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!