EDMONTON, AB, May 30 /Troy Media/ -- Could AlbertaSource.ca become the toast of Toastmasters International?

Toastmasters, an 85-year old international non-profit organization, held its District 42 (Alberta and Saskatchewan) Spring 2008 District Convention earlier this month in Edmonton. Joan McAulay, Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training for the district, turned to the popular historical site to cull the facts she needed as host for the Communication & Leadership luncheon and awards ceremony.

“I had hoped,” McAulay said, “to be able to both entertain and educate the over 300 Toastmasters and guests who attended the event with research based on multiculturalism and ethnicity within Alberta.”

McAulay, a resident of Saskatoon, also wanted to incorporate historical information on the host city in her presentation. The District Convention was attended by dignitaries from the Province of Alberta. 

“I wanted to make sure that I not only had the right information, but I also wanted to give my audience information they perhaps didn’t know, whether they were from Edmonton or not.”

And that’s why she turned to AlbertaSource.ca and the various sites of the Alberta On-line Encyclopedia. In fact, AlbertaHeritage.net was her single most comprehensive source for her research, she said. “I was amazed as to how easy it was to find what I needed (on AlbertaSource.ca),” pointing out that the site contains a vast amount of in-depth information, multiculturalism and ethnicity within the province. “As well, many of the references are actually first-hand accounts.”

Because of the limited time she had for research, McAulay said she especially liked the site’s ease of use. “I was able to quickly search and encapsulate the history of the region concisely. Just like a good Toastmaster – the ability to provide clear communication in a very brief period of time.”

The amount of resources available, including alternatives to simply text based materials, impressed McAulay. “This is an incredible source for any Toastmaster; it’s a wealth of ideas for speeches,” especially, she pointed out, AlbertaSource.ca’s project called ‘Bringing History to Life’.”

‘Bringing History to Life’ is part of the ‘Storytelling’ Manual, which is itself part of the Advanced Communicator Program. Speakers are required to plan, write and present (tell) a story about an historical event or person within 7-9 minutes.

“From a Toastmasters perspective,” she added, “the beauty of AlbertaSource.ca, is that if you were to tell a story about, for example, Premier William Aberhart, you get to not only read about him, but you can see pictures of him and hear him discussing democratic versus totalitarian principles in 1940 with Ernest Manning. This depth of information gives you a better sense about who he was and what he stood for – much as an actor studying his character and thus, bringing him to life. It also goes beyond recreating and telling his story; it’s also about leadership, another element of Toastmasters, and learning from the actions of great leaders in our history.”

McAulay has been telling everyone she knows about the Alberta On-line Encyclopedia. She likes to know as much as she can about the places she visits: not only the tourism sites to see, but about the people, heritage and history.

Discovering the site couldn’t have been better timing for McAulay. This year, over 2,000 Toastmasters from around the world will be in Calgary from August 13 to 16 as District 42 hosts the 77^th Annual Toastmasters International Convention.

“People don’t only come for the Convention,” she said, “they also come to visit.” She added that the last Annual Convention held in Alberta was back in the mid-70s, so this is a great opportunity for them to learn about the province.

One of the highlights of a Toastmasters International Convention, besides the Speech Contests, Education Sessions and great food, is Toastmasters' most prestigious award, the Golden Gavel, which has been presented each year since 1959. It’s awarded is to an individual who represents excellence in the fields of Communication and Leadership.

This year’s honouree is Pamela Wallin, the Chancellor of the University of Guelph in Ontario and a former journalist. Past recipients of the Golden Gavel include Walter Cronkite, Art Linkletter, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and Deepak Chopra.

AlbertaSource.ca -the Alberta Online Encyclopedia is the main portal for 75 websites, more than 27,000 html/PHP pages, over 75,000 images, over 4,000 audio files and over 2,000 video files, and all are fully searchable. The site was created by Heritage Community Foundation, as part of a legacy project to celebrate Alberta’s Centennial in 2005. In 2007 AlbertaSource.ca had just over 1.5 million unique visitors and just under 4 million site visits.