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5 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,January 24,2019 theifp.ca But apparently, the cat talk won over the hearts of the group: I later received the most votes for best speaker for Table Topics. Purrfect. The remainder of the evening included the pre- sentation of a thought or joke of the day, as well as three five- to seven-minute timed speeches from mem- bers of the group. Each member delivering a speech was previously as- signed an evaluator, who subsequently stood up to present an oral evaluation of the speech to the group. Those in the room were then asked to constructive- ly evaluate each of the speeches, as well as each of the evaluations, on a piece of paper. In the meantime, the per- son assigned to be gram- marian for the evening keeps track of all the filler words being spoken, the quizmaster comes up with tricky questions to ask those in attendance to see if they have been listening throughout the evening, and the timer times every presentation. Bates, who originally joined Halton Hills Toast- masters 20 years ago, says her confidence and ability to speak on the fly improved exponentially after joining, and that Toastmasters soon became more than just a club. "It's helped a lot, and it's become a bit of a social thing. You make a lot of friends. You meet a lot of people," she said. Bates says that, so far, she is most proud of receiv- ing Toastmasters' top award in 2017: the Distinguished Toastmaster award. "It means you've done over 40 speeches, presenta- tions; it means you've done leadership roles within the district and done extra pro- jects outside of Toastmas- ters," she said. Dong Zhu joined Halton Hills Toastmasters in 2015 to help him improve his speech, as well. He says that, although he is not a native English speaker, the club has pro- vided him with the support and encouragement to keep improving. "It's a positive learning environment in the club. It gave me so much confi- dence to speak in front of people," he said. "There's not another place where I can get the same thing." The club is currently open to those 18 years of age or older, but Toastmaster Rob Pillar says he is in the planning stages of begin- ning a youth group at the club - a process he hopes to start very soon. "Getting youth to join the club - that's the future," Pil- lar said. "That's why this is so important to me." The youth group will be open to high school-aged in- dividuals. Halton Hills Toastmas- ters currently meets on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at St. Alban the Martyr Anglican Church (537 Main St., Glen Williams). For fur- ther information about Toastmasters and how to join, visit www.toastmas- ters.org. Veronica Appia is a reporter with the Indepen- dent and Free Press. OPINION Continued from page 4 *Free Stick to All 1st Time Registrants (not applicable to girls field programs) *Ages 3 to 16 accepted *Affordable Registration Fees *Support a healthy lifestyle *Improve aerobic conditioning and hand/eye co-ordination *25+ NCCA Scholarships and counting! REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN & AVAILABLE ON-LINE ONLY! COME TO THE DOG POUND! Hockey in winter, Lacrosse in summer. It's a BULLDOG thing (Box, Field, House League and Rep, open to boys and girls Ages 3-16) Come out and play Canada's National summer sport and the fastest game on 2 feet! For more information or to register visit: HHBulldogslax Registration Fees go up February 1, 2019 HALTON HILLS MINOR LACROSSE ASSOCIATION