Meeting of Monday, January 30, 2006

Again, What a Night!!! An excellent turnout of members and guests participated in this evening’s meeting, the theme of which was “Are you ready for the Year of the Dog?”

We thank our first-time guests Hilary, Julie (from Speechcraft), Jim, and Nick. It was good to see a former member, John, taking a break from a sabbatical to again spend some time with us. We also welcomed our returning guests Carla and Troy C. This was Troy’s second visit and he came with completed membership application and payment, so Troy welcome to Tillicum – we wish you much success in your Toastmaster experience and look forward to helping you reach your goals.

We also welcomed our guest speaker: Susan, a constable with Vancouver Police Department. Thank you all so much for joining us.

Maureen chaired the evening, and had a jam-packed agenda!

Margot, our Grammarian, offered the word of the day: Auspicious (adj.) meaning: giving promise of success, prosperity, or happiness; predicting good; as “an auspicious beginning”. Example: “But as Saturday fell on a very auspicious day in the Chinese calendar, every hotel in Nanjiing was booked for weddings”. An appropriate word for our theme, and used properly and regularly during the evening. Thanks Margot!

Dave chaired the Business Meeting, which was quite extraordinary. Firstly, Tom's name has been nominated to assume the executive role of VP Education. No other nominations were on the floor, so Tom was voted our new VP Education, such post to run to June 30, 2006. Congratulations Tom on assuming such a demanding role while you are still a relatively new member. May we thank Neil, who had been both Assistant VP Education and VP Education for working so hard. Now his own work is consuming his life so he is taking a break from Tillicum for awhile, but we welcome you back whenever circumstances allow.

Secondly, we voted in and had four new members inducted: Leona, Chris, Kuldip, and Terry. Now you are truly members of Tillicum and good to see your progress thus far! Congratulations!

Tillicum is the first club in Division J to win New Year’s Honours because we achieved five goals and have at least five new members before January 31st. This award was presented to Rosemary at the Div. J training on January 25, in that she received a ribbon for our banner and two of the brand new Competent Leader manuals. We had five officers attend training on that night and as such achieved our 6th goal towards President's Distinguished, so Way to Go Tillicum – congrats to all concerned!

Speaking of Rosemary, she enthralled in the role of Table Topics Master and called on four members to present their versions of different situations all relating to the Chinese culture. From woks, to fortune cookies, to chopsticks, we were delighted at their antics. Congratulations go to Mary, who won the Best Table Topics Award with her description of Feng Shui in our environment. Feng Shui is based on the concept of harmony, balance, constant change, and the interdependent relationship of all things. Please check here for further descriptions of Chinese culture that you may find useful during this Year of the Dog.

Jarrod as Toastmaster continued to deliver humour with his roles and tonight was no exception. He solemnly asked us to rise for the toast, which was: Rrrrrrrrrrrffffffff!!!

As expected after such a toast, we sat down obediently and Jarrod continued with his introductions of speakers and evaluators!

Kudos to Chris W. for an excellent delivery of his Ice Breaker: speaking well and from the heart, Chris charmed us all with his sincerity and courage in this his first speech. Well done Chris!

Tom continued to amaze us, as he delivered his 8th speech in the C & L manual and spoke on Stephen Covey’s ideals in his book: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”

Tom won the Best Speaker Award for this delivery. Well done Tom, especially for the speed in which you are working through your C & L Manual and towards your Competent Toastmaster (CTM) Award – it will soon be here – WOW!!

We then listened to our guest speaker, Susan, a Constable with the Vancouver Police Department, who spoke on Police Response Time to 911 Priority 1 Calls. An excellent first-time attempt speaking in public, and especially not among your peers, and we learned much from you. Thank you again for enlightening us this evening. Of course, Susan was rewarded with the coveted Toastmasters International Letter Opener for her efforts! Maurice excelled in evaluating Susan’s speech, and won the Best Evaluator Award. Congratulations to all winners!

Susan T. is Chair next week, so please help her in filling roles.

Please check the Assigned Roles and Calendar of Events for all the upcoming happenings at Tillicum!

See you on February 6th!
Best wishes,