Lessons in Leadership

Leadership Workshop

What kind of leader are you? 

Stephen led a leadership workshop on June 9 to complete his Advanced Communicator Gold. It was well attended with 27 members and guests from other clubs. He made 3 videos that could be viewed prior to review key aspects of leadership and to help determine your leadership style. The 4 key styles of leadership were Reflection, Influence, Action, and Structure. 


Jey moderated a Panel with Ksenija (current President) and Marvin (incoming President) sharing advice about stepping out of your comfort zone, asking for help, and being a flexible leader.  Mona shared an important lesson "leadership touches everything you do!" and assisted in a round table asking various members about lessons on leadership.
Lessons from the workshop: Be aware of your leadership style, assess leadership style of your team, and find ways to resolve the gap between them. "If you don't know where you are at - how can you know where you are going!" Watch this video to be a better leader.

Stepping Up!
Marion was an inspiring leader on June 16 for taking on the role of Toastmaster on our online meeting. Great to see a full house again!  It was her first time in this role online and an opportunity to ask for help and learn along the way. Members were supportive and encouraging. This helps in building stronger leaders.

New Leaders
Lorenzo a newer member gave an educational speech on decision making and biases that leaders may have. He used an analogy of decision making and railway tracks and you want to avoid derailing! Tracy shared a personal ice breaker about the beauty of the Similkameen Valley and why she calls this her home. Way to go to our new members!

Mentoring
Ksenija, our President shared stories about a helpful mentor at work and the 3 pillars of skills, patience, and caring that helped her. In turn now, Ksenija will be mentoring another new member. Mentoring is a way for leaders to contribute and offer their experience and save upcoming leaders time and energy! Our club has mentoring teams that help the members with their goals.

How are you building your leadership skills? Every Tues night - a place to develop your skills!

Igniting Ideas!

Igniting a Spark!
Every meeting - we see the sparks of creativity from our members! Yvonne asked our members - how have you been impacted by our club Igniters? The members shared 3 words each and Yvonne used Word Art to create this amazing image! You can see how much the members have gained from coming to this club and working on their skills.

Fan the Flames of Success
Our members continue to help each other develop their skills and achieve their educational goals. The Legacy Program will be ending June 30, 2020. Lots of opportunities to grow in Pathways Educational Program. 11 Paths for you to grow!

Creative speeches! Comparing Space X and Toastmasters, Mentees, Wicca, Mentoring Members, and Coaching about Blogging.

Educational Achievements! 
Advanced Communicator Bronze - Glen
Mentoring Program - Jey
Level 2 - Dynamic Leadership - Mona
Level 3 - Presentation Mastery - Dermot 
Level 4 - Effective Coaching - Mary

TT Wheel!

Congrats Best Listener!

Thinking Outside the Box!
Vicky as our Creative Table Topic Master used an app to create a TT wheel. She shared her screen and we all watched the wheel spin around and the name it landed on was the lucky speaker!

Tracy a newer member used her creativity to make an award as the Quiz Master. Congrats Cat! When could you be a better listener?!

Rising Leaders!

Way to Go! Congratulations Trevor!

Division E International Speech Contest - Sat May 16, 2020
3rd place - Trevor
2nd place - Darlene ( First President of Igniters)
1st place - Val

They attended Circle of Gold and recieved helpful feedback.



Rising Leaders
On May 19, we had another fantastic meeting with a full house. Great to see leaders take on new challenges and put their name forward for the elections.
Congratulations to the new Executive! 7 out 7 positions filled!
We have a nice blend of experienced members and new rising leaders. They will be attending District 42 Zoom Training (another first!) to learn about their roles, resources, and network with other executives from other clubs. This weekend at the Executive meeting, Ksenija has invited the new executive to attend and learn more about their upcoming roles. Toastmasters International - Where Leaders are Made!
District Training: June 16, 24, 27. Click for more info: https://d42tm.org/events/2020-06/

July 1, 2020- June 30, 2021

Club Officer	Elected
President	Marvin
Vice President Education	Trevor
Vice President Membership	Yvonne
Vice President Public Relations	Cat
Secretary	Tracy
Treasurer	Drew
Sergeant at Arms	Devon
Past President	Ksenija

Evening of Leadership
On Monday, May 25 - Marvin and Nandini will be moderating a panel and interviewing the incoming District 42 Club Growth Director and all 6 Division Directors.Come learn more about our leaders, their experiences, and lessons learned.
More info:  Please pre-register for our join Zoom link at

https://d42tm.org/event/meet_your_leaders_05252020/

Laughing and Learning

Every week we have strong meetings online, with many members choosing to grow while staying safe at home. There are many opportunities to develop your skills and connect with others in a positive, supportive community. Every week we learn from each other. Do we laugh - you bet! How are you adapting to change? Guests are always welcome.

Newest Igniter!
Jessica great to have you and welcome!


Contests
This is the first time we have had online contests. The District 42 Tech Team has been outstanding in their teamwork, learning along the way, and helping contestants. Many of our members including Marvin, Ksenija, Jey, Mary, Yvonne, Nandini, and Mona have helped as judges and contest officials.

Congratulations! 
Igniters did an amazing job at Area, Division, and District Contests. Great our members were willing to learn new ways of using zoom and speaking online. Also District 42 Circle of Gold went online for the first time, with contestants having the opportunity to practice and recieve feedback from multiple evaluators. Everyone can bring out their best at the contests.

Contest Results
Area E6- Humor Contest - 2nd - Glen
Division E International Contest - 1st - Trevor. 
District 42 Evaluation Contest - Diane

Speaking and Educational Awards 
We have had many of our members share their ideas and inspire and entertain us.
Icebreaker speeches: Drew shared about his goals for TM and Lorenzo spoke about growing up in Italy and coming to Canada. Newer members Tracy, Devon, and Cat have been creative in learning new roles. Always nice to have Ayanna, Chris, Stephen, and Yvonne share their ideas.

Educational Goals - Way to Go!
Level 1 - Persuasive Influence - Vicky
Level 1 - Innovative Planning - Trevor
Level 3 - Dynamic Leadership - Gil
Level 4 - Engaging Humor - Jey

New Leader Opportunities!
The advantages of becoming a leader at Igniters is you are supported, can talk to experienced members and mentors, and you can learn along the way. All the executive - Ksenija, Vicky, Diane, Nandini, Glen, Marion, and Dermot gave enthusiastic speeches about each of their roles. Elections will be held on May 19. What kind of leadership skills do you want to work on this year?

Igniters are Zooming!

Staying Safe
Yes, we are all staying at home and keeping our social distance during the pandemic. Thank you for all doing your part and helping others.

Zoom Meetings!
Just because we are not meeting in person doesn't mean we can't learn and have fun using technology. Ever since March 17, Igniters started having Zoom meetings and it has been great to see many of our members!

We have been lauging, learning, and many have said how energized and glad they came to the meeting. Guests are welcome to join anytime!

New Roles: We have added to help us using the technology. Host - helps to mute/unmute participants to make sure meeting runs more smoothly. Watcher - watches members to help with lighting, audio, as they speak. Chatmaster - monitors the chats for questions and concerns that come up. Lots of learning indeed. Glen shared tip of using space bar to unmute and we had fun intstead of knocking for word of the day waving our hands at our ears. Boy those hands were moving all night!

Last week speaker Jey showed us how to use powerpoint and how to have audience participation. All the members unmuted their mics and we practised some soothing Budhist phrases to help remain more calm and will also help specific parts of the body. Stephen gave an inspiring toast to Bear 101 and shared some bear stories. Evaluators gave feedback to speakers and also tips on presenting in front of the camera.

Resources for Better Online Meetings: During the week we had another zoom meeting organized by Deb from Tireless Talkers, other Toastmasters shared tips and experiences of having online meetings. Growing together. District 42 has many useful resources for online meetings and Marvin is on the D42 Tech Team helping others organize online meetings and stay connected. See you next Tues!

D42 Resource: https://d42tm.org/district-resources/online-event-resources/

Table Topics Tips

This week we had two guests visit, and it was great to have them attend our meeting. Guests are always welcome! One of our guests joined! Great having a new Igniter!

Thinking on your Feet
Trevor brought a mysterious black bag filled with a few props for Table Topics. Marvin pulled out a tile with a lightbulb and shared his idea of going skiing at Norquay on the moguls and what happened on his last run! **Tip: Share about something that has happened to you rcently.
Chris took out a loaf of bread and shared a personal story about his breadmaking uncle. ** Tip: Talk about a family member or friend - you will speak with more conviction.
Mary drew a medal and shared about her latest accomplishment of starting a blog for Level 4 in the Pathways Educational Program. **Tip: Giving specific details will make your ideas more persuasive.

Speakers
Dermot shared the importance of being a mentor and his use of Chinese Horoscopes and the impact of one of his mentors an inspiring librarian in Ireland. Gil shared the importance of a message of WE and highlighted with stories of tearing his hamstrings on a hike and how other team members helped support him. We all learned how to have more impact in speaking from evaluators Glen and Margaret.

A Warm Welcome!

TM Glen honors President Ksenija

Open House

It was great seeing many Igniters at our Open House on Feb. 11. A warm welcome to our guests. We had a fun evening of food, fellowship, and sharing the benefits of Toastmasters. It has been great having one of our guests continue to attend our meetings.

Recognition of Members

There are opportunities in the club to be recognized for your achievements. Educational awards and standing ovations are given to recognize milestones in the club. Each person can choose their own goals in the self paced program. We have many members this year who are going after their goals every week. 

Every week, a member who thinks on their feet and gives the best mini speech is awarded a Table Topics Trophy they can cherish for a short time before they have to return it! Also, the Igniting Spirits Award is given to a member who has stretched, inspired, or taken on a new challenge that week. 

Congratulations Druh! Table Topics Trophy

Helping Youth in our Community

The Public Library and Toastmasters has teamed up for many years to provide Youth Leadership  Programs to help our Youth learn and practice speaking and leadership skills in a six week course.Yvonne has been helping at several Youth Leadership programs. A number of our members have been involved in these worthwhile programs.

Yvonne invited Druh and his father to attend one of our meetings. It was inspiring to talk to Druh and see the confidence he has gained from giving speeches and taking on leadership roles at the meetings. He took on the challenge of answering a question with poise, clear points, and 

On Sunday March 1 at the Central Library, various youth including Druh will be competing in a Super Speech contest. Come out and see the hope for our future! 

Open House and Tips from Speakers Night

What skills can you achieve in the next 3 months?

You are invited to our Open House!

On Tues Feb 11, come meet our friendly dynamic members who can share their experiences on how belonging to Toastmasters has improved their lives.

Glen will be leading the meeting and is a long time experienced member. Toastmasters has made a huge difference in his life.
We have members who are new and taking on leadership roles and are supported by other club members. Speeches, evaluations, and treats!

Time: 6:45 pm Networking      Meeting: 7pm - 8:30 pm  Hope to see you there!

Feb Speakers Night

Speakers Night: 5 speakers being helped by 5 evaluators

Do you have ideas you want to share? 
Ayanna - shared about driving across Canada. She is a planner and learned along the way it is important to also appreciate the journey.
Mary - did you know you can plan for a 2nd life? People are living longer and you can plan for another life or another career.
Congrats Sherry on speech #10 for your CC!
Follow your passion and how through her first horse, marriage, and as a writer she has pursued this.


Gil - through his organization expanding he shared 5 tips for negotation. We learned alot!
Jey - used music, 4 A's, to share his experiences as a mentee and the power of mentoring. At Igniters we also use the power of Mentoring Teams to help us achieve our goals.

Speaking Tip: Simon Simek, TED Talks Speaker - 45 Million Views
Simon says "you should never talk as you walk out on stage. Instead, quietly walk out on stage. Then take a deep breath, find your place, wait a few seconds and begin. It shows the audience you're totally confident and in charge of the situation."

Do you want to be a stronger leader? Funnier?

VP Membership Diane inducts Isha 

What did we learn this week?

Can you run a meeting effectively?
Full house again. Jey as our Toastmaster shared information about the importance of knowing about articles and bylaws and our constitution.
* Tip: Learning Roberts Rules can help run a meeting better. You can make decisions more easily. Our Pres. Ksenija recently attended a Parliamentary workshop by Katrina at leadership training and used at our exec meeting. She inspired this week by sharing her two main leadership styles at work and as a volunteer.

How do we support our members? 
* New Member Inductions - allow us to learn more about our members and to hear their goals. Club members also pledge their support to help members in achieving these goals. Mentors are assigned. Isha gave an inspiring speech and shared lessons about sportsmanship and what happened when she thought she had won a 100 m race! Oh no! What lessons could you share?

Need some laughter? You have come to the right place!
Glen gave a funny speech about clutter and clearning up! Yes, we all laughed as we have been there.
* Humor Tips:
Personal stories - have natural elements of funny especially when things don't go the way we planned!
Props: Can add power and arouse curiousity from the audience. What's in the bag Glen?!
More Tips? Look below if you want to add more humor.

Warming Up at Igniters!

It was a chilly - 20 and we had a full house! Same as last week at our Speakers Night. Great place to warm up with laughter and learning. Our Area Director Jennifer was visiting and she won the weekly Igniting Spirits trophy for all her dedication to our club.

She also offered Congratulations to Igniters for already being a Presidents Distinguished Club - 9/10 goals in January! Fantastic news!

Theme: New Years Resolution with Margaret as Toastmaster leading the meeting.
We had fun sharing our resolutions and goals or sharing why we don't make resolutions. It ranged from going to the gym to meditating more regularly.
* Tip: Stephen - Keep a jar and every time you achieve something write it down and put in the jar. Then review at the end of the year. Great idea!

Yvonne shared descriptive stories about Yellowknife as a doctor and Mona informed us about her primary leadership style and how it impacted her in dealing with team members. She also shared areas that she can work on being more effective.
* Tip: Distractions like ringing phones may happen. Keep going and focus on your message. Try and ignore the distractions.

A warm welcome to newest Igniter Cat by VP Membership Diane. During the induction ceremony, we learned more about our newest member and her exciting running goals. Want to know what it is - ask her! Every member stood up and pledged their support to our newest member. It was great to also have two guests visit.

On Sat, Jan. 11 at CLED - a special all day training, members Marvin helped with officer training, and Nandini helped with PR and co-presented Circle of Gold. A way for members to strengthen their speaking skills through supportive feedback. A great day of leadership and learning also for our President Ksenija.

Happy Holidays! We are all looking forward to the annual party where we will be celebrating with good food and fellowship. Of course the fun continues with the gift exchange! Come join us in the New Year, work on your goals and look for more photos coming.

Over the past three meetings we have had many speakers who have been working on their educational goals. Great to have guests enjoy our meetings and return again to learn more.

We even had a Speakers Night last week, as we have many members wanting to give speeches and work on their goals. We will be having this once a month to meet our members needs. Over the past few weeks, evaluators were giving helpful tips and motivating speakers continue to take their speeches to the next level. New members giving ice breakers, members achieving goals through consensus and more experienced members working on toasts and roasts. Great to see so much support for our members working on Pathways or the Legacy program!

Imagine what you could do next year if you started working on your communication and leadership goals!

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!

Exciting Area Contest!

Diane wins Area E6 Evaluation Contest! Way to go Igniters! Glen, Mary, and Stephen showed their support by coming. Great to have friendly faces in the audience!

The Area Contest was hosted by Smart Speakers and our A.Director Jennifer. Mona was a funny SAA and entertained us with introductions after the fact! Marvin helped as Chief Judge and Marion was an awesome timer! Nandini as Evaluation Toastmaster introduced the Test speaker who shared tips on positive self talk.


Dermot shared his experience of being a test speaker at other contests. He learned lots of feedback from the evaluators and really enjoyed the opportunity to develop his speaking skills.

Come on out to the Division Contest Nov 2 in Cochrane. A great afternoon of Table Topics, Evaluations, and awards. 

Club Contest - Celebrating our Members

How can you step out of  your comfort zone and grow? Enter a club contest, help out as a contest official, or learn from others for the next time!

Table Topics Contest
Toastmaster: Yvonne

1. Diane
2. Trevor
3. Chris
We learned alot about our members as they shared 1 thing they do uniquely

:)

Evaluation Contest
Toastmaster: Nandini
Thank you to Jey for getting us the test speaker from his other club. Margaret gave a heartfelt and inspiring speech and honored her son.

1. Diane
2. Trevor
3. Glen

Dont you love a good photo where everyone is growing a little taller!!

Marion was a terrific food organizer and boy were the members delighted. Thanks to everyone for helping out and making the club contest a successful night.

Celebrating and Listening

September Birthdays! Jey, Gil, and Chris

Ayanna won Table Topics!

Marvin honors Gil's Level 1 Pathways

Celebrating! 
Great turnout this week! Nice to have one of our guests return for another week. We celebrated frienships and birthdays with baklava.
Ayanna won Table Topics this week sharing her tips on how to have fun and still be disciplined.
** Tip: she sets a timer for 15 min and gets down to work! Then she rewards herself. Then she starts the timer again! Combines work and rewards.
Congratulations Gil! He was away for the summer and recieved his educational certificate. Igniters every week are working on their goals.

Listening Skills and Creative Thinking

How effective of a listener are you? One way of developing your skills is as an evaluator. Trevor demonstrated specific suggestions and used positive descriptive language to empower the speaker. Gil gave a creative evaluation using Vision, Opportunities, and Confidence to offer strengths and suggestions. Diane F gave an Oreo Evalution! She was thinking outside the box and had us all hungering for more!!

Learning Through Laughter

Full House! Pleasure to have two guests visit. Vibrant energy and members were chatting up a storm!

What is your dream job? How Table Topics helped nail an interview!

Member Recognition
Congratulations to Trevor! Won this week for best Table Topic (TT). Great tip when he sat down on the floor and showed us what his friend likes to share with him! ** Tip: Nothing like a good demo! One of our guests showed courage (Word of the day too!) and shared who she likes to talk to at work. She got an extra round of applause for her efforts. Mary as the TT evaluator, took on this role for the first time with humor and had us laughing out loud.

Way to go Devon! He was presented with the weekly Igniting Spirits Trophy. This trophy is given to the member who Ignites Spirits by inspiring us by taking on new roles and stepping out of his comfort zone. Who will win this week?!

Speakers of the Week
** Tip: Chronological order - one way to structure your speech to make it flow more easily. Yvonne has been working on her Pathway speeches and shared her leadership styles in high school, during university and her residency, and dealing with health challenges. She is determined to use her skills to help educate others. Jey used the S.T.A.R. method to help Yvonne get stronger as a speaker.

** Tip: Giving a speech, getting feedback, and applying the feedback to another speech. One of the fastest ways to grow. Ksenija gave a speech about Contests last week, recieved feedback from her evaluator and mentor Marvin, and this week continued to inspire and educate the members with "Contests Part 2" about getting involved in the upcoming Club Contest on Oct 8.

Marion had us chuckling with her joke of the day and Dermot as Grammarian had us laughing out loud with his play on words. Glen rounded out the meeting as General Evalutor by offering feedback to the evaluators and the overall meeting. Yes, he tickled our funny bone at times too!

What will you learn next week? Come and stretch your brain and find out!

Say Cheese! Learn to Think on your Feet Better

We learn and laugh alot at our meetings! A great way to spend a Tues evening. Terrific having our Area Director Jennifer visit! She enjoyed our meeting and has some great ideas from Igniters to take back to her own club.

Our Toastmaster Glen brought his sense of humor to a more serious theme of Dental Hygiene. He was wanting us to learn from his experiences. Diane, the General Evaluator gave dental floss to thank evaluators! Marvin used dental terms to give a memorable evaluation!

Meeting Mentor - Chris helped newer member Devon with the timing role. He sat next to him and they shared parts of the role as a newer member was mentored by a more experienced mentor. The Igniters Advantage!

More Mentoring!
Ice Breaker - Naomi gave an inspiring first speech about moving to Canada and what she was able to do to get her dream job. Mona her evaluator gave her feedback and demonatrated a mentor mentee conversation on working on goals. Mentoring Teams - Thurs Sept 12 Mentors discussed issues and Mon Sept 16 - Conference Call with Mentors and Mentees to work on goals.

Preparing for Contests - The Club Contest for Table Topics and Evaluation will be held on Oct. 8. Ksenija our President gave an educational on the purpose of contests, types of contests, and three key roles in the contest. Stay tuned this week when she when she shares Part 2 on Contests.

Table Topic Tips - Jey and Nandini worked together as a team to share ideas and TT tips with the members. Also the judging form and the key criteria were discussed.
* Key Tips: May repeat question to buy time. Answer the question as early as possible. Use stories to illustrate your key points. Personal stories are a powerful tool. Summarize your key points.

2 min video - More Tips!

See you next week!

Listen and Learn!

Tips from World Champion Craig Valentine

Watching speakers and the techniques they use can help us get better. Check out other videos in Members Resources above. World Champion Craig Valentine states you can add more power to your stories with 3 Cs. Tip: Characters, Conflict, and Conversations. Look for these as you watch the video. How can you use these 3 C's to make your next speech stronger? You know where to come to practice!

Devon - warm welcome to our newest Igniter. Great to see our new members stepping up and learning new roles. Members next to you can always help you out. 

Stephen shared a speech about mentoring and the value of practising impromptu speaking with a few members. He also had us write on a Post-it note an encouraging note to ourselves to post on the mirror. Tip: You engage the audience when you throw a curve ball or unexpected idea. He then had us pass the note to the right! Encouragement from another member. Congrats on finishing Level 2 in Pathways! 

Jey gave an entertaining speech about buying vacation tickets on Kijiji. We all learned a few lessons!! He is embarking on his second Path. He used gestures, vocal variety, and alot of enthusiasm to share his stories. Tip: Keep working on your goals step by step. Wow! Way to go on finishing Level 5 in the Path Presentation Mastery. 

Ksenija our President has been learning from various trainings in the city and shared highlights from an excellent session by Lynette T "It's Not About the Points!" and explained about the Distinguished Club Program and how it is all about the success of the members that leads to the success of the club. Inspiring! She shared the goals the members and the club have already achieved just over the summer. Go Igniters!! 

Club Executive - Thanks to our dedicated team for their ideas at the executive meeting

We are looking forward to members who were away during the summer. It will be great to have you back!

    

Power of Stories and 2019 World Champion of Speaking

Ksenija, our President went to another officer training this week and shared "Facts tell, Stories sell!"

Watch the 2019 winner of the International Speech Contest at the Toastmaster Convention. What can you learn from his story? How can you tell a better story with more impact?

This week our speakers Yvonne and Mary were sharing stories and the lessons about time management and leadership. Mary shared a tip she learned from Yvonne 500 - 600 words is approximately a 5 -7 min speech. Try it! 

New Member Induction - Great to have Naomi join us!

Planner or Spontaneous?
We had a fun meeting learning about our members. Some are organizers and like to plan for travelling and some are more spontaneous.

What books are you reading? Margaret shared a book she is enjoying called Serve to Win by tennis player Novak Djokivic about his diet and fitness plan that helped him with his best season ever. She used it as a prop to ask spontaneous questions and the members shared their favorite books, dreams, and ideas in a 1-2 minute speech. You need to get to the point quickly!

Igniters Celebrate! Mentoring and Video Tip

Celebrating Birthdays! Igniters had a fun meeting celebrating five August birthdays. After the meeting fruit, cupcakes and chatting with each other and our guest. You should have been there trying to fit five names as we sang Happy Birthday!

Advantages of Mentoring Plus At Igniters you have the advantage of working with a mentor and also being part of a mentoring team. Mona, Mentoring Coordinator met with new members to share about the benefits and getting a mentor to help with their goals. Save time, grow faster, and learn from others at your own pace!

What leadership skills do you want to develop?  Jey was working on his Level 5 in Pathways by moderating a panel with Stephen, Yvonne, and Marvin.

Tip from his evaluator: where you stand is important. You can connect better with your audience. Lindsay a new member was timer and she had to pay careful attention to many timing requirements. Great job! She has been taking on new roles at the meeting and applying some of these learnings at work.




Leadership Opportunities! In August there have been leadership trainings (CLED) and workshops all over Calgary. Igniters has 7/7 club officers trained!

Igniters were giving workshops, Nandini sharing tips on impromptu speaking, Mona on effective evaluations, and Marvin teaching treasurers. Dermot a newer member and Sergeant at Arms networked with leaders. Ksenija, our President supported members and gathered ideas.

*Video Tip: How to prepare for a speech in a minute

Welcome More Igniters! The Evaluation Advantage

A warm welcome to Ayanna, Trevor, Lindsay, Naiomi, and Mina!  Great to have you join our club. We are all here to help and support you with your goals.

The Evaluation Advantage

 This week Trevor gave his icebreaker speech "Three Objects that Define Me" while Jey gave his ice breaker on his second Path "Where Are you From?" Stephen on Level 2 of Pathways, shared about his communication style. Each week our members learn new ideas.

The Evaluation Advantage is you get feedback, learn from it and grow. This week, evaluators Chris, Mary, and Vicky helped the speakers develop their skills by sharing strengths and areas for improvement in an encouraging manner. Not only do speakers get feedback from an evaluator, they also get written evaluations  from the members of the club. 

It doesn't stop there! Yvonne, was the General Evaluator and she gave feedback about other roles at the meeting, and how the evaluators can also improve. 

Want to learn more about giving an Effective Evaluation? (click for more info)

Stay Tuned! Next time the Benefits of Mentoring and Leadership Training

President Ksenija inducts new member Lindsay.  

Growing This Summer!

Yes our members are growing this summer! Every time you practice, get feedback - you get better.

Great to see many Igniters at the meeting. We had a fun meeting with Marvin as our Toastmaster, sharing tips on wine tasting and vineyards in B.C.  Ayanna gave an ice breaker speech in the Presentation Mastery Pathway. She shared why she is learning Spanish and how as a dietician it can allow her to help more people. Muchas Gracias!

Diane, our VP Membership gave an induction for our new members Trevor and Ayanna  to welcome them to our club. Igniters also gave their support to help the new members grow. Look for more inductions as we have more guests joining!!

 Do you want to be a stronger leader? Better communicator? When will you start working on your goals? "Day One or One Day?" Jay Shetty a motivational speaker - shared this idea. You decide!