen gave a speech from the Special Occasions Manual. He gave a heartfelt tribute to his father and honored him with an award for his contribution during World War II as a member of the Royal Merchant Navy. We all had a chance to learn more about his work and to appreciate the freedoms we have in Canada.

Congratulations Jey on completing Level 1 on your 2nd Path! He gave an interesting and interactive speech, where we all got a chance to work on our drawing skills and how our brains are able to take in a visual in milliseconds and know what it is!


Fantastic Marvin on completing your Level 2 in Dynamic Leadership Path.
He shared how his first manager helped to mentor him and had a BELIEF in him. (Build Relationships, Evaluate, Listen, Interact, Encourage, and Follow Up) and as a mentee he would LEARN. (Listen, Eager, Action Oriented, Respond, Never Give Up! He shared stories of other mentors in Toastmasters and our club who have mentored him and helped him grow.

Diane brought homemade tarts to thank all the members for their help in helping her win the Evaluation Contest. She shared the Divsion trophies - great seeing the history of other Toastmasters who have won and a nice way to inspire newer Toastmaters.
A supportive club every week. Come for a visit!

Winning at the Division Contest!

Igniters rocked it at Division E Contest in Cochrane! Great turnout to support our members! Lots of Igniters were involved in helping out at the contest as contest officials.

Congratulations Diane! - who won 1st place in the Evaluation Contest! She gave very helpful feedback to the test speaker who chatted with her after the contest.

Fantastic Marvin! He won President of the Year as he belongs to two clubs and won as President for Calgary Advanced.

Diane and Marvin will be competing for District Contests and District Of the Year Awards held in Lethbridge at the District Conference on May 1-3, 2020. Let's go and cheer them on!

Divison E Director Saya and Division Contest Chair Susan sharing in the excitement.

Evaluation Contest     
1. Diane                       
2. Harvey                 
3. Shazin

Table Topics Contest
1. Lucas
2. Scott
3. Rick               

Lynette Past E Division Director shared testimonials and highlighted many contributions of Marvin for the Toastmaster community. Other Of the Year awards were presented including Rookie of the Year, Toastmaster of the Year, Public Relations of the Year, and Area Director of the Year. It was an inspiring afternoon of leaders who are making a difference.



Hurray Igniters! Ksenija recieved a Pathways Chart on behalf of Igniters.
Our club was recognized as having members 75% or more enrolled in the Pathways Educational Program. Keep working on your goals. Every week you have an opportunity to get stronger!                     

President Distinguished Club!

Congratulations!! Ksenija our current President presented Yvonne last years President with the President's Distinguished Ribbon. 

This is the highest achievement a club can attain with 9 out of 10 goals. This is in areas of education, membership, and leadership.  Igniters has achieved this distinction for the past 5 years in a row and other years prior.

This club success is because members are always willing to support each other, mentor and share experiences, encourage new leaders to take on executive positions and encourage members to attain their goals at a fun and friendly meeting.
Guests are always welcome.

Stephen in a Pathways speech challenged members to give a speech a month. Some Igniters have taken him up on the challenge! Others are continuing to give speeches regularly.
Next week we have a full agenda with 3 speakers sharing their ideas.

Stephen also inspired Nandini with a speech using a post it note and she used this to help teach others about emotional intelligience and what she learned in keeping a journal for two weeks. He offered her feedback this week as she shared 3 tips when you are feeling annoyed!
1. Smile and breathe to calm down.
2. Find supportive friends to vent.
3. Journaling can help you become more clear in finding strategies in dealing with difficult people. We all know some!

Circle of Gold - Giving Your Best

On Saturday Nov 2 at the Crowfoot Library, Diane along with other evaluation contestants attended the Division E Circle of Gold. Circle of Gold Team Darlene, Val, and Nandini shared tips on competing. Then along with Glen offered feedback for all the evaluators.

 Mike from Transformers was the test speaker and gave a funny and thought provoking speech about missed connections and cell phones. Imagine the days when you didnt have a cell phone! Just like at a contest, evaluators had 5 minutes to prepare their notes and their share their feedback.

The Circle of Gold is a safe environment where members receive support and encouragment, learn from each other, and can strengthen their confidence in speaking. This was Diane's first experience with Circle of Gold and she found it very helpful!