Sunshine Speakers Toastmasters # 1363

All meetings at School Board Offices, 4351 Ontario Avenue, lower board room

Please print out the schedule, highlight your name on it, and post it by your calendar.

CLICK HERE to view and print the MONTHLY SCHEDULES   – Please make sure you click the correct month tab at the bottom.

Click here for personal Speaking PROGRESS RECORDS  – Choose your name at the bottom.

Click here for personal CL Progress Records  – Choose your name at the bottom.

Let Jen (604-485-0564) as VP of Education or the Toastmaster for the meeting know ASAP if you aren’t available.

Thank you to all who made the Taste of Toastmasters a wonderful success!  We had an exciting night of fun speeches and welcomed two guests to join us!  We had quite the spread:

See some of our incredible speakers:

Sharon delivered:  “It’s Winter – What’s the worst that could happen?”

Lilia brought us her “Facing My Fear” speech:

Howard brought us back to boating with “Beach Comber”:

Jen inspired us with “The Magic Door”:

Join us at Toastmasters for more exciting events coming up!

Susan Biagi

Ten Reasons Not to Join Toastmasters

1.    If you join Toastmasters, you’ll discover things about yourself that you never knew before… and may not want to know. For me, it was gripping my hands. I was a workshop facilitator for 20 years before I joined Toastmasters. And throughout all those years, I gripped my hands. Did anyone ever tell me that? Of course not! They were afraid of offending me. It wasn’t until I gave my first Toastmasters speech that someone mentioned it, in the kindest possible way. I now try to keep my hands by my sides. It works for me, and is less distracting for my students. But if you want to remain in blissful ignorance about your own annoying quirks and habits, stay far away from Toastmasters.

2.    You will be asked to step out of your comfort zone. At Toastmasters, we have an activity known as Table Topics, where people are called upon to give impromptu speeches. Of course, the ability to speak intelligently off the cuff does come in handy if you’re ever  stopped by a cop and have to do some fast talking about why you were driving 15 kilometres over the speed limit. But hey, maybe you prefer to wing it. (Unless you’ve learned to control your emotions and thoughts under pressure, your changes of successfully winging it are pretty low.) Still, go ahead and experiment. You don’t need Toastmasters.

3.    You may have to give up 20 or so lattes a year to afford the annual fee. I can’t argue with that decision. Especially if you really, really like your lattes. By the way, do you know that an average latte contains about 260 calories? Whatever. Keep your lattes. Of course, you won’t receive a great Toastmasters magazine free in the mail every month. You won’t get to enjoy the free coffee at the weekly Toastmasters meetings. And you won’t find friendship and personal growth. But hey, it’s your money.

4.    If you go to a Toastmasters meeting, you’ll be surrounded by people who are way, way better speakers than you are. This is bound to rub off. In a few years, you’ll be one of the veterans the newbies look up to. You’ll be the person who wins contests or the person who tells hilarious jokes. You don’t need that pressure.

5.    You’ll be encouraged to enter competitions. And what’s worse, you’re probably going to win. Powell River has this annoying little habit of winning first out of the gate. Our competitors hate to see us coming. The winners look healthy enough, but maybe they’re masking an inner trauma. Anyway, you’ll win, then Isabelle Southcott will put  your photo in Powell River Living and before you know it everyone in town will be coming up to you in Safeway, to congratulate you. Before you know it, you’ll be a living legend. A fate worse than death.

6.    You’ll never listen to another TV or radio broadcast in quite the same way again. You’ll start off noticing all the um’s and ah’s of people you formerly respected. You’ll wonder how your favourite actors got to be such big stars when they can barely complete a sentence in an interview. At the same time, you’ll start feeling a grudging admiration for people you don’t even like, just because they speak intelligently. Really, it’s far better that television-watching remain a mindless, passive activity.

7.    You’ll start annoying your friends with all the impressive words you’re using, words like tyro and otiose. When a friend starts searching for the perfect word to capture how she’s feeling, the one who provides it will—alas—be you. Think of the pressure ! People will start turning to you expectantly, waiting for pearls of wisdom to drop out of your mouth. When a friend has a problem with their kid, you’ll be quoting Harry Truman, who once said that “the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” Money troubles? You may be tempted to quote Dorothy Parker, who once said: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” In such situations, it’s far better to say something mundane and dopey. You won’t stick out that way.

8.    You’ll find yourself being drawn into other people’s obscure hobbies and odd obsessions. I once sat through a speech on ancient music instruments. Ever since then I’ve been toying with the idea of joining the Society for Creative Anachronism, in the hope of getting some lute lessons. Thanks to Toastmaster Barb, I now know where Tuktyuktuk is. How useful is that? And then my husband got wind of it and wants to go there!

9.    It will destroy travel for you. Everyone else on the bus will be off to see the changing of the guard in London, but not you. Nope! You’ll be in a church basement somewhere surrounded by a bunch of Brits who are fascinated by your accent. You’ll start planning your itinerary based on the location of Toastmasters meetings. And unluckily for you, there’s hardly a country where you won’t find one. You also run the risk of meeting people from all over the world who’ll take to you like a long-lost brother or sister. You’ll probably be invited to dinner in a real Japanese or Brazilian home. Come to think of it, it’s far better to stay in a western hotel and eat pizza. You don’t want to run the risk of running into the locals.

10.    You’ll acquire a host of new friends, who’ll quickly become important people in your life. Thanks to Toastmasters, I now know dozens of people I can call late at night to ask for support when I’m thinking of trying something new. Far better that you spend your nights alone, just you and the tv and a plate of flaky pastries. Forget all about that group of new friends, ready and able to provide the warm supportive atmosphere we need to reach our goals.  Who wants to reach for the sky anyway?

So there you are: 10 good reasons not to join. If you’re smart, you’ll decide never to darken the door of a Toastmasters meeting. But if you do decide to join, tell them Susan sent you…

Ho ho ho!

We’re looking to forward to seeing you all our annual Christmas Party, scheduled for Monday, December 19, 6 p.m. at Neil’s house in Wildwood. (Call Susan at 604.483.4551 for directions.) Please bring a potluck food item to share. Spouses and significant others are invited!  

To participate in the auction, please bring a wrapped gift under $10, to “sell” to your fellow Toastmasters at the party and a bit of cash so you can buy an item.  While we won’t be doing any speeches, we’ll be coming up with reasons why someone should choose YOUR gift.

Nov.10 was jam-packed and a night for welcoming new-to-us members with their first speech. Gerry moved in from the Ucluelet club, Passia came from a White Rock club, and Heather is returning to us. All three gave passionate speeches that made us laugh and cry. I’m looking forward to working with you and learning from you for many years to come.

Congratulations Kitty on completing your Competent Communicator manual! Our club is so lucky to have you. Keep up the good work and have even more fun with the advanced manuals. It was great to have your family there. How brave for your son-in-law Earl to take part in table topics and he won too.

THanks Isabelle for bringing highlights from the fall conference and peaking our interest in attending the spring one at Harrison Hot Springs.

As your Toastmaster for the night, I went home high on all your energy. I have missed my TM fixes and hope soon to rectify that by staying home. I still maintain that when we are tired,coming to a Toastmaster meeting is one of the fastest ways to be re-energized and lifted up. Works for me.

In the latest TI magazine, the president said TM is a learning laboratory where you learn to speak with vitality. I plan on being in this lab until I can’t talk anymore…a long long time from now.

Barb

What is about adults playing dress-up that brings out the child in us? Oct.27, we packed the room with spooktackular fun and funny people who were dead serious about their Toastmaster roles. I call that serious fun. For  my inner child who has to be serious way too much of the time, this is was the perfect meeting.

Super Toastmaster Jennifer in her blue superwoman cape and shirt led us through a well organized, very full meeting.

Special guest Division Governor Scarecrow/ Sly Houde is on a mission to visit all 21 clubs that make up Division G. To the best of my knowledge it is the first time a division governor has visited our club other than for contests and training. It is no small task for Sly to meet all the clubs from north of Victoria to Campbell River and here.

Our other special guests were Toastmaster Paula Howley and her daughter Meaghan from Sechelt. Paula practiced her district competition speech on us, and Meaghan (about 5 or 6?) volunteered for table topics. She has to be the youngest ever.

The rest of the line up: The Queen Bee herself Lesley who combined humour and serious facts about the dwindling bee population, “The Bees Knees.” She overcame her fear and did it anyway, a fine example for all.

Linda wove the poignant story of Clara and Robert Schumann into “The Music in My Head.” We learned about true love and great musicians.

Isabelle alias an 82-year-old grandmother was selling a contraption to lose weight called “Melt in a Moment” had us rolling with laughter. She took a serious project from persuasive speaking manual and turned it into great fun but we got the point.

A good time was had by all and if I had my way we would play dress-up more often than I could come to the meeting in my slippers. I sure picked a perfectly spookalicious meeting to come home to. Barb

Ever felt like you were at the bottom of a pit with the world dumping crap on you and no matter how hard you shoveled all you got was exhausted? I think it goes without saying everyone has experienced that and/or are presently in that situation. Where do you go for a transfusion of energy and love? It may be church, family, camping or quiet time alone. For me, one of my main sources of energy comes from Toastmasters.

As most of you know, my 44 year old son was in a terrible car accident Sept.5, resulting in him being paralyzed from the chest down. Today is Day 27 for him and still he can not speak nor eat. He may never walk again. We rushed to Vancouver from Saskatchewan where we were still on our trip. Up until Friday we have been camped in Surrey in our rv and driving to VGH everyday to be with Brent and his wife. Of course it was draining and no matter how much online support we received, we still needed “the real deal.” Thus we decided to drive home for the weekend and I would be able to attend the Area Contest Oct.1. It was the wisest thing I could have done. It was 107 days since we’d been home sweet home.

Saturday dawned overcast and raining quite contrary to the usual way we welcome Toastmasters from the island. True to Sunshine Speaker’s reputation, by the time we picked them up from the ferry at 11:30 it was clearing. By the time they left for home it was sunny. Amazing!

I received many, many hugs and expressions of concern and love. I needed to be surrounded by my Toastie friends with all their bright energy. Several in the club gave me cards and even very generous donations. When I showed them to Dave, he cried too. Thank you for being who you are. Sunshine Speakers isn’t a church type club that ministers to peoples needs but we sure do stand by each other when the going gets tough. Yes, I came home for a transfusion of Toastmasters.

As I sat with my old friend George Delgatty from Campbell River and compared notes of the family health issues we are both facing we came to the same conclusion: When things get tough,it is  not the time to pull awat from Toastmasters. It may require minimizing what we do while carrying an extra load, but don’t quit. For George and I, TM is where we come for refreshment, energy, positive words, and challenge(in a good way). Toastmasters, especially this amazing club, was the best thing about coming home this weekend(besides sleeping in blissful quiet).

I am so proud of the way our club hosted the area contest. A toast to all of you who volunteered your time to organize, plan, participate and prepare. Congratulations Isabelle on winning first place in the table topics. Out of 5 contestants only 2 answered the question, “What is integrity?” Loved your explanation Iz. Also congrats on second place in the humourous speech contest. Don’t suppose you want to take that speech to BC Ferries do you? LOL! Good luck at the Division Contest, Oct.15 in Port Alberni.

The whole day was fantastic. Howard did a great job as chairman and looked smashing too! Thank you everyone for supporting my family in this trying time. I will be back in full swing in November.

Keep on working closely with your executive especially Jennifer as VP of ED. I know from experience what a challenging role she has and how crucial it is to each person’s success. Together we will earn our 10th DCP ribbon June 2012. Yes We Can!!

Barb

    

Way to go all of you who participated in the 2011 Fall club contest.  There were two contests:  humorous speech, and table topics.  Isabelle Southcott won both contests!  She will represent our club in the area contest on October 1, 2011 in Powell River!  The area 12 contest is open to the public ($10 charge for lunch), and will be held at the Max Cameron Theatre at Brooks Secondary School.

Jim Petrie did a FANTASTIC job of officiating the club contests!  Thanks Jim!

The participants in both contests did well!  GREAT JOB to our newest members especially!

Kitty Clemens, Susan Biagi, Howard Montgomery, and Isabelle Southcott participated in the table topics contest.

Linda Wegner, Sharon Toole, Kitty Clemens, Susan Biagi, and Isabelle Southcott humoured us with their speeches!  WAY TO GO TO ALL!

Good luck Isabelle at the area 12 contest coming up!

Congratulations Sunshine Speakers for stepping up to the plate!  A new executive has been voted in. Join me in welcoming the 2011/2012 team: President Howard Montgomery, VP of Education Jennifer Salisbury with her assistant Linda Wegner, Treasurer Bonnie Krakalovich, Sergeant of Arms Jim Petrie, VP of Publicity Susan Biagi, VP of Membership Sharon Toole, and Secretary Kitty Clemens. With a mix of experienced members and brand new ones, all with very diverse personalities, they are sure to bring a new flavour to our club.

 They were given their first training at a “Newbie Officer 101″ potluck May 18. One of our strengths as a club is our  willingness to create new roles, sessions and awards. Thanks to a discussion with a district governor about adequate training for new executive, we created “Newbie Officer 101″ an evening of fun, food and sharing at Isabelle’s.  In an intimate setting, us “oldies” shared our tips with the newbies. It wasn’t just about teaching but more so it was about creating bonds within the team and with the retiring executive. I went home invigorated and with a feeling of relief that in retiring from the board after 10 years of serving, I not only freed myself up but I also freed others up to step into their previously untapped leadership skills.

The club has achieved their 9th consecutive DCP award with 9 of 10 points earned by the end of April. We will have 10 of 10 in June. A huge round of applause for all of you who contributed to building a strong club.

Newbies Terri Cramb and Sharon Toole gave their Ice Breakers speeches last week. Way to go ladies! Sharon closed her speech with this quote, “A pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear from the injury of the oyster. The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life. If we have not been wounded, if we have not been injured, then we will not produce a pearl.”

Thanks to all of you who taught the Toastmaster program to Brooks students over the last few months. Lesley, Jim and I were at their grand finale when they gave their speeches on passion. They did amazing! There are leaders, story tellers and motivators among them. The following is the opening for the winning speech given by Pablo:

“Passion is a sense of overwhelming emotion. Passion is a feeling, deep from within. Passion is the strength in the punch, the true power behind the action. Passion is selfishness, the power that diverts your attention inward. Passion is the thought.  Is it safe to say that passion has been the source of some of the boldest behavior known to mankind?” Pablo closes his two page speech with, “As Albert Einstein once colloquially said, “I have no special talents, I am just passionately curious.”

What are you passionate about? If you’ve been a Toastmaster for years have you lost your passion? If so what do you need to do to reignite it? Keep passion alive in you life and great things will come to you. It is the source of all great dreams coming true.

As I retire from the executive, my passion for Toastmasters intact, and head  out on a  4 month book tour, I am looking forward to visiting other clubs along the way and learning from them. And just maybe do a little bit of bragging about all of you…LOL.

Barb/soon to be past president.

Definition of vision: “An image of the future we seek to create. A short paragraph providing broad, aspirational image of the future.”

Toastmasters International Vision:

Toastmasters International empowers people to achieve their full potential and realize their dreams. Through our member clubs, people around the world can improve their communication and leadership skills, and find the courage to change.

How do we go about creating a vision statement for Sunshine Speakers?

1) Make a list of what we would like to do. 2) List our dreams and goals. 3) What we aspire to achieve. 4) What are our values, future plans, and how they impact members.

I started analyzing other companies visions and advertising and here’s what I learned: Macdonalds doesn’t just sell food, they sell relationships. Corolla isn’t selling just cars, they are selling memories of growing up. Nike is selling more than shoes, they are selling how we feel about our body. Avon isn’t just about toiletries, they are selling how women see themselves. Do you get the idea?

From these companies image, vision and outlook we can learn how to create the first ever Sunshine Speakers vision statement. My first question would be to ask if we aren’t selling public speaking and leadership skills, what are we selling?

 I think we are changing peoples image of themselves, and encouraging them to reach their full potential in all they do in life. It comes about because they learn to be better communicators and grow in confidence.

That’s my shot at it. How about you? It needn’t be as serious or long winded as TI vision. Sunshine Speakers vision should reflect our sunny, fun but productive club.

We’ve spent time at two meetings with the following results. Please look at this list of what we do well and chose your favorites or what you think reflects the club the best.  Add your comments to this post.

Values or good points in our club:

Encouragement, goal oriented, friendship, supportive,mentorship program,organized but fun, open minded, follow the educational program, flexible, are role models for other organizations.

We put Powell River on the map because Jennifer Salisbury is teaching at the District Conference in May. Way to go Jennifer!! Newbie 101 orientates new members. We care about the club, provide a learning environment, are inclusive not exclusive, welcoming, make good use of technology, exciting, humourous, structured meetings so members can reach out and do several tasks.

 We infuse new members with enthusiasm, and the club has longevity of over 35 years.Once you belong to one TM club, you are part of an international group and go anywhere in the world.

This is our list so far. Now it’s your turn as you help create Sunshine Speakers vision. It isn’t the executive’s vision or responsibiltiy, it is all of ours. If you don’t know how to post on the blog, send me an email.

Thanks for being the amazing people you are!

Barb

“Leadership is about submission to duty, not elevation to power.”