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.

Area 41, Division J District 42 Spring Contest

Anne, Mona, Diane, Nandini,  Chris G, Marvin, Brenda and Marion attended the Area 41, Division J District 42 Spring Contest on March 31, at the Brentwood Co-op to cheer on our competing Igniters -  Margaret, Ellen, Glen and Chris C. as they participated in the International Speech and Evaluation Contests.

Check out the rest of the blog to see how our Igniters placed. 

Congratualation to Ellen and Glen 1st Place Award Winners

Kathy, the contest chair, for the Evaluation Contest, Area 41, Division J, District 42 presented Glen with the first place award for his assessment of an amazing test speech


Chris, the Toastmaster for the International Speech contest and Helen the Toastmaster of the Evaluation   contest assisted with the presentations.

Kathy, the contest chair, for the International Speech Contest, Area 41, Division J, District 42 presented Ellen with the first place award for her speech "You Can't Always Get What You Want"

Story Telling Workshop

Visitors welcome to our Story Telling Workshop!!!

We at Igniters are very excited to have Darlene Davies, DTM, come to our meeting on April 12, 2016 to share a workshop on storey telling.  Darlene is a retired Business Advisor and Strategic Planner who has used stories to capture the audience’s attention with great success in her career and in Toastmasters. In 2012, she was the District 42 International Speech Contest Champion and a world semi-finalist

Stories can ignite understanding, touch hearts and inspire action. Have you ever wondered where to find stories, when to use them or how to make stories come alive? In this 20 minute educational workshop, Darlene Davies will share tips and stories that demonstrate how to ignite your audience with stories.

Good Luck Igniters

Let cheer on Igniters at the Area Contest. Margret and Ellen are competing in the International Speech Contest. Glen and Chris Crooks are competing in the Evaluation Contest.

 

30 People - Excellent Turnout

Eggcellent turnout for our Easter themed meeting as we had 30 individuals, 24 Igniters and 6 guests on March 22, 2016. 

Rick, our first speaker did an awesome job of his CC #1, Icebreaker speech, titled “It’s About Time”.   Speaker two, Julie presented great visuals and great enthusiasm for her CC #8 speech “Chinese Characters” that taught us the meaning and how to write a few Chinese characters.  It was great to hear Ellen’s club competition winning speech ‘What You Want, What You Get”.  We are very lucky to have such a variety of presenters and splendid evaluators to share their skills with us. 

St. Patrick Day

Marion, our Toastmaster brought the luck of the Irish to our meeting, by celebrating St. Patrick Day two days early.  Julie was an excellent Sargeant at Arms.  During our round table introductions we answered the question, "Can you relate a time when you felt lucky or luck was on your side"? With that as a topic we had varied responses, but as we circled the table, I realized how lucky to have each other and be members of Igniters.
Once again our agenda was complete with a few minor changes. The tables, which were arranged in a new configuration,  were full and we had two guests to give us feed-back at the end of the meeting. 

IGNITERS - International Contest Winners

 Chris presented the International Contest first place winner, Ellen, with her certificate. Her very enthusiastic speech, You Can't Always Get What You Want, expressed the ideas that occasionally what we want may not always be what is the best for us.

Margaret received a second place certificate from Chris for her speech A Case For Crying,  about the ability of tears to heal.  

Igniters Evaluation Contest Winners

Nandini presented Glen with his first place certificate for the Evaluation Contest.  He will be representing our club at the next level of competition. 









Chris C. did an excellent  job of evaluating Keith's speech , Howling Mad, and will also represent Igniters at the Evaluation Contest.

IGNITERS - International Contest

Clemens acted as Sargeant at Arms for the International Contest and introduced Chris, the International Contest Toastmaster.  Chris outlined the contest purpose and the speaking order.  Marvin our Chief Judge reviewed the contest rules and procedures.  Glen, Margaret and Ellen gave us three very different speeches that were very personal to each of them.  Their titles express the feeling they had for their subjects, I Will Remember, I Can't Always Get What I Want, and A Case for Crying.

Margaret and Ellen will be moving on to represent Igniters.

IGNITERS - Evaluation Contest

First, I would like to thank Keith from the Westhill's Toastmasters Club for his very interesting speech "Howling Mad".
 
Stephen, the Sergeant at Arms introduced Nandini the Evaluation Contest Toastmaster. Nandini outlined the contest purpose and speaking order. The Chief Judge,  Marvin reviewed the contest rules and procedures.
Kieth's presentation about the less than sinister wolf, gave Clemons, Glen, Chris and Anne an opportunity to show their skills at evaluation.  They each gave their evaluation, using a variety of methods and then it was left to the judges.

                                                                               

IGNITERS - Evaluation and International Contest

We had a full slate of contestants and a large audience to enjoy our Evaluation and International Contest.  Our Contest Chair, Stephen and the Chief Judge, Marvin worked together to ensure everything ran smoothly. Once again Marion organized a delicious spread for all to nibble on throughout the evening. Thanks to those that brought food.  Timers Frode and Rob kept us moving and helped the contestants understand their allotted time.  Thanks to all of our volunteer judges and to the ballot counters, Rick, Kenneth, Paul and Marion.   We could not run a contest without the contestants and the many volunteers.                                               THANKS TO EVERYONE INVOVLED. 

 

More Evaluation and International Contest Pictures

 

Thanks Rick for sharing these pictures.



Timers hard at work!!
Rob and Frode

                                      

             Chief Judge, preparing for the contest.        
Marvin








The contestants in action -
Chris, Glen, Ellen, Clemens, and Margaret

The BUFFET, thanks Marion

 

BEST DRESSED at our Oscar Themed Meeting

Thanks to Stephen for sending me this great photo of Marvin, as he dressed the part of  the host (toastmaster) for our Oscar themed meeting on March 1.  He did a superb job of sharing Oscar information while keeping our meeting on schedule 

Marvin you win the "BEST DRESSED" category.

Rob created Jeopardy Table Topics with selection rules that enabled Igniters to choose their topic and difficulty level.  We were enlightened by Toast Mastery, World Politics, Science & Technology and Life.  There are many more questions for next time!

February Open House

Tonight Chris picked the theme  "February Open House"  and encouraged each of us to bring guests to the meeting to share the Toastmasters opportunities. 
Once again our tables were full. We all enjoyed Julie's CC#9 , "What Makes You Happy and Healthy" as well as the cookies  and drinks  that Marion and Chris supplied.

Four New Igniters

Rob, one of our newer members, did an excellent job introducing Matt and Frode and helping Marion, our VP of Membership . It was exciting to hear Paul share his story before Marion lead us through the three Toastmasters Inductions.
We are pleased to welcome Ellen back to Toastmasters and are thrilled that she has decided to join Igniters.

Full House for February 2, 2016 Meeting

As the second month of 2016 began, we filled our tables with members and guests.  Our agenda ran with a full slate, which included our new members, Kenneth and Paul filling two of the positions. 
Our Toastmater Glen, expertly introduced our speakers - JianLi (CC#1), Stephen (ACB#2), and Rob (CC#4).  The speakers entertained us with totally different approaches to three diverse but informative subjects. We left the meeting with an appreciation for the clean air we have in Alberta as well as a better understanding for the problems we can have when we attend staff elevations.  Stephen's poetry presentation  took some of us back a few years with the lyrics of songs by the  Beatles and Joni Mitchell. 
 

Great Meeting

Our meeting on Jan 26 was informative and fun.  With the theme - Movie and Theatre, many of our members and guests were able to bring the Word of the Day and Challenge Word create and composition into their Round Table Introductions.
Michael's, speech number 8,  "How to be a Foodie with a Bad Loonie" gave us ideas on how to save money on groceries as well as how to preserve the fresh food for a longer duration.  By using  props to help us understand he made the presentation very enjoyable. 
Our SAA,  JianLi and Toastmaster Nandini ensured the meeting ran smoothly while at the same time allowing each of the volunteers filling a position to complete their tasks.  With many new members taking on roles, our club is learning and sharing.  THANKS IGNITERS for another awesome evening!!

New Members for 2016

Our VP of membership Marion, inducted two new members at our meeting on January 19, 2016. We are very pleased to call Kenneth and Yvonne Igniters and look forward to their first speeches. 

CC#6 My Vegas Vacation

Anne went to Las Vegas and told us about it.  There were death defying magic shows and late night Black Jack games.  The fireworks on New Years Eve were spectacular to watch with friends to celebrate the beginning of the year ahead of us with the same amount of new adventures, fun and friendship that we had during the trip.









We were delighted to have Division J Director Poorna visit us. She came to give the engraved Division J Table Topics Trophy. She also gave an inspirational speech about being a Toastmaster in Dubai and attending other Conferences in the Middle East. It is always great to have guest speakers share their ideas and passions! Thanks for your encouraging words about the friendly, fun, and creative meetings at Igniters!