Love and Marriage...

Meeting, Wednesday 17th October 2012:
...Go together like a punch to the face...
In attendance: Julie, Simon, Reuben, Kathy, Braden, Helen, Rosario, Jean Francois
Guests: Aldrin, Elena, Claudette

Word of the day: Canny: 

1. Careful and shrewd, especially where one's own interests are concerned.

2. Cautious in spending money; frugal.
Antonym: Uncanny

Today we had an entertaining session. Husband and wife team Reuben and Kathy both spoke. Kathy led out with her icebreaker speech about what you give out, or bring, or some Oprah type stuff. But mainly it told us lots about Kathy.

There was an initial kerfuffle when Kathy had counted on husband Reuben going first and had written a reference into her speech on this fact. Toastmaster Helen pointed out that junior speakers go first. I was in favour of letting Kathy go second, partly because I thought it would be less stress, partly because I hate rules as you all know by now.

I probably should have learnt more from Kathy's speech, but I was busy timing it. It's always hard to listen and do other things. Well, lets face it, as a man...listening is always tough...

What I did learn is that nerves aside, Kathy was eloquent, and intelligent, and we should expect good things in future speeches.

We demand...the 1st speech!

Then we moved on to Reuben, whose speech was about being a Father, and the lessons learnt. He may have said rules, but like the Knights of Ni, suffice to say the 'r' word is one I cannot hear...

Reuben mentioned that if you get your wife pregnant with twins she may just punch you...

There were other lessons about how other peoples children are better behaved. I think they call that Karma Reuben...

Great speeches...and then...a shrubbery...I mean Table Topics.

Jean Francois spoke about spanking his kids, or in his case, biting them in the head; Rosario spoke about life's biggest lesson (take care of your self), Claudette mentioned her thoughts on "best friends", Braden on fighting for his country... (Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori?....Braden thinks so...; Reuben again on whether all dogs go to heaven.

Our joint winners were newcomer Claudette and Veteran and Club Toastmaster of the Year, Rosario. Congratulations to both...

And now...it is right and proper, as both Horace and Owen said...that I should skiddadle...

Leaving but not totally gone...

Dear CTI members,

This past year has been a glorious ride for CTI: 10th anniversary, President's Distinguished Club, great representation in all the contests, 3 new DTM's. CTI is respected all around Calgary for its accomplishments, for its professionalism and for its warmth. I am proud to be a charter member of this club.

Unfortunately, the time has come for me to move on to other things. Wed just isn't a good day for me, and it's time for me to retrieve my unfinished book from its dark and dusty place in the basement, dust it off and finally get it written. I have thrown out a mountain of procrastination excuses and cleared off my desk.

Thank you to all of you. You have been a very important part of my Toastmaster journey. Your suggestions, encouragement and support have helped me to grow and gain confidence.

It is never easy to say good bye and so I will say "Au Revoir" - until we meet again. While I am not able to come to meetings at CTI on a regular basis, I will come back to visit from time to time. Please let me know when you have special events and I will do my best to come to celebrate with you.

All the best to you as you continue to develop your skills as outstanding communicators and leaders.

Area contest - A smart choice!

Contests. They are a smart choice. See...I could do Smart Technologies jokes all night long.

That said our Area 41 contest was held on October 3rd, 7-9pm at the Smart Technologies building, and most ably too I might add. Smart provided not just contestants, but chief judge, and other functionaries, so thank you Smart.

This being my first 'out of club' contest attended I shall put down my thoughts, which you are welcome to love, loathe, agree or disagree with as you please. :) And if you really disagree feel free to write a rebuttal.

5 clubs represented, namely Smart, CTI Techtalkers, Igniters, Sait Speakers, and U of C.

Firstly Table Topics: with the speakers being Shana, Simon, Jacob, Angela and Kendra.

The topic was "Are Calgary Drivers good drivers or bad drivers?"

I'll start with the winning placings:

1st   Jacob
2nd  Kendra
3rd  Simon

This was a great topic. I believe it was chosen by Darlene Davies who from experience always gives you something you can get your teeth into.

I led out with a comment on how bad the drivers were "excepting the natural born locals on account of my wife". One of the dangers in a topic like this is that you might alienate the judges with your comments, which is something I probably did mildly on this one.

One thing I like to do in situations like this is compare myself and try and guess where I will come. It is however VERY hard to judge yourself, because in the heat of the moment you can't always spot your own mistakes.

I felt I did really well in this contest and was hoping for 2nd place, although 3rd seemed reasonable. I was convinced that Jacob had won, because he spoke so fluently, quickly and had the audience laughing the whole way through. I got some laughs, but sensed his strength.

Ironically Jacob was a last minute ringer as his club colleague Ali never showed up. Stepping in and winning is a great job. Definitely deserving of victory, if he repeats the performance I could see Jacob going a long way.

I thought I might have edged Kendra but would have to see the tape. Mostly this was because she said Calgary drivers are good drivers, which made me think she was either sarcastic or deluded. :) I suspect the judges didn't share my opinion.

Calgary Drivers...

Humorous Speech Contest

with the speakers being Richard, Jacob, Simon, Nandini and Kendra.

Richard's speech was "Monster in Law?"
Jacob: "My life"
Simon: "My life as a teenager"
Nandini: 1st date from hell"
Kendra: "Am I lucky?"

The results were:

1st:  Nandini
2nd: Kendra
3rd: Richard

I didn't place in this one, but if I tell you I'm not surprised will you believe me?

The one thing I regret about contests, which makes me think they are way less useful than Toastmasters meetings, is that you don't get an evaluation back. Without feedback, you can speculate as to what you did badly, or needed to improve on, or what you did well, but you'll never really know.

They (the ubiquitous they, or senior toastmasters attendees) will always tell you contests are important for gaining confidence and honing your speaking. However...I think they might get you in front of new people, which is good for nerves, but without an independent evaluation you are left guessing. My advice: attend your club meetings.

My speech lacked a couple of things. Overworked and overwrought of late I didn't have enough time to practice. This slowed me down, added too many pauses, and disrupted my flow. I can't complain. The old adage of getting out what you put in is true.

That said, I'm funny. At least if feedback is true. Am I a Toastmaster speaker? Definitely not.And I say this with a mixture of pride and belligerence.

I think where my speech lost most in the contest is that it wasn't a "traditional speech". Beginning, body, conclusion, etc. Mine was more of a thematic monologue. I sense that this didn't fit the mold. Perhaps with a joke or two too close to the knuckle. Lack of connection to the judges, and a little irreverence about the Toastmaster process.

The podium places shocked me though. Taking myself out of the equation, so you don't think what I say comes from pure bias; I was shocked at the results. The speeches I thought were funniest by far, and certainly well put together, did not place as well as I expected.

I want to take nothing away from Nandini. She is an excellent Toastmaster. Spot on execution in "The Toastmasters way". Moving across the floor. Check. Eye contact with audience. Check. Beginning, Body, Conclusion. Check. Toastmasters bases covered. Check.

My issue. I think Richard was much funnier. I think Kendra had a natural goofish hilarity that came across well. Did they cover their Toastmaster checkmarks. Sure. My confusion was that the natural jokes and humour didn't win out.

I guess what I'm saying is: I got the Table Topics results perfectly. But for me, a humourous speech should be well presented. But also, dang funny. I suspect my humour and that of the judges differs wildly. I think it's a cultural thing and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Congratulations to all, and I certainly learned a lot! I highly recommend you all to attend the contests yourself to see them in action. Then join me in the pub to argue the subjectivity.

:)

Humorous Speech Contest

Meeting, Wednesday 26th August 2012:   

A Horse walks into a bar......

In attendance: Darlene, Simon, Geetha, Chris, Kyle, Janet, David, JF, Rueben, Kathy, Rob, Julie, Kevin, Val, and about 7000 other people who did judging and stuff....

Speeches are fun, and they can be funny. Today saw the event of CTI Techtalkers Humorous Speech Contest.

Despite the fact that we have many fun members, just two took part in the contest today. Val "The Beast" Erickson, and Simon "Teenage Brat" Jackson.

Val led off with a funny story about her husbands crappy beater of a truck, nicknamed 'The Beast" and it's role in her son's summer job debacle. Listeners were entertained and surely somewhat sympathetic of the parental plight of paying a fortune for ones offsprings failed work attempts.

Which led neatly into Simon Jackson's speech "My life as a teenager" in which Simon, with very little effort, behaved and parodied the actions of a teenage brat.

The judges, clearly convinced that Simon was a viable teenager in every way, sent him on to the next round.

Results were:
1st Place - Simon Jackson - My life as a teenager
2nd Place - Val Erickson - The Beast Slayer

Photo's to follow :)

Table Topics Contest!!

Meeting, Wednesday 19th August 2012:   

On the spot and hot to trot......Gotta be Glib to Ad Lib...

In attendance: Darlene, Simon, Geetha, Chris, Kyle, Janet, David, JF, Rueben, Kathy, Rob, Julie, Kevin, Val, and about 7000 other people who did judging and stuff....

The formal stuff out of the way, 4 people competed for the CTI Techtalkers Club. Namely Chris Hecker, Julie Wright, Rueben McIntyre, and Simon Jackson.

The question for the participants was "Which is more important, Intelligence or Common Sense?"

As a contestant myself I can't say much about the content of the speeches, because I didn't hear them. For myself I argued that 'there is no such thing as common sense, because sense seems a rare commodity'. Citing drivers on the Deerfoot among other things, I clearly convinced the judges, and thank them for sending me on to the Area contest on October 3rd, held in the SMART Technologies building!

I can ascertain  that all of our club members are great speakers and did us proud! Go CTI Techtalkers!

2nd Place in the Club Contest -Julie Wright (receiving from Contest Chair Kyle Wilson)

1st Place in the Club Contest - Simon Jackson

Farewell...it's been swell

Meeting, Wednesday 5th August 2012:   
Noses are better then glasses...1 out of 1 Engineers confirm
In attendance: Darlene, Simon, Geetha, Chris, Kyle, Janet, David, JF, Rueben, Kathy, Mahdia, Rob, Julie


Table Topics. Absences.

All things change and all things come to an end. John Galsworthy said "The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy."

Which sounds like my closet.

Toastmasters come, and go. and go to other clubs (Like the CIA nobody can ever really leave).

They don't all want to be an Astronaut. Or come from the Sudan. So there is in fact only one Mahdia Ibrahim, and we'll miss her.

Today's session was all about Table Topics. Darlene opened with an educational on the do's and don'ts of Table Topics, in preparation for our contest the following week.

LEARNING POINT: Always give a time for a speech. Or it ends up being 12 minutes.

After the educational, we had a mammoth table topics session, run by our own Rob Cardinal. Rob's special table topics featured props, and an odd question or ten.

The winner of the day was our very own Engineer, Rueben, who gave an eloquent description of why glasses with noses attached are much more likely to sell than plain old glasses.

Finally...those lectures at U of C paid off...

We then had a poignant farewell from Rob to Mahdia, and a return from Mahdia.

Farewell Flux Capacitor! One Small Step For Mahdia, One Giant Leap for Mahdiankind....  

Our Stars, Faults and all...

Meeting, Wednesday 29th August 2012:   
Always look on the bright side of spice...da dum, da da da da, da dum
In attendance: Darlene, Simon, Geetha, Chris, Kyle, Janet

Word of the day: Plethora (many, more than you need, lots and lots...)


Let's face it, the world has a 'plethora' of diseases, and tragic endings, and books. Kyle's speech of the day though, reading from "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green, managed to get us hooked on a book that contained all of the above, but with such poignant humour that we couldn't help listening, and wanting more.

Janet tried to get us to consider a healthy lifestyle, and Geetha: to consider cooking with some flavour! (Good luck Geetha...).

Ably masterminded at the last moment by our very own Darlene, the meeting had lots of Lib and lots of Ad, probably not in any particular order. The only organized role on the agenda was Simon as a timer. He took this role because of the pretty colours apparently.

Despite this we had Janet's second ever speech, packed full of nutritious topics, and just a hint too much content. Geetha, doing speech number 2 also, but definitely not for the first time.

And Kyle, who got to be a 16 year old girl for 10 minutes...which was well worth showing up for in itself, as I can testify to...

Chris tried hard to make us use real sentences and give up our "aaaand" and uh, and eh, and huh and um...to no avail....

With competitions coming up this next month you'd best come along...there's a plethora of talent on show...

Rocky Mountain High!

Meeting, Wednesday 18th July 2012:   
Social Media Suicide and the mountainous journeys of life...
In attendance: Mahdia, Simon, Geetha, Chris, David, Kim, Julie, Janet

Guests: Reuben, Cher, Neda

Word of the day: Pleonasm (use redundant words e.g. True Fact)
Theme of the day: Rocky Mountains


Our Toastmaster for the day gave us Pleonasm, and encouraged an introduction. I was reminded how relevant this word is, because we have taken great liberties with the English language in recent years. It's because like, you know, like, it's totally too hard you know, to like speak properly.

Table Topics Mistress Geetha gave us a selection of questions about mountains. Personally I thought they were quite challenging, but our members and guests tackled them well. Many of the thoughts included life as a journey, many routes to the top, and the concept of the view changing but it being the act of climbing not the pinnacle that represented real success.

The group perceived guest Cher to have expressed this most eloquently and she was awarded Best Table Topics Trophy for the week.

Simon presented his sixth speech entitled "Social Media Suicide", using the Competent Communicator Manual Speech 5 as his template, 'Your Body Speaks'.

The basis of the speech involved giving up Facebook, and reasons why technology no longer serves us, but shackles us. Gesticulating, and waving his arms around in required Toastmasters style, Simon presented his case for why he 'killed Facebook', or himself for that matter.

Not all were convinced, Geetha promised a counter argument, and discussions of having a "Debate Day" were mooted. Simon stuck to his guns though, the ability to "Cyber-Stalk" people you knew 10 years ago isn't a good enough argument for the time-suck vortex to be worth it.

Give me Face to Face not Face-in-book any day of the week...

Huckleberry Finn Days

Meeting, Wednesday 11th July 2012:   
Growing up in Manitoba, and one of those tall tales...
In attendance: Mahdia, Lora,  Simon, Geetha, Marvin, Chris, David, Kim

Guests: Reuben, Kathy, Neda

Word/Theme of the day: Summer Holidays

Oliver Reed, Ghandi and Hitler walk into a bar...

No it isn't a joke, just the table topics answer from Simon. (Who would you take on holiday)? Other answers to holiday questions were a little less obscure, and ranged from Marvin's encounters with the Alaskan bear, Reuben's contemplation of the long warm summer nights...(I couldn't resist sharing that one....)

But Holidays! They're the time to...Celebrate...especially if like Mahdia you get to take time and disappear off to Egypt with your family and hang out after a conference. Or Neda who managed to go hiking and attend an old friends wedding all at once.

Kathy and Reuben go on far more sophisticated Cruise trips...

Kathy shared with us that her dream vacation would be a Mediterranean cruise, relaxing in the sun, definitely far from their moldy hotel room experience of Cancun...

Our winner for the day was new guy Reuben...(we all love Grease...)

Our speaker for the day was the hypnotic Janet...who shared with us her childhood growing up in rural Manitoba.

Janet has a very laid back style and lulled us into an easy trance as she described the rural upbringing and times when one could wander across the US border in search of missing cattle. Not so much now in the age of post 9-11 apocolyptica...

Our evaluators were splendid as ever...and so all that remains is for me to remind you of a little song...

Huckleberry Finn and his Friends lyrics
Try looking back,
On days that were slower.
When living came easy,
And neighbours were friends.

Paddle wheels turning, 
As kids on the river
Went seeking adventure, 
Or some pirate's den.

Muddles and fishing,
And wrestling and wishing.
The day would come quickly 
When they would be men.

That's where they came from.
The time that they came from.
No better time 
To live and to grow.

Oh that's where they came from.
The days that they came from.
Life was so carefree,
Not so long ago.

Bride of Stampedenstein!

Meeting, Wednesday 4th July 2012:   Celebrating British emancipation from the Americans since 1776


In attendance: Mahdia, Lora,  Simon, Rob

Word of the day: Skedaddle : to run away hurriedly; flee.


Today we had a fantastic meeting. Celebrating those two things all Calgarians hold dear:
1) Stampede
2) Independence from the Americans.

As we all know, back in 1776 the English got really tired of sharing their Tea with the Americans. Unsure of how to proceed with this, they were assisted by the daring and cunning Spymaster George Washington, who came up with a plan to keep Tea for Brits only. Posing as a revolutionary General, he led a bunch of Colonists which included Mel Gibson, into a number of battles which the Brits conveniently lost, keeping a good cup of Tea safely on the European side of the pond.

What do Stampede, the 4th of July and Will Smith have in common? That's right...Wicki Wicki Wile Wile West...

Get your booty to the Stampede Y'all!

None of which has much relevance to our meeting.

All roles for the day were played by Lora Johnston. Seriously. She was Timer, Ah Counter, Grammarian, and Table Topics Master. It was like watching Dr. Strangelove... have you ever seen Lora and Peter Sellers in the same room?

Lora's word, Skedaddle was apt, because being July, all of the other members had run away. This is a peculiar Calgarian trait which always confuses me. Rumour has it that this is what really happens to people for the two months during summer...

So...Simon gave his 5th Speech, entitled "You Talk Funny". Essentially a 7 minute tale of how hard it is to get a glass of water in Calgary...accents...are...funny... right Jeremy?

Lora's table topics involved...peacocks...oh ok, they were all about Stampede.

Mahdia, we discovered, will only dress as a Cowgirl if you let her drive the Chuckwagon.
Rob let us in on the secret that Klondike days and the Stampede are the same thing, in different towns...
Lora likes Bullriding...and I suspect there's lots more to that story...
And Simon thinks the Force is Strong with the Herd...Yeehaw!

I quite enjoyed the meeting today. We discovered which of us were Pod People, and which weren't....

Mahdia was a commedable Toastmaster, and General Evaluator, Rob did a tremendous job evaluating, and Simon was a smart ass.

Right...time to Skedaddle...see you next week....

Wiki Wiki Wile Wile West!!!

Seriously...you talk funny...

The Award for Most Awards goes to....

Meeting, Wednesday 27th June 2012:   The CTI Horror Picture Show...


In attendance: Mahdia, Darlene, Lora, Helen, J.F., David, Geetha, Rosario, Janet, Kim, Simon, Val, Chris

Guests: Kaitlin, Raniel

It was great when it all began...I was a regular CTI fan....

CTI Techtalkers is a special club. And because it is special we have had 7,398 (right Darlene) celebrations and award ceremonies. I think it's because..we like to Party...we like..we like to Party...

So to mark our Toastmasters year end, which is officially 30th June, we had a Pot Luck...yeah...the food kind...not the underground HipHop group.....

This is the kind of gathering where all the team players bring food, and Simon shows up late with none and eats it all anyway.

The meeting itself was more informal, consisting mainly of a masterful Table Topics Session, led by incoming El Presidente Chris Hecker, and then a gigantanormous awards session...

Chris Hecker flanked by his DTM bodyguards

Our topic presenters were:
Kim "Come 'Fly' with me" Beckett; Rosario "Birds in my Belfry" Talevera; Simon "All Jackson's make good babysitters, especially Michael and I" Jackson; Val "Audrey Hepburn Holiday" Erickson; Darlene "I Vant your blood" Davies.

After a fierce contest between our resident weirdos, the winner, and world champion bird lover, was Rosario!

We then moved on to our latest Awards ceremony, hosted ably by David, Mahdia, Val and J.F. and Neil Patrick Harris. Ahem...

The awards were as follows:
Outstanding Toastmasters: Darlene, David, Val, Rosario, Geetha
Most Improved: Mahdia....
Happiest: Lora
Professional Service Award: Helen
Spirit of Success: J.F.
Rising Star: Janet (or Judy, or Jody...heck call her whatever you like...The future is ours so lets plan it.....Dammit!.)
Most Dedicated: Kim
Writer of the Year: Simon
Humorous: Chris
Presidents Choice: David

And then....

Badge Presentations for our Federales....sorry DTM's!

BADGES...we ain't got no...

to follow it all, our DTM's were presented with their badges: Congrats again Rosario, Geetha and...not to be fed till after Midnight...Val....

And Finally: based on rigorous contributions, and official scorecards, we awarded our Rookie of the Year, and our Toastmaster of the Year....

Rookie of the Year 2012: Mahdia Ibrahim

Toastmaster of the Year 2012: Rosario Talavera

Triple Crown winners Geetha and Val: Kneel before us Mortals!*

*Triple Crown awarded for completing 3 separate Toastmasters awards, and not according to rumor, for being a monumental princess.

David: The Presidents right hand!

Helen: Maintaining Order among the Chaos!

Rookie of the year 2012 - Maaaaaaaaahdia....

Club Toastmaster of the year 2012 - Rosario "two times" Talavera

Thank you to all at the club for a great 2012 Toastmasters year.... the road was long but we ran it....Janet....

I'll have more writing for you in the next year....

So please...don't tell me to 'Can it'...Janet....

10 - Years, Speeches, Club - Anniversary

Ten. Ten, Ten Ten, Ten Ten Tennnnnn.


Yes. We turned 10 and had a big feast to celebrate.


In attendance: Many of our core club members (see earlier meeting for a typical list), plus family members, friends and notable Toastmaster Dignitaries: District 42 Governor Chuck LeBlanc (I never did get chance to ask if he was related to Matt); Division J Governor Doris "I get it done" Henn, Lt. Governor Marketing Keith Lee.

District 42 Governor Chuck Le Blanc declares CTI Techtalkers the greatest club in the history of Toastmasters*

 (*not actually what he said but we're sure that's what he meant)

The highlights of the feast were many and included:

DTM's
Plaques awarded to our newest DTM's (Distinguished Toastmasters), Geetha Nicodemus and Roasario Talavera, along with a special mention for Val Erickson who also becomes a DTM at Midnight on July 1st (as soon as her term as Area Governor is up).
This takes our number of DTM's at CTI Techtalkers to 4. By way of understanding how amazing this is, Chuck pointed out that less than 1% of Toastmasters achieve the DTM designation. By my calculations with new member Janet taking us to 22 members, we have 18% of our club with the DTM designation.


I'm willing to bet no other club boasts so many. Congratulations CTI Techtalkers and the ladies in question.

Speech Contest Winner District 42

Darlene "I sweep the board" Davies, was presented with the District 42 trophy for winning the speech contest, taking her to the World Semi-Finals in Orlando. This trophy was so gigantic I suspect we'll need to hire her some porters to carry it around.

(Now that we have 4 DTM's we can finally move the Ark of the Covenant back to it's sacred resting place...)

Darlene receives the world's largest trophy for her district 42 victory 

Paving my own road - Mahdia's 10th Speech

Her 10th Competent Communication Speech, which coincidentally earned CTI Techtalkers the 10th and final point in achieving Presidents Distinguished Club status.
Mahdia raised extreme emotions and applause from the group as she described growing up in Sudan, and having the bravery and confidence not only to leave and pursue her dreams, but to learn to communicate confidently and clearly through Toastmasters.

Pave your own road, then follow it...it can be Yellow, or even "So Yellow"

Our Toastmasters special guests gave speeches, along with our club sponsor Dave McKillop, and former charter member Terry Ross.

We learned about the beauty and power that being a member of this club can bring, and hope for another 10 successful years!

10 years ago in Calgary? Nobody was alive then....

Weds June 20th: An "Illuminati-ng Toastmaster Meeting"

In attendance:
Rob Cardinal: Toastmaster Simon Jackson: Speaker #1; Mahdia Ibrahim  Grammarian and Ah Counter; Darlene Davies, DTM:  Timer; Val Erickson, ACG, ALB: TT Master; Rosario Talavera, DTM: TT Evaluator; Julie Wright, David Zhao, CC:  Speech Evaluator #1;   Kim Beckett: General Evaluator; Chris Hecker CL, Kyle Wilson CC, CL, Helen Eng, Lora Johnston, Geetha Nicodemus, DTM; Josefina Perez, Jodi David, Jean Francois Amiot


GUESTS: Janet (who has now joined us), Vince


Word of the day: (Phrase) Where were you 10 years ago?


Today we celebrated a historic, monumental, stupendous, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious event.

Yes...CTI Techtalkers turned 10.

In case you missed the magnitude of what this means, let me enlighten you. Here's what normally happens in Calgary:

Day 1: Someone proposes idea.
Day 2: Nobody shows up
Day 3-538: People promise to show up but don't
Day 539: Proposer of idea moves back to Ontario.

Or:
Day 1: Structure/Building/Group is created.
Day 1000: Maintenance is needed. Committee votes to disband/ tear down structure and build something new.

As far as I can tell this means the oldest things in Calgary are now: 1) Fort Calgary, 2) CTI Techtalkers

See...we are awesome!

In the spirit of our awesomeness, Toastmaster Rob asked us to share where we all were 10 years ago. A summary of some of these included:

Rob - starting to build asteroid tracking software (as opposed to me, I was busy playing Asteroids on the Atari 2600); Mahdia (aged 14) plotting escape from Sudan in order to become an Astronaut (is anyone getting a space theme today... CTI Techtalkers "We've got the Right Stuff"); Darlene was an Area Governor for Toastmasters and started CTI Techtalkers along with Rosario (who was busy proving she could pass her Oral for her Masters degree in World Peace).

Chris Hecker, Kim Beckett, Val Erickson and David Zhao were busy destroying the death star in a galaxy far far away. No seriously...have you ever seen Princess Leia and Val in the same room?

Jean Francois was in Montreal, being so very very French. Almost as French as Simon, who was living there renovating a house.

And Lora was getting drunk. At least if "partying a lot" means the same thing in Canada as it does in England.
In her defense she was just N-n-n-n-n-Nineteen.

After that we had some topics ala table, in which we got to play with Val's ball.(Add your own comments to that, my mind overloaded).

Our winner, was Kim Beckett, with a poignant tale of how she learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, sorry, how she and her daughter enjoyed a wonderful trip to Hawaii together and formed a great Adult relationship.

Kim's victory reflected her connection to the audience, the emotional depth displayed, and the raw passion she kept just beneath the surface. Well done Kim!

And finally, Simon told a tale about Freemasonry for his 4th speech. Describing its practices and methods, and potentially dispelling several myths in the process. In a stunning tour de force, he completed his speech without using a single bit of humour or comedy, thus baffling all of the club with this extreme deviation of form.

Simon clarifies that the sale of Wayne Gretzky to the LA Kings was not a secret Illuminati plot

Evaluator David appreciated the simplistic sentences, and clear and concise vocab, describing it as "the first time I've completely understood everything you've said" (I'll let my family know David, they've yet to reach that epiphany).

All in all another splendid meeting...here's to another 10 years!

Everybody loves the Bumps!

Weds June 13th: A monster Toastmaster Meeting

In attendance: Everyone in the Universe...no seriously... ok, we had: Kim, Simon, Lora, Lora's sister (Sarah?), Rosario, Mahdia, Rob, Geetha, Chris, Russ, Darlene, Basheer, Gaoming, Josefina, Kyle, Julie, Terry, Marvin, Vaughn, Linda, Boyd, and possibly others but I ran out of fingers and toes.

Word of the day: Mewl - To cry like a baby

After spreading the word that we were giving out free money, we had a huge number of attendees this week. Or it might have been that our very own "World Semi-Final Championship Contender", our Hurricane Force, floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, Darlene Davies, was speaking.

Our theme for the day could have been cherries, or pastures new, for we had a number of Toastmasters fulfilling roles for the first time. Nothing like a packed house for a true baptism of fire. In for the first time in certain roles we had Kim (Toastmaster), Simon (General Evaluator), and Lora (Table Topics Master).

Several of our guests were old club members returning, but we had some new faces and a few veteran guests like Russ "Which Wig will I wear today" Dantu, who is going to coach Darlene for her role in the upcoming contest.

Kyle "Whose line is it anyway" Wilson, gave us Mewl to begin, and we all took turns crying like babes for him.

Darlene then threw down a new speech, taking on speech 6 in the Competent Communicator Manual (rumour has it for the 7,398th time), which concerns "Vocal Variety".

Her speech "A Bumpy Ride" was about dealing with the mother in law, and the gist I got was, if you wait long enough, eventually they pass away. Ok, I take that back, Darlene related a touching tale, with swings of pitch and excellent comic timing, which showed us that the worst of enemies can become the best of friends, if only we leave the door open just a crack.

Personally I think she was giving Lora a hint, since our dear Table Topics Mistress is getting married this Saturday... CONGRATS LORA!

After this Lora gave us some Topics ala Table, and her willing victims were Terry, Rosario, Marvin and Simon.

Terry told us he always wanted to be a pilot, Rosario set her stall out for world peace, Marvin loves Toastmasters, and Simon as always, refuses to be embarrassed by anything.

Despite being accused of not answering the question directly (a career in politics surely awaits) our winner of the topics was Simon. It should be pointed out, that despite having no shame, Simon did give a veiled reference to having partaken in some Frank the Tank type behavior...and promised a further tale for those with enough bribery...

Proof again...that CTI ROCKS!

Darlene wins Area 41 Speech Contest

Club President Jean Francois presents the trophy for Area 41 Winner to Darlene

Forget Area 51, the new hot topic trending today is the Area 41 Speech Contest, and it's winner, CTI Techtalkers very own Darlene Davies.

Darlene's winning speech landed her the trophy at Area Level. She also has 2 more to come (as soon as they are engraved), having now made it all the way to the International Semi-Finals in Florida in August. Her winning entry was titled "The Storyteller", but not the one of Jim Henson fame.

A more gentle and uplifting tale, listening to Darlene I imagined myself back to the days of Storybook International, and "I'm a Storyteller..."

Darlene certainly weaves a rosy image, and one that takes us back to post-war Canada and the return of her father from the war. Depeche Mode once claimed that "Words are very, unnecessary", but I'd have to beg to differ.

Congratulations Darlene!

Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)

Weds May 30th. Another of our weekly Toastmaster sessions.
Word of the day: Facetious

 In attendance:
Simon Jackson: Grammarian and Ah Counter; Mahdia Ibrahim Speaker #1; Jolanta Westergard: Speech Evaluator #1; Darlene Davies, DTM: Speaker #2; Julie Wright: Speech Evaluator #2; David Zhao, CC: Toastmaster; Kim Beckett: TT Master; Helen Eng: TT Evaluator, and General Evaluator; Lora Johnston: Timer;  Our Guests: Janet

And I saddle up my horse
And I ride into the city
I make a lot of noise
Cause the girls
They are so pretty
Riding up and down Broadway
On my old stud Leroy
And the girls say
Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
Everybody says
Save a horse, Ride a cowboy

If Buddha is correct in the Dharma when he says "What we think, we become" then we are all Cowboys here in Calgary. 2012 is the 100 year anniversary of the Calgary Stampede and Darlene reminded us in her speech that whilst it may have evolved, from the long tassels of yesteryear to the shiny sparkles of modern day, the Stampede is a quintessential Calgary experience.

Darlene is our DTM, and founder member. She was also one of 4 native Calgarians at the meeting today, and her insights into the years of the street party and the square dancing helped lend a fantastic historic flavour to something all of us in town know as a true Calgary passion.

And on the subject of passion, our own 'Flux Capacitor in Human Form', Madhia Ibrahim, led a high energy analysis in the other speech looking at whether it could be accurate or not that "fear of public speaking ranked right up their with fear of death'. Sounds exaggerated...lacks empirical data...Mr Sulu, you have the Bridge. 

Kim "Reiki" Beckett led us in a group of table topics. I got "Would I go to the moon or a desert island?", Our Guest Janet took "What music defines you?", Jolanta spoke about Dandelions on the food chain and Julie on Calgary's new city slogan "Be part of the Energy"...oh so pun-tastic...

And, the winner: Send Simon to the Moon...or the speech, (I should be less facetious apparently).

Calgary 2012 is also celebrating Calgary as a city of Culture. With the official song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IRjl3SWC2U

Sweet...Sweet City Woman....

Sing, Dance, Ride your horse, don't take your boyfriend, and most of all:

Remember to move in the space, focus on the topic, or that other sweet city evaluator Helen Eng will come get you with her six gun...

CTI gets Presidents Distinguished award (again)

Congratualtions CTI Techtalkers! We are officially a Presidents Distinguished club for 2011-12!

For those who aren't aware, we have targets (shown below) to achieve a number of members who receive Competent Communicator (CC), Advanced Communicator (AC), Competent Leader (CL), Advanced Leader (AL) or Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), along with new members, and training of officers.

Success in at least 9 of 10 makes us "Presidents Distinguished"!

Congrats Team!!!

GOAL ACTUAL ACHIEVED [1] CCs 2 2 * [2] Additional CCs 2 1 [3] ACs 1 1 * [4] Additional ACs 1 1 * [5] CL, AL, or DTM 1 1 * [6] Additional CLs, ALs, or DTMs 1 3 * [7] New Members 4 4 * [8] Additional New Members 4 7 * [9] Officers Trained (both required)      June-August 4 7      and December-February 4 7 * [10] Submitted on time (both required)      October or April Renewal 1 2      and Officer List 1 1 * Total Goals Achieved To-Date: 9

CTI Techtalkers get 3rd Distinguished Toastmaster

Congratulations are in order to our beloved Geetha Nicodemus who, after 10 years in Toastmasters at a range of clubs spanning continents, is now a Distinguished Toastmaster.

Distinguished Toastmaster or DTM, is the highest award within Toastmasters, and represents a huge accomplishment not just in public speaking, but in a leadership capacity within club and division.

Geetha joins Darlene and Rosario as DTM's in our club, and rumour has it Val is close to achieving the status also.

Proof positive that CTI Techtalkers has a great depth of talent to call on. And so... time for the men to step up to the plate too methinks...

Congratualtions Geetha! and lady DTM's! (Perhaps we need Pink DTM jackets ala Grease...)

Katimavik-tims

Weds May 23rd. Another of our weekly Toastmaster sessions. In attendance:

Simon Jackson: Toastmaster; Darlene Davies, DTM: General Evaluator; David Zhao, CC: Timer; Geetha Nicodemus, ACG ALS: TT Evaluator; Jodi David; Josefina Perez: Grammarian; Kim Beckett: Speech Evaluator; Kyle Wilson, CC CL: Ah Counter; Lora Johnston: Speaker; Val Erickson, ACG ALB: TT Master; Chris Hecker, CL; Our Guests: May Li

Lora led the way with her speech about volunteering with the Youth Program Katimavik. She spoke on the importance of giving something back, and of helping to foster links and community relations and achieve things that would otherwise never be done. I wonder if Katimavik has a team that will come do my laundry?

Friendship and community were quite the theme of the day with our Table Topics Contest being won by David, who cited friendship as the thing in life he couldn't do without. Not only did he sway the judges, but he also managed to quote Francis Bacon.

Reminds me of the poem: Roses are Red. Bacon is also Red. Poems are hard. Mmm Bacon...

We were joined by a guest who spoke eloquently about the "silent place" and the difficulties of being an immigrant. As one of them I feel the pain. My advice: Buy good snow boots. Dress Warm.

Our evaluators summed up proceedings neatly, offering poignant advice about focusing on the personal touches, maintaining eye contact with the audience, and to our Toastmaster: More Clapping!

Donkeys in the bathtub and a walk on the dark side

CTI Techtalkers is not just a toastmasters club, but a gathering of
minds, a war of wits, and a sparkling effervescence of splendor.
Occasionally it's also about Donkeys in the Bath, and a voyage into
the dark recesses of our esteemed toastmasters minds.


May 16th was one such occasion, in the words of Joseph Conrad "They
had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words
heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares."


Our Table Topics of the day presented by our esteemed Julie Wright,
concerned “Silly Laws”, and our winner of the day was Jean Francois
Amiot with a discussion of the frustrations of his wife keeping a
donkey in the bathtub. You had to be there.


Our speeches of the day were Simon Jackson with “O Fortuna”, and Val
Erickson with a look at whether we are “Lucky or Unlucky?” and the
personal decision for positivity.


Both speeches contained references to traumatic effects of the past,
prompting our incoming Club President for 2012, Chris Hecker, to
remark that we'd taken a 'walk on the dark side', and that
“Toastmasters can be a lot like Therapy”.


For myself, I have to mention that the CTI Techtalkers are much more
than a speaking group, they are a supportive group of friends, and
that as we all know, is worth more than Gold...


Also with us with her time keeping were Kim “My lights not on?”
Beckett, and Lora “Laughing Yoga” Johnston.

Come one, come all to the Division J contest!

There are many reasons to come to the Division J contest on Friday, April 20th at the Brentwood Sportsplex at 6:30 pm.

1. Meeting other Toastmasters from other clubs:
Going to a Division contest is a great way to meet other Toastmasters and network with them. You will meet Toastmasters from a myriad of backgrounds, ages and interests - all enthusiastic about improving their communication and leadership skills.

2.The best evaluators:
Listen to and learn from the best evaluators in the Division as they evaluate the test speech. Come and cheer on Jeanette of Igniters representing our Area J41.
The Area evaluation contest was tightly contested. Amy of SMART Speakers placed 1st but will be out of town so the 2nd place winner, Jeanette, will go to the Division Contest in her place. Congratulations to our own Rosario who placed 3rd in the contest!

3. Great speakers:
Be inspired and entertained by great speakers in the Division in the International Speech contest. Darlene of CTI Techtalkers is representing our Area J41 and would sure like to see some friendly CTI faces at the contest. :)

4. Good snacks/ cheap entertainment.
Where else can you get an evening of great entertainment for $5?
Register online at http://calgarytoastmasters.wordpress.com/

Evaluation Contest

On February 29, 2012, CTI Tech Talkers had one of the greatest speech competitions. There were 4 speakers, Darlene Davies, David Zhao, Kyle Wilson and Rosario Talavera. Each speaker did an amazing job of owning the stage and inspiring each of us to greatness. Unfortunately we could not send all of them to the Area contest so a winner had to be decided on. That winner is Darlene Davies! Congratulations Darlene, we know you will make us proud at the area contest.

Please make sure you show up next week (March 7, 2012) for the Evaluation Contest.

Contests

Hey All! It's that time of year again when we have the Evaluation contest and the International Speech contest. They are happening on February 29th(Speech contest) and March 7th(Evaluation contest). If you would like to sign up to help out with the contest or would like to be a contestant please talk to Mahdia.

Hope to see you there and good luck!