Squeeze the Say

Hello Fellow Toastmasters - Our September 4th meeting was very well attended and we were happy to welcome four guests, Leslie, Jim, Robin and Shelley.  We look forward to seeing them again. 

Chair Eric Solowka's theme was "squeeze the say" .  Only a Toastmasters meeting would have such a compelling and intriguing theme.  The word of the meeting was "luck".  As Eric noted, luck is really the merging of preparation and opportunity.  If we are prepared to seize opportunity, then surely good luck will follow.  Table Topics Master Carol Dowell gave us the chance to talk about what we would do if we "got lucky".  In this case, luck meant winning large (or small) sums of money, winning an all expense paid vacation or a chance to host your own reality TV program.    Let's all urge Bondy Nair to start buying lottery tickets as he pledged to donate $10,000 to Bolton Banter out of his imaginary $1,000,000.00 winnings. 

We heard three super speeches this evening courtesy of Corina Simu, Laurie Stapleton and Jane Collier.  Corina and Laurie, relatively new Toastmasters, are marching along very confidently with their projects while Jane is nearing completion of the Competent Communicators manual. 

The highlight of this evening was the presentation of the annual awards by President Brendan Dineen.  Terence Canastraro was named recipient of the Skinny Branches award.  Sheelagh Rennie was given the Extra Mile award and Linda Murphy is Toastmaster of the year.  Congratulations to Terence, Sheelagh and Linda on their accomplishments.   We are all proud of you. 

The Humourous Speech and Table Topics contest will be held on September 18th.  Do grab the opportunity to participate.  As Eric reminds us, "we don't compete because we are the best, we are the best because we compete".  For those who have never competed, it isn't as nerve wracking as you may imagine.  Just remember you have the support of all your fellow Toastmasters. If you don't plan to enter the contest, please come out and give your support to the competitors.  Remember also that unlike the speech competition, the table topics contest requires no preparation. 

We were pleased to welcome Area 15 Governor Theresa Murray this evening.  Theresa extended an invitation to visit Alliston's Toastmasters Club (Talk of Alliston) on Wednesday, September 10th to help them celebrate their fifth anniversary.  It's always fun to visit other clubs so accept Alliston's invitation if you can.  Theresa will be e-mailing a flyer with the details.

In addition to the annual awards, we also awarded our customary ribbons.  Bondy Nair and Lorraine Van Wagner tied in Table Topics.  Brendan Dineen was voted best evaluator and Laurie Stapleton won the best speaker ribbon for her speech "Why Isn't Everyone Like Me?"  Thanks to Ben Allison who took the role of humourist in his first meeting as a Toastmaster.

Remember the contest evening, September 18th.  Also, make a special point of wearing your favourite hat to the October 2nd meeting.  Carol Dowell, our Vice President of Education, wants to highlight the different hats that Toastmasters members wear.  October 16th promises to be a memorable evening as four members of Bolton Banter will be delivering their tenth speeches thereby becoming Competent Communicators. 

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone again that I am collecting club dues this month.  The fees are $144.00 per year.  Please make your cheque payable to Bolton Banter Toastmasters and bring it to our meeting on September 18th .  If you cannot attend this meeting, please contact me at lvanwagner@habitatservices.org and we can make alternate arrangements.  To those who have paid, thank you. 

Cheers and regards - Lorraine Van Wagner, Treasurer and Webmaster