Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters celebrates LOVE!

Hey all you cool cats and groovy Toastmasters – we are celebrating the last of the Seven Grandfather teachings on June 23rd at our regular meeting. LOVE is the theme and we’re doing it old school and staging a “LOVE IN”!!! That’s right, let your hair down and the hippie inside of you out, for on the 23rd of June we’re bringing back the 60′s and 70′s. Drag out your flower power t-shirts and dust off your lava lamps and meet us down at the Odawa Native Friendship Centre at 5pm. We’ll have a regular meeting with speeches, table topics , etc., on the theme of LOVE!

Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters concludes Seven Grandfather Teachings series

Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters will conclude its Seven Grandfather Teachings series of meetings with the final teaching of “Love” at our June 23rd meeting. The club incorporated the Seven Grandfather Teachings of Truth, Honesty, Bravery, Wisdom, Respect, Humility and Love into the meeting themes to inspire our members and provide food for thought. Each meeting began with a reflection on the theme of the day, which was carried through to the table topics (improvised speaking) and other meeting activities. We also reviewed the basic public speaking skills with educational presentations on topics like “Selecting a Speech Topic”, “Organizing a Speech” and “Evaluate to Motivate”. Memorable moments included Denise’s presentation on “Habits of Highly Effective Speakers” and Jim’s exciting table topics session on gestures, which had even the most reticent members delivering Academy Award-winning performances. Get out your tie-dyed T-shirts and love beads for a groovy trip back to the “Summer of Love” for our last meeting in the series. Stay tuned for the next innovative and thought-provoking series.

Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters attends TLI

Irene, Beverley and Jim attended the Toastmasters Leadership Institute on Saturday, June 18. TLI is the authorized Toastmasters training for club officers. Club officers learn from seasoned Toastmasters and share their experiences to benefit themselves and their Clubs. It’s a chance to meet, network, and have fun with hundreds of other Toastmasters from Eastern Ontario, Quebec and Northern New York. All Toastmasters are welcome to attend to share ideas and resources. Irene attended the President’s training, Beverley attended the Secretary and Treasurer training and Jim attended the Vice President Membership training. Beverley also presented a workshop about Speechcraft. The next TLI takes place in January, 2012.

Minwaashin Lodge Speechcraft a success!

Recently, Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters presented a Speechcraft at Minwaashin Lodge, an Aboriginal women’s support centre. The Speechcraft program is a Toastmasters program designed to teach the basics of public speaking skills. We offered the seven-week program to First Nations, Inuit and Metis women. Toastmasters from our own club and from District 61 assisted with the program. We used the Seven Grandfather teachings of the Ojibway as weekly themes. We began each meeting with a smudging ceremony and a song. We held a community feast to celebrate the participants’ achievements. This was the third such Speechcraft we have held at Minwaashin Lodge. We are proud to help others find their voices and gain greater confidence.

Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters takes flight into the blogosphere!

Greetings from Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters! We are a Toastmasters club in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. “Odawa” honours the Odawa nation who travelled the Ottawa River, where we are located. “Neeskak” is the Cree word for geese. We use the communication and leadership teachings of the geese as our club’s guiding principles. Odawa Neeskak Toastmasters is Ottawa’s only Aboriginal Toastmasters club. We will post our activities here for members and guests. Check back regularly to see what happened at the last meeting or news about what our members have been up to.