February 23, 2012, Theme: Up and Down

Theme: Up and Down

Jill stepped up to the plate and called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. on the nose.  She introduced Chairperson Marie McCutcheon who welcomed everyone and spoke of the meeting’s theme.  Marie noted the importance of climbing back up when you’ve been knocked down, and the value of family and friends.

The Joke of the Day was given by George Nichold. The joke was about a trained talking parrot that was given as a gift and it ended up being roasted and eaten.  Audrey was Toast and Timer for the evening.  In her toast to Canada, she spoke of some of the trials or “downs” that Canada has had but noted that Canada has had many more “ups”.  

Vern was our Grammarian and provided the Word of the Night “tantalize” which means to tease or bait someone with something good and then take it away. 

Leo presented his third speech from an advanced manual on Interpersonal Communication.  The first part of his speech presentation was an educational module about handling criticism and then he had Keith help with some role-playing.  Keith portrayed a very unhappy client and Leo had the impossible task of trying to make customer Keith happy again.

Diane presented Speech # 9 from her second Competent Communicator’s Manual.  The objective of the speech was “Persuading with Power” and the title of the speech was “Komodo Dragons”.  Many of the Toastmasters had never heard of Komodo Dragons before and it was a very educational speech.  Diane persuaded the Toastmasters to do what they can to protect the continued existence of Komodo Dragons.

Val took on the Table Topics portion of the meeting for the first time and tied it in with the meeting’s theme of “up and down”.  Val gave each Toastmaster a topic to speak about that was related to something that goes up, or down, or both.  She also challenged members to use the word “tantalize” when speaking.  All of the Toastmasters did exceptionally well, with Keith McCluskie winning the coveted trophy for talking about tax pain. Lorna is also to be commended for her ability to speak about eyelids for an entire minute.

Lorna was General Evaluator for the evening. Brent evaluated Leo’s speech and Diane received a Roundtable Evaluation for her speech.  The roles for the March 1^st meeting were filled although some roles still need to be filled.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Submitted by

Val Hummel

Secretary

February 16, 2012, Theme: Graduation

Shown in this picture are the spring 2012 Speechcraft program graduates of the Linguists of Listowel.

Left to right are; Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren, Christine Aitchison and Tony Galvao.

Shown in this picture are the spring 2012 Speechcraft program graduates of the Linguists of Listowel along with the club president.

Left to right are; Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren, Christine Aitchison, Tony Galvao and club president/Speechcraft Program facilitator, Leo Brisebois.

A Speechcraft graduation cake was enjoyed by all in attendance.

February 16, 2012, Theme: Graduation

It was graduation night for the Speechcraft participants and the air was filled with positive energy and excitement. Each Speechcraft participant had their speeches polished and ready to present. They were also prepared to introduce each other and evaluate each others speech presentation as well. It was a small group in attendance however the evening made a big impact.
Brent Jemmett called the meeting to order and introduced Leo Brisebois as the chairperson of the meeting and of the Speechcraft program. A review of instructions for the evening was provided to the members and Speechcraft participants.
Joke of the Day was presented by Keith McCluskie. George Nichol was the Toast and Timer for the meeting. George provided a patriotic toast to Canada and kept the meeting moving along on schedule by activating the timing lights on cue.
Audrey Orth was the Grammarian for the evening and provided everyone with a new word to use during the meeting and into the next week. The word was "Trepidation" which means fearful.
There were four speech presentations for the evening given by; Christine Aitchison, Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren and Tony Galvao. All speeches were excellent and very well presented.
Club president, Leo Brisebois presented each of the four Speechcraft participants with a certificate of accomplishment for completing the 6-week Speechcraft program.
Sharon D'Arcey was the General Evaluator for the evening. Part of her role was to introduce each of the speech evaluators who took turns providing feedback on one of the other speeches presented. All four Speechcraft evaluators did a very good job sincerely evaluating each others speech.
Table Topics was presented by Tony Galvao and the theme was "Back to School Supply Store". Objects were handed out and each member had to comment on how this object could be sold to children as needed supplies to go back to school with. The winners of Table Topics were; Brent Jemmett and John Van Meeteren.
George provided the timing report. Audrey provided the Grammarian report - Trepidation was used 5 times.
General Evaluator, Sharon D'Arcey provided everyone with her views of how the meeting went.
Leo expressed his sincere thanks to the Speechcraft participants and all were congratulated on how well they did graduating from the program.
Meeting was adjourned and everyone was treated to a Speechcraft graduation cake, snacks and drinks.

February 9, 2012 Theme: Green

Theme: Green
Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order at 7:19 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Leo Brisebois. Leo gave the Chairperson's welcome and reviewed the theme of the night which was "Green". He spoke of things that remind him of green such as spring. He reviewed the Speechcrafter program and we were surprised to learn it is already in its fifth week! Agenda changes were made and then Ella Kieftenburg gave Joke of the Day which was about the Purina Pet Food Diet. Vern Noseworthy was Toast and Timer for the evening and led us in a patriotic toast to Canada and our green planet. Larry Appleby's word of the day was "perambulate" which means to walk, roam or stroll about.

The Speechcrafters each gave their "Show What You Mean" speeches. Tony Galvao went first with an amusing speech on gardening and described how each spring he clutches the new seed catalogue like a drowning man. John Van Meeteren shared his memories of the Netherlands and we got to learn about what it was like when he was growing up there. Ella's speech was called "Our Bodies" and Christine Aitchison was unable to attend the meeting.

Brent Jemmett provided an educational module on Vocal Variety. Val Hummel gave a sample speech using vocal variety that was about the animated Disney Pixar movie named "Up". It was her seventh speech in the Competent Communicator manual.

Tony led us in Table Topics. He passed around items that he had picked out of his recycling bin and asked each speaker to describe how they would re-purpose the item. Tony had to dodge a plastic jar that Larry decided would make a good football and Ella chastised Tony for his use of margarine since she lives on a dairy farm.

Marie McCutcheon stepped up as General Evaluator. Each of the Speechcrafters evaluated each other with Ella evaluating Tony, Tony evaluating John, and John evaluating Ella. Tony announced that Ella was the winner of Table Topics, and Vern gave his Timer's Report. Marie provided some tips for future meetings:
- Use last names when introducing speakers;
- Joke of the Day does not have to be given at the lectern (to save time);
- The Timer can just hit the major points or point out where people may have exceeded their time limit (to save time).

Anything for the Good of Toastmasters: Members were reminded of the upcoming International Speech and Evaluation contest on March 8th in Listowel.

Leo reviewed next week's assignment for the Speechcrafters. They'll be doing speeches using vocal variety.

Leo adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m.

February 2, 2012 Theme: How Pets Teach Us Lessons

Club President, Leo Brisebois opens the meeting with personal stories of how his pets teach him valuable life lesssons.















Club Sergeant at Arms, Brent Jemmet provides the members with the word of the evening "Malarkey".
It was a great word and it was used a few times during the meeting.

Club V.P. of Membership, Lorna VanderPloeg keeps careful watch over her pet Stella as they both prepare to present a sample speech to the Speechcraft members and the rest of the club members.