April 19, 2012 Theme: Staying Fit

Val Hummel called the meeting to order and introduced Chairperson Leo.  

Leo spoke of ways to keep fit and have fun while doing it through exercise and diet.  

John gave us the joke of the day about a treadmill being left as an inheritance in a will.  Brent was Toast and Timer and led us in a Toast to springtime in Canada.  

Val was Grammarian for the evening and explained the meaning of the word "blatant".  It is an adjective that can be used to describe something visually loud like a bright colour or something that is offensively noisy or something that is obtrusive in a way that offends.  

Keith Stoltz handled Literary Corner and read the Obituary of the Penny.  He explained that the penny was "born" in 1858 and will come to the end of its "life" at the end of this month.  It will be withdrawn from circulation later this year.  

Vern gave a speech entitled "Senses" which described the five senses.  He concluded with a description of how his mother's homemade bread was enjoyed by all five senses and left everyone craving bread and butter.  

Tony chaired Table Topics and distributed pennies to each member.  Each person read the date on their penny and explained something important that had happened to them in that year.  John was Table Topics winner for his description of the first car he ever bought which happened when he went into a car dealership to ask for directions.  

George evaluated Vern's speech and gave lots of grow points stating it was an interesting speech with smooth transitions and good hand gestures.   

Heidi was general evaluator for the evening and commented on the great job everyone did with their roles.  

Brent gave the Timer's Report, and Val gave the Grammarian's Report.  The word "blatant" was only used about 4 times so it was blatantly clear that Val should have given a better explanation of the meaning of the word.  In preparation for the upcoming election of Executive members, Leo read the responsibilities of each role and asked who was interested in each role.  Some roles had interest but only the crickets chirped when Leo asked who was interested in VP of Public Relations!  Elections will occur at the May 3^rd meeting and interested candidates will give 2-3 minute "fun" speeches outlining reasons why they are interested in a role.  The roles for next week were mostly filled although some opportunities for participation still exist.  A fun meeting was had by all with lots of laughs, and Leo adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m.

Submitted by:

Val Hummel,

Club Secretary.

April 12, 2012, Theme: Friday the 13th

The meeting was called to order by Sharon D'Arcey and she introduced Marie McCutcheon as the chairperson of the meeting.
Marie discussed the theme of the meeting and how Friday the 13th was deemed to be unlucky. Marie provided interesting facts about how 13 was an unwanted number because there were 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 months in a year, a dozen is 12 and in years past it was stated that a table was considered full with 12 people. If there was ever 13 people invited for a meal, the hosts used to hire another person to attend the meal so that there wasn't 13 people at the table (it was noted that there were 12 members in attendance at the meeting). High rise buildings don't have a 13th floor and hospitals don't have a room 13.
Another interesting fact is that there are three Friday the 13th's in 2012 and they are 13 weeks apart.
Sharon D'Arcey was the Toast and Timer for the meeting and provided a toast to Canada. Tony Galvao was the Grammarian and Ah Counter. Tony described his roles and provided the members with the word of the day "Disambiguate" which means "make clear and more comprehendible".
John VanMeeteren filled the role of Literary Corner. John provided one of the club members with a difficult word to pronounce and asked for the word to be pronounced aloud so that John could use this word as part of his literary reading about the origins of Friday the 13th. John read aloud how both Fridays and the number 13 have been unlucky throughout history.
Speaker # 1 was Keith Stoltz. He was presenting Project # 9 from the Competent Communicator manual with his speech entitled "Bed and Breakfast". The speech described the various bed and breakfast locations that he and Jane have stayed at during their travels to various places around the world. He also described how the people that run them are very accommodating and it is a great opportunity to meet people from various parts of the world as well.
Vern Noseworthy provided a speech presentation with Point of View. His speech was about how more coal fired plants should be built to produce electricity, create more jobs and use some of the natural resources that are available to us.
Keith McCluskie provided a Counter Point of View and debated the points that Vern made in his speech presentation.
Table Topics was done by Jane Stoltz. Each member was provided two slips of paper with phrases about a specific superstition. Each member spoke for a minute about the topic and there were lots of laughs.
Leo Brisebois was the speech evaluator for Keith Stoltz's speech presentation. Leo gave lots of glow points and one grow point.
The Timer's Report was presented by Sharon D'Arcey and she highlighted 3 time offenders that went over the allotted time for their vocal presentations.
Tony Galvao provided the Grammarian and Ah Counter reports. The word "Disambiguate" was used 9 times during the meeting. There were 33 - Um's, Ah's and Oh's used during the meeting. The words And, But and So were misused 3 times each.
Jane Stoltz provided the Table Topics report - Keith McCluskie won Table Topics.
Brent Jemmett was the Quiz Master and challenged all of us with remembering who said what phrases during the meeting.
General Evaluation was done by a round table method with each member providing a glow and grow point of the meeting. Suggestions were made such as; add a laugh counter to the agenda as a role to be filled, ensure Joke of the Day is on the agenda as a role to be filled, the table arrangements were done well and the double doors being closed helps eliminate distractions.
Anything for the good of Toastmasters prompted reminders of the following; Friday the 13th is the Division contest at the Manulife building, the Home and Lifestyle Show is May 4th and 5th - volunteers needed to run the booth, Executive role selection next meeting - club officers to prepare a speech about their roles in preparation for the upcoming elections, 20th anniversary in September 2012 - planning a murder mystery supper theater.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm. Members enjoyed fellowship and refreshments.

April 5, 2012 Theme: Spring into April

The meeting started right on time with Keith Stoltz calling the meeting to order and Keith also filled the role of Chairperson.
Keith welcomed all 7 members to the meeting and in keeping with the theme, he suggested that we all spring in April action and put away the winter clothes, snow blowers, snow shovels and bring out the lawn mowers.

Joke of the Day was presented by both George Nichol and Jane Stoltz. George had some funny accounts of how children view marriage and how to choose a mate. Jane told of a funny story about 3 intoxicated men getting into a shopping cart and going through an automatic car wash late at night.
Keith McCluskie filled the role of Toast and Timer and gave a patriotic toast to Canada.

Speaker # 1 was Tony Galvao with his speech presentation entitled; Spring. This speech was the fourth from the Competent Communicator manual. Tony provided the members with his views of what constitutes spring. For example; Spring is a feeling, the call of frogs, the sightings of robins, the fragrant smell of country air as the barnyards get cleaned out after the winter storage, apple blossoms and fresh cut grass.

The Point of View role was filled by Keith Stoltz who presented his view that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist. Why, who has ever seen a real large pink bunny rabbit? It is a figment of our imagination.
The Count Point of View role was filled by Heidi Menzi who presented her views of how there is an Easter Bunny. Why, how could so many people be fooled into thinking that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist? The happy children on Easter Sunday morning are the proof of it's existence.

Table Topics Master role was filled by Vern Noseworthy. Vern asked each member what their view of Spring would be from the eyes of a jogger, camper, construction worker, farmer, etc. Each member got two opportunities to present Table Topics presentations.

George Nichol was Tony Galvao's speech evaluator and he provided lots of glow points of Tony's speech and one grow point.
A report was given on timing. Table Topics winner was Keith McCluskie. Heidi Menzi was the Quizmaster and she had the group thinking about who said what phrase throughout the meeting.

Jane Stoltz was the General Evaluator and she provided the members with her views of what she liked from the meeting and some recommendations for improvements.
With a small group, it is a good opportunity to take on agenda roles that you may not normally try or fill multiple roles in the meeting. It is recommended that members state their roles before presenting so that other members and guests understand what the purpose is.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 pm and members enjoyed refreshments and social time afterwards.

March 29, 20112, Theme: Celebrations

John Van Meeteren called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Brent Jemmett.  Brent welcomed everyone and spoke about the reasons why people hold celebrations and said that Spring is also a celebration.  He welcomed guest Apryl Browning.

Vern Noseworthy provided the Joke of the Day.  His joke was about an old prospector named Ralph who dealt creatively with a gunslinger.

Lorna VanderPloeg was Toast and Timer for the evening and she led members in a toast to Canada and her friend of 25 years, Dave Billings, who passed away.

Jane Stoltz was the evening’s Grammarian and Ah Counter.  Jane presented “hullabaloo” as the word of the evening.  It means racket, din or uproar.

The speakers of the night were Keith Stoltz and Leo Brisebois.  Keith presented a speech entitled “Driving in New Zealand”.  He spoke of the challenges of driving a car on the opposite side of the road and dealing with some of the different traffic rules that exist in New Zealand.  His key message was “Stay left, stay left, stay left!”  Leo presented an educational model on coaching and gave tips on coaching employees.  Audrey assisted with a demonstration of a supervisor coaching an employee on how to deal with a problem. 

Tony Galvao handled Point of View.  He said human beings should be genetically engineered to produce chlorophyll so they can produce their own food.  People would be green but there would be no more famine.  He noted there were 7 Billion people on Earth in 2011 and that number is expected to rise to 13 Billion by 2067.  He said 1.5 Million children die annually of famine, so genetically altering people to produce chlorophyll from the sun would solve many problems because people could sunbathe and produce food at the same time.  Marie McCutcheon provided her Counter Point of View.  She said if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day but if you teach a man how to fish, he eats for a lifetime.  She said people should stop taking advantage of their luxuries and should work to teach people in the poorer countries how to help themselves.

Diane Bender handled Table Topics.  She had each member pull a picture out of an envelope and describe how it was related to a celebration. 

Keith McCluskie was General Evaluator.  He had Sharon D’Arcey evaluate Keith Stoltz and George Nichol evaluated Leo. 

Chairperson, Brent Jemmett asked Val Hummel to provide the inspirational thought of the day about how our thoughts become actions.  He called for the reports.  Jane provided the Grammarian’s report and noted that “hullabaloo” was used 23 times!   Audrey Orth was announced the winner of Table Topics for telling us about an incident involving a cake left on a car roof and having to chase her husband after he drove away.   

Keith’s comments as General Evaluator included encouragement for evaluators to provide at least one grow point when evaluating a speaker.  He asked speakers to ensure they hand control of the meeting back to the Chair.  He noted the coffee maker is noisy.  He reminded members to wear their name tags, and he also reminded members to turn their cell phones off at the start of a meeting.

Guest, Apryl Browning thanked the people who competed at the March 24^th speech contest in Mount Forest, and also thanked those people who helped with running it. 

George reminded members that dues need to be paid by March 31^st.

Leo reviewed the Distinguished Club Program Chart and pointed out that the Linguists of Listowel have two more categories to complete before June 20, 2012.  The categories are in number of members who finish the Competent Communicator manual, and new members.

Brent adjourned the meeting early at approximately 8:50 p.m.

March 22, 2012, Theme: Spring

Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Jane Stoltz.  

Jane welcomed members and spoke of the warm spring weather that Ontario has enjoyed for the past week with above-average temperatures.  She spoke of the things that people do in spring such as spring cleaning, washing windows, hanging laundry outside, planting tulips, and putting away winter garments.  She said spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!”

The members of the Executive marched the new Club Banner into the room, took pictures to commemorate the event, and proudly hung the banner up on the wall.

Guest Tina was introduced by Val, and Toastmasters gave Tina a warm welcome.

Val Hummel provided the Joke of the Day.  She noted that the joke was supposed to be related to the theme of spring but she could not find one, so her joke was about the next best thing - a hamster.  Heidi was Toast and Timer for the evening and she led members in a toast to Canada and the green goodness of spring.  Audrey was Ah Counter and outlined her role to count the number of times each member used “ah” as a filler word.  George provided members with an amusing reading from a James Herriot book called “Tricky, a Triumph of Surgery” for Literary Corner.

The speakers of the night were Vern, Brent and Leo.  Vern bravely gave his Ice Breaker speech titled “It’s All About Me” and members enjoyed hearing about his adventures while growing up in Newfoundland.   Brent gave a speech entitled “The Day I Thought Would Never Happen” about the moment of devastation he endured when he learned that Wayne Gretzy had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988.   Leo provided an educational module to give members tips on how to evaluate and motivate speakers.  He said evaluators should not use humour when evaluating because it takes away from the speaker.  He reminded members to evaluate the speech, not the speaker.  Members received a handout on tips for evaluating speakers.

Lorna deftly handled Table Topics.  She had each member pull an item out of a bag and describe how it was related to the meeting theme of “spring”.

Jane called each of the speech evaluators to the lectern to provide their evaluations of the speakers.  Keith McCluskie evaluated Vern, Val evaluated Brent, and Keith Stoltz provided comments as general evaluator.  When introducing a speaker, Keith asked members to include a member’s role on the executive.  He noted that the room was warm and windows could have been opened.  He reminded members that the goals and objectives of a speech should be read before calling the speaker up.  He also noted that the agenda should list the reports before the General Evaluator.

Heidi provided a Timer’s Report.  Audrey educated members with her Ah Counter’s report and advised each member of how many times they used the “ah” crutch.  Lorna declared Jane the winner of Table Topics for her one-minute speech on combing her cat.  The upcoming Speech Contest in Mount Forest on March 24^th was noted.  Guest Tina stated that she enjoyed observing the meeting as a guest. 

Jane adjourned the meeting early at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Chairperson, Jane Stoltz is shown here holding the new club banner for the Linguists of Listowel. 

                  

Shown left are most of the members of the club executive officers with the new club banner; 

Left to Right; Keith McCluskie (V.P. of Public Relations), Val Hummel (Club Secretary), Brent Jemmett (Sergeant at Arms), George Nichol (Club Treasurer), Jane Stoltz (past V.P. of Education), Leo Brisebois (Club President) and Lorna VanderPloeg (V.P. of Membership).

March 15, 2012, Theme: Luck of the Irish

The meeting’s theme was “Luck of the Irish” and many Toastmasters sported green in celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.  Vern started things off by calling the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.  He introduced Lorna who was chairing the meeting for the first time.  Lorna welcomed everyone and ensured the guests were properly introduced.  Each Toastmaster also introduced themselves for the benefit of the guests.  

Leo presented the Joke of the Day.  In his joke, an armed robber robbed the Bank of Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day.  Anyone who saw his face was promptly dispatched.  When he called out to see if there was anyone else who had seen his face, an elderly Irish gent slowly raised his hand and advised that his wife may have caught a glimpse.  

George took on the role of Toast and Timer and his toast was about Irish immigrants to Canada who settled in this area and how they named many towns in Ontario after towns in Ireland, including Listowel.  

Jane was the evening’s Grammarian with the word “shenanigans” which means devious tricks or questionable conduct.  The word “shenanigans” was used 21 times during the evening.

Diane provided us with a fable for Literary Corner that highlighted the saying “Blessings are won by a good deed done!”

Keith was the lone wolf speaker for the evening with a speech about his and Jane’s recent 28-hour flight to New Zealand.  He provided us with advice for how to have a good trip:  relax, arrive early, treat the airport staff with courtesy, go with the flow, and be friendly with everyone.  He spoke of the thrill of flying First Class on the way there, and how he and Jane were relegated to “cattle class” on the way home.  A positive attitude helped make the flight home relaxing too. 

The Toastmasters enjoyed hearing Marie’s point of view on how Paddyfest in Listowel could make money without having to rely on alcohol.  She suggested that participants could enjoy power shakes made with leafy greens, or drink green tea or limeade.  Jane countered with her point of view that a better moneymaking idea would be to serve haggis.  Many Toastmasters turned green at the thought of both points of view.

Val took over the Table Topics portion of the meeting and had members finish the sentence, “I must be Irish because...”.  

Brent served as General Evaluator and reminded members to be sure to wear their name tags to meetings.  He had Audrey evaluate Keith’s speech.  George gave the Timer’s report, and Wayne was declared the Table Topics winner of the evening with George and Miranda tied for second place. 

Members were reminded that their dues must be paid before the end of March.  Payment should be submitted to George.  Miranda offered positive guest comments on the meeting stating that she enjoyed participating.  Lorna brought the meeting to a close and thanked everyone for attending.  

The next regular meeting of the Linguists of Listowel is March 22nd.

March 8, 2012, Theme: International Speech & Evaluation Club Contest

Winners of the Linguists of Listowel International Evaluation Club Contest are; First place, Marie McCutcheon (centre) and Second place, Jane Stoltz (right). Also shown on the left is the District 86 Area Governor, Gregory C.N. Smith.

Winners of the Linguists of Listowel International Speech Club Contest are; Second place, Leo Brisebois (left), Third place, Marie McCutcheon (left centre), First place, Val Hummel (right centre) and (right) is the District 86 Area Governor, Gregory C.N. Smith.