May 19, 2011 - Theme: Backwards Meeting in Time

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

Thursday's Linguists of Listowel meeting was our annual "Reverse Meeting" where we had a very fun meeting that was filled with lots of laughs. This is a unique meeting whereby we start at the end of the meeting agenda and work towards the beginning of the meeting agenda at the end of the night. The first people, in speaking roles, somewhat dictate or foreshadow what will be said or done by the speakers to follow next (power of suggestion). This makes for a very unpredictable series of events.

There were 11 members in attendance. Our Inspirational Thoughts for the night was "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards" and never look backwards or you'll fall down the stairs". I was the Chairperson for the meeting and gave the Closing Remarks by reviewing how well the meeting went and some thoughts on things being backwards.

We then discussed our Summer Meeting schedule and how are booth worked at the Home and Lifestyle show. Then George Nichol as General Evaluator, evaluated our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Keith Stoltz as Table Topics Master gave the award to Keith McCluskie where he told us why his kids don't have friends over. For table topics, Keith Stoltz had us all speak about whatever we wanted first and then he told us what our topic was.

George Nichol introduced our evaluators. Heidi Menzi evaluated Lorna's speech and we did a round table to evaluate Leo's speech. Lorna VanderPloeg's speech "A Day in My Feathers" was very entertaining as she told us what her pet bird (Stella), who is a Caique, sees everyday. Next Leo Brisebois showed us some Negotiating skills in his very informative speech.

Jane Stoltz held the role of Grammarian and she challenged us to use the word "Gobbledy-gook" which means jargon and she went over the history of the word. It was used by everyone at least twice and Wayne Stoltz used it a whopping 55 times. Keith McCluskie held the role of Toast and Timer and he gave our toast to Canada.

I had Lorna VanderPloeg introduce her guest Stella. Then for the Chairperson's Opening Remarks, I told everyone some of my favourite things that are backwards like one of my all time favourite movies (Back to the Future). Sharon Diehl did a great job introducing the theme of the meeting and the chairperson for the evening.

Hope to see everyone at our next regular meeting on Thursday.

Brent

May 13, 2011 - Home and Life Styles Show (Artisan's Home)

Shown above is the Linguists of Listowel Toastmaster Booth at the Listowel Home and Life Styles Show (Artisan's Home) held at the Parkview Gardens in Listowel.
The event ran from May 13th to May 14th. It was a good opportunity for the general public to learn about Toastmasters and speak to the members about any questions they had or how to go about attending a meeting or possibly joining the club.

May 12, 2011 - Theme: Home and Garden

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel, we had a very fun meeting. There were 12 members in attendance. Jane Stoltz called the meeting to order with a funny joke and a great introduction of our Chairperson. Heidi Menzi took on the role of Chairperson for the meeting for her very first time and did a great job. Heidi introduced our theme for the evening of "Home and Garden".

Keith McCluskie started the laughs going with a very funny joke for Joke of the Day. Richard Boertien held the role of Toast and Timer and he gave toast to Canada and all our service clubs. George Nichol held the role of Grammarian and he challenged us to use the word "Captious" which means a having inclination to find fault, especially of a trivial nature. The word "Captious" was used 8 times during the meeting. For Literary Corner, Karen Bott read a very funny and interesting story called "Grueling Garden".

Our first speaker was Lorna VanderPloeg with Speech #4 out of her CC called "My List of Likes". Our second speaker was Diane Bender and gave a very informative and interesting speech called "The Auction Sale" about all her work organizing an auction sale. Next, Audrey Orth did an Educational Corner that was very informative about the mentoring program at Toastmasters.

Jane Stoltz took on the role of Table Topics Master and she had us all pick a type of garden out of the bucket and exaggerate the topic. The winner was a George Nichol with his Shade Garden. I took on the role of general evaluator, where I introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Keith McCluskie evaluated Lorna's speech and Keith McCluskie evaluated Diane's speech. We also had a short discussion on the upcoming Home and Lifestyle Show about our booth.

Hope to see everyone at our next regular meeting on Thursday with our always fun "Reverse Meeting".

Brent

Linguists of Listowel Executive Officers for 2011-2012

Back Row (left to right): Brent (Sergeant at Arms elect), Leo (President elect), George (Treasurer), Keith (V.P. of Public Relations elect).

Front Row (left to right): Marilyn (Secretary), Jane (V.P. of Education) and Lorna (V.P. of Membership elect).

May 5, 2011 - Elections Meeting

Keith Stoltz (Area Governor) was the Table Topics Master for the evening.

















Audrey Orth was the elections ballot counter during the voting in of the new executive officers.
Audrey was also the winner of Table Topics.

















Brent Jemmett (Club President) was the chairperson of the meeting and ran the election of executive officers.

















Heidi Menzi was the General Evaluator of the meeting.

May 5, 2011 - Theme: Elections

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel meeting, we had our annual Elections night where we voted in our new executive officers. We had 12 members in attendance. Marilyn Miller called the meeting to order and I was our chair for the meeting. I introduced the theme of Elections for the night and went over what elections means to me. Also, throughout the meeting I shared with everyone some funny campaign slogans.

Jane Stoltz held the role of Toast and Timer and she gave our toast to Canada. Diane Bender held the role of Grammarian and she challenged us to use the word "Loquacious" which means talkative or chatty. It was used 10 times.

Here our results from our Election for our new executive (2011/2012)

• Club President - Leo Brisebois
• Vice President of Education - Jane Stoltz
• Vice President of Membership - Lorna VanderPloeg
• Vice President of Public Relations - Keith McCluskie
• Club Treasurer - George Nichol
• Club Secretary - Marilyn Miller
• Sergeant at Arms - Brent Jemmett

Keith Stoltz took on the role of Table Topics Master and had us all explain to everyone in attendance why they shouldn't vote for each speaker if they were to run for a MP (Member of Parliament). The winner was Audrey Orth. Heidi Menzi took on the role of general evaluator, where she went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting.

Hope to see everyone at our next regular meeting on Thursday.

Brent

April 28, 2011 Theme: Proverbs and Myths

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel, we had yet another great meeting. We had 14 members in attendance. Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order and Richard Boertien was our chair for the meeting. Rich introduced our theme for the evening of "Proverbs & Myths" by telling us what proverbs and myths are. Throughout the meeting he shared with us some very interesting and funny examples.

Lorna VanderPloeg held the role of Toast and Timer and she gave our toast to Canada. Rich also held the role of Grammarian and he challenged us to use the word "Pecker-wood" which means a rural white southerner. It was used 7 times. For Literary Corner, Jane Stoltz read some happiness proverbs and myths that she found on the internet.

Our first speaker was Sharon D'Arcey with her speech called "Listowel is Leading the Way" and it was very informative in persuading us to shop locally. Our second speaker was Audrey Orth and gave a very informative and interesting speech called "Cellulitis" which was about her battle with it. Next, Jane Stoltz did an HPL Report about how she went about setting up the Area's International Speech and Evaluation contest.

Diane Bender took on the role of Table Topic Master and had us all pick a proverb or myth out of the envelope. Then we had to determine if it was fact or fiction and defend our decision. The winner was a 3 way tie between Keith Stoltz, Keith McCluskie and Rich Boertien. Lucy D'Arcey took on the role of general evaluator, where she introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. I evaluated Sharon's speech, Leo Brisebois evaluated Audrey's speech and George Stevers evaluated Jane's speech.

Hope to see everyone at our next regular meeting on Thursday which is our "Election" night for our next year's executive, so have all your campaign speeches ready.

Brent

April 28, 2011 Proverbs and Myths

Diane Bender (past president) was the Table Topics Master for the evening.

Audrey Orth presented an inspirational and informative speech about cellulitis.

Jane Stoltz (V.P. of Education) presented the results of her High Performance Leadership Assignment of organizing the March 9, 2011 International Speech and Evaluation contest for the Linguists of Listowel.

Sharon D'Arcey (V.P. of Public Relations) presented her 9th speech from the Competent Communicator manual. It was named "Leading the Way". A speech about the benefits of shopping locally.

Lucy D'Arcey was the general evaluator of the meeting. She introduced the speakers, evaluated the evaluators and the general meeting itself.

April 28, 2011 Theme: Proverbs and Myths

Richard Boertien (Sergeant at Arms) was the chairperson for the evening.