Vote!

On May 3, 2018, First Oakville Toastmasters Club #2245 will hold our Club Officer elections to vote for the next executive team that will guide the club from July 1st to June 30th, 2019.  This is your opportunity to step up and take the lead by being part of the First Oakville Toastmasters executive team.  It is a spectacular way to improve public speaking skills and flex your leadership muscles.  It is also your opportunity as a member in good standing to vote for someone you think will represent our club well.

Serving as this year’s club president has been a tremendous honour.  It has been both a humbling and deeply satisfying year full of growth and I will be forever grateful for the experience.

I have the honour of chairing this exciting and crucial event.  As the Chair of the election process, I would like to share a bit of information about the process for the benefit of our newer members and candidates.

Here are some important points to keep in mind on the voting procedure, especially if you run as a candidate for the next executive team:

• Only members in good standing may vote.  (guests are not eligible to vote)
• In order to conduct this very important election, we will need to confirm a quorum.  This means 50% of our membership + 1 (21 members)
• I will ask any member standing for a position to confirm that he or she accepts the nomination
• After each nominee accepts their nomination, there will be a call for a seconder
• A call for any further nominations for the position will be made
• A call for seconders for any further nominations will be made
• The seconder for the first nominee will then speak for 2 minutes to the Club
• Each nominee will then immediately follow his or her seconder, and will also speak from their seat for 2 minutes
• After all candidates have had a chance to sway the membership, ballots will be filled and collected
• A quick count will be held and the duly elected member is announced.  If there is a tie, it will be broken by a coin toss.

Serving on the Executive is both a great responsibility and learning experience.  There is still time to add your name to the nomination roster.  The next step would be to secure a seconder that will speak for 1 minute in support of your running.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, Rebecca Valero, Club President, or Mark Molder, Chair of the Nominating Committee.

Good luck to all our nominees!

Rebecca Valero
Club President 2017-2018
First Oakville Toastmasters #2245

And the Oscar goes to…

The 90th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, took place earlier this year on March 4th, 2018.   BUT, did you know that we have our very own Oscar at First Oakville Toastmasters?

You may have noticed that there is a coconut with hair and eyes mounted on a wooden pedestal with the name “Oscar” engraved on it.  If you are a newer member you are likely wondering what that is all about.  We did some digging and this is what we found out thanks to Sharon Jenkins and former member, Loreen Paterick.

The idea of the Oscar was that it be presented and awarded by the Table Topics Master to a Toastmaster who strayed from the Table Topic he or she was given.  The purpose was to encourage members to stay on topic and not just fill airtime.   It is meant to be a very lighthearted way to encourage members to stay focused and to deliver table topic speeches with purpose and especially on topic.

The exact date of when the Oscar was introduced to our club is not clear but as I was scanning through our meeting minutes from April 1972, there is a mention that the executive was looking for a new “Oscar” indicating that they wanted to re-institute the award.  It has definitely been around since 1972 (at least).

Our current Oscar is originally from Hawaii and he was picked up by a former member while travelling for business in the early 1990s.

It is not often that we see the Oscar awarded at a First Oakville Toastmaster meeting – but if you ever get a Table Topic question about innovation and you start talking about cats and someone awards you the Oscar, now you know why! : )

First Oakville Toastmasters has a lot of history and traditions and with so many new members, it is important to pass on the traditions and the stories behind them.  We also have another award called the Spark Plug.  Click here to learn more about the Spark Plug award.

** Thank you to Sharon Jenkins and Loreen Paterick for contributing this helpful information.