I want to thank everyone for a fabulous meeting last night - it was such an honour to be Toastmaster for this particular meeting. I'm so glad I had the chance to be present while Jenny Walters achieved her Competent Communicator, by delivering speech #10 - Seeds of Happiness. What a fantastic speech and coincidentally tied into the meeting theme - Every Day is a Second Chance!
Bart gave us a fantastic educational on Keeping the Commitment, from the Successful Club Series. Delivering this educational earned Bart his Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB) which, in addition to his Competent Communicator and Competent Leader awards that he achieved this year, earned him a Triple Crown! Way to go Bart!
Bart first joined the club with his daughter Jolene. While Jolene moved on (moving out west, getting married, etc.) Bart has been a very valuable asset to our club. His first club officer role was Sargeant at Arms, but he's had many other roles since then, including President. I'm like a mother hen, so proud of how much improvement you've made, the confidence you exude, and the professionalism you bring to your presentations!
I remember when Jenny first joined our club as well, and what a tremendous asset she's been! She's also taken on several club officer roles (and still does). This speech showed how far she has come as well, by motivating and inspiring us with the personal touch she gave her words of wisdom. Thanks Jenny, for giving us something we can take away with us!
Present to watch Jenny achieve her Competent Communicator was her husband Paul Nicholls. Paul was one of the earlier members of our club, and our club's first DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster), and is now the host of Rogers TV's Politically Speaking. Paul was also the person who introduced me to Toastmasters and was my mentor. Thanks Paul!
Andrea Robinson was our Table Topics Master, and she brought in figurines of animals to spur our imagination! We had some fantastic impromptu speeches!
Thanks to our GE and the evaluation team for the smooth delivery of the evaluation portion of the meeting as well. Everything flowed so well!
For those who missed last night's meeting - we missed you and you missed a great meeting!
The next meeting was scheduled for July 1st and we're skipping it (since it will be Canada Day). I look forward to seeing everyone at the mexican restaurant Casa Autentica at the next meeting!