June 14, 2012 Tenth Speech Completion

Marie McCutcheon (left) presents Val Hummel with a certificate of completion after Val presented her tenth speech from the Competent Communicator manual.
Congratulations Val!

June 14, 2012 Theme: Generation Differences

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.  Marie was Chairperson for the night and talked about the different types of generations:  Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and the Millennials.  She said people blame their parents for the first half of their lives, and their children for the second half.  Heidi then provided Joke of the Day about a $300 payment to a pizza delivery person.  Vern was in charge of Literary Corner and read an article about paradoxes that was creatively written by comedian George Carlin.  Brent was Toast and Timer and led us in a toast to Canada.

Two speeches were presented.  Val gave a speech titled “Just Like Sally Field”.  It was her 10th speech and Marie presented Val with a Certificate of Achievement.  Jane gave a speech called “Shake Rattle and Roll” and called upon members to save their pennies and donate them to cancer research.  Keith Stoltz was Table Topics Master and he had half the members act like teenagers and the other half act like grandparents.  There was good back and forth comments between the generations! Next were evaluations which provide the speech givers with immediate feedback.  Tony evaluated Val’s speech and Audrey evaluated Jane’s speech.  Leo was General Evaluator and commented on how the meeting ran smoothly.  Reports were next.    Keith Stoltz announced Keith “Gramps” McCluskie as the winner of Table Topics.  Brent gave his Timer’s Report and Keith McCluskie announced there were 90 laughs during the meeting!

For the good of Toastmasters:

Resolution regarding Tall Tales/End of Year Celebration:

MOVED BY Leo Brisbois

SECONDED BY Keith Stoltz

THAT Club funds be used to purchase pizza for the End of Year celebration and Tall Tales Contest scheduled for June 28, 2012.

…CARRIED

Manual Exchange

Members were reminded to always bring their Competent Communicator manuals to each meeting and to get someone to evaluate them on tasks completed.  Tony suggested it become part of the meeting agenda to have members pass their CL manuals to someone else for evaluation.

Meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m.

Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

June 7, 2012 Award and New Sign

Tony Galvao (left) completed his sixth speech from the Competent Communicator manual and was presented with a certificate of achievement from Jane Stoltz.
Congratulations Tony!













The Linguists of Listowel purchased a new Toastmaster sign and it was placed out in front of St. Paul's Lutheran church for the first time on June 7th.

June 7, 2012 Theme: Summer Holidays

Leo called the meeting to order at 7:17 p.m. and introduced Jane as Chairperson.  Jane spoke of all the delightful things we associate with summer including barbeques, going barefoot, backyard parties, beaches, boating and camping.  She introduced Keith McCluskie who got the meeting off to a fun start with Joke of the Day.  Keith’s joke was about Age-Related Attention Deficit Disorder and a full day spent being active without any progress.  Marg then provided Literary Corner and shared a fun poem called “Grandma’s Shoes”.   Jill was Toast and Timer for the evening and led us in a toast to Canada.  Keith McCluskie was Grammarian and Laugh Counter.  The word that he asked members to use as many times as possible during the meeting was “bosh”.  Bosh is a noun meaning absurd or foolish talk. 

Speeches were next.  Tony handled Project 7 and researched his topic for a speech called “The Great Outdoors” about how nature deficit disorder can be cured with camping.  Members learned many things about camping including the importance of always taking a lot of water with them when riding bikes on the trails:  you never know when you’ll have to share it!  Keith Stoltz also did Project 7 and his speech was called “Summer Weather”.  He had everyone thinking hard about why it gets warm in the summer and cold in the winter.  The answers are not always as obvious as one would think!

There was one presentation to be given out, and an induction ceremony.  Tony received a Certificate of Achievement for doing 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual.  Marg was inducted as the newest official member of the Linguists of Listowel.  Welcome Marg!  Jane will be acting as Marg’s mentor.

Val managed Table Topics and had everyone describe the sights they would see if they were given money for a 2-week all-expenses-paid summer vacation.  Evaluations were next with Sharon evaluating Tony’s speech and Audrey evaluating Keith’s speech.

Reports were up next.  Keith McCluskie counted 81 laughs in the meeting and the word “bosh” was used 10 times.  Jill gave her Timer’s Report and Val announced Tony as the winner of Table Topics for his description of travelling to eastern Canada and eating lots of lobster.  Vern was General Evaluator and provided some overall commentary on the well-run meeting.

Jane then asked if there was anything for the good of Toastmasters and the following items were noted:

·         Members were asked to think about getting their RSVP’s for the Tall Tales Event and Potluck to be held on June 28^th.  Members wishing to participate in Tall Tales should be prepared to speak for 3-5 minutes. 

·         On behalf of the club, Jane expressed appreciation to Sharon for all the work Sharon did for the club’s booth at the Home and Lifestyles Show held recently.  Thanks Sharon!!! 

·         Jane noted that Officer Training will be held in Guelph on June 9 and in Hanover on June 16. 

·         Appreciation was expressed to Vern for the sidewalk sign he had made for the club.  It will sit out at the sidewalk in front of the church each Thursday meeting and catches attention by announcing that the meeting starts at 7:14 p.m.  Thanks Vern!!

·         A meeting of the Executive will be held following the June 14^th regular meeting.

With all business complete, Jane adjourned the meeting with a whack of the gavel at 9:02 p.m.

May 31, 2012 Theme: Acronyms

George called the meeting to order at 7:16 p.m. and introduced Leo as Chairperson.  Leo spoke on the proliferation of acronyms in our lives and also explained what word truncations are.  They are shortened words such as Tues. and Wed.  Tony provided Joke of the Day and it was a story about the acronym T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It's Friday!).  Brent carried out the role of Toast and Timer, noting the many acronyms used in the world of baseball.  Audrey was Grammarian for the evening and used T.G.I.F. as the acronym of the evening. 

Speeches were next.  John gave a speech called “It Could Have Been Worse” which was about his experience hitting his father’s horse with his car.  Luckily, both horse and driver survived.  The car was not so lucky, and the horse wouldn’t come near John for months.  It was Project #4 for him.  Then Jill gave Speech 2 titled “Dog Gone” and told us a stirring story about the family dog that went missing for 4 days and how Jill searched for it.  Faint barking was finally heard and the dramatic discovery of the dog at the bottom of a 6 foot catch basin was the happy ending.  Val gave her ninth speech called “Pumped About Pompeii” and described Pompeii, Italy as the titillating highlight of a recent Mediterranean Cruise.  Leo provided an interesting educational module that involved a review the roles that members fill at each meeting and also of each position on the executive.

Vern managed the meeting as Table Topics Master and had everyone present use their last names as acronyms and assign a word to each letter of the name.  It was harder than expected but everyone rose to the challenge!

Next were evaluations which provide the speech givers with immediate feedback.  Keith McCluskie evaluated John, Sharon evaluated Jill and Keith Stoltz evaluated Val.  Everyone did a great job according to the evaluators.  Brent gave the Timer’s Report and Audrey gave the Grammarian’s report noting that T.G.I.F. was used several times during the meeting.  John even incorporated it into his speech twice!  Audrey said there were very few ums and ahs during the meeting.  Tony gave the Laugh Counter’s report and stated it was a busy night for him:  he counted 91 chuckles, laughs and giggles during the meeting.  There were no guffaws.  Vern declared Audrey as the winner of Table Topics and presented her with a bright and shiny trophy.

Jane was Quiz Master and quizzed members’ listening skills by sharing interesting quotes from members.  Heidi was General Evaluator and noted that there was a full house at this meeting.  She encouraged everyone to learn the role of Timer and she also thanked everyone for helping to make a successful meeting by coming out and filling all of the roles.  Chairperson Leo concluded the meeting and adjourned at 9:15 p.m. 

Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

May 24, 2012 Theme: Garage Sales

Jill called the meeting to order and introduced Chairperson Keith Stoltz.  In Keith's Chairperson's Welcome, he shared the secrets to getting good deals at garage sales and the dangers of garage sale parking.  Val provided the Joke of the Day with a list of 5 fun but mean things to do at garage sales.  Tony was the Toast and Timer for the evening and led members in a toast to Canada before settling down to time speakers.  Heidi was Grammarian and Ah Counter and her word of the evening was "exorbitant" which is an adjective meaning "goes beyond the limit" or "excessive". 
Speeches were next with Jill giving a touching Icebreaker speech called "I Am A Country Girl".  Vern was next and smoothly presented Speech 4 titled "Useful But Annoying" and had members laughing with his thoughts about his wife's overloaded keychain, paperclips and straws.   
Jane handled Table Topics and had each member pick a garage sale item out of a box and then explain why it would be perfect for the person sitting next to them.  Evaluations were next with Jane evaluating Jill, and Val evaluating Vern.  Reports were next with Tony giving the Timer's report; everyone did well with their time limits.  Heidi gave the Grammarian's Report and said the word of the evening was used 4 times.  Val reported there were 22 laughs at the meeting.  Jane announced a tie in the Table Topics competition and announced Tony and Keith McCluskie as the joint winners.  Marg was Quiz Master and tested members on their listening skills by having them identify who said certain phrases during the meeting.  Keith McCluskie acted as General Evaluator and provided comments on the overall operation of the meeting.   
With the majority of the meeting completed, Keith Stoltz asked if there was anything else for the good of Toastmasters and Vern provided an estimate for the cost of a sidewalk sign that can be placed outside at the front of the church on Thursdays to let people know when Toastmaster meetings are to be held.
MOVED BY Val Hummel, SECONDED by Keith McCluskie that the Linguists of Listowel purchase a sidewalk sign from Burrows Signs in Elmira.
Discussion on the motion:  Members fully supported the purchase of the sign and provided some input on sign content.  However, members were comfortable leaving the final decision on wording up to the members involved with the purchase. MOTION CARRIED
  
With the sign purchase discussion finished, Jane filled some roles for the next meeting (although some roles are still up for grabs!) and Keith adjourned the meeting at 8:51 p.m.
 
Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

May 17, 2012 Theme: Positive Thinking

The meeting was called to order by Keith Stoltz at 7:15 pm for a group of 12 people in attendance. Keith introduced Tony Galvao as the chairman of the meeting. This was Tony's first time taking on the role of chairman. Tony gave his opening remarks on the theme of positive thinking, reviewed the agenda and welcomed our newest member Marg VanDonkersgoed and her husband Hank as a guest.
Brent Jemmett provided the Joke of the Day and filled the role of Laugh Counter. Keith McCluskie provided the loyal toast to Canada as part of the role of Toast and Timer.
John Van Meeteren filled the role of Literary Corner and read a poem about positive thinking. Vern Noseworthy was the Grammarian and Ah Counter. Vern provided the group with a new word of the day "Collusion" which means a secret agreement between 2 or more parties to commit illegal dealings or stealing.
Heidi Menzi was the Table Topics master and tested our speaking ability with the theme of sales of products (the products to sell were given to each member by Heidi).
Jane Stoltz introduced a new agenda item to the meeting named "3 Minutes" which is a form of Table Topics. Two teams of 3 people each were formed and the first, second and third speaker had to be selected. Each team had to speak constantly for 3 full minutes. The opposing team was to look for faults such as "um's", "ah's", pauses that were too long, repetitive phrases and/or change the topic completely. If this occurred, the opposing team would challenge that speaker and that speaker couldn't speak again during that 3 minute segment. Once a team was challenged, the speaking role was passed over to the other team to speak for a 3 minute segment. The team with the most speakers remaining won or the team that was successful in speaking for the full 3 minute segment was the winner.
Keith McCluskie provided reports from the timer. Vern stated that the word "collusion" was used 4 times during the meeting. Brent Jemmett reported that there were 33 laughs during the general meeting and 25 laughs during the "3 Minute" agenda segment. Heidi Menzi reported that Marg VanDonkersgoed won Table Topics with her 1 minutes sales speech. Marg was presented with a gift of an umbrella that was donated by Val Hummel.
George Nichol was the General Evaluator. George liked how everyone introduced themselves to our newest member Marg. George also liked the new agenda item "3 minutes" and felt that we should add this to the agenda again.
Closing remarks were given by Tony Galvao who did a great job being the chairperson of the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.