The Mission of every Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

The Vision of the BLT Advanced Club: to help provide top-quality educational training and leadership for members of Division B – Southern Saskatchewan

In 1970, Helen Blanchard became the first woman admitted into Toastmasters. She eventually became

Toastmasters’ first female president in 1984.Women now make up 52% of Toastmasters’ membership!

Toastmasters Club #6584 BLT Advanced Toastmasters

Chartered Nov 1, 1997 Area 4, Division B, District 42

Regina, SK, Canada

March 2016 Editor Keith Lee, DTM

Contributors Catherine Secundiak, DTM Lorna Arnold, ACB, ALB Mary Jane McGrath, DTM

Trivia Norman Trinh, CC

Photos Victor Lam, ACS, ALB

Goals of Newsletter: 1. recognition of member and club

accomplishments 2. snapshot of club culture, strength,

fellowship (for guests and members) 3. information and inspiration for members

Visit BLT Toastmasters!

Our Club usually meets once a month on Saturdays from

10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Glencairn Neighbourhood Centre,

2626 Dewdney Avenue E, Regina Saskatchewan.

Please contact us before attending our meeting as we sometime move our

meeting to be at the same location as Division B events. We can provide you

with a cell number for one of our members if you arrive late.

us on

http://blt.toastmastersclubs.org

Club Executive for 2015-16 (as of March 2016) President: Catherine Secundiak, DTM

VP Education: Lorna Arnold, ACB, ALB

VP Membership: Jeannette Caldwell, CC, ALB

VP Public Relations: Keith Lee, DTM

Secretary: Nancy Feniuk, ACB, CL

Treasurer: Brad Korbo, DTM

Sergeant at Arms Victor Lam, ACS, ALB

How many CCs could a club earn in one

year? (See next page for answer)

Leadership I, II, III

Club Leaders from Wascana, FCC Stubble Jumpers, UR Toastmasters and TAPS participated in a Success/Leadership program presented by BLT Toastmasters February through March 2016. Each seminar focused on different aspects of leadership, including Characteristics of Effective Leaders, Developing Your Leadership Skills, and Working in a Team Environment. Special Thanks to session leaders Shannon Vinter, DTM,, Keith Lee, DTM, and Marg Ustupski, ACS, ALB.

Advance Your Skills! By 2015-16 Club President Catherine Secundiak, DTM

What a fabulous year it has been so far at BLT and in Division B! We’ve welcomed 7 new members this year, members who see the value in belonging to an Advanced Toastmasters club and want to further advance their

communication and leadership skills. In our club, we celebrate enthusiastically, learn together through educational presentations and support each other through our mentorship program. BLT members are involved in shaping our future through Youth Leadership Program, build confidence and finesse in presentations through Circle of Gold and develop leaders by facilitating, teaching and mentoring future leaders who join us at our Leadership Workshops. Many of our members belong to other clubs in Southern Saskatchewan and many of our members are current and past District leaders. We know the leadership of our club and the quality of our club meetings serves as an example for all our clubs in the Division. Our members matter, our members make a difference. BLT is “where leaders are made”.

BLT ADVANCED TOASTMASTERS CLUB 6584

What’s New BLT? “Division B’s Leading Team”

Did You Know…

Many members know that the first official Toastmasters Club, the Smedley Chapter One Club, was formed by Toastmasters’ founder Ralph C. Smedley in Santa Ana, California, in 1924, but

do you know where the second club in the world was chartered?

U t i l i z e t h e p o t e n t i a l y o u a n d o u r c l u b h a v e t o o f f e r !

The second official Toastmasters club was chartered by J. Clark Chamberlain in Anaheim, California in the fall of

1925. Chamberlain would go on to be the first president of Toastmasters International! There are now over

15,400 clubs in 135 countries!

Where are You on YOUR Roadmap?

By VP Education Lorna Arnold

With 70% of the Toastmaster year complete, where are you on your road map to success? The purpose of our advanced club is to add value to your Toastmasters experience. Many of us have personal goals that are wavering around half complete. There are still many opportunities for us to accomplish our goals and be a part of our achievers circle Circle of Gold is one of our underutilized programs. Circle of Gold meetings are typically 1-2 evenings for 2 hours. Any member that wants to improve their presentation skills is invited. Contact Mary Jane McGrath for more information. ‘5+2’ Contest. All members that complete 5 ‘Leadership’ meeting roles (that someone has completed the evaluation in a Leadership Manual for) AND present 2 manual speeches in the 2015-16 Year will be recognized as an ACHIEVER and earn a prize. Six members are close to that prize circle. New members can participate as well, but sign up for your roles soon as they are filling up fast!. It’s Educational! The VP Education is one of many roles on the Club Executive. This will be an opportunity for you to enhance your knowledge of the Toastmaster programs and be a part of a fantastic leadership team. This experience is enhancing my ability to move what I have learned in Toastmasters into my community and grow my ability TO MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

Announcement: Mentorship Program

September to September

Maryann Samida has accepted the challenge of spearheading the formal Mentoring program for BLT with Catherine and Lorna on the initial team. Her term will run from March 2016 until September 2017. We envision that in future the Mentoring co-ordinator will serve from September to September so new members will be served by mentor appointments during the transition For further information contact Maryann at mdas009@yahoo.ca or telephone her at 306-735-4405. Maryann looks forward to being a valuable resource for our members and BLT toastmaster club.

What are some Qualities of a Mentor?

Have you Read the Latest Issue of the Toastmaster magazine?

Remember you donate your back issues to the club to use for future

Membership Campaigns!

Stay Gold - Evaluation Tips

By Circle of Gold Coordinator Mary Jane McGrath

I was taught to always choose my words very carefully, always

be extremely supportive and absolutely never negative. We are here to encourage others to continue speaking, to encourage their good points and to pick one area for improvement. For more experienced TMs maybe give 2 areas to improve. We always want our TM friends to want to speak again and again. To begin, I thank the speaker for their speech. I then tell the speaker what I am going to do in my evaluation. I begin with the points I believe they have done well and I encourage them to continue these points. I make it clear what I consider to be their good points. I then gently mention an area that could possibly be improved in the future. I state the point I am talking about and give an example of how this point could be improved. I then encourage them to continue their other strong points, and review what I enjoyed from their talk. In Conclusion I summarize the above in an uplifting, positive, encouraging manner. This manner of evaluation is what we provide at the Circle of Gold. The difference is we have more time to spend with the speaker. We give more examples to improve and they redo their speech. The extra time, the more examples to improve and the do overs really help the speakers grow quickly.

“If you get out of Toastmasters all there is to get out of Toastmasters, you’ll never get out of Toastmasters”

– Helen Blanchard

How many CC’s? In 2009-2010, the TCS Toastmasters Club 3949 in Malaysia filed 20 CC awards in one year. Come on BLT! Let’s try to beat that number!