September 20, 2012 Theme: Memories of School Days

Vern brought the meeting to order.  The theme of the evening was "Memories of School Days".  It is worthy to mention that the seating, with no planning whatsoever, reminded some members of a school dance.  All the boys on one side and the all the girls on the other.

Chairperson for the evening was Val.  She officially started the meeting with the opening remarks.  Guest introductions were next.  Apryl is a member of the Mount Forest club who came out to see how a meeting runs at another club.  Next, for agenda changes, there was no Literary Corner this evening and Speech Evaluator 1 was changed to Diane.

Vern was up again with Joke of the Day.  Always funny, he started with a few quick jokes and one liners.  The one that had the members groaning was the following one:  "...my one teacher was cross-eyed....she could not control her pupils....".

George was Toast and Timer this evening.  He gave a few words on pertaining to the theme and then had the members follow him in the Toast to Canada.

Word of the evening was Timely.  An adjective meaning on time/timeliness.  This was the word picked by Heidi, our Grammarian and Laugh Counter for the evening.

John was up next with his speech "A moment in time", followed by a minute for written evaluations.  Table Topics was next.  Leo, and avid golfer, handed out quiz cards all related to golfing.  Members got to speak on their experience based on what was on their card, or if not a golfer, to any other sport.  Fact:  it seems there are few golfers in the Listowel Club.  General Evaluator was Tony.  He first introduced Diane who gave her speech evaluation for John.  She did an excellent job with both Glow and Grow points.

Tony then asked for the reports.  George was first and recapped the minutes for each section so far.  Next, Heidi said the word of the evening was used 5 times.  As well, she had recorded 91 laughs so far and 3 or 4 aah's.  She was having so much fun she lost count.  Leo gave the report for Table Topics.  Winner for this evening was our guest Apryl.  Last but not least, Tony gave his report as General Evaluator.  Well done, he gave both Glow and Grow points.

Brent was next with the Quiz Master's Report.  Excellent job testing the member's listening skills, there were several quotes that had members guessing as to who had said that.

Slowly wrapping up, Anything for the Good of Toastmasters was next, followed by assigning Roles for the next meeting.  This format that Val started seems to be working well.  Members can sign up for roles several weeks in advance, or indicate when they will not be able to attend.

Last, our guest Apryl gave her comments on the meeting and Val gave her closing remarks.  This officially ended the meeting for this evening.

September 13, 2012 Theme: Fall

The Linguists of Listowel met at the St. Paul's Lutheran Church.  I drove by about an hour before the meeting and it was a pleasure to see the sign out front.  It was readily visible and clear.

In attendance this evening were the following members:  Tony, Leo, Brent, Keith & Jane Stoltz, George, Keith M., Audrey, Vern, Heidi, Marie, Val and John.  Special guest of the night was Joy Klumpenhouwer.

The theme of the evening was "Fall" and the meeting was brought to order by Leo.  The evening started on time.

Tony was the chairperson this evening and welcomed everyone with his opening remarks pertaining to the theme.

Next, Vern introduced our guest for the evening, followed by any agenda changes.  There were no changes this evening.

Joke of the day was done by Audrey.  Humorous and well done in a clear and steady voice, the punch line had everyone laughing.  Keith M. was our toast and timer for the evening,  while Brent was our grammarian.  The word this evening was "impeccable", an adjective meaning faultless or blameless.

Keith S was next with Literary Corner.  Well done with a twist, Keith had a fellow toastmaster, John, give him a number between 2 and 14.  He then proceeded to read several small articles from McLean's magazine from the page number given to him by John.

"Animal Antics" was next.  This was the title of the speech given by Vern.  Some of his facial expressions mimicking animals had the group laughing throughout his speech.

George was the Table Topics master this evening.  Everyone participated in this event.  An envelope was passed around.  Inside the envelope were slips of paper with various local, and not so local, fairs and festivals.  Each member had the opportunity to say why they enjoyed, or planned to go to, the event listed on their slip of paper.

The next part of the meeting was the reports and General Evaluation.  Jane took control of the lectern for this segment of the meeting.  First, she introduced the speech evaluator for Vern.  This role was performed by Leo, who gave an excellent review.  This was followed by Jane asking for the various reports.  First up was Keith M. who gave the timer report.  Next was the Grammarian report by Brent.  The word of the evening had been used 10 times.  As well, Brent had counted 61 laughs, 5 um's and 10 ah's.  The Table Topics report was next, with the winner being our guest Joy.  Last, Heidi tested our listening skills with the Quizmaster report.  Last, Jane gave her General Evaluator report.

The meeting was slowly  wrapped up with Anything for the good of Toastmasters and Keith M. giving updates about the Sept. 6th Executive Meeting.  Val then asked went through the various roles still available for the next meeting and asked for members to fill them.  Our guest Joy was then asked if she wanted to comment on the meeting.  She said it was a little overwhelming, a feeling many of us have shared at our first Toastmasters meeting.

Tony gave the closing remarks and brought the meeting officially to end.

Thanks to Jane for providing snacks :)

September 6, 2012 Theme: What Did You Do On Your Summer Vacation?

Leo called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. and introduced Keith Stoltz as Chairperson.  Keith welcomed everyone to the meeting and spoke of the memories of summer vacations that we all have.  He explained how the summer vacations of dairy farmers are a little different…if they exist at all.  There were no agenda changes or guests to introduce so Keith dived right into the meeting with speaker introductions.  Vern got the meeting rolling with a memorable Joke of the Day about the escapades of a widow and widower at a 60^th High School Class Reunion.  Brent carried out the role of Toast and Timer and led us in a toast to Canada.  Heidi was Grammarian and her Word of the Day was “Grip” which means to hold firmly on to something of interest.  Variations of the word are gripped and gripping.  Jane handled Literary Corner and read an article from a Woman’s World magazine about a couple that were caught in a downpour of mice inside of a metal granary.

Marie completed Speech 10 from the Competent Communicator’s Manual and this is her third time through!  Marie entertained us with a speech called “Ontario, Canada:  Yours to Discover”.  Her goal was to inspire us to learn to live on simple abundance, and one way she accomplishes this is to go cross-country backpacking.  Members enjoyed hearing about Marie’s experiences meeting all kinds of people and she encouraged us to step out of the ordinary and to enjoy Ontario.  Marie included a Question and Answer session as an addition to her speech.

Tony covered Table Topics.  Each Toastmaster was given a picture of something connected to the summertime theme, and members had to give clues about the picture and then let fellow members try to guess what it was.  Many members had interesting clues to give and it was a great challenge.  Keith McCluskie took over the Lectern as General Evaluator.  He introduced Leo as the Speech Evaluator for Marie.  He had Brent give the Timer’s Report, and had Heidi provide the Grammarian’s report.  Heidi said the word “grip” was used 4 times and there were a few ums and ahs but not many. Tony gave the Table Topics Master’s Report and announced that Audrey had won the challenge with her story about a northern trip.  George tested members during his Quiz Master’s Report.  Keith McCluskie provided his comments as General Evaluator and said the meeting was good overall. 

Keith Stoltz took back control of the meeting and called for anything for the good of Toastmasters.  Upcoming events were reviewed.  Members were encouraged to Tweet and Facebook the upcoming Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre.  The goal is to sell 100 tickets and 40 tickets have been sold to date.  People can pay for their tickets at the door if they pre-order them.  Keith also asked members to encourage their friends to give Toastmasters a try.    

Submitted by Val Hummel on behalf of John Van Meeteren, Club Secretary

August 23, 2012 Theme: Mystery Meeting

This evening was hosted by Marie McCutcheon and the meeting was held at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Listowel.  Start time was 7:15 on the dot.

In attendance were Marie McCutcheon, Jane and Keith Stoltz, Tony Galvao, Brent Jemmett, Audrey Orth, Leo Brisebois, Keith McCluskie and John vanMeeteren.

Thanks to Marie for doing an excellent job putting together the "Mystery Meeting", theme for the evening. 

Everyone in attendance got an envelope.  Inside the envelope was a letter welcoming everyone to the mystery meeting. Some of the envelopes also contained another sealed envelope with the word "clue" on it, the others with a King or Queen card from a deck of playing cards, both to be used during the night.

There was no Toast & Timer, Grammarian or General Evaluator, but there was the word of the evening for members to try and use.  The word was "inexplicable". This word is an adjective meaning; unable to explain or justify.  The evening was filled with several different fun games as outlined in the letters.  These were AKA, Whodunit, Clue and last, Kings and Queens. 

The first event on the list was AKA, or Also Known As.  Going around the room, everyone had a chance to say what their AKA name was and why.  Some of the names and reasons brought forth scores of laughter.

The Whodunit was a great game, the point was to guess who, what, where and with whom.  Members would leave the room one at a time.  The remainder would think of funny people, events, location and partners in crime to fit the above criteria.  The member would then come back in.  It was their job to guess who they were, what they did, where they did it and who was with them by piecing together "clues” thrown at them during their "interrogation."  Again, a lot of laughs were shared.

Next on the list was clue.  Those who had the sealed envelopes had a chance to open them, look at what was inside, and give a quick, impromptu speech similar to Table Topics.

Kings and Queens was the final "event".  The members with the cards went up to the front and were given an assortment of clues in the form of pictures, words and letters.  It was their task to put the clues together and decipher the message.

For anything for the good of Toastmasters, the upcoming Murder Mystery was discussed.  This included ways of reaching out to friends, family and the public.  Several members took posters to post in various locations.

The evening ended with a social, thanks to Marie for providing the snacks.

Next meeting will be held September 6th.  Check your email for updates.