In an earlier blog I mentioned ribbons.

For many of you, the last time you received a ribbon was in grade school when you attended sports day. Or perhaps you received a ribbon at your Toastmasters club.

Ribbons & Toastmasters – a love affair

Toasmasters takes ribbons to a new level. For example, you can receive a ribbon from Toastmasters International for your enthusiasm. Better yet you can receive a ribbon for attending your first meeting. J  That’s right if you just make it through that door, sit down, keep a pulse, and don’t run out, you get a ribbon. Not a bad deal, eh?

Now that may sound cheeky but you know how stressful it can be to go to Toastmasters for your first time. Most of us put off joining Toastmasters. It can feel like a trip to the dentist. And who wants to do that? Not one of us.

Enter the first meeting ribbon. That’s why Toastmasters acknowledges the effort with a ribbon. A blue ribbon, at that.

There’s more.

Clubs get ribbons too. If a club earns enough points, they receive a President’s Distinguished Club ribbon. This is where the banners come in. Clubs that receive banners usually tack the ribbons onto the banner.

Get the picture, now? It’s like a grand plan that makes sense.

What do ribbons look like?

I went on a ribbon photo shoot and snapped a few ribbons. These ribbons are from my home club, Vancouvers Toastmasters club, Club 59.  I’ve thrown in the first timer ribbon (above) from TMI for dramatic effect.

What ribbons can you share?

Do you have pictures of ribbons you can share here online?

Ribbons are an important part of Toastmaster Conferences.  You can expect to see each Club’s ribbons at the ‘Banner Parade’ during the Opening Ceremonies of the D21 Spring Conference in Nanaimo May 3-5.

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

Marelize Swart has a great story. It deserves to be written.

She’s coming to the Conference in Nanaimo, and without a doubt, she is a first timer.

Can you say ‘rookie in the Area contest?’

She joined Toastmasters at most 1 month ago. Yep she’s a rookie, as we like to say.

This week she was in an Area evaluation contest. Yes you read it correctly – the Area contest. If you do the math you’ll realize she joined and then jumped into the Club contests.

Someone suggested it and her reasoning was ‘what can I lose?’

Many of us have been members for years and we haven’t made it beyond our Club contests. Isn’t it inspiring to have a newer member join and show us how it can be done?

Marelize shares, ‘I’ve learned a lot about my own fears and I learned I can throw ‘caution to the wind’ and jump right in.’

The classic Toastmaster interview

I caught up with Marelize (virtually) and asked her a few questions.

Linda: Why did you join Toastmasters, in general? 

Marelize: “Over the course of the past year or two I have become more and more interested in giving presentations and talks to people. But I felt so uncomfortable speaking in front of groups that it somehow kept me stuck and too afraid to try. I am sincerely hoping that things will change for me now that I have finally joined Toastmasters.”

Linda: How did you feel the first time you walked through the door?

Marelize: “It just felt so right as I was as ready as you can be as joining a TM club has been on my ‘to do list” forever!”

Linda: What made you decide to join specifically at the moment you did?

Marelize: “I met inspirational speaker and author Brock Tully that speaks on Kindness –  a topic of great interest to me.  He subsequently put me in contact with fellow-TM Club 59 member Gillian Roberts that co-authored the book “The Thought that Changed my Life Forever.” With that connection, I instinctively knew that TM Club 59 “was meant to be my club” and I joined the very first night.”

Linda’s note: Marelize also joined Evergreen Toastmasters to get double the Toastmaster exposure!

Linda What do you do for a living? 

Marelize: “Psychologist in private practice.”

You can catch Marelize and all the other first timers at the First Timers reception Friday night (5pm) before the conference officially begins.

What about you?

Are you a first timer? Do you know of any first timers who are attending?

Come on, spill the beans, please!

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

Gene Vickers, senior Toastmaster and candidate for District Lieutenant Governor of Education and  Training shares some of his experiences.

Learning about Leadership

Soon after being Area Governor he was asked to step up another level and take on Division Governor and he said ‘no.’ He kept getting asked over and over until he folded like a cheap tent and said ‘yes.’

He’s glad he did. He learned about leadership and focused on delegation, communication, empowerment, and trust. He said “you do those four things and your team will make you look like a star.”

Especially trust. Gene says, “As a leader it is so important to allow people to make a mistake… if your leaders are empowered and make a mistake… as long as they learn from it… they become even a better leader as a result of the trust you give them.”

He’s got awards to back it up. At least 8 awards including the prestigious Queens Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada. He’s quick to say that the team of people he worked with won those awards, that he alone could never have achieved them.

Back to Toastmasters. A few years ago Gene stepped forward on his volition to offer himself as Lieutenant Governor of Marketing.

Then he took on the New Clubs Coordinator role.

Now he’s gearing up to be Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training. Will anyone run against him? He hopes so!

We wish Gene and all the candidates good luck in their quest to be the District leaders during this time of creation of a 2^nd district.

~

Gene Vicker’s home club is Rocky Point Toastmasters in Port Moody, Club 7743.  He’s a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and he gets a kick out of helping clubs and people grow.

District elections are on Saturday, May 4th during the Nanaimo Conference. The new District Executive are announced that same day.

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

We can all use a little inspiration on Mondays.

Here are two.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

― Vince Lombardi

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

The D21 Spring Conference is full of events. One of the more prestigious events is the Officer Elections. Read on and you’ll hear the thinking of one of our District Leaders – you might just be inspired.

At Conference time there is a real energy in the air as the new Executive team gets elected and announced.

Many Toasties are running for District office; one of them is Gene Vickers. He aspires to be on the District Executive as Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training.

Run against me!

His message is he wants several other leaders to run against him for the position. Now that may sound odd, to invite competition. Gene reasons if we have several great leaders in the district, then shouldn’t they be running for the Executive?

Ok!

Gene is fairly qualified. He’s been around, as the saying goes. Currently he’s our New Club Coordinator for District 21. Previously he’s been an Area Governor and Division Governor. Not to mention the Club Executive roles he’s taken on.

Growing into leadership roles

Just as we all do, Gene also has a personal Toastmaster’s story. He covers some of his story in his latest speech titled “Getting to Yes.”

It’s about overcoming that knee-jerk reaction of saying ‘no’ when being asked to serve on the executive at any level. Saying yes to Toastmasters didn’t always come easy for Gene.

Gene was first introduced by a friend who said ‘come to Toastmasters.’ Gene replied ‘no.’ After several ‘no’s’, he relented and said yes.

Then Gene took the next step. He joined. He recalls his first meeting was surreal. “The speakers were unbelieveable. Like really good.” When table topics came up he said to himself that if he could ever be that good it’d be something. He experienced something many of us experience in our first meetings – the wow factor. He was wow’d.

In his 2^nd meeting he was put into a role. Within 3 months he was VP of Education for this Club. Then came the invitation. Would he step up and be Area Governor? “No way” was his reply. He was scared of the executive role knowing that it takes a lot of time. But he kept getting asked again and again. The way he tells the story he says “seven times I was asked and six times I said no.” What changed his mind?

The key to getting a ‘yes’ from your candidate

“I was told I was the best person for the job.”  Gene says that exact phrase was the magic. “There’s something about being told you’re the best person for the job that makes you fold up like a cheap tent and say yes.”

Continue reading tomorrow to find out more… 

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

A Toastmaster needs good jokes

One of the things a Toastmaster needs to have are good jokes up the sleeve.  Why? Well, one reason is if our speeches start to flop, we can switch gears and tell a good joke.

Here are some jokes from the internet. All are clean, promise.

I told my friend that she drew her eyebrows on too high.

She looked surprised.

What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta

My personal favorite has always been the one where the waiter comes up to the guy and says, “And how did you find your steak, sir?”

“I just moved my potato and there it was!”

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see.” Watson replied: “I see millions and millions of stars.” Holmes said: “And what do you deduce from that?” Watson replied: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there. And if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life.” And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent.”

The Dalai Lama walks into an ice cream shop. He asks the server, “can you make me one with everything?”

Why do chicken coups have 2 doors?

Because if it had 4 it would be a chicken sedan.

Post your jokes

Do you have any good jokes to share?

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

Today’s blog is about taking a day trip to a location *not* within easy driving range. Have you ever thought about the benefits of taking a trip like this? It’s amazing how it can stretch your comfort zone.

Stretching your comfort zone gives you beautiful views

I travelled from Vancouver to Nanaimo, BC, Canada and back within the same day.

Unfortunately the view from the ferry was obstructed by clouds. Here’s a picture from the adventure:

So you don’t lose interest in riding the ferry, here’s a photo from a better day on the ferry.

That’s not the point

But that’s not the point of making the trip. My aim is to make the case for travelling outside of your comfort zone and the benefits that come with it.

The stats of the trip were…

37 – ground miles

58 – nautical miles

5 hours in transit one way : 1 hour catching connecting transit + 4 hours sitting, thinking, and watching the world go by

And the benefits of stretching my comfort zone were…

4 – unique modes of transportation

1 – standing on a skytrain (above ground subway)

1 – a bus (surprisingly a comfy seat)

1 – a ferry ride ( appealing especially if sunny)

1 – walking on foot (of course)

1 – large ocean to see from many directions – see photo above

1 – walk in a new neighbourhood

2 – coffee shops

1 – shop at a department store

4 – conversations with strangers along the way (a backpacker reading Paulo Coehlo, a mother with an active 4 year old, a man in barbership attire preparing for a chorus singing competition, and young woman from Kentucky studying criminology at SFU)

1 – wild salmon burger

1 – vanilla chocolate swirl ice cream (with this I max’d out on daily indulgences)

1 – adventure to a bistro specializing in raw food

8 – # of dedicated people I met with (reason for going to Nanaimo)

1 – discovery of a city centre (Nanaimo)

3 – wireless checkins of email along the way

D21’s (BC’s) Toastmasters Conference in is Nanaimo …but you knew that

For those of you in the know, in a few weeks Nanaimo will host BC’s Toastmasters conference.

This is blog is a semi-obvious attempt to encourage you to make the trek to the Island for the conference (and encourage mainlanders to travel outside of your comfort zone).

Has it worked?   Who knows, you may just move outside of your comfort zone and experience some new things along the way.

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

At every Toastmasters conference there is the highly anticipated ribbon parade. Well, truthfully it’s called the banner parade, not the ribbon parade, because each club has a banner but not every club has ribbons.

For the uninitiated this sounds like a weird Toastmasters thing, I know. I can hear you saying ‘come again? A banner parade?’

Well let’s look at this. A dramatic moment of each conference unfolds when representatives of each club march around holding their banners high.

Here’s a picture of a banner before it is customized with a club’s name etc.

The moment the banners are marched around the ballroom is epic. There is usually the music from a marching band accompanied by hooting and hollering by club members when they hear their banner announced. Seriously, it’s a big deal and a proud moment for Toasties everywhere.

If you have a picture of your banner then we’d love to see it.

In a future blog I’ll talk about how one goes about getting ribbons. And, no, you can’t just buy them at the Toastmasters online store. You earn them, silly.

Come participate in / watch the banner parade during the Opening Ceremonies of the Conference on Friday May 3^rd in Nanaimo.

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda

In an earlier blog I wrote about meeting new people.

I thought maybe we could share some ideas on how to expand your circle of connections.

As the May conference is coming up, these suggestions are focused on making connections at the conference.

Here are the suggestions, what are yours?

• Arrive early before the conference starts and meet people through mingling.
• Set a numbered goal to meet several new people at breaks, e.g. 3 people.
• Rotate your seating for each session so you sit with new people.
• Say hello and introduce yourself to those you are sitting with are your table.
• For users of social media,
  • follow the discussion on twitter using the hashtag #D21SpringConf. Follow those in the discussion and see if you can put faces to names through the day.
  • take photos and post on your facebook and the D21 facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/bctoastmasters.  (Make sure you gain permission to take people’s photos before posting online.)

To go to the next level, when you sit at a new table introduce yourself to *every single person* at that table.

How do you meet new people at a conference? Any suggestions to add to this list?

Stay well, until tomorrow,

Linda