Beltline Toastmasters

For the Week of May 3, 2006

2006-04-26T15:20:00.000-06:00

Greetings and salutations!

A couple quick reminders:

Please read your emails; it is clear that some people are not doing so and it is important that everyone knows what is happening
Only 4 people have taken the survey, if you have not, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=668682022221
Please make sure you are paid up with Toni
Please turn your cell phones, blackberries, etc. off during the meetings as they can be tremendously distracting
Thanks Dawna for keeping us on track with your Speech Craft eMails. It seems like you’re the prime candidate to carry on the duty, though I might suggest Les for the position of VP Ed. This issue, as well as those of meeting times and locations, etc. should be discussed at some point following Speech Craft.
Our thanks to Judy for her presentation today and to Marvin for his ongoing assistance
Welcome back Rosa!

Assignments for next week:

Speakers: Chad, Rosa, Kelly, Toni – Dawna please reiterate which speech is to be performed by which person (our info spreadsheet is attached for your reference)
Evaluators: Joe, Sheila, Sandra, Dawna*
Chair: Kathryn

For the Week of April 26, 2006

2006-04-21T13:51:00.000-06:00

Greetings and salutations;

No worries on the Survey Service; glad to be of help! I see only 4 people have completed it though…
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=668682022221

Other important points:

Joe, Sandra, Sheila, and Toni are next week’s speakers
Bring your money so we can make sure Kathryn gets paid back (I believe Les and I have paid the 45$ so far)
The club will need a new VP Ed. And someone to keep track of the materials. It is unlikely I’ll be continuing on with the club after Speech Craft.

Here’s the completed speech list I have – please let me know of any corrections:

Ice Breaker
Chad, Joe, Les, Kelly, Sandra, Sheila, Toni

Organize Your Speech
Sheila, Joe, Toni, Kelly, Chad, Les

Speaking in Earnest (Sincerity)
Sandra

Don’t forget about the International Speech Contest next Tue night!

For the Week of April 18, 2006

2006-04-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings and salutations!

Good meeting this morning – it was nice to see so many people out! Kathryn, please pass on our thanks to Oliver.

Not to ‘dis’ Oliver but I just want to repeat that Joan’s presentation last week was just incredible. I wish we had a recording of it; it’s really too bad most of the group missed her.

In the ‘Word of the Week’ category – when referencing historical records, the term annals is pronounced ann – als (as opposed to the hard A sound).

Just a reminder to everyone to bring (A) your money and (B) your books next week; cheques can be made out to Toni Henderson. As far as the money goes, it looks like most of the original $15 payments went to Yar to reimburse his credit card purchase. There is $45 remaining which Sandra will deliver to Toni. As far as the remaining $45 owed by each of us (as far as I know Les is the only one who has paid – let me know if this is incorrect), deliver your payment to Toni and then Kathryn will be reimbursed for her credit card purchase. The attached spreadsheet is the updated membership data including who has made what payments and who has made what speeches.

Next week the following people are up for speeches:
Chad, Les, Sheila, and Kelly

On matters of operation, here are some points to consider:

Obviously Speech Craft is not going to help our club in terms of recruitment. If time is the major factor, I think the club should consider rescheduling meetings to a time that works better for everyone.
We may also continue using the board room for our regular meetings once Speech Craft is over; I will inquire if this is possible with Selina. However, if the time of the meeting changes, this may also change. In fact, for now I will not contact Selina – I’ll wait until the timing issue (post Speech Craft) has been decided.

Misc. Points:

Kelly has a hot tub for sale – email her for details
I have the following items for sale (email me for details):
- A custom built desktop PC system
- A nearly new 19” LCD monitor
- A 21 speed mountain bike
- A 21” TV

Happy Easter!

Addendum
-------------------------------------

Congratulations Dawna on your recent content win!

In regard to voting on times, etc…the simpler option is to simply use a web application like surveymonkey.com – such as this one:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=668682022221

In regard to location, after Speech Craft, we will only be able to book the board room for 10 days in advance, if we choose to meet there.

The idea of potentially merging with a different club isn’t the worst one I’ve heard either.

For the Week of April 12, 2006

2006-04-10T18:32:00.000-06:00

Greetings and salutations;

Sorry I didn’t get this out last week, have been very busy of late. Before I forget, the 3 Yr Anniversary Event for the Hard Disk Café was fantastic!

Something else many of you missed out on was last week’s Speech Craft session! This is your official tongue lashing because Joan Crockatt’s presentation was excellent! She addressed the importance of public speaking skills by drawing on the diverse range of her past – as an accomplished journalist and broadcasting professional. Her speech was sharp and engaging and her anecdotal humour coloured her topical points on communication and influence quite effectively! I found the session to be tremendously informative. (Kathryn, feel free to pass these comments, along with out thanks, onto Joan).

For those who were curious, SUMMATE is indeed a word: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/summate

At present, I am unaware of the state of our club bank account, so everyone (members) can hold onto their $45 for now until we get that figured out. Also, we all need to be making speeches during this workshop (that’s the idea anyway) so if anyone wants to present their second speech this week (I would but I’ve been busy, as I mentioned) that would be great! Should volunteers not be forthcoming, I suppose we’ll have to start delegating. A timer and an evaluator will be chosen at the session. I believe Kathryn and Dawna will be choosing Table Topics between them.

I hope you can make it out this week – Oliver Kuhn will be our guest speaker!

Time: 08:30 Place: 2nd Floor Boardroom, 638 11th Ave SW
To get to the Speech Craft sessions – 638 11th Ave SW – just down the street from Hard Disk – glass entry way with a decorative door frame – immediately to the left of Stephen Ave Soup Co – go inside and up to the 2nd floor. Someone will be there to direct you or simply take the hall on the left hand side past the washrooms – go through the kitchen and take your first left. Look for the first room on the left (glass door) – you’re there!

For the Week of April 5, 2006

2006-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations;

I have attached the updated contact list. This also lists who has made which speeches. While Ray’s information is in the file, I have removed him from the email list. Norm is also not on the email list.
If there is a majority desire to change the time of our meetings (not including the next 6 weeks), that is something we can all discuss following Speech Craft.

Speech Craft begins next week. Dawna and Kathyrn will be facilitating this event for us. Please have your 45$ ready. Once we pay this, all of us are in the clear until our next 35$ dues payment. For Paula (not included in this email) and anyone else not currently a member joining speech craft, they will pay $45, 15$ of which go toward membership. Should they choose to join the group, the remaining 30$ will be charged. I felt this was the best way to avoid any confusion. Following Speech Craft, all new members will be charged $60 (which is what we paid – 15$ starter kit - $45 membership) to join.

To get to the Speech Craft sessions – 638 11th Ave SW – just down the street from Hard Disk – glass entry way with a decorative door frame – immediately to the left of Stephen Ave Soup Co – go inside and up to the 2nd floor. Someone will be there to direct you or simply take the hall on the left hand side past the washrooms – go through the kitchen and take your first left. Look for the first room on the left (glass door) – you’re there!
A note for future Table Topics Masters; unless there is a lot of extra time, please don’t ask the main speaker(s) to perform a TT response.
Our meetings have been progressively more organized, which is wonderful; good work everyone! A quick agenda review:

a. Opening Remarks
[Opening, Word of the Day, Introductions Theme]
Toastmaster
b. Introductions
All Members
c. Introduce Speaker
[Brief Bio, Review Goals and Objectives]
Toastmaster
d. Speech
5-7 Min
Speaker
e. Introduce Table Topics Master
Toastmaster
f. Introduce Table Topics
Table Topics Master
g. Table Topics
2 Min each
All Members
h. Introduce Speech Evaluator
Toastmaster
i. Speech Evaluation
4 Min
Speech Evaluator
j. Introduce Timer
Toastmaster
k. Timer Report
Timer
l. Introduce UM Counter/Grammarian
Toastmaster
m. UM Counter/Grammarian Report
UM Counter /Grammarian
n. Introduce Thought for the Day
Toastmaster
o. Thought of the Day
p. Introduce Humor of the Day
Toastmaster
q. Humor of the Day
r. Adjourn Meeting
Toastmaster
s. Other business and role assignment

Another great meeting this week and I look forward to seeing you all at Speech Craft!

For the week of March 29, 2006

2006-03-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations;

I just want to remind everyone that it is very important that you regularly review your manual and pay close attention to these emails. Running proper, smooth meetings and chartering asap are among our top goals, and we are making progress, but ongoing awareness is key.

Other Notes:

Rather than having each person present a word on their introduction, we will have one person fill the role of Word of the Day. The challenge is for every speaker to attempt to use this word during their speech, table topic, etc. During introductions, try to come up with something new and interesting to say.
Speech Craft is coming up shortly. All members please be sure to have your $45 membership payment submitted by Apr 5^th. This is important because Kathryn will be ordering some materials and she should be reimbursed right away. Our goal for Speech Craft, aside from our ongoing CTM development, is to introduce the public to TM and increase our membership in order to charter. With this in mind, please spread the word (with flyers if you have them) and try to get people to come out. Dawna and Kathryn – please have more details regarding how Speech Craft will work for next week if at all possible.
Toni and Sandra, it is very important that a bank account be opened asap.

The roles for next week, the last before Speech Craft, are as follows:

Toastmaster – Sandra
Speaker – Sheila ** If at all possible, Cheryl or Daniel should perform their Ice Breaker speech
Speech Evaluator – Kathryn
Humour – Chad
Table Topics Master – Toni
Timer – Joe
Thought – Kelly
UM Counter/Grammarian – Dawna

For the week of March 22, 2006

2006-03-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations!

Well, despite losing my notes and resorting to improvisation, we had an excellent meeting this morning! Thanks to all who attended and to Les for his great Ice Breaker. In order to avoid situations such as this (losing notes, etc.), I think it’s better that I send out these reminders on the same day as the meeting. They will then be posted on the blog and re-mailed early the following week.

As I mentioned during the meeting, it’s nice to see the group really starting to come together and develop. There’s certainly positive progress being made. One thing we need to do is get those 20 members in order to charter (this means we only need 7 more). This effort is a part of the reason we’ll be holding Speech Craft in April (Dawna and Kathryn are putting this together). A reminder of the important details:

Time: 08:30-0:930 Wed mornings (in lieu of our regular meetings)
April 5 – May 10th
Location: Main Board Room, Pasera Business Centre, 638 11th Ave SW – go to the 2nd floor and ask the receptionist for directions (Dana has agreed to book the room for us under Anduro Marketing. We should be fine all the way through but in the event a pressing business matter requires the space (highly unlikely) we will have to be prepared to move. Do not mention to anyone involved with Pasera that the room is being used for Toastmasters. We kind of have to keep this somewhat hush hush.
Cost: $45 – for members, this will be your charter fee. Non members will have the choice of whether or not to join the club. Dawna and Toni need to open a bank account asap. Keep No Fee options such as President’s Choice in mind.
I have included a new spreadsheet which also lists those who have expressed interest in Speech Craft. Please feel free to promote this workshop in your newsletters or contact lists. Flyers may be obtained from Sandra.

We are now operating in force on the UM Loonie issue. At the end of each meeting, the person with the most UMS will leave an IOU note in the Cow and the totals will be tallied monthly (?). Toni, if you could keep a record of those owing UM $$, that would be great.

As part of the introductions we perform at the beginning of each meeting, we’re hoping that everyone will come prepared with a Word of the Day. Aside from that, I think that about covers it. Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns. The roles for next week’s meeting will be:

Toastmaster – Toni
Speaker – Cheryl
Evaluator, Humour – Sandra
Table Topics Master – Les
Timer – Sheila
Thought for the Day – Kathryn
UM Counter/Grammarian – Joe

For the week of March 06, 2006

2006-03-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings fellow Toastmasters! (We have 13 members now and are tremendously glad to have Dawna join our club officially)

Lots of new and exciting information to go over:

For those of you unable to attend, we had our first business meeting last week and it was quite productive. Please take note of the following:

The executive roles were filled. While these will take on new significance once we charter, please review the duties involved in your manuals.

President – Dawna Michaud
VP Education – Joe Armstrong
VP Membership – Sheila Maclean
VP Public Relations, Secretary – Sandra Schulze
Treasurer – Toni Henderson
Sergeant at Arms – Kelly Leech, Chad Hughes

The dues structure was decided upon. Initially, everyone pays the 15$ for the kit (according to my records Norm and Les still need to do so) and, when we charter, we each pay 45$ which will complete our new member fees. After this, we will pay dues of 35$ every six months which will be entered into the club bank account (which still needs to be set up).

Still dealing with money, from now on the system will be that the person with the most UMS during a meeting will place a loonie in our….cow bank. For a recruiting and fundraising activity, we’re looking to host a Speechcraft series in April (see Sandra’s newsletter below). This would be an opportunity to get other business people to experience the benefit of joining toastmasters while contributing funds to our group. Group members are not required to take part in this workshop. I believe Dawna is gathering further information.

Sandra, I’ve only taken a quick look at your newsletter. It looks fine though I might suggest tightening up the table a bit more and using borders. Once you have a confirmed layout let me know and I’ll make sure the Speechcraft info is in the next Anduro newsletter as well. Was there something you needed from Jeff? I made a note but am not positive about the reference.

This is the second last item – but one of the most exciting in my opinion. When we’re chartered, we will have access to online systems through the Toastmasters International website. Until then I have setup a blog for our group. You can go here to keep up on the latest news, agendas, etc. in case you happen to miss an email. You can find the blog here: http://beltlinetm.blogspot.com and (for you advanced tech people out there) a RSS feed here: http://beltlinetm.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Last but not least, the roles for this Wed’s meeting are the ones chosen previously:

Toastmaster – Chad
Speaker – Sandra
Evaluator – Kathryn
UM Counter – Kelly
Grammarian – Joe
Table Topics – Dawna
Gen. Evaluator – Kathryn
Timer – Les
Thought/Humor - Dawna