Beyond Words Advanced Toastmasters

It is always a pleasure to start a meeting with the induction of a new member.  I still remember the induction I had years back at my home club, Dorval, it brought tears to my eyes … Welcome, Epitace Nobera, to Beyond Words Advanced Toastmasters!

Aymen Sakka did a fine job as Toastmaster first-timer, introducing our educational session and presenting our speakers:

• Marie-Chantal Côté – CC#5 (her second CC manual) – “The Climate Change” … always good to redo a CC manual and keep those basic speech skills honed!
• David Galipeau – Humorously Speaking #1 – Warm up your audience – “Be Free, Be Alive” … hilarious joke about his sexy sports car, engine sound included!

We had to Think Fast! during the Table Topics portion of the educational session, led by our Topicsmaster, Bonnie Mak. This was followed by an efficient Coaching Session with Roberto Di Benedetto as GE. He introduced four on-point speech evaluators, and led two interesting round-robin speech evaluations. The advanced timer and a grammarian reports, by Pierre LeBlanc and Gaétane Ferland, were concise and helpful.

Most enthusiastic: It’s a TIE! David Galipeau, and special guest, Audrey LeBlanc (Pierre LeBlanc’s daughter)

Induction of new member, Epitace Nobera, by Marie-Chantal Côté, VP Membership

Aymen Sakka, Toastmaster

Marie-Chantal Côté, “The Climate Change”

Roberto Di Benedetto, General Evaluator

Most Enthusiastic: it’s a TIE! David Galipeau & Audrey LeBlanc (in Bonnie Mak’s arms)

Post-toasties fun!

Another fun meeting which started out with our Chairperson, Marie-Chantal Côté, introducing a first for the club … a wonderful Moment of SLAM POETRY! Thanks, Dumindra Kandana Arachchige for your beautiful words.

Rick Chandler, our Toastmaster, led an exciting educational session which started with the following speakers:

• Bonnie Mak – Professional Speaker #2, Speaking to Entertain – “Miss Mika & the Egg” … a very funny and entertaining PowerPoint presentation of her very much-loved kitties … no, Bonnie is not a Crazy Cat Lady … yet
• Giridhar Raghunathan – Storytelling # 2: Let’s Get Personal – “To Dance with Passion” … and dance passionately he did, indeed!

Pierre LeBlanc, then brought us into a challenging THINK FAST! Session and made us use our emotions in our responses. Looking forward to this exercise coming back!

Great speech evaluations by Rick Chandler, Geoff Brown, and Samuel Laplante, followed by an on-point round-robin for each speaker led by our enthusiastic GE, Artem Ploujnikov. Then onto a thorough report by our Grammarian, Epitace Nobera. Filling up the piggy bank with fines for using crutch words is a difficult task, since we’re advanced speakers! Jeff Pedersen, our Advanced Timer, topped up the Coaching Session with a helpful timing report.

All in all, another amusing session … Most Enthusiastic went to Giridhar Raghunathan, no surprise there. Thanks Giri for such a fun dance demo!

Congratulations to:

• Gaétane Ferland, for attaining her DTM
• Bonnie Mak, (and her assistants, Artem Ploujnikov and Tim Halderson), for her workshop “Think Faster! Table Topics with a Twist” presented at the District 61 Fall Conference
• Rick Chandler, for WINNING the Evaluation Speech Contest at the District 61 Fall Conference

Rick Chandler, Toastmaster

Giridhar Raghunathan, “To Dance with Passion”

Geoff Brown, Content Evaluator for Giridhar’s speech

An amused yet busy audience … (L to R) Giridhar Ragunathan, Dumindra Kandana Arachchige, Rick Chandler, Jeff Pedersen, and Epitace Nobera

Artem Ploujnikov, GE, and Epitace Nobera, Grammarian

We are Beyond Words, woohoo!

AWESOMENESS happened today!

1. Giridhar Raghunathan got inducted as a member of Beyond Words.
2. Dorval City Toastmasters became our official parent club sponsor, yaay! Dorval is my home club … so nice that several of my peeps came out to support us, Joseph Sohmer, Cindy Chan, and Jag Shastry.  We hope that more Dorval members will come visit!
3. Cindy almost made us cry with a toast based on her interpretative reading of “In Flanders Fields,” so moving … then thankfully, Jag made us laugh afterwards with his Moment of Humour.
4. Rick Chandler presented a speech he is preparing for the upcoming “Moth Story Slam” in Burlington, VT … he is such an amazing storyteller.
5. Gaetane Ferland presented her fun icebreaker “Hum … interesting.” Having completed her DTM, she’s starting all over again with her CC, and she’s almost finished another CL!
6. Kudos to a great Coaching Session led by our General Evaluator, Artem Ploujnikov. Wonderful in-depth evaluations by Joseph, Bonnie (me), Rick, and David Galipeau, followed by an informative round-robin evaluation. Congrats to our first-timers to these roles: Advanced Timer, Aymen Sakka, and Grammarian, Giridhar … there are no simple roles at Beyond Words.
7. Challenging Think Fast! session led by me … This Table Topics drill included starting with a captivating opening, then concluding by tying that thought back in.
8. Most Enthusiastic went to Sapandeep Randhawa, who was our very energetic Toastmaster. Very funny how he asked us to vote for him at the end of the meeting … but it worked!

All in all, another wonderful meeting of sharing and learning.

Next up on many of our member’s agendas … the District 61 Fall Conference Nov 11-12-13:

• Rick will be competing in both the Humorous Speech and Evaluation Speech contests … Rick will ROCK!
• I will also be presenting a fun workshop, “Think Faster! Table Topics with a Twist,” based on concepts we play with at Beyond Words. Our wonderful VP Education, Artem Ploujnikov, will be assisting. And Tim Halderson, past District Logistics Manager, will be our SAA.

Fun abounds … See you soon!

Welcome to our newest Beyond Words member, Giridhar Raghunathan!

Dorval City Toastmasters, our official parent club sponsor … Thanks to the visiting Dorval members: Jag Shastry, Cindy Chan & Joseph Sohmer

A captivated Beyond Words audience!

Artem Ploujnikov, GE & David Galipeau, Content Evaluator

What fun! Artem Ploujnikov, our VP Education, decided to Halloween our meeting up a bit, hence the creepy giant spider and the scary witch … BOO!

Rick Chandler was our enthusiastic Toastmaster, especially delightful when he joked that “arrogant American” was redundant. 😉

Our speakers were:

• Bonnie Mak – Successful Club Series – “Moments of Truth”, an educational she delivered with Beyond Words in context … what the club offers presently and what the club is planning to deliver in the near future, woot!

• David Galipeau – Interpersonal Communication 2: The Successful Negotiator – “How to Have Anything You Want”

Roberto Di Benedetto followed as Topicsmaster with a challenging business-based theme. Coincidentally, this blended well with David’s speech subject!

Great coaching session led by Gaetane Ferland. David’s speech was evaluated by:

• Content Evaluator – Antonella Conté, Division H Eng Evaluation Speech Contest winner
• Delivery Evaluator – Rick Chandler, Division A Eng Evaluation Speech Contest winner

This is going to be MIGHTY interesting when these two champions go head-to-head at the District 61 Contest in November at Bromont!

Both Bonnie and David then received a round-robin evaluation. The quality of evaluation always amazes me at Beyond Words!

Most Enthusiastic … it’s a tie, Artem Ploujnikov and Rick Chandler!

Get ready for an exciting next meeting, Nov 5 … Rick Chandler is preparing a special speech and he’d love your input, so come join us and give your comments during our round-robin evaluation! See you soon!

Pierre LeBlanc explaining his role as Advanced Timer

Toastmaster peeps, Régis Tardiff, Sarah Lerner, and Antonella Conté

Régis during the discussion portion of David Galipeau’s speech project

Gaetane Ferland, General Evaluator, and the scary witch

Antonella – Content Evaluator for David’s speech

Aymen Sakka, Grammarian, delivering his report

Group shot: check out the humongous SPIDER on Bonnie’s shoulder, and Gaetane with her beloved scary witch … “I want the witch, I want the witch!” Happy Halloween!

The fun thing about our club is that you never know what to expect … Though we have a defined structure and vision, we colour our meetings with lots of vibrancy and creativity, sometimes colouring within the lines, and sometimes … not. We are an advanced Toastmasters Group and we do what our members need. We are Beyond Words.

To help a few of our members prep for upcoming contests, we held another contest-style meeting, though this time more along the lines of a regular meeting.

Roberto Di Bennedetto did a formidable job as Toastmaster, addressing stage fright and how Darren Tay, 2016 World Champion of Public Speaking, deals with it:

www.businessinsider.sg/how-to-deal-with-stage-fright-2016-8/#ju8BsV7mdWGumulm.97 

Roberto Di Benedetto, Toastmaster, delivering his message passionately!

David Galipeau then presented his very humorous speech “Toastmasters, a Memorable Experience.” Best laugh of the meeting was when he told us about his club serving “dollar store cookies” instead of lobster and caviar for his club’s 5th anniversary (Extra-Expressif in Trois-Rivières).

David Galipeau, “Toastmasters, a Memorable Experience”

I was General Evaluator and led an informative Coaching session that had four contest-style evaluators:

• Marie-Chantal Côté
• Gaétane Ferland
• Giridhar Raghunathan
• Sapandeep Randhawa

David and all the evaluators received round-robin evaluations.

Michèle Ducharme, Division H Director, who was our distinguished visitor, contributed to our meeting as Advanced Timer … first foray into an advanced club, woohoo!

Most Enthusiastic went to David Galipeau.

Kudos to an amazing Toastmasters family, kudos to an amazing meeting. Can’t wait ’til the next one!

Super fun meeting with lots of laughs! To facilitate the special meeting program, we introduced the concept of the TOASTCHAIR.

What a hoot, every time someone addressed me as “Madame Toastchair”, especially Giridhar Raghunathan, our Advanced Timer, who also got an equal chuckle out of saying it.

Being in the thick of contest season, we decided to continue the contest prep started during last meeting’s Get Your Game On! Evaluation Workshop with Rick Chandler.

Pierre Leblanc led off with his Humorous Contest speech “Canadian Reputation” and was followed by four evaluators:

• Epitace Norbera
• Gaétane Ferland
• Said Muhammed
• Normand Beaumier

Pierre and all evaluators received round-robin evaluations led by moi, zee Madame Toastchair. How many other clubs do this sort of thing? None! Beyond Words ROCKS!

Artem Ploujnikov, our General Evaluator, led his trusty and hard-working evaluation team, Giridhar, and Gaetane Ferland, Grammarian, through a wonderful and informative Coaching Session.

Most Enthusiastic went to Said Muhammed.

Sorry, no pics, I was too enthralled  by the incredible amount of talent presenting at Beyond Words and didn’t want to miss a beat. But heck, how about I throw a shot of this in … something that many of us are aiming for in Beyond Words …

Distinguished Toastmaster Award

And then I was too distracted by my hunger to remember to take a group shot. Our Vietnamese post-toasties is THE BOMB! Come join us!

Our Chairperson, Aziz Saud, said it best … “It’s not about the quantity, it’s about the quality!” And definitely, Beyond Words has quality in spades … in the members, the visitors, the program, the speeches, the evaluations, and in our creativity.

Wonderful speeches by:

David Galipeau – Entertaining Speaker #4 – “Debate Your Nightmare”

Artem Ploujnikov – Technical Presentation #4 – “Catching Things That Aren’t Real” (including Pokémon!)

RoseLyn Small then led a thought-provoking THINK FAST! Session, “The Power of …” that started with a beautiful and poignant intro. Rick Chandler started with “The Power of Laughter” and I concluded with “The Power of Forgiveness.”

Most Enthusiastic went to RoseLyn and Aziz, they were just awesome.

Looking forward to our next meeting, Beyond Words has something lined up!

Aziz Saud, Chairperson Extraordinaire

RoseLyn Small, Topicsmaster and Rick Chandler, “The Power of Laughter”

Toastmaster peeps listening intently to Pierre LeBlanc’s Advanced Timer Report

RoseLyn and Aziz, Most Enthusiastic, you can’t get more enthusiastic than this!

Group shot after a great meeting!

Meeting #005 was a speech bonanza! What fun, it was our own “Festival Just for Laughs!” with an amazingly diverse *United Nations* audience. I love how inclusive Toastmasters is!

A little something about our club …

In-depth speech evaluations are the signature of an advanced Toastmasters club. Each speaker has two speech evaluators, content and delivery, and also a round-robin, where all attendees can give their comments. As well, at Beyond Words, a speaker must meet his speech objectives to obtain credit for his speech project. The evaluators decide!

Our wonderful speakers were:

• David Galipeau – CC10 – “Change Your Life” … woohoo, he completed his CC, and then he joined our club the same day!
• Ganesh Santhar – Humorously Speaking #1 – “Socially Challenged”
• Sarah Lerner – Humorously Speaking #2 – “A Day in the Life of Stewey”
• Alireza Azizkhani – Humorously Speaking #2 – “Change Your Words, Change Your World”

All but Alireza met their speech objectives, but he’ll continue working on this speech to attain the project objectives or as a contest speech.

Most Enthusiastic went to Alireza!

Here’s our meeting in pics, what awesome Toastmasters:

Majeda Haidar, Toastmaster

David Galipeau, “Change Your Life” – Congrats on finishing your CC!

Ganesh Santhar, “Socially Challenged”, with Juan Manuel Gonzalez Galindo, his Delivery Evaluator, watching intently

A short THINK FAST! session with  Artem Ploujnikov,  Topicsmaster … bang that gavel! 🙂

Myriam Azzi, Delivery Evaluator for David Galipeau

A captive audience !!

Shaheen Junaid, Delivery Evaluator for Sarah Lerner

Most Enthusiastic, Alireza Azizkhani (sorry for the fuzzy pic)

Artem Plouinikov (Topicsmaster), Majeda Haidar (Toastmaster), Bonnie Mak (Chairperson) & Davender Gupta (General Evaluator)

What a fantastic group of Toastmasters! Thanks RoseLyn for taking the pic, and thank you everyone for making this such a FUN meeting, see you again soon!