Icebreaker Speeches



Our Toastmaster Stephen did an awesome job of keeping our Sept. 1st meeting running smoothly.  With three speeches, table topics and a surprise celebration it was not an easy task. 

 

Congratulations to Edward and Lisa for accomplishing their first speech, the Icebreaker.  Edward's talk was called The Traveller Beneath the Tree and used the analogy of travellers meeting under a tree during a storm and then parting when the weather improved.  It was an excellent comparison of a person moving through life touching different people. 

Lisa spoke about her lifelong love of reading, which definitely encouraged each of us to grab a book and settle into a comfortable chair.  

Thank you both for sharing these excellent speeches with us.    

Farewell and Good Luck

We would like to wish the best to Laura and Ayanna with their moves from Calgary.  Both have been active members during their time at Igniters and will be  missed!   Thanks for all that you have shared with us and we hope that each of you stop by when you come back to Calgary for a visit.

Igniting Spirits - July 21

Our club banner with it's many awards is a great centerpiece to circle around for a picture.
Once aga in we had a large group in attendance for our July 21 meeting with Marion, our VP of Membership, acting as Toastmaster.  We had excellent participation with three speeches, table topics ,and  a joke of the day. 
The three evaluators presented their views of each speech with skill and the general evaluator, Nandini , shared her thoughts with enthusiasm.  Reports from the ah-counter, grammarian and timer were followed by Ayanna leading us though the Quizmasters questions. Everyone eagerly participated.

Happy Birthday Chris

Congratulations to our new President, Chris for celebrating his birthday with us. 

We had a large group of twenty plus members and guests to chat about "summer food" and even some discussion about our favorite cool down drinks during this past heat wave.   Mark did an tremendous job as Toastmaster, keeping us on task and time, and adding humour throughout the July 14 meeting.

Welcome to Three New Memebers

Marion arranged the new members induction with Ayanna presenting a short history about Marmadou, George,  and Vic and Marion presenting the pledges for new and old members to agree.

We are excited to have three new members with varying backgrounds to add interesting speeches to our agendas.  We look forward to their Ice Breaker presentations.

Either/Or Method of Table Topics

Glen lead us through a excellent table topics as he explained his conception of an either/or demonstration with a three part answer. Chris G. talked on "ice cream or popsicles" , Mona discussed "spit or don't spit watermelon seeds, Chris C had to decide between "handles or no handles on corn on the cob" and last but not least we had Marvin tell us his preference between "fruit smoothies and frozen yogurt." We had excellent answers, whether truthful or not, the idea was to pick a side and validate your choice.  Our four experienced members did a superior job of showing us Table Topics at it best.

Table Topics - A Blast From The Past

We enjoyed the presentation that were given after speakers chose a prop from the bag that Michel kept hidden until Laura, Lisa and Edward picked them, for Table Topics.  The speakers were asked to describe their pick as if they were talking to a five year old. Although most of us have used a floppy disk, VHS tape, and a cassette tape,  it was fun to look back to the 80's and remember.  Michel is holding a Walkman that remained in the bag.

New Member Induction

Marion, our VP of Membership, lead us through the induction of two new members, Lisa and Laura.  She also welcomed Sterling back to Igniters as he has been away.  It is terrific to watch our club grow in numbers. 

We had a rip-roaring meeting on July 7, 2015 as we celebrated with a Stampede Theme.  Many members dressed the part with hats and boots as we brought some country to the Parkdale Community Centre.  Sheriff Stephen did an excellent job keeping the cowpokes on schedule and filling in interesting Stampde trivia throughout.  Introductions moved around the room with talk about our favorite parts of the Calgary Stampede and I was amazed how often food was mentioned.  I was nice to have our guests, Mamadou, Kenneth and Jasmine participate and share their feedback on us.

 

 JianLi and Julie entertained us with well prepared speeches, How I Came To Be Here (CC#1) and Plan For Your Future (CC#2) respectively. 

 

Marion did an excellent job of our two new member inductions.  I am pleased to say that Igniters has received a  Talk up Toastmasters ribbon for achieving 5 new member in Feb & March 2015. Come for a visit as we have even more guests who have joined as they see the value of Toastmasters!

 

We rounded out our meeting with excellent evaluations and reports from our volunteers.

 

 YaHoo see you next week. 

 

Meet Our Two New Competent Communicators

Way to go Stephen and Marion! District 42 (AB & Sask) recognized them for achieving their Competent Communicator. This is the first manual of ten speeches. Thanks to Nandini for an awesome presentation explaining their successes  and what new-comers need to do to achieve this accomplishment.

 

 

 

 

2015 Presidents Choice

Criteria: 

This award is at the discretion of the President.

Marvin is a dedicated member who is always willing to go the extra mile to help, very supportive, and has a fantastic wealth of ideas and advice

Achievements:

• Stepped into the role of Treasurer when Abhinav had to take personal leave.
• Attended all the Club Executive Meetings and J41 Area Council meetings and shared supportive ideas and information
• Achieved his High Performance Leadership – led a team for a terrific 10^th Anniversary and helped to raise funds
• Always willing to help – in meeting roles, putting up posters, signing up new members, helping with the blog, making deposits, and recruiting judges for contests.

Congratulations Marvin on being nominated for this award!

Igniters 2015 Spirit of Success - Communication and Leadership Award.

Criteria: 

Awarded to a member whose achievements, leadership and enthusiasm represents the spirit of Igniters club as defined in its mission statement

Achievements :

• Completed Competent Communicator.
• Competed in the Club Humorous Speech Contest and represented Igniters at the Area Contest
• Attended contests, workshops, and District Conventions to support members
• Took on executive role of VP Membership and gave friendly inductions
• Friendly and encouraging to guests and members
• Planned and hosted Christmas meeting
• Key organizer for several potlucks and assisted with set up and clean up.
• Action Committee for Marvin’s High Performance Leadership – 10^th Anniversary.

The winner of the Spirit of Success Leadership and Communication is Marion!

2015 Spirit of Success -- Speech Achievement award goes to Stephen!

Criteria: 

Awarded to a member whose outstanding presentation and speaking achievements are an inspiration to Igniters members to continually improve and hone their skills.

Achievements :

• Achieved his Competent Communicator (10 speeches)
• By completing his educational achievement he helped Igniters achieve 10/10 goals
• Inspired other members with his humor in speeches and roles
• Used his Toastmaster experience in sharing advice and encouraging members
• Valuable ideas shared as Action Committee Member for 10^th Anniversary

The winner of the Spirit of Success Speech Achievement is Stephen! Congratulations Stephen on all your achievements in 2015!

Drum roll please! The winner of 2015 Toastmaster of the Year award for Igniters is Glen!

Toastmaster of the Year: to recognize a member within the club for their achievements, enthusiasm, dedication, helping others, and success within the club and community.

Glen is a very inspiring member at Igniters Toastmasters. He has shown an experienced Toastmaster at any time can decide to pursue goals and encourage others along the way. Glen is a dedicated mentor, leader, and role model at Igniters and in the Toastmasters community.

Educational Goals

Early in the summer, Glen sent a note to the VP of Education Daryl to share his upcoming plans and goals to receive his DTM for the Fall Conference. He then signed up roles on the advanced agenda for the next few months. This was not only helpful it encouraged some members to sign up beyond the weekly goals. Daryl was very inspired and planned his own educational goals. I too was inspired and used Glen as an example for other members to sign up for roles and how planning and determination could help you achieve your dreams. Glen mentors a few new members at the club and shares his experiences and feedback.

Glen achieved four educational achievements this year and earned a triple crown! He achieved his CC in July, Advanced Silver in August, Advanced Communicator Gold in September and also his DTM. Mission accomplished! One of the highlights is Glen received his DTM from the President of Toastmasters at the Fall Conference.

Charter Presentation:

Groundswell Group celebrated their Charter Party Nov 20, 2014. Glen was the Club Mentor for Groundswell the previous year.

Special Events

Glen helped at the Igniters 10^th Anniversary by being a friendly Table Topics Master, contributing to the silent auction, and assisting with the set up and cleanup of the event. He has helped to support members by judging at Club and Area contests and giving useful advice.

Conducted Education/Training session Area event:

In September, Glen presented “Building Your Thinking Power, Part 1: Mental Flexibility” module. The event was attended by members from other clubs from at least two other areas as well as Igniters. This was also a fundraising event for Igniters.

Conducted Club Officer training:

Presented VP Membership three times this year. Dec 13, 2014; Jan 24, 2015; Jun 13, 2015

Helping Other Clubs

Glen Brown assisted his wife Club Coach Diane Fox to help To the Point. He was the VP of Education and helped members plan and achieve their goals. By the end of the year the club had successfully reached 22 members.

Glen, DTM deserves to be Toastmaster of the Year for all his achievements and contributions to the club and the Toastmaster community.

The 2015 Making a Difference Award for Igniters.

This is an individual award given to one member in a club who has made a difference in their club.

The nomination of each club member will be displayed on the District 42 website.

Making a Difference Award

On behalf of the executive, we would like to nominate Chris C. for his ongoing dedication and support for many years in his duties as Sergeant at Arms at Igniters Toastmasters. He is usually the first person to arrive to unlock the door, set up tables and chairs, distribute evaluation forms and creates a well-organized room for welcoming guests and members. This contributes to a strong first impression for guests. Chris is always on top of greeting guests, being friendly and making sure they have a name tag. He is very dependable and no matter what the weather Chris is at the meeting! He never complains and just does it even if he isn't feeling well.

At any open house, special event, or meeting Chris is always willing to arrive early and help with set up and clean up. This is very helpful as it allows other members to connect with the guests, spend more time talking with newer members, and allows the executive to meet and discuss issues. Chris is always willing to step up and fill in any roles and if necessary even take on two! We really appreciate Chris for all his dedication and help at Igniters Toastmasters and he deserves the Making a Difference Award.

Congratulations Chris on Making a Difference in 2015!

Public Relations of the Year award for Igniters 2015.

Criteria:  Recognizing a member for promoting and marketing of the club. The winner will go on to compete at the Area level.

Chris G. is a dedicated member who is organized, dependable, and has done an excellent job in promoting Igniters Toastmasters.

Achievements:

• Delivered three speeches from the Successful Club series to bring other members in promoting Igniters.
• As VP of Public Relations, he organized a distribution plan of posters, magazines and business cards for members
• Igniter blog – updated with Toastmaster branding, wrote articles and photos promoting members and club activities
• Encouraged members to participate in D42 incentives and marketing contests
• Worked with other PR committee members to leverage twitter, summarize meetings, and recruit guest speakers
• Chris completed his Competent Communicator, Competent Leader and Advanced Leader Bronze this year, earning him a triple crown.

The winner of the PR of the Year is Chris G.! Congratulations on your success in 2015 Chris!

Winner of Igniters Rookie of the Year 2015!

Rookie of the Year Award

Criteria: 

Presented to a member who has been with Toastmasters for less than 18 months to honor their achievements and success. The recipient will move on to compete at the Area Level.

Bren is a dynamic member who is supportive, enthusiastic, and has brought a real energy to the club.

Achievements

• New member entered into Club Table Topics Contest. Placed 2^nd.
• Willing to take on any role and support others
• Helped to write articles and take photos for Igniters blog.
• Action Committee member for 10^th Anniversary – helped with registration, honored new members, and recruited volunteers
• Spoke at fundraiser to raise awareness for drug addiction and empower other families
• Taken on new executive position as VP of Public Relations

The winner of the Rookie of the Year is Bren! Congratulations Bren on your hard work and success in 2015!

Spirit of Success -- Igniting Spirits for 2015

Criteria: Club vote

Nandini has been the spark plug to get our club roaring this year. Motivational and encouraging during meetings as well as outside the club. I feel the executive has been extremely effective this year under her guidance as President.

Specifically - the agenda creation/distribution had issues that Nandini was able to resolve in a quiet but effective manner.

-- Glen

Nandini did a lot of work for all of us in the background -- covered a lot of roles (VP Ed etc.) that there was no one to cover for and still managed to be really involved in all manner of other Toastmaster events. Nandini did well in the club, area and district contests as well.

-- Chris

Thanks for all the support and encouragement given by Nandini. She truly make Igniters a welcoming place.

-- Margaret

I will vote for Nandini for the Spirit of Success of the Club because I like her presentation and the spirit to say "never too old to try new things".

-- Julie

Nandini led Igniters to President Distinguished with 10/10 goals. She inspired her team to succeed to perform at a higher level in their roles. She led by example and a role model to us all. Nandini is a dedicated leader and demonstrated fantastic leadership skills.

--Marvin

Congratulations Nandini on your award!

Three speakers including a guest speaker this week.

Igniters enjoyed a very full meeting this week. Our Toastmaster Mona brought in a list of different animals and their personality traits. We each were asked to choose an item from the list that we felt we could identify with. The animals were also used to explain different portions of the meetings, and were even easy to refer to during the meeting. Very original approach for Mona.

We then headed into the speeches. Ayana warned us about possible web based scams and how to spot and avoid them. Bren entertained us with a speech about a vacation that started out well but took a turn for the worse. Bren was able to find a silver lining in her misfortune which we will all remember. Next we had a guest from another club Samarjit share his experiences with retail show rooming and the effects it may have on our lives and the lives of several of the businesses we like to shop at.

To top it all all we were lucky enough to have more guests join us this week. It must be our energy that is bringing them in in such numbers lately.

If you were not able to attend this week, you really missed out. We hope that you will be able to join us this Tuesday!

Marion inducts our newest member Edward.

Our Vice President of Membership Marion, completed an induction ceremony on Tuesday for our newest member Edward.

Edward brings with him a lot of interesting experience having lived and completed schooling in China, and applying for work and having children in Canada.

We are very happy to have Edward join our club and hope that he will find the resources he needs in Igniters to reach all of his goals!

Welcome Edward.

Igniters 10th anniversary an amazing success.

The organizing committee for Igniters organized a fantastic 10th anniversary celebration this past week. We had people from many different nearby clubs join us for the celebration. Including: Our sister club Miracles, Literally Speaking, SAIT Sayers, Smart Speakers, CTI Techtalkers, Speakmasters and To The Point.

On entry, our guests entered a door prize draw, enjoyed a slideshow, and well organized potluck. A silent auction was planned with many items up for bid, and attendees had an opportunity to bid. Of course there were a lot of chances for camaraderie and socializing.

Mona and Diane long-term Igniters members started the festivities, complete with boas and dancing.  The founding members of Igniters were introduced along with an explanation of some of the many places that the club has met over the years. Our toastmaster Marvin continued the fun by sharing past highlights. He organized this event with his High Performance Leadership team. 

Division Governor Doris spoke about her experiences with Igniters and some of the more long term members of the club. She then presented a Competent Communicator ribbon to Stephen, who had completed his first ten speeches for our tenth anniversary. Stephen's CC also gave us a perfect triad with our club completing all ten of our goals for the year as a result. Congratulations Stephen!

Charter Member Anthony then took the lecturn and led us in a very motivational talk about the power of an idea when you have many people to help bring it to life. Anthony had us all participating and clapping as he married his speaking skills with his singing.

Our club president Nandini, then led us in a toast to some past and current members -- and a tribute for Jane a charter member who had recently passed away in March. Jane had written a special message to honor Igniters on their anniversary. Keith Past District Governor and past member had written a poignant message to honor members and his special memories of Igniters. Thanks to all who sent messages!

Bob who is the longest term member of Miracles, spoke next about the impact that Toastmasters has had on his life. Bob is now no longer afraid to speak in public and feels more confident as a result. Pat (past Igniter Member) took the lecturn next and shared stories about fond memories of joining Igniters, meeting members, and giving Table Topics.

Glen led us in a fun table topics session which featured several guests and past members. All of our speakers explained the value of toastmasters to them. We were all very inspired.

We finished the evening by lighting the candles on a big chocolate cake and gathering around for a great group photo.

Congratulations to all who contributed to make this evening such a success!

Exciting meeting this week.

We had a fun filled evening at Toastmasters this week. We began with a speech by one of our newer members Michael. Michael made sure to let us know the best ways to save money for our retirements. As usual Michael used very logical and well organized thoughts and suggestions that we can all benefit from.

Next up, our Past President Marvin shared his vision for our Igniters 10th anniversary party which is only a few weeks away. Marvin incorporated a well crafted call to action to solicit some volunteers for our celebration. For more information on our celebration please visit : https://calgarytoastmasters.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/igniters-toastmasters-10th-anniversary/

Mona our mentoring coach was up next with a speech to inspire us each one of us to "Be Yourself". Mona wove in some very funny and personal stories for us to learn from while being entertained. Chris C organized a very creative group evaluation for Mona which gave many of us a chance to try our hand at evaluations as well as provided Mona a wide range of feedback.

Our club president Nandini organized a MMM Membership contest as a project toward her Competent Leader Manual. Each member who promoted the club by blogging, tweeting, passing out membership cards or magazines was entered into a draw. Our mentoring coach Mona baked us a basket of goodies as a prize. Chris G is the lucky winner of the basket, although expect to see a few extra pounds on Chris in the next couple of weeks!

Make sure to join us in our meeting next week. We're sure that it will be an amazing evening.

Powerful Leadership Skills!

Another great meeting of Igniters on April 14 with three very different speeches and enthusiasm from everyone in attendance. The word of the day was skills and the challenge word was powerful.  

Nandini started the meeting helping us understand the "Competent Leadership" manual and teaching us about the leadership track. The manual has ten different projects including critical thinking, feedback, time management, motivating people, mentoring, and team building. 

Julie gave an excellent CC #1 presentation by sharing her life with us by comparing her past and present to a "fish in a pond".  

Mark and I presented our second speech with Mark entertaining us with his wit and humor by talking about the hurdles we encounter when driving and the fact that our journey through life is as important as the destination. I practiced a speech that I will be presenting at a fund raiser for Grace House of Recovery in Drumheller.  

The evaluators went into detail stressing our achievements and then helping us understand how we could improve.  

Our Quizmaster had us competing loudly to be the best at listening. The questions were answered so quickly we did not need to hear the whole question!

Do you want to be a more effective leader? Come and find out how you can improve your skills to be a better leader. Next meeting - learn how to give feedback to help others improve.

Bren 

Passionate Igniters!

We had a fun filled passionate meeting! Marvin, the Toastmaster shared his passion for the environment.  Sharing how we each do our part to "Save the Earth" was very informative. Hopefully we will apply at least two of our fellow Igniters tips into our own households.

Stephen's speech, CC #9 "Let the Music Move You" allowed us to "feel" exactly what the music meant to him. Stephen wore a shirt with guitars and played music to add impact to his speech! We all felt the power of music!

Nandini presented amazing tips for Table Topics. She shared tips from Toastmasters from other clubs. Smile, Make a Choice, Structure – The Power of Three, Share a Message – Two Key Ideas to Support, and Volunteer.  Our guest Iris, evaluated her presentation and for those that missed it ask others about the acronym SD3TV.

Marion, VP of Membership guided us through the Induction of two new Igniters, Julie and Anne. Great to have you both as Igniters!

What are you passionate about? Every week, opportunities are knocking! You can practice your communication skills to share your ideas more effectively and have a greater impact. 

Bren

Not Just Yet

Our president Nandini represented Igniters with passion at the Division Contest. Nandini delivered her speech "Not Just Yet" to a full house at the Division Contest. Six members of Igniters came to support her. The competition was fierce, and Nandini delivered her speech with gusto.

Congratulations Nandini for your hard work and your well written and rehearsed speech. You have shown all of us at Igniters the way to the top!

April Fools Prequel meeting.

Igniters held an exciting April Fools prequel meeting on Tuesday. Toastmaster Chris started the evening by asking all the members to share some of their funniest April Fools experiences.

We moved quickly into an exciting icebreaker from one of our newest members Ayanna. We learned a lot about her origins, and her interests. Ayanna spoke very clearly and confidently. Fantastic job on your Icebreaker Ayanna! 

Daryl our VP of education was next with an educational speech about the Competent Communicator Manual. Daryl used his usual casual relaxed style to teach us a lot about what we needed to know.

President Nandini was next up to present ribbons to Chris and Daryl to celebrate their educational achievements. Daryl has been hard at work completing his Competent Communicator, Competent Leader, Advanced Leader Bronze. He also completed his Advanced Communicator Silver! Amazing job Daryl.

Chris also had a busy year completing his Competent Communicator, Competent Leader and Advanced Leader Bronze. 

Our president Nandini will represent us at the District Contest on April 10, 2015. We hope that everyone can attend and help to cheer Nandini!

We are looking for to another exciting meeting next week.

Stretch your Skills!

I attended the J41 Evaluation and International speech contest at SAIT.  If you didn't attend you missed out on a very enjoyable event. It was great having Glen, Marvin and Margaret there Igniting Spirits in their contest roles.

Congratulations to Nandini our Club President, who won the International speech contest. She presented poised (with her beautiful smile) and confident.  She owned the stage and the passion flowed throughout her speech about - Not Just Yet! There were 5 other contestants who did really well too, but I knew Nandini was the winner. Way to go girl!

Way to Go!  Chris G. our VP of Public Relations, who was flashing a suntan from his trip to California, presented his Evaluation for the test speaker. The test speaker only joined Toastmasters four months ago - brave soul.  Chris did a very good job - outlining the method of his evaluation and shared strengths and helpful tips for the speaker to improve. He said he was very nervous but he didn't appear to be. He came in 3rd out of 6 Evaluators. Congratulations Chris!

It is always nice to sit back and enjoy others speaking.  I sat beside two contestants(whom I didn't know were speaking)and they didn't appear the least bit nervous. I was surprised when they got up and spoke. Toastmasters can really help members learn ways to be more confident. Practice makes perfect!

You will have to plan to attend next time. There are many opportunities for contestants, judges, and contest official to keep learning. Division J Contest is on April 10. Go Igniters!

Marion
 

Igniting with Ice-Breakers!

We had another awesome meeting!  Mona, the Queen Toastmaster for the night prepared cards to help us understand the Leadership and Communication Tracks that are available in the Toastmasters program.   She was able to explain the process in a fun and educational manner that required participation by all members. What communication and leadership goals do you have this year?

Mark and Bren both gave their Icebreaker speech, the first

speech, and were able to share parts of their lives with the group. Both Mark and I truly appreciate our mentors who helped with our Icebreaker and all the encouragement they have given us though the writing and modifying those speeches.

Glen's scary yet humorous storytelling kept us in suspense until the last line. Glen was working on an advanced humorous speaking manual. Sylvia and Chris both did an excellent job of the Table Topic questions that Marvin asked regarding "spring" and flowers. A fun way to think on your feet and practice a mini-speech.

See you next week - a great place to grow!

Bren

 

 

Luck of the Irish at Igniters!

 

Our St. Patrick's meeting on March 17 was very "festive". Marion our Toastmaster for the evening, started out with some interesting history regarding the holiday and that was followed up by two awesome speeches by Mona from the entertaining manual and Nandini was getting helpful feedback from the members.

 

Green was definitely the lucky color for the night with Margaret winning the best dressed prize! A supply of green vegetables!

Tip: from our VP Education Daryl. Your first speech or IceBreaker Speech is all about introducing yourself to your Toastmaster's club, it can be a personal, general or humorous story but it is yours.

The main point is structure developing an opening, body and close. Maybe 3 main points for the body, a dramatic opening and something we can take away as members to summarize your points and a call to action.

 

Let's all wish Nandini  and Chris G luck in the upcoming J41 Area Contest.

 

Bren

 

Mentoring Makes A Difference!

Mona Cooley, DTM did an awesome workshop and Webinar tonight about Mentoring.  Our members and many guests left with new ways to approach our strengths and challenges in life and Toastmasters.

Do you want support to achieve your personal goals? Let us help you find your strengths and identify your challenges.

We were delighted to have District Governor Doris Henn, DTM (oversees clubs in Alberta & Sask.) visit and we all had an opportunity to sign and have a photo with the Distinguished District banner. The banner will be displayed at the International Convention in Las Vegas in August.

See you next week. Lots of opportunities to grow!

Bren
 

 

 

Club contest results.

Our club contest was a success again for 2015. On the left Chris G and Chris C went head to head in the club evaluation contest. Both contestants evaluated a fantastic speech by a member of Westhills club. Chris G will be representing Igniters at the Area contest.

On the right we had Nandini competing with Daryl for the International Speech contest title. Both contestants took different approaches to their presentation, however Nandini will be representing Igniters at the Area Contest.

We had lots of time for a potluck and some social interaction during the contest. We were very happy to welcome many guests for our contest as well.

Join Igniters in an Innovative Mentoring Webinar on March 10, 2015!

Igniters Sizzle This Week!

You could feel the energy! Great turnout! Marion VP of Membership - inducted three new members Ayanna, Margaret, and Mark in a warm and friendly ceremony. Igniters pledged their support to help our new members grow!

Two more members had a great time and are also joining! Diane as Toastmaster radiated warmth, smiles, and energy. Members had fun with her theme on authors and actors. The members couldn't wait to share their favorite books made into movies. Bren gave a heartwarming tribute to Robin Williams.

Guest speaker Asghar from Westhills Toastmasters shared "My Recipe for Peace" through the 3 P's - Plan, Play, Persist. Who knew we would find the recipe for peace tonight at Igniters?!

Creative Marvin brought props and new members sizzled sharing 1 - 2 minute impromptu speeches. Bren picked the stuffed dog and gave a touching story. Silvia wore colorful leis and  shared her love of dance. Cat wore a sports helmet and creatively related to being a nurse. Margaret used a lantern  as mediation lights up the soul. Newest member Anne used a magnifying glass to share her passion for geocaching and looking for treasure.

This week - a twist with two evaluators giving them feedback. Chris G gave helpful tips on their introduction, body, and conclusion. Michel gave tips on delivery on body language and movement. Thanks Bob for visiting from Westhills and sharing helpful tips. Michael had two teams to see who were the better listeners! Imagine leaders who could listen better?!! Looking for a fun place to work on your goals and learn. Igniters is the place to be!

This week's meeting was a Barn Burner.

We had four speakers to start the Barn Burning at this week's Igniters Meeting. The first speech came from Marion who delivered her Competent Communicator speech #10 to earn her CC! Next up was Michel who delivered his first project toward his ACB. Nandini was next with a project from her ACB manual to "fan the flames" a bit more and congratulate Marion on her accomplishment.

We were very happy to have a full house this week and you could feel the excitement in the room from the moment you walked in. We were very happy to have 6 guests join us this week! We took a short break to enjoy some delicious cake that was baked for us by Mona. Thanks Mona for the delicious treat!

Immediately after our short break we got back into the prepared speeches with another Competent Communicator speech number 10 from our guest speaker Jennifer who joined us from the Westhills Club.

The fire just kept building as we moved into our evaluation portion of the meeting. Our General Evaluator Chris G. lead us into four great evaluations led by four very experienced Toastmasters. First up was Glen evaluating Marion's speech, Chris C. took the lectern next to evaluate Michel. Iris (Guest Evaluator) gave a very effective evaluation of Nandini's speech by also echoing Nandini's opening. Our last evaluator Mona evaluated Jennifer's speech. Since the theme of this meeting was evaluations, we held a contest for the best evaluator. Mona and Iris received an equal number of votes to make a tie in the evaluation "contest" for the week. Adam W. our area governor joined us and led us as our Quizmaster at the end of the meeting.

Congratulations to all of the participants who helped to make this week's meeting such a great success. The fires are going to just keep burning more brightly in the weeks to come. We are going to continue to see great turnouts and excitement at every meeting!

You don't want to miss any of it!

Chris is recognized for achieving his ALB.

Michel makes a presentation to Chris as Chris achieves his Advanced Leader Bronze designation. Chris has worked hard this year and has completed his CC, CL and ALB.

Congratulations Chris on your achievement!

Diane receives her Advanced Communicator Gold Ribbon!

Club president Nandini presents the Advanced communicator Gold ribbon to Diane. During the presentation ceremony Nandini informed us that in completing this goal Diane completed over 40 speeches!

Congratulations Diane on your achievement!

Igniters group for our Feb 3rd meeting.

Igniters gather around the Toastmaster banner at our February 3rd. meeting. We were very fortunate to have 3 guests in attendance tonight!

Way to go Igniters.

Daryl is recognized for his Advanced Leader Bronze.

Stephen presents Daryl with a gift as recognition in his completion of his Advanced Leader Bronze designation.

Daryl delivered his second speech from the "Successful Club Series" entitled "Finding New Members for your Club."

Congratulations Daryl on your achievement!

Igniters / Miracles joint meeting a Great Success.

Igniters and Miracles enjoyed another evening of camaraderie. We held our second joint meeting of the year, lead by Michael. The roles were split between the two clubs with many of us stepping up to make this a great meeting.

Glen lead us in table topics with a twist. Each speaker was required to begin and end his/her speech with a word that began with the letter M.

We then had a short break where we had a chance to mix and mingle -- and of course we were able to eat more delicious food!

After our break we moved into the prepared speech portion of the meeting with two Igniters and one member of Miracles taking to the stage.

Our meeting ended with Michael from Igniters reminding us that no matter if we reached our personal best tonight, we showed up and gave it our best shot!

Our two clubs always have a fantastic evening together. I believe that we have similar feeling clubs and above all we are all very supportive.

Thanks Miracles for hosting a fantastic night of camaraderie once again. You can tell by the smiles on the faces of our members that it was a success.

Igniters and Miracles are holding a special joint meeting January 20th!

Tuesday January 20th, 2015
2035 - 26A Street SW

Meeting will be held in the Unity Church

Potluck starts at 6:30 PM

Come Join us for an amazing evening of camaraderie.

Surprise DTM party for Glen!

On January 13th we held a surprise party for Glen to celebrate his DTM and it was indeed a complete surprise to him! Nandini and Diane had worked behind the scenes to invite fellow Toastmasters, and a fake agenda was sent out to look like a usual meeting. In fact, the whole agenda was roasts and toasts for Glen! People who could not attend sent messages that were read aloud to him. There was lots of food and a big chocolate cake with "Congrats Glen DTM on it. We took a group photo and had a photo frame for everyone to sign, so Glen will have a memento of the event for years to come.

Congratulations Glen on your hard work in achieving your goal!

-- Diane

Igniters are visited by Division J Governor.

We had a great meeting this week despite the inclement weather. We started out with an ice breaker speech from one of our newest members Michael. Michael did a great job for his first speech and we all know a lot more about him. Stephen delivered his competent communicator project #8. We then had Nandini pass out ribbons to Igniters who have completed their goals.

Division J Governor Grant paid us a visit this week. He delivered an inspirational speech about what winning really means. This table topics trophy is filled up with names, so it was presented to Igniters for posterity since our club won this trophy 4 times. Way to go Igniters!