An evening of firsts

Hello Everyone - The meeting of March 5th was one of "firsts".  Sheelagh Rennie and Laurie Stapleton took on, for the first time, the roles of chair and toastmaster respectively.  By all accounts, they both did an admirable job.  Congratulations ladies. 

Club members welcomed guests Garth and Gaetano.  We hope to see both gentlemen again.

The meeting had a unique theme - "opposites" while the word of the meeting was "complement".  Apparently Brendan Dineen crafted some good Irish jokes to follow up on the toast "to opposites that complement".  Well, they do say that opposites attract!

Jim DeCarolis , as Table Topics Master, provided a different twist to Table Topics that had Pat Burness demonstrating ballet moves.  It just proves that this portion of the meeting can be highly entertaining.

In the business/education  portion of the meeting, Carol Dowell provided useful information regarding the Competent Leader (CL) manual.  She distributed a summary page to help club members select assignments within the 10 projects listed in the manual.  This manual often does not receive the attention it deserves but is equally important as the Competent Communicator manual.  It helps you learn how to fulfill various club roles comfortably. 

Lesley Webb and Vince Capicotto have taken their first step on the Toastmaster journey. Congratulations on your Ice Breakers!

Two speakers this evening presented icebreakers.  Lesley Webb spoke about her experiences with Yoga and second hand stores.  Both are handy but for entirely different reasons.  Vince Capicotto spoke about his parents' journey to Canada from Italy and Malta.  His speech, entitled "Work Hard", described the values and work ethic instilled in him by the example set by his hard working parents. 

Catherine Keyes speech, titled "Stepping Outside the Box", took the audience through different scenarios and stressed the need to go beyond one's comfort zone in order to achieve new learning experiences. 

The area 15 International Speech and Evaluation contest will be held Monday, March 9th at the Orangeville Toastmasters Club.  Eric Solowka, Brendan Dineen and Lorraine Van Wagner will represent Bolton Banter.  Please come out and support them. 

Ribbons went to Lesley Webb for best speaker, Eric Solowka for best evaluator and Pat Burness for Table Topics.  Val Koincan was formally presented with his Competent Communicator badge.  Congratulations to all. 

Val Koncan sports his new CC Id badge.

The next meeting will be held on March 19th.  It will St. Patrick's week so please wear green. 

My thanks go to Val Koncan who assisted in the preparation of this news post.

Cheers and see you March 19th.   Lorraine Van Wagner - Webmaster