Linguists of Listowel
August 9, 2007



Tall Tales Contest:
From left- Marie McCutcheon First; George Nichol Second; Diane Bender and Audrey Orth.
August 9, 2007- the Tales were tall and very funny. We heard about a Big Foot sighting from George, Bumper Boating from Diane Bender, Magical Doors from Marie and a Marketing plan to sell weeds by Audrey Orth. Dorothy Reid, Mount Forest Motivators presented her prize winning speech where she was knighted by the Queen! Marge and Al Seawright were counters and Marge presented the award certificates to the winners.
The Humorous Speech Contest will be held September 13, 2007 where Linguists of Listowel will also be celebrating their 15th anniversary.


Toastmasters are offering a six week Speechcraft course beginning Thursday, September 20, 2007 to October 25, 2007.
This will be followed by a youth leadership class for grades 7-8 from November 1, 2007 to Dec 6, 2007.
Speechcraft is designed to help people become better speakers in the workplace as well as in the public sector. It offers participants the opportunity to gain confidence as a presenter, a speaker and to apply their leadership skills to their job and personal life.
If anyone has the need or desire to learn these skills, contact Diane 519 343-2880, Jane 519 291-1656, Marie 519 887-6419 or George 519 291-6806.
Effective communication depends on self- confidence, education, and practice. This is a life- long journey. Get started with Speechcraft today.

June 28,2007

Linguists of Listowel
Theme: Dinner Show
June 28, 2007

We wrapped up another year with a great Pot Luck meal and entertainment.
Members brought their families and friends along. Several members brought along amusing speeches and stories to share.
Marie started us off with her story about “How Not to Dismantle a Waterbed”.
Keith had everyone laughing with his “Cousin Amos” speech.
Jane followed with Dave Barry’s advice to his son: “Don’t lose your Passport”
Sheryl played a medley of piano pieces.
Diane shared an Ojibway Indian legend: “The First Butterflies”.
Audrey presented attendance awards in order of being present at the most meetings.
Marie: Blue Mountain flower vase.
George: Spanish Rooster and serviettes.
Keith: Book of North America to use when he is traveling the roads on his Motorcycle.

Diane: A beautiful coffee cup inscribed with the word Gramma.

Jane: A beautiful plate with music notes representing her singing with sweet Adeline’s.
Sheryl: Received a lovely flower vase and Gary Elg was regifted with a plush toy pet dog.
Leo would have received a clip board since he has been promoted to a higher management job since he started toastmasters.
Alan Mann: milk can pencil holder.
Brian: pocket Dream book. Wendy: candles and Ezra: Shoe laces and a beautiful wood carving.
Diane O’Brien did an advanced manual storytelling speech: The Flopsy bunny”
Gary entertained with a 4 Wheeler weekend story and George concluded with several jokes and a humorous story. Marge and Allan Seawright conducted an Installation of Officers and Diane O’Brien promoted the Fall Conference with an eye catching display board.

Next meeting will be July 12th at Jane’s at 7:15 pm
July 26, to be determined.
August 9: Tall Tales Contest at church. Diane will be chairperson.
August 23: George’s.
September 13, 2007 Humorous and Table topics Contest Chairperson: Keith
Sept 20, 2007 Youth craft: Marie

Linguists of Listowel
June 21, 2007
Theme ‘Awards”

Chair person Marie called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. Keith gave the loyal Toast
Members gave 3 minute speeches by presenting an award. The recipient gave a one minute acceptance.
Audrey presented George with a sportsmanship award.
Jane gave Sheryl the “Chef of the Day” award for all of her work as VP Sergeant at Arms.
Keith gave the Broken Barbeque Brush award to Leo.
George gave Diane the award for being the “North Perth Grandmother of the year”.
Leo gave Marie an award for her gardening achievements.
Sheryl gave the “Great Character” award to Gary
Gary gave the “Feline Betterment” (FBA) award to Keith.
Diane gave our new president Jane the “Fearless Leader” award.
Some members were absent but forwarded an award so it could be read at the meeting.
Ezra gave Allan the “Family Man (Mann)” award.
Wendy gave Ezra the “Quiet Toastmaster” award.
Allan gave Audrey the “Most Flirtatious” award.
Marie gave the most expressive “Facial Expression” award to Wendy.
After all of the fun accepting our awards members were invited to give an off the cuff speech on a topic of their choosing.
Marie: “Dogs”
George: “Quitters never Win and Winners never quit”.
Jane: “Drop Zone”.
Gary: “Sheba”


Executive meeting June 21, 2007
Allan, George, Keith, Sheryl, Jane, Audrey, Diane and Marie attended.

Seven members attended Executive Training Sat. June 16, 2007 at St Paul’s Anglican Church, 310 James Street, Palmerston, Ontario
Keith Chairperson
Marie Trainer for Membership
Diane Trainer for public Relations
Audrey- attended Secretary Workshop
Sheryl attended Membership workshop
George attended Sergeant at Arms Workshop.
Jane attended President Workshop and purchased snacks.

June 14, 2007

Linguists of Listowel Toastmasters
June 14, 2007
Theme: “B Q Season”

Members present were Keith, Jane, Marie, Diane, Sheryl, Leo and George.
Marie called the meeting to order at 7:15. The theme was B Q season and Marie likes to cook over an open fire. Diane gave the loyal toast. Sheryl was language enricher and described the verb Fire Up. It was used 17 times during the meeting. George read an article entitled Southerners don’t Barbeque. Keith presented his first speech from the advanced manual Communicating on Television. He was required to give a 3 minute editorial or opinion. He proposed that consumers should buy locally. Diane evaluated.
Leo was in charge of table topics. He passed around an envelope of situations concerning barbequing. George won the table topics award.
Several members presented off the cuff speeches.
Marie: What would you do with 20 million dollars?
Keith: Hamilton Predators – Get your seasons tickets.
Jane: Run for Cancer
Leo: My Barbeque Purchase
Jane read a story about a sick guinea pig and one called My Dads Okay.
Marie closed the meeting and refreshments were enjoyed.
June 16- Officer training in Palmerston
June 21 Awards night
June 28 Pot luck Dinner show.

June 7, 2007

Linguists of Listowel

Club 9016
June 7, 2007
Theme “Dreams”

Members present were Keith, Leo, George, Marie. Audrey, Gary, Diane, Sheryl, Jane. Diane handed out the June newsletter. She will also put it in the blog and send it out in an email to members and speechcrafters.
Keith called the meeting to order at 7:15. He spoke about being a dreamer all of his life. He writes his dreams down and is amazed at how many of his dreams have come true. He welcomed everyone to dream big for this meeting. As he introduced members in their roles for the evening he gave everyone a dream to think about.
Audrey gave the loyal toast and mentioned her dream of moving to a new apartment. She was also timer for the evening. George introduced the word rapscallion which means a good for nothing person. It was used 4 times during the meeting.
Leo’s dream is to retire early, in good health and live next door to a golf course. He presented literary corner “I will sleep on it and have an answer for you in the morning.”
Sheryl presented her # 6 speech Say what you mean. Diane evaluated it with lots of glow points. It was well prepared and well presented.
Marie challenged everyone during table topics. It was the men against the women describing a continuous dream. Leo won the table topics award.
Jane was quizmaster. Upcoming events are June 14: BQ season, June 16: officers training, June 21: awards night, June 28: pot luck dinner show.
The meeting closed with refreshments.

May 24 2007

Linguists of Listowel
Club 9016
May 24, 2007
Theme “Summer Jobs”

Chairperson Marie called the meeting to order at 7:15. She read a short story from Dr Phil McGraw’s book about his first summer job. There were high expectations followed by many disastrous complications – but it was a learning experience!
Diane gave the loyal toast and mentioned the many surprises that can happen at a Canadian Auction sale.
Marie gave members one minute to write all of the summer jobs they could think of. Some of the top ones were food service, painting, lawn mowing, factory work and picking stones.
Keith conducted summer job interviews. He posed several questions so that he could determine who would be best suited to look after his cats for the summer. Jane won the interview process.
Jane presented a 10 minute speech – “Please close the door and …” She described her experiences with Sweet Adeline’s. Over the past year she has learned a lot about singing and came home with several prizes from her competition in Grand Rapids Michigan.
Sheryl evaluated her speech.
George had everyone describing a summer job for table topics. Leo and Marie were the table topic winners.
Marie closed the meeting

May 10, 2007

Linguists of Listowel
May 10, 2007
Theme “Campaigns”

Chairperson Marie called the meeting to order at 7:15. She asked for introductions to include who you are and who you’d like to be. Ezra gave the loyal toast and served as timer for the meeting. Wendy introduced Amy who presented her fourth speech on Show what you mean. She spoke about ways to save the environment. She encouraged members to change to the new energy efficient light bulbs, unplug appliances that are not being used and to bring your own bags to the grocery store. Sheryl evaluated Amy’s speech.
Election of Officers was next on the agenda. Each member gave a campaign speech before being elected to office.
Here is your beautiful, wonderful, amazing 2007-2008 Officers for the Linguists of Listowel.
President Jane Stoltz
VP Education Marie McCutcheon
VP Public Relations Diane Bender
VP Membership Sheryl Orth
Treasurer Allan Mann
Secretary Diane Bender
Sergeant at Arms George Nichol

Amy introduced Wendy who shared her very descriptive love story. She is an awesome speaker and introduced us to R.A.F. and his Beaumont automobile. Jane evaluated her speech.
Diane was in charge of table topics. She challenged everyone to take one gift from the basket and then to make a one minute thank you speech for the gift and tell how you would use it in the future. Wendy won the table topics award.
Next weeks theme is “Long weekends”
After the regular meeting Marie called an executive meeting to plan for the summer and fall.

May 3, 2007

Linguists of Listowel
May 3, 2007
Theme: "Spring and Springs”
Chairperson Marie called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. She called on everyone to introduce themselves with a comment about spring.
Leo gave a bilingual toast to Canada. Excellent job Leo- we all learned something. For Literary Corner Diane read an article from a book Fighting for Home and Country. It was written by Women’s Institute members who were involved in World War 11. Audrey asked everyone to describe a picture for Table Topics. Diane was the winner.
Three members presented Off the Cuff speeches. Keith’s’ topic was communication around the world. He is impressed that his children can use their cell phones to text message each other- even as far away as New Zealand. With web cams and high speed internet you can even see each other. You can also use the telephone for as low as 2 cents a minute. Darlene spoke about the environment. She is concerned that fishing trawlers scoop up all the fish without conscience. Sandra spoke about Reflexology and the benefits that you can enjoy. You can rub your toes and clear your sinuses.
Written evaluations were completed.
Keith presented a certificate of completion of speechcraft to Darlene.
Next week will be election of officers. Everyone is welcome to come out and let the campaign speeches sway your vote.





Theme: “News Letters”
Linguists of Listowel met at the St Paul’s Lutheran Church on April 26, 2007. Chair person Keith called the meeting to order at 7:20 pm as the theme for the meeting was newsletters he mentioned some experiences he had had. Letters to the Editor are always interesting. He asked everyone to mention if they had written a newsletter or a letter to the editor in their introductions. George Nichol presented the loyal toast to Canada. He mentioned the valuable work the Canadian soldiers are doing in Afghanistan. It was a sad day in Listowel with the funeral of a local soldier serving his country in Afghanistan.
Language enricher Diane chose the word “Gregarious” It is an adjective meaning sociable and fond of the company of others. It can also mean living in flocks of birds or herds of animals. Keith Audrey Amy and Darlene used the word correctly during the meeting.
Wendy led table topics by asking everyone to describe an epiphany experience that they had had. I could be a time when they came to a crossroad in their life and had to make a difficult choice. The winners were Audrey, Darlene, and George.
Amy presented her speech on Speak with Sincerity. She spoke with conviction about her love for farming.
Darlene focused on Vocal Variety in her speech “The Baby Rattlesnake”. She is an excellent story teller as she created suspense with this Indian tale.
There was a roundtable evaluation for both speeches.
Marie was quizmaster and challenged out memory skills.

March 29, 2007

Linguists of Listowel
March 29, 2007
Theme: Smooth Sailing

Chairperson Marie called the meeting to order and welcomed speechcrafters and toastmasters. Everyone introduced themselves with an item of information that they hadn’t shared before. Gary led table topics. He invited members to pull a picture out of an envelope and describe an event associated with it. Carolyn won table topics. Toastmaster Diane shared a joke and announced the order of speakers and evaluators for the evening. Rita introduced Carolyn who was presenting her third speech “The problem in the Arctic”. Polar bears are being threatened by the environment and humans. Sheryl evaluated.
Gary introduced Riek with her speech on “How to organize your speech”. Audrey evaluated. George introduced Leo who was presenting his speech on Vocal Variety. He talked about how workplace systems must change to free us from division. Marie evaluated. She congratulated him on presenting his final speech for his speechcrafters certificate.
Diane introduced George. He was presenting his #10 speech in his CC manual. His object was to understand the mood and feeling of your audience and to put those feelings into words and inspire the audience. The title of his speech was The Sky is the Limit. He talked about his desire to become a better public speaker and how Toastmasters had improved his abilities. He encouraged speechcrafters to step out and join toastmasters. They would be glad they did.
Marie evaluated. Everyone congratulated George on an excellent inspirational speech and on his completion of speech #10!
Gary gave the timers report and the Table Topics Winner was Carolyn.
Toastmaster Diane reminded everyone that next weeks meeting would be at the home of Keith and Jane. The meeting closed with refreshments.

March 23, 2007
Toastmasters International
District 60
Western Division
Evaluation and International Speech Contests

Area 18 had two contestants in this competition that was held at the Kin Station in Listowel.
Keith placed third in International Contest.
Carolyn competed in the Evaluation Contest.
Members from the Linguists of Listowel who attended were: George, Keith, Ezra, Jane, Wendy, Audrey, Diane, Sheryl: sergeant at arms, Marie: Sergeant at arms and she was in charge of refreshments.

March 29, 2007

Open House
March 27, 2007 Mount Forest Motivators
Theme: Find Your Voice

Marie and Diane attended from the Linguists of Listowel. We are twin clubs for the year. The purpose of a twin club is to help each other achieve their membership and education goals.
Guest Speaker was Tony Nelson. He spoke about his Toastmasters journey over the past 35 years. He is dedicated and explained that he will remain in toastmasters mainly because he enjoys seeing new people improve their communication and speaking skills. Marie did an awesome evaluation and everyone could learn from her technique.
Debbie presented her #10 speech from the CC manual. She also spoke without notes and with enthusiasm. Diane took pictures and Debbie hopes to send out a press report.

March 22, 2007

Linguists of Listowel
March 22, 2007
Theme “Surfs Up”

We welcomed Marge and Caroline from the Mount Forest motivators.
Keith called the meeting to order at 7:20 pm. and welcomed 17 toastmasters and speechcrafters. He praised everyone for their hard work with their speeches and their quest to get the “butterflies to fly in order”. Next week will be our 6th Speechcraft meeting, but due to bad weather and other commitments not everyone has completed their speeches. We will be incorporating speechcraft into the next meetings but they will take on a different persona. We hope everyone will enjoy them and continue on to become better thinkers, speakers and listeners.
It’s dues time again- The amount is $60 to cover you for a whole six months! What a deal.
Everyone is becoming more confident with their introductions. It is very important to relax, take a deep breath and smile. Wendy Logan led table topics with a new idea. Speechcrafters could open a dictionary, point to a word and read the definition. That would be the word that they would use in their one minute Off the Cuff mini speech!
Amy won the Table topics award.
Timer Audrey explained her role at timing everything during the meeting. Toastmasters believe it is very important to be aware of time limits and stick to them.
Melissa presented her ice breaker speech “Melissa in a nutshell”. She mentioned some of her most memorable moments. Diane evaluated her speech with lots of glowing compliments for her first speech. Darlene talked about “My biggest pet Peeve” and George evaluated. Riek presented her “Be in earnest” speech and Marie evaluated. Leo talked about management in a large company for his “Show what you mean” speech and Caroline evaluated. All speeches were excellent and showed a great deal of preparation.
Diane presented an educational module on Vocal Variety. Jane impressed everyone with her vocal variety in her speech “Anaconda 3”. Audrey gave the timers report.
Next meeting is March 29, 2007 with the theme “Riding the Waves.”

Linguists of Listowel
Paddyfest Variety night
March 15, 2007
St Pauls Lutheran Church.

Jane entertained everyone with some Irish songs on the piano before the meeting started.
Marie was chairperson for the evening. She welcomed members, speechcrafters and several guests at 7 p.m.
She welcomed back Audrey who gave an Irish reading. Sheryl entertained with an Irish story and some good Irish Jokes. Diane got everyone laughing with Speech #3 in the Humorously Speaking advanced manual. Her speech title was “Why Kiss the Blarney Stone?” For Table topics members had to pull an object out of a hatbox and give an Irish explanation of how they invented it. Jan chaired the second half of the evening and Marie acted out an Irish folk tale. Everyone was enthralled because the lights were off and there was only a candle for light.
Keith was timer for the evening and Patrick Raftis from the Listowel Banner attended and took some pictures.
Food and fellowship were enjoyed after the meeting.

March 8, 2007

Linguists of Listowel
Theme: “Leaving Footprints in the Sand”

Coordinator Keith Stoltz welcomed all members and Speechcrafters. Because of the recent stormy weather and the cancellation of the last two meetings everyone is at a different stage with their speeches. All members introduced themselves and then Leo led table topics. Members drew a slip of paper out of an envelope and spoke for one minute about what the topic said they did last Thursday when toastmasters was cancelled.

Diane introduced Riek. Her icebreaker speech title was Patience and Bacon. She is a farrow to finish pork producer and enjoys looking after the new born pigs in her barn. She enjoys fresh air, snow and driving the tractors.

Diane introduced Wendy with her icebreaker speech entitled “Passionate engagement”. Wendy enjoys writing and shared some humorous anecdotes about researching a novel. Diane evaluated both speeches and looks forward to hearing their next speech.

Leo, Carolyn and Sandra did their speeches "Speaking in Earnest." Their objectives were to speak with conviction and to confront and control any nervousness they might have. Leo talked about quality in the workplace, Carolyn shared her experiences as the oldest child and Sandra speech title was “Things Women Do.” She described how many women had shaped her life. George evaluated these speeches with lots of glow points and a couple of grow points.

Marie gave the educational presentation “Gestures in Speaking”. A gesture is a specific body movement that reinforces a verbal message or conveys a particular thought or emotion. Although gestures may be made with the head, shoulders or even the legs or feet, most gestures are made with the hands and arms.

Sheryl presented her speech with the topic “Show what you Mean”. She talked about drug abuse and especially Crystal Meth. Her objectives were to learn the value of body movements and to explore the different ways of using body language... To develop a sense of timing and natural smooth body movement. Sheryl spoke passionately, without notes. She displayed conviction and confidence and body language that enriched the message of her speech. Jane gave the timers report.

Wendy was the table topics winner.

Marge and Al brought greetings from the district and invited everyone to an open house for the Mount Forest Motivators March 27, 2007.

Wednesday March 7, 2007
Area 18 contest- Bruce County Museum
South Hampton, Ontario
International Speech and Evaluation Contest
Host Club –Saugeen Speakers
Keith placed first in the International contest and Marie placed second in the evaluation contest. Congratulations to them both. There were seven excellent contestants in both categories. Jane was Chief Judge for the evening and Diane was a judge for both contests.

International Speech and Evaluation Contest
Mount Forest Motivators- 4th Anniversary
February 20, 2007
Keith, Diane, Marie and Allan traveled to Mount Forest.
Keith was chairperson for the contest. His opening remarks were encouraging and motivating for all present. Diane was chief judge and explained all of the rules and presented the contest winners. Marie worked as a timer and Alan was the Target Speaker for the Evaluation contest. Caroline placed first in both contests and will compete in the area 18 contest.

On March 15, 2007 we will be celebrating Paddyfest with an Irish Variety night. Everyone is welcome to come out and join in the Blarney.

Feb 8, 2007

Linguists of Listowel toastmasters met at St Paul’s Lutheran church.
Theme: Getting your feet wet

Speechcraft Coordinator Keith welcomed 8 members and 4 speechcrafters. Everyone gathered as a group and enjoyed a mental telepathy mind game.

The object is to improve concentration, focus and group thinking.

A) The group starts walking around. As soon as one person stops walking then the whole group must stop. Keep trying until the group stops as one.
B) The group stands still, closes eyes and starts talking. As soon as one person stops talking then everyone stops.
C) The group walks and talks with their eyes open. As soon as one person stops talking then everyone must stop talking and walking.
D) The group walks and talks with their eyes open. As soon as one person stops walking then everyone must stop talking and walking.

Introductions were practiced and then George presented Table Topics. He asked people to talk for one minute about the first time they experienced the event that they pulled out of the envelope. Elizabeth won the trophy and prize.

Sheryl explained her role as timer. She mastered the stop watch very well.
Brian led the educational module on “Introducing a Speaker”
Darlene, Elizabeth, Sandra and Leo all presented their Ice breaker speeches. The members who weren’t there will be able to present theirs next week.

Keith explained the objectives of next weeks assignment “Speaking with Sincerity”.
Diane gave a sample speech “Are You at Risk?” She shared some interesting facts about type 2 diabetes and stressed the importance of a healthy lifestyle, healthy weight and the importance of regular exercise.

Advisors and speechcrafters had a chance to discuss any questions or concerns.
Keith adjourned the meeting and everyone enjoyed some refreshments.

February 1, 2007

Linguists of Listowel met at the St. Pauls Lutheran Church at 7:15 pm.
Theme: “Catching the Wave”

Allan called the meeting to order and introduced chairperson Keith. He welcomed 10 speechcrafters to the meeting and 9 toastmasters.

We began some improv games where everyone greeted each other as a long lost friend and then as someone who had bad breath and finally as if we were all teenagers. This got the meeting off to a lively start and everyone relaxed as we got to know each other.

Keith reviewed the skills needed for good public speaking. Each participant joined up with someone they did not know and then introduced each other. This was very interesting and it was good experience to talk in front of the group.

Jane presented an educational module on “Selecting a speech topic”. Some ideas would be to speak from personal experience, history, professional experiences, pets, magazines and newspaper articles that you are interested in.

Gary presented an ice breaker speech. The title was “Roots and Wings”. Brian evaluated it. He gave lots of glow points and a couple of grow points.

Marie had everyone participate in Table topics. Everyone had the opportunity to speak for 1 minute about a picture they pulled out of an envelope.

Keith encouraged all the speechcrafters to write an ice breaker speech for their homework assignment. Coffee and snacks were available.

There was an executive meeting following the regular meeting.

January 25, 2007

The Linguists of Listowel met at St Paul’s Lutheran Church on Thursday, January 25, 2007 for their International and Evaluation Contest. Jane Stoltz chaired the international contest. She welcomed all members, guests and visitors. Linda Piper was chief judge and explained the rules and purpose of the contests. Marie was first with her speech “Food for Thought” by mentioning some of the challenges she has faced in her kitchen. Brian Camacho shared his experience as Santa Claus this year. He was very impressed with the insights of little children. Allan Mann’s speech was “Satisfy Yourself”. He always has a to do list and explained how it is very satisfying to complete a project such as his play house creation for his daughter. Diane Bender encouraged people to remember to give positive phrases to their children and grandchildren with her speech “Yes, You Can”. Keith Stoltz won the competition with his speech “Life is Simple”.
Elaine Beckhold was the target speaker for the evaluation contest. Her philosophy is “You want it go for it. If you’re lucky enough to get it hold onto it”. There were three contestants Keith and Jane Stoltz and Marie McCutcheon.
Keith Stoltz and Marie McCutcheon will be representing the club at the area contest March 7 in Southhampton. The Division Contest will be back in Listowel at the Kin Station on Friday March 23rd. Members of the public are welcome to attend and hear the best of the best that evening.
Linguists of Listowel will be hosting a Paddyfest Variety Night on Thursday March 15th at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 7:15 pm

January 18, 2007

Theme "Snowballs"
President Brian called the meeting to order with a very funny snowball fight story. Jane presented the toast to Canada and was timer for the evening. George challenged everyone to use the word "plutoed" during the meeting. It is the 2006 word of the year meaning to demote or devalue someone or something. It was used at least seven times. For Literary Corner Sheryl entertained us with several snow ball jokes and stories. Gary was the speaker for the evening. He shared some experiences he has had with his family while on vacation. Sheryl evaluated his speech.
Diane challenged everyone to remember their first experiences at assorted times in their lives. Brian remembered his first ticket, and Al his first car. Jane remembered her blue impalla and Marie remembered ice fishing. There were lots of memories but Gary won for the best table topics.
Allan was quizmaster. He sharpened our listening skills as the members tried to remember who said what. Marie did an excellent job as general Evaluator. She spoke without notes and gave us many good points on the evening and encouraged everyone to invite guests as often as possible. Next week is the International and Evaluation contest. Following that there will be Speechcraft starting Feb 1, 2007.



January 11, 2007
Theme was "Celebrations"
Chairperson Brian opened the meeting at 7:15 pm. Allan presented the toast and kept track of the timing for the meeting. Jane presented the word Celebrate and challenged everyone to use synnonyms during the meeting. She gave prizes to Diane and George who used the most words that meant the same as celebrate. Keith read an article for literary corner. Diane shared a personal but true story about her experience learning how to ball room dance. Gary presented a "believe it or not" story about global warming. Marie's speech was entitled "House for Sale". She described how she was fixing up her house recently. Gary got everyone laughing during table topics and Keith was the winner.
George evaluated Marie's speech and Sheryl evaluated the whole meeting. Brian closed the meeting at 8:45 pm.


January 4, 2007
Linguists of Listowel

Theme: "To a Happy New Year"
Chairperson Jane called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. Marie proposed a toast to Canada. For language enricher George challenged us with the word voluble.
Sandra read an interesting poem about 6 blind mens interpretation of the elephant.
Allan spoke about traditional energy sources and offered some solutions to reduce energy consumption in the future. Diane evaluated his speech.
Brian led a workshop on thinking outside the box. He challenged everyone to put a tangram four piece puzzle together and then he challenged us to do it faster and faster. Then he added a piece for more of a challenge. He explained how businesses improve production times. It was a very educational session.
Keith was quizmaster for the evening. Jane closed the meeting at 9 pm.

November 9, 2006

November 9, 2006

Theme for the Toastmasters meeting was “Remember When”. Brian chaired the meeting. After his opening remarks he made changes to the agenda. Diane presented a Remembrance Day Toast to Canada. For literary corner Jane remembered when the Family Herald Magazine used to come to her house. She chose an article about the International Plowing match in 1964. One year subscription was $1.50 and three years was $3. Linda shared a personal story-“Heights are Hideous”. She has always had a fear of heights because she fell off her third floor balcony when she was16 months old. Luckily she survived with only a few scratches and bruises. Welcome back Linda. Allan presented his eighth speech in his CTM manual. His object was to get to the point. He spoke about protecting the environment. Marie led a team topic where people were divided into two teams and had to speak for approximately 1 minute each and use about 8 specific words in a continuous story. It was a lot of fun and challenged our memory skills and our creativity.
Audrey evaluated Allan’s speech.
Jane and Keith gave an enthusiastic report on the fall conference in Niagara Falls. Keith presented an improve workshop to over 50 participants. Everyone was enthusiastic and learned a lot. District 60 has so many clubs that it will be dividing in half in the near future. New Competent leadership manuals were distributed to our members by Jane. Sheryl did an excellent job as general evaluator.
Next week Linguists of Listowel will be twinning with Mount Forest Motivators at the King Hotel on Wed November 15 at 7 p.m.

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
October 26, 2006
Linguists of Listowel held their open house demonstration meeting. The Theme of the meeting was “Challenges”. Sheryl called the meeting to order at 7:15 and introduced chair person Brian. He welcomed guests Nicole, Devon and Chris. Marie asked everyone what their favorite country was and on the count of three there was an overwhelming chorus of CANADA. This was followed by a toast to Canada.
As Language enricher Diane chose the word Stimulate which means to rouse up or spur. For example, the meeting stimulated her imagination. It was used six times during the evening.
Audrey read a chapter from the book “The Shepherd of the Hills.” Jane presented five true or false questions for the “Believe it or not Section”. It is true that you can not cry in space because there is no gravity!
George presented his #8 speech in his CTM manual. His title was “A Turkeys’ Tale”.
Marie evaluated his speech.

Allan shared his #4 speech in the CTM Manual “My Dog Wally”. There was a round table evaluation with lots of glow points and a few grow points.

Gary presented Table topics with the help of his daughter, Nicole. Members had to reply falsely to a series of questions. Welcome guest Chris won the table topics award.
Keith Stoltz summed up the best aspects of the meeting and offered a few suggestions for improvement.
Brian concluded the meeting and Murder Mystery practice began. Members should have their parts memorized for next week.

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
Linguists of Listowel met at St Paul’s Lutheran Church on October 19, 2006 at 7:15 pm.
Brian had a lot of fun as Chairman for this meeting. The theme was “Cast A Ways”.
He welcomed guest Sandra and she introduced herself to the club. Gary presented The Loyal Toast to Canada. Delegate was the word for the evening. As a verb it means to entrust a task to someone else, as a noun it means you could be a delegate or representative at a meeting. It was used three times during the meeting. Sheryl read the theme song to Gilligans Island. This brought back a lot of memories to everyone. Marie presented her #8 speech in her third CTM manual-Check your Wallets and your Hats. She described her experiences with lost wallets. It was evaluated by Keith. Jane gave her speech-Anaconda 3 about her trip to Australia and Diane evaluated it. Brian Camacho gave a communication exercise in place of table topics. Members had to follow verbal directions to draw a picture, without asking questions. Then they had the chance to draw a different picture and they could ask questions but there was a shorter time limit. Everyone felt it was very beneficial to be able to ask questions.
Allan did an excellent job as General Evaluator. He gave us many good points on the evening and motivated everyone with some grow points.
Murder mystery practice followed the meeting.

Friday October 20, 2006 was the Western Division Humorous and Table Topics competition at the Kin Station in Listowel.

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
October 5, 2006
The theme was "Challenges" when the Linguists of Listowel met at St. Pauls Lutheran church. Audrey gave the Call to Order and introduced chairperson Marie. Gary presented the loyal toast. Georges' new word for the day was Syllogism. Keith presented literary corner and Jane followed with tips or useless tips. Diane got everyone laughing with her humorous speech "Frazzled". Most people could identify with losing their car in a parking lot. Marie challenged the members with table topics. There was a round table evaluation for Diane's speech. A short business meeting followed the regular meeting. An ad will be placed in the banner and the independant plus for the upcoming Western Division Contest at the Kin Station on October 20, 2006.

October 12, 2006
The meeting began at 7:15 with the call to order by chairperson Allan. Marie introduced special guest Sandra. Audrey presented the loyal toast and mentioned Canadians have much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving. Janes' word for the evening was flummery which can mean sweet dishes or empty compliments. This word was used at least six times during the evening. Diane read "A Turkey of a Tale" by Cynthia Borris. Keith told a story about a lost passport. It did have a happy ending. Sheryl gave some true or false questions- food for thought! George had a turkey story for the Believe it or Not section of the meeting.
Brian did a dramatic presentation that had everyone laughing. He did an excellent job complete with a costume and props. Marie evaluated his speech.
Keith had a bag of household untensils and asked everyone to tell how they would use their item to prepare their turkey for thanksgiving dinner. Our guest Sandra won with her ideas for an icecream scoop!
There was a round table evaluation of the meeting and refreshments were enjoyed.

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
Meeting - Thursday September 21, 2006

Theme: Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest
Call to order by Marie at 7:15 pm. She welcomed all members, guests and visitors from the Mt Forest Motivators.
Keith chaired the humorous contest. He warmed up the audience with his wallet speech. Jane was chief judge and explained the rules and purpose of the humourous contest.

Contestants and Speech Title
Linda - Daycare fun
Brian - What do you do with a drunken Sailor?
Marie - Feng Che
Diane - Frazzled

The second phase of our contest was the Table Topics portion. Caroline Beren was the chairperson. The topic was "WHO DID THAT?"
There were six contestants:
Brian, Sheryl, Allan, Jane, Audrey,Gary- a great job by everyone.

And the winners of the Humorous speech were: Marie - First Place, Diane - Second place

Table topics winners were First place - Audrey, Second Place -Allan, third place - Brian
Way to go contestants- it was a very enjoyable evening.
Marie and Audrey will be representing Linguists of Listowel at the area contest Oct 4, 2006 in Harriston.
The Western Division Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest will be held at the Kin Station in Listowel on Friday October 20th. That evening you will see 8 outstanding humorous speakers and 8 brilliant Toastmasters that love Table topics from across south-western Ontario. Western Division consists of over 600 Toasmaster members from Owen Sound to Guelph to Cambridge to Kitchener- Waterloo to London and to the lake. Listowel is now the center of our Division. Members of the community are welcome to attend.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm
Diane

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
"The Journey" was the theme for this evenings meeting. Audrey gave a heartwarming memorial to Brenda. She passed away last month after a long battle with cancer and she will be dearly missed. She was an experienced toastmaster and had earned the toastmasters highest award, her DTM.
Brian chaired the meeting and welcomed all members. Diane gave the loyal toast to Canada. She mentioned the hard work Canadian garderners go to as winter approaches. There are many fall flowers that continue to bloom well into October.
George presented the word Soliloquize or Soliloquy which means talking to oneself. Sheryl read an article on pie baking for literary corner. She used a gread deal of expression so people could just picture someone baking a pie.
Marie presented an advanced manual speech on public relations. She explained how important it is to set goals in our toastmasters club and to encourage everyone else to set goals as well. Public relations are very important in getting new members to join and experience the journey to speaking competently.
Jane chaired the table topics portion of the meeting. Since the table topics competition is next week everyone had the opportunity to speak for two minutes about what journey they would take if they won a specified amount in an instant lottery. It was hilarious! George, Diane and Gary tied for third place, Keith was second and Brian was the winner! Gary challenged everyone as quiz master.
Keith was general evaluator and gave lots of glow and grow points. He stressed we should follow the agenda and not get sidetracked. Chairman Brian challenged everyone to plan to do two speeches before Christmas. Members are invited to attend Mount Forest Motivators on Tuesday evening for their humourous and table topics speech contest.
Diane

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
September 7, 2006
"Summer of 2006" was the theme for the Linguists of Listowel September 7th meeting. VP of Education Marie excelled as chairperson for the evening. She welcomed special guests from the Mount Forest Motivators club. They were President Marge and Area Governor Al.
Keith presented the Loyal Toast to Canada. He'd just returned from a visit to Australia and he had lots of praise for Canadians and their sense of humour. He noticed that it was the Candians and the Australians who laughted the most at the tour guides jokes. "Whats up with the members?" was a new challenge for the meeting. If your name was not on the agenda then you were allowed a minute to expain why and then have first choice for the agenda for the following week.
As Language enricher, Jane presented the word "Awesome" She was impressed that eveyone had a chance to use this word several times during the evening. Audrey gave her point of view- "Do it Now". Her idea was that people should make the most of life and not wait till they have time. If you want to travel then do it. If you want to go camping then do it. You may even want to quit your job so you can do the things you want to do! Several members had a counter point of view in that you have to work if you want to have the money to do the extra things in life. If you really enjoy your job then that's what you should be doing to be self fulfilled.
Diane led Table Topics. Each member could speak about a barbeque party where they featured a special recipe. Everyone listened closely and chose Gary's Barbeque party as the one they'd like to attend. Quizmaster Allan challenged us to remember who said what during the meeting. Area governor Al presented the Distinquished Club Program and challenged everyone to get involved. There have been some name changes and a brand new Competent Leader book. This manual will guide you through the learning process and give you practical leadership experience. It focuses on leadership skills you can learn by serving in various toastmaster meeting roles. You can learn how to listen, plan, organize, facilitate, motivate, mentor and build a team. Marge evaluated the whole meeting. She was very helpful and encouraged the club to keep up the good work and quality of their meetings.

June 29, 2006

There was fine food, great wines and fantastic company as the Linguists of Listowel sat down for the summer banquet. Marie opened the evening with a funny story about John our chair for the night. John skillfully chaired the meeting with the theme of Best/Worst summer jobs.

George provided the loyal toast to Canada. He wished Canada a happy 139th birthday. Canada is a country where students have endless opportunities to find a job. Sheryl said Grace before our meal.

Jane presented the word “garrulous”. This is an adjective which means “talking too much about trivial things”. Keith read several of our clubs blog write ups from last June. Brian presented a speech called “It is a lot like Juggling”. Brian is a very talented juggler. He presented an outstanding analogy on juggling and giving speeches. As usual, Brian had everyone laughing. Ken evaluated Brian.

Audrey chair Table topics with our guests Marilyn N and Marge S winning. John presented the presidents pin to Brian. He also installed the new executive. Keith presented John with the Past Presidents pin.

Allan kept everyone guessing as the quizmaster. Linda P did an outstanding job as General Evaluator.

June 22, 2006

Marie had fun as the chair of our weekly meeting. The theme for this meeting was “Canada Day Celebrations-what do you do”. Gary did the call to order with a very funny story. Brian presented a 4 minute toast which first presented 5 years ago. Gary’s word for language enricher was “queasy” which means affected with nausea. He also presented the word “squeamish” which means easily made nauseous.

Audrey read several very interesting stories about Canada and place in visit in Ontario. Dave presented in Ice Breaker speech called Reminiscences. Dave is also a professional piano player. It was a Ice Breaker to remember as he gave his speech and entertained everyone with his playing.

Linda P presented a speech called Lucky Number Seven from the Specialty Speech manual. Jane presented her final speech for her ATM Gold. Keith evaluated Dave’s speech; Brian evaluated Linda’s and Ken evaluated Jane’s speech.

Sheryl was quizmaster and we did a round table general evaluation of the meeting. Plan to attend our year end banquet on June 29th. The theme will be “Best/Worst summer jobs”

June 15, 2006

Lights, camera, action! It was a Fathers Day video taping of our weekly Toastmaster meeting. The meeting was taped so Brenda would be able to watch one of our meetings again. Brian was our chair for the meeting. He told us many funny stories about fathers. New member Dave toasted men’s health week. Sheryl gave us the word “Philomath” for language enricher. Philomath is a noun which means “a scholar” or “a lover of learning”.

George read a very humourous story called “Suicide Hill”. Marie kept everyone laughing with table topics. Each member had to portray a famous father. George won table topics with a very funny about his father called Peter Pan.

Keith presented Point of View on why we should have Father’s Day every month. Linda M presented the Counter Point of View. Linda P was the quizmaster and Audrey was the General Evaluator.

The meeting ended with some fun Father’s Day refreshments. Plan to attend our next meeting with the theme of Canada Day Celebrations.

June 8, 2006

Movie reviews was the theme for this weeks Toastmaster meeting. Allan started the meeting with a humorous story about Brian. Brian had fun with our theme. He introduced each member as an actor or actress and told us what movie we would star in. We were honoured to have a guest with us tonight. Newest member Sheryl brought her friend Barbara to our fun filled evening.

George provided our toast to Canada and Keith read a movie review for literary corner. Allan presented speech number six from the CTM manual. His very humorous story was called “The Untold Story”. Allan kept us laughing as he told us about the local history.

Jane presented table topics. She gave everyone a record album and we had to tell the audience why the album brought back memories. We also had to do our presentation with an emotion that Jane suggested. Ken was declared the winner after all the laughter had subsided.

Sheryl presented the Point of View. She told us why this movie was an outstanding, action packed, thriller. Linda P gave the Counter Point of View. She told us the opposite. Both Sheryl and Linda gave excellent reasons on why we should or shouldn’t see the movie. It was very funny when both ladies admitted that they had not seen the movie.

Ken presented an excellent General Evaluation for the evening. We had an excellent turn out, we had a guest and we had lots of laughter. See you at the next meeting.

Keith

June 1, 2006

George did an outstanding job as chair at our fun filled Toastmaster meeting. This was George’s first time as chair and he handled it like a pro. He introduced each member with the place that person would like to visit during the holidays. Audrey introduced George by remarking that George has more time to travel now since he is semi-retired.

Newest member, David presented the toast to Canada. Allan gave us the word travelogue for language enricher. Travelogue is a noun which means a “lecture on ones journey” or “a documentary film describing a foreign country”. Marie read Bugs Vacation for literary corner. A bug’s life is unforgettable.

Sheryl presented her ice breaker speech. The club got to know her better as she told us about the key points in her life. Very well done Sheryl. Brian had everyone involved in an exciting round of table topics. One person had to do a one minute point of view on why they wanted to vacation at the suggested location. The next person had to do the counter point of view on why they would not want to vacation at that location. Person number one then had 30 seconds for a rebuttal with the second person having another 30 seconds for the final counter point of view. After all the laughter had subsided, Jane was declared the Table Topic winner.

Jane did the evaluation for Sheryl, Linda P was the quizmaster and Keith completed the evening as the General Evaluator.

Be sure to attend our next meeting on June 8th starting at 7:14 pm at St Pauls Lutheran Church, 505 Wallace Ave, Listowel. The theme is “Movie Reviews”.

May 25, 2006

Brian has fun with “My Favourite actor/actress is” theme at our weekly Toastmaster meeting. He skillfully chaired the meeting as he told each member why they resembled a famous actor or actress. The Toastmaster members were transformed into everyone from Mr. Bean to Judge Judy.

George did the call to order by telling us that the Linguists of Listowel Murder Mystery crew was his pick for best actors and actresses. George also gave a toast to Queen Victoria and to Canada. Jane presented two words for language enricher. Effusive: which is an adjective meaning excessively demonstrative. Topsy-Turvy: This means in utter confusion or disorder. Sheryl read an article for literary corner. Keith presented an Education Module called “Creating the Best Club Climate”.

Ken had fun with table topics. Half the members were the producers and the other half were the actors/actresses. There was no clear winner although Audrey did get picked many times. Keith presented speech number one from the Interpretive Reading manual. Jane presented a speech about Josh Groban and then played one of his pieces on the piano. Marie evaluated Keith’s interpretive reading and there was a round table evaluation for Jane. Audrey kept us listening and guessing for quizmaster. Linda P summed up the evening as General Evaluator.

Be sure to attend our next meeting on June 1st with the theme “The places you will see and visit during the holidays. Same Place – Same Time.

Keith

May 25, 2006

Brian has fun with “My Favourite actor/actress is” theme at our weekly Toastmaster meeting. He skillfully chaired the meeting as he told each member why they resembled a famous actor or actress. The Toastmaster members were transformed into everyone from Mr. Bean to Judge Judy.

George did the call to order by telling us that the Linguists of Listowel Murder Mystery crew was his pick for best actors and actresses. George also gave a toast to Queen Victoria and to Canada. Jane presented two words for language enricher. Effusive: which is an adjective meaning excessively demonstrative. Topsy-Turvy: This means in utter confusion or disorder. Sheryl read an article for literary corner. Keith presented an Education Module called “Creating the Best Club Climate”.

Ken had fun with table topics. Half the members were the producers and the other half were the actors/actresses. There was no clear winner although Audrey did get picked many times. Keith presented speech number one from the Interpretive Reading manual. Jane presented a speech about Josh Groban and then played one of his pieces on the piano. Marie evaluated Keith’s interpretive reading and there was a round table evaluation for Jane. Audrey kept us listening and guessing for quizmaster. Linda P summed up the evening as General Evaluator.

Be sure to attend our next meeting on June 1st with the theme “The places you will see and visit during the holidays. Same Place – Same Time.

Keith

May 18, 2006

It was Book Review time at the weekly Toastmaster meeting in Listowel. It was an evening full of laughter and fun. It was a night where we used the language enricher word a record number of times. It was a night where we gained a new member. Thank you David W for joining our exciting club. Nicole was our guest for our meeting.

Sheryl started the meeting with a complimentary welcome to Brian, the chair for the meeting. Brian kept the meeting running smoothly as he introduced each member as a character from a book. Brian told us his favourite book is called “Hitchhiking Through the Galaxy”.

Gary toasted Canada by reminding everyone about our freedoms that we have. Freedoms to read any book we like. George was language enricher. His word was “Shilly Shalley”. It is a verb which means; to act in an undecided manner or to hesitate. The word was used 11 times during the meeting. One person used it three times in table topics.

Jane entertained everyone with tongue twisters. She had everyone in the room read one tongue twister. Keith presented the “Going Beyond the Club” Educational Module. Everyone had fun with Audrey’s table topics. She had each member take a book and do a one minute book review. Keith won this round of table topics.

Brian wrapped up the meeting with another humorous story. Please attend our next meeting on Thursday May 25th starting at 7:14 pm. The theme is “My favourite actor/actress is……..

May 11, 2006

Toastmaster had a fun time with the Mother's Day theme at our weekly meeting. Linda P skillfully and humorously had everyone laughing all night long. Linda told us her favourite motherly sayings.

Gary introduced Dave W, our guest for the evening. George provided us with a toast to mothers and to Canada. Gary provided the word “Slugabed” for language enricher. A slugabed is someone who stays in bed longer than they should. Audrey read a story called “How we Kept Mother’s Day”.

Brian provided his point of view on why Listowel needs a Recreational Centre and Gary provide the counter point of view on why Listowel does not need a Recreational Centre. Newest member Sheryl presented a 6 minute impromptu speech. Sheryl did an outstanding job considering she has not presented her ice breaker speech yet. Ken gave a glowing evaluation of Sheryl’s speech.

Jane presented table topics. She asked all members to pick up a garage sale item from the churches garage sale table. The members had to explain why they were giving this gift to their mother or spouse. Ken won table topics with his memorable “one boot in the grave” story. The evening ended with Keith as quizmaster and Audrey as General Evaluator.

Plan on attending the next meeting on May 18th with the theme of “Book Reviews”

Keith

May 4, 2006

Hello Everyone:
We have our new 2006-2007 executive as follows:
President: Brian
VP of Membership: Gary
VP of Public Relations: Diane B
VP of Education: Marie
Secretary: Audrey
Treasurer: Allan
Sergeant of Arms: Sheryl
Congratulations to All!
P.S. Linda P - please send in this important information into International Toastmasters.
Next Week's meeting needs some roles filled!
Let's try to get all positions filled on Monday evening by 7:15 p.m. sharp!
There's a TM $1.00 gift certificate to everyone who committs by the Monday evening deadline!
You must be present at the meeting to claim your prize! Sorry, no
rainchecks.
May 11th Meeting
Theme: Mother's Day
Call to Order: ______________
Chair: Linda P
Toast/Timer: ______________
Language Enricher:_________
Literary Corner: Audrey
Speaker #1: ______________
Speaker #2: ______________
Educational Module: ________
Point of View: _____________
Counter Point of View: ______
Evaluator #1: _____________
Evaluator#2: _____________
Table Topics: ____________
Quizmaster: _____________
General Evaluator: _________
Business Meeting:
Anything for the Good of Toastmasters:
Regrets: Allan, Diane B, Marie
Linguists Meeting Dates, Themes, Important Dates Etc......
Thurs May 18th: Book Reviews
Thurs May 25th: My favourite actor/actress is.....
Thurs June 1st: Oh the places you will see and visit during the holidays.....
Thurs June 8th: Movie Reviews
Thurs June 15: Father's Day
Thurs June 22: Canada Day Celebrations
Thurs June 29: Graduation Ceremonies - Potluck Installation of Officers Meeting Fri June 30: Has everyone sent in their paperwork for CL, CTM, ATM-B, ATM-S, ATM-G, DTM into International Toastmasters?
Thurs July 13th: Audrey's Place - Listowel Fair Day Parade Thurs July 27th: Felix's Place - Palmerston Thurs Aug 10th: Tall Tales Contest - St. Paul's Lutheran Church - Listowel Thurs Aug 24th: Gary's Place - Listowel Thurs Sept 7th: Back to School Regular Toastmaster Meeting
Remember: New Officer Training Days sometime in June


Jane
VP of Education
Linguists of Listowel
Toastmaster Club

April 20, 2006

Newest member Sheryl opened the meeting with a nice introduction to Marie, our chair for the evening. Our theme was “Spring has Sprung”. Marie used this theme throughout the meeting by explaining what type of spring each member was.

Ezra presented the Toast to Canada. He told us how nice it was to live in Canada and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Especially today, since the temperature was a sunny and warm 22 degrees. Brian presented the word Empathy for language enricher. Audrey read two poems for literary corner. Her poems were called “Natures Call” and “I wander lonely as a Cloud”. Linda P presented an off the cuff speech called “My intimating Yard”. Keith presented a workshop called “Developing a Mission” from the Leadership Excellence Series. This was the last project that Keith had to do to achieve his silver.

Jane presented a challenging round of table topics where four members would work together to create a story. It was unofficial, but the one team of men won this round of table topics.

The meeting ended with a business meeting run by Jane. These are the nominations for the upcoming elections. President: Diane B, Brian, George. VP of Education; Marie. Treasurer: Allan. Secretary; Audrey, Linda P. Memberships; George, Gary. VP of Public Relations; Diane. Sergeant at Arms; Sheryl, Linda P. Please contact John P to add your name to this list.

Please attend our next meeting on April 27th at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Listowel starting at 7:14 pm. The theme is “Backwards Meeting”.

Keith

April 13, 2006

There was a fun Easter egg hunt as the Linguists of Listowel gathered for their weekly meeting. Heidy opened the meeting with a very funny story on an Easter egg hunt. She skillfully chaired the meeting. Linda M provided the Toast to Canada. Linda used to live in London, England and told us how lucky Canadians are to live in a country where there is a feeling of security.

Brian explained the difference between the words Affluent meaning wealthy and Effluent which means waste or sewage. He encouraged us to use both words during our meeting. Jane read us an Easter story about painting eggs with love.

Marie presented an off the cuff speech called “When did I turn into my mother”. This very humorous story was very entertaining. Keith presented an Educational Workshop called “Visionary Leader” from the Leadership Excellence Series. Jane presented the Point of View. Her point was that there should be a national holiday every year for an Easter egg hunt. Jane is still a kid at heart. Harvey presented the counter point of view.

Heidy presented a fun round of table topics. She made the members used a unique accent to read a story. Brian won this round of table topics. Linda P was second with her cowboy accent. It was a very humorous round of table topics. Brian gave everyone some very value grow and glow points as he presented his general evaluation of the meeting.

Keith

April 6, 2006

If only I had know..... was the theme for the weekly Toastmaster meeting on April 6th. We had one of the largest meetings of the year with everyone ready for a fun and educational evening. There were several guests at our meeting. Diane R from Toast of the Valley, Vermont and Cherlyn O from Gowanstown grace us with their presence.

Audrey opened the meeting with the call to order. She told us that we should not have any regrets and we should not concern ourselves with "If I had only know". Jane was the chair for the evening. Jane kept the meeting flowing with quotes and introducing each member as a famous person.

Diane B presented the Toast. She toasted the health and safety for all Canadians. Heidy was the language enricher. She taught us the differences between "resident" and "residence"; "constituent" and "constituency. George read a motivating story from Inspire the Body and Soul Life Lessons. He told us how to make each day a master piece. Diane R presented speech number five from the Story Telling manual. Her title was Bring History to Life. Brian presented speech number five from the Speaking To Inform manual. Both speeches were very enlighting and entertaining. The speeches were evaluated by Audrey and Keith respectively.

Linda M presented a mini humourous speech as she outlined how we were going to run table topics. Each member needed to help Linda solve a household problem that she was encountering. Audrey won table topics by telling Linda how to solve her garage door opening problem. Everyone laughed a dozen times as we heard the solutions.

Gary presented a very informative general evaluation for the evening. Overall, the meeting was very sucessful. We had a large crowd, we had guests and we had lots of fun and laughter.

Please attend our next meeting on April 13th. The theme is Easter Egg Hunt. Same place. Same time.

Keith

March 23, 2006

March 23rd Meeting, Theme- Apologies Excepted
Although there was only a handful of members at this meeting we did cover some ground. Marie chaired, Felix read an article about corporate Toastmaster Clubs. George came prepared to time and give us the Loyal Toast. Linda Piper presented Table Topics which put us in a tag team of skits. Ezra and Jim were present. Brian gave an off the cuff speech of how he perceived the commentators and certain events in the recent Winter Olympics. It was humourous as usual but he really should partake in a game of curling before he tries to understand the terms used in this sport. His speech was evaluated by round table.
We ended the meeting brain storming how we can retain current members that are not coming out to our meetings and to increase our membership. We all agreed that we need new life to our meetings. This could be accomplished with new members and a variety of formats to our meetings. One suggestion was to send out a survey. A gavel club was discussed.
Lights, Camera Action is the theme for our next meeting. Sounds like fun, please plan to attend.
See you all next Thursday March 30, 2006.
Enjoy your week!
Marie

Linguists of Listowel

Linguists of Listowel
March 9, 2006
The Linguists of Listowel gathered at St Paul's Lutheran Church. The theme for the meeting was the "Luck of the Irish". It was an extremely foggy evening and members that did arrive said they were very lucky because the fog made driving very treacherous. George called the meeting to order at 7:15. He had a good Irish Joke and passed control over to Chairman Gary. Gary always has a joke to share and volunteers at every opportunity. He is keen to improve his speaking skills. Diane presented the loyal toast to Canada. She mentioned that Listowel has an Irish heritage and that everyone has a chance over the next two weeks to participate in Paddyfest celebrations. Our Irish ancestors came to Canada to find a better life in a country filled with freedom and opporunity for all. Paddyfest is about people celebrating Irish customs and raising money for a good cause. Idiosyncrasy was the word for language enricher. Keith presented Literary Corner. It was an interesting story called "A Dog's Diary". Jane gave an advanced manual speech about MSG. There are many hidden names for MSG and it can cause many people to feel very sick. There was a round table evaluation for her presentation. Keith had everyone participate in table topics. He had been to a Maddog theatre improv session and used some of the ideas he had learned to help people become more comfortable speaking in front of an audience. Eye contact is extremely important and challenging. Gary had a few quotes as quizmaster to check how well everyone was listening. There will be a murder mystery presentation at the Listowel legion March 16, 2006 at 7 pm. Guests are welcome. Diane

February 16, 2006

The Linguists of Listowel held their International Speech and Evaluation Contest at St Paul’s Lutheran Church. It was an exciting evening as the members of the Linguists showcased their best talents.

The Evaluation contest was chaired by Marie. Marie was assisted by Brenda as Chief Judge and Audrey as Sergeant of Arms. Our target speaker was Mark J from the Energetics Toastmaster Club in Waterloo. He presented a very enthusiastic speech called “My Least Favourite Season”. His least favourite season is RSP season. Mark kept us laughing as he made a complicated subject very easy to understand. We look forward to seeing Mark in future Humorous Speech Contests.

The contestants for the Evaluation contest were; Jane, Allan and John. Each contestant presented a well balanced evaluation that was clear and concise. After much deliberation, the judges placed Allan in first and Jane in second place. Allan and Jane will represent the Linguists of Listowel at the Area 18 contest.

The International Speech contest was chaired by Jane. Jane was assisted by Audrey who was Chief Judge and Sergeant of Arms. The contestants and their speech titles were: Allan-My Dog Wally; Gary-Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life; Brenda-When Things Go Wrong; Marie-For Your Enjoyment Only; Keith-Why Wait….Just Do it.

All the speeches were excellent. Anyone of the contestants would have been able to compete successfully at Area or at a Division contest. The judges put Gary in third place, Marie in second place and Keith in first place. Marie and Keith go on to the Area 18 contest. George and Linda P also helped in making the contest a success.

The Area 18 Contest will be held on Thursday March 2, 2006 at St Pauls Lutheran Church, 505 Wallace Ave North, Listowel starting at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome.

Our next meeting is on February 23, 2006 at St Pauls Lutheran Church starting at 7:14 pm. The theme of the meeting is “Homonyms”. It is guaranteed to be a meeting full of fun and laughter. Everyone is invited. See you there.

February 9, 2006

It was a fun Valentines meeting on Thursday February 9, 2006 as Toastmaster met for their weekly meeting. Linda P started the meeting with a humourous story about Chairperson Gary. Gary did an excellent job as chair. He skillfully told Valentine stories about each member. He kept us laughing with the details, jokes and stories.

Heidy presented a Toast to Canada and reminded everyone on the importance of freedom of speech. Heidy had recently attended a public meeting where she was ready to hand out Toastmaster cards inviting the politicians to a Toastmaster meeting. Heidy had a great idea to offer a training course for politicians especially since the municipal elections are happening this year.

George’s new word was “boondoggle” which means “any unnecessary or useless labour”. Jane read a story about Super Wrench for literary corner. Allan presented a very educational speech called “Are you Prepared”. Are you prepared if the power goes off for one or more days? He taught us five important steps that we should do to be prepared in case of a power failure. Heidy Schmidt did an outstanding job in evaluating Allan.

Audrey presented a timely Educational Workshop called “Evaluate to Motivate”. She gave out an excellent handout that covered the 10 behaviors of an effective evaluator. A round table evaluation gave Audrey many valuable glow points and grows points. Devin and Nicole stepped up to conduct Table Topics. It was a fun round with Audrey receiving the most votes. Keith recapped the evening as the General Evaluator.

Be sure to attend the next meeting on Thursday February 16th at 7:14 pm. This is the date of our International and Evaluation contest. Please plan to attend this fun evening. Everyone is invited. The contest will be held at St Pauls Lutheran Church at 505 Wallace Ave N, Listowel.

Keith

January 26, 2006

Winter Vacations was a great theme for our meeting on Jan 26 (the day after the snow storm closed schools & some highways)
George started us off with his airport security check joke – do you know why knitting needles are prohibited on flights? -- Old lady may knit an Af….. Oops, you know what!
Chair John followed up with another plane joke with hunters trying to get their 2 moose home – funny thing, same thing happened previous year!
Marie’s Toast to Canada concentrated on our natural beauty with snow & ice on limbs (tree that is)
Surfacing from Monday’s Election, Audrey proposed ‘truthiness’ meaning perceived to be true, as our challenge for use this meeting.
First Speaker Jane gave us a fascinating demonstration on Quilting. The equipment & precision necessary interested us all.
Then second Speaker Keith helped us imagine a winter vacation in New Zealand—that would be in August – no snowmobiling & he’ll be broke for a long while IF he, Jane & Melissa go to meet up with Cameron (son).
Allan had a mischievous time setting up our two minute Table Topics (with little prep!) We had to speak on our holiday in unexpected locations remembering Opening, Body & Conclusion (& truthiness).
Diane & John gave smooth helpful evaluations of the speeches & Brenda wound up with the General Evaluation. Oh Marie described her frustrations with the stopwatch hilariously, & we’ll need to buy another before Contests night.
After Snack we had an Exec meeting. In order to earn any Distinguished Club status, Linguists needs more members out & completing projects.
How to accomplish this is the rub.

Brenda

January 19, 2006

The Linguist of Listowel had a night of 100 laughs as we gathered to celebrate the theme of "Flu Remedies". Marie skillfully chaired the meeting and kept everyone laughing as she incorporated each fu remedy into the introduction of the next person. Diane presented a Canadian toast where she instrusted everyone to pick up a car load of people and take them to vote. Allan gave us the new word "Prostration" which means to be utterly defeated or physically exhausted.

Keith presented speech number five from the Special Occasion Speeches manual. His speech was called Mr Scrouge. Brenda presented speech number seven from the CTM manual. She did an excellent job in telling us about Afghanistan where her son in law is stationed with our Canadian Forces. Ezra Steckly evaluated Keith's speech and Jane evaluated Brenda's speech.

George provided the entertaining topics for Table Topics. Each person had to pick a slip of paper from the envelope and explain what their occupation was, what they were sick with and what home remedy they would use. There was lots of laughter as everyone had a chance to explain why their home remedy worked. Gary received the most votes as he told us why he could not miss work as a waitress at Al Jerkys. He did say waitress.

Gary was also involved as the quizmaster. He kept us guessing with "who said that". Gary replayed some of the funnier quotes from the evening. Audrey did a splended job as General Evaluator. The evening ended with Marie giving us some final laughs on flu remedies. Everyone then enjoyed Allan's muffins.

Bring your friends to next weeks meeting with the theme "Suggested Winter Vacations" on Thursday January 26th at St Pauls Lutheran Church, 505 Wallace Ave, Listowel at 7:14 pm.

Keith

January 12, 2006

It was a very interesting evening, Jan 12 with Small Claims Court as our theme. Gary started us off with a couple appropriate court jokes & John kept our attention with more. (John admitted to being the best doctor in the country, while under oath) As Language Enricher John challenged us with ‘notwithstanding’ which means nevertheless or although. I still can’t get its sense.
Audrey read us a provocative poem titled ‘In Touch’ by Fran McRae.
Brenda delivered the Education Module “The Leader as a Coach.”
It had some great tips for Team Leaders besides mouthing praise & encouragement. With team members not meeting expectations, the Coach must meet, & work, to improve the members’ & the team’s performance.
Table Topics was full of laughs as members defended themselves for some infraction such as being angry, grumpy, wrong, not ready…
We, being only 7, had 2 rounds of 1 minute each. George, Gary & Audrey starred.
Ken gave us a glowing evaluation of the meeting. He offered an interesting & helpful tip for Call to Order: sound the gavel at proposed Starting Time, then announce when the meeting will really start, perhaps in 5 minutes. This allows members to use extra time wisely.
Finally we circled George’s ‘treats’ & talked or listened to Federal elections issues as several TMs had attended the All Candidates meeting the previous night.
As I started, it was a very interesting night.

Brenda

January 5, 2006

A great group gathered for a fun night with Toastmasters on Thursday night. Jane chaired a fun meeting with a theme of New Years Resolutions. Jane had a funny resolution for each member that was at the meeting.

George gave a tribute to Canada reminding us all that we live in a country where we can celebrate the holiday season. Diane Bender encouraged us to use the word wheedle. This is a verb which means the use of soft words to flatter someone. There was a lot of wheedling during our fun filled meeting.

Allan tried something new for literary corner. He enlightened us with a question and answer weather trivia quiz. It was a fun quiz where Allan practiced his reading skills and with audience participation. Very well done Allan!

Brenda presented speech number four from the CTM manual. Her humorous speech was called "Lost things - Things Found". We all could identify with Brenda on things that get lost during the busy holiday season. (I still cannot find the Christmas gift that I hid for my spouse).

George presented the induction ceremony for Gary. We all welcomed Gary to our club. Audrey was in charge of Table Topics. We all had fun speaking for two minutes on a proverb which we were given. Gary won table topics.

John evaluated Brenda's speech. John presented an award winning evaluation for Brenda with many glow points and grow points. Gary was Quiz Master. He complimented us on the quality of our quotes. Gary included quotes from everyone including himself. Keith finished the evening as General Evaluator.

Our next meeting is on January 13th with the theme of Small Claims Court. It will be another exciting meeting. Everyone is invited so bring a friend. If you miss one meeting, you miss a lot.

Keith

October 20, 2005

A fun and humourous night of "Unusual Words" was held at St Pauls Lutheran Church as Toastmasters gathered for their weekly meeting. Diane started the meeting with a humourous story about Chairperson John. She mentioned that John takes his naturopathic beverages when he goes hunting.

Newest member Gary presented the loyal toast. Gary showed us more than his good sense of humour as he made us proud to be Canadian. Brian’s new word for the day was “halcyon” which means peaceful, joyful. Our Toastmaster meetings are a halcyon experience.

Allan read an article from the Canadian Farm Manager magazine. The article asked us if we will be ready when opportunity knocks. How will you position yourself to take advantage of the new technologies in agriculture?

Heidy presented a new idea for Toastmasters. She suggested that after a speech is given, another member should give a two minute summary on what they heard. To practice, she divided the group between men and ladies. The ladies had to debate on the advantages of one ply. The men had to debate on the disadvantages of one ply. Heidy then presented a two minute summary on what she heard. The debate was won by the men and the victory was best summed up by Gary who said it was truly a halcyon experience.

Marie chaired a fun table topics session. Each member had to take an unusual word and tell the other members what the word meant. There was lots of laughter as members tried to guess on the meanings. The winner of table topics was Heidy. Honourable mention goes to George who tried to give us the meaning of the word Eiram. It is actually not a word but Marie spelled backwards.

Linda M was quizmaster. She sharpened hers and our listening skills as the members tried to guess who said what.

Audrey did an excellent job as General Evaluator. She gave us many good points on the evening and motivated us with some grow points.

The next meeting is on Thursday October 27th. The theme is Spooky Ghost Stories. Everyone is invited, even if you are not a member.

Meeting - October 13, 2005

Theme: 'not entirely accurate' (16 members were present)

Brian had a lot of fun as Chairman for this meeting. He had checked Google for 'dirt' on all members on the agenda.
Our Loyal Toast maker, George (also a bogus DDS in Germany) started us off.
He was followed by Jane (also a bogus, this time an MD who sat on a Crime Board in New England). Our word of the night was 'badinage' which means friendly banter or playful talk.
Audrey (an International Clown who amuses kids) read us an amusing article by a daughter-in-law who was obsessed with raising horses, who described her city-raised mother-in-law's reactions to visiting the ranch. (Does it sound familiar?)
Next Allan gave his 4th speech (Project #9 in the CTM manual) entitled 'Move to Action'. Oh Allan is secretly a 'Prayer Warrior' & a member of the Hard Rock Band 'Monkey Shines'. His speech reminded us that it is up to the public (to stand up for their rights) to report threats to our security because the authorities cannot investigate what they don't know about. Granted we must feel that the authorities listen & act.
Allan gave his personal experience of having 'shot' from careless, irresponsible goose hunters, ping his new truck. Allan's treatment of his subject was both humourous & sincere. He quoted from the Charter of Rights.
Before Break (thanks to Heidy for refreshments), Keith (no dirt on Google!) led us in a fun Table Topics. Linda F. won with her correction for the OPP report that she was caught shaving while driving. She was doing something other than shaving her legs while driving, but she could understand the misinterpretation.
John (also a Texas reporter who caught the Challenger or Discoverer Explosion over Texas on film) evaluated Allan's speech suggesting 'longer pauses' & 'more gestures' to make the speech even more effective.
Heidy filled the role of Quizmaster. In her secret life, Heidy makes UFO Art & 'has a fetish site?'
Finally Harvey ( USA Real Estate Agent on the run, plus a player in Babes in Thailand) summed up our meeting.

FOR THE GOOD OF TM
John gave a report of the Exec meeting Oct 6th.
Heidy moved that Jane purchase for the Club, a flip chart & white board on easel unit, including markers, brush, paper & the material for a carrying bag which Heidy's Mom will sew, to a maximum amount of $300.00
Jane seconded this motion. All in favour, therefore motion carried.
It was also agreed that a light bulb be purchased for the overhead projector.
Next Exec meeting is Nov 3rd.

Marie handed out Murder Mystery scripts. (Class of '54 -- Return of Rock N Roley)
First practice is after meeting Oct 20.
I think that roles are filled but 'understudies' are welcome.

Keith & John are organizing a TM Variety Night for Thurs Nov 10th 7:14 to 8:30pm.
This event is in partnership with the Lutheran Church to earn support for the Kashmir Quake Relief efforts.

Oct 21 is both the Western Division Contest night in Stratford starting 7pm sharp
& the North Perth Listowel Library Fundraiser - time?

Linguists of Listowel

Meeting - Thursday October 6, 2005
Theme: Please Pass the Turkey

This proved to be another fun filled meeting with the theme "Please Pass the Turkey." Audrey O stepped in as chairperson, and had lots of turkey stories as she introduced each participant.

George N in his loyal toast had us remembering all we have to be thankful for as did Marie M in her poem. Language Enricher, Keith S introduced the word ingratiate" meaning " to bring oneself into favour with" and used it to "butter up" Audrey, our chairperson. Keith won table topics with his redition of coping with Thanksgiving , so must have got Audrey's vote. Allan M had lots of fun with table topics as we described how we copr with Thanksgiving. Heidy S presented her humorous speech "No Fool". She will be representing Top Drawer Advanced Club in the Division Humorous Contest, competing against Keith S, winner of our Area 18. Linda P was second in the Area Contest, and Jane S placed second in the Table Topics Contact.

Way to Go! Linguists of Listowel

Meeting - September 29, 2005

Theme: Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest

Call to order by Linda D. at 7:19 p.m. Quite a few guests present for our contest tonight as well as members from 2 other Toastmasters Clubs in the area. Harvey chaired the meeting and had every guest introduce themselves. Audrey explained the rules and purpose of the humorous contest. Harvey announced all contestants as follows for the Humorous Speech Contest:

Contestant & Speech Title

Marie - Piles and Pylons – a review of the extensive road construction being done in and surrounding the Listowel area this summer – well done Marie
Linda P - Saved by the Bell – a very humorous speech about her grand kids visiting her and how the “sound of the bell” was such a huge relief!
George - Why is the plowing match called the plowing match? – lots of humour and reminder the plowing match is a whole lot more than plowing – well done George
Keith - I love cats – hilariously funny, a story how he lost the battle with the dreaded cat…great job Keith
Heidy - Making lots of money from a nuisance – hey great job Heidy…it never occurred to me that a speech about flies could be so funny…..well done and we all liked the costume too
Brian - I’ve had it- A hilarious speech about telemarketers, thank you Brian for helping us all to see some humour in regards to telemarketers.

The second phase of our contest tonight was the Humorous Table Topics portion. We had 5 contestants in all:

Contestant & Table Topics Speech – A Pencil and a Dream can take you anywhere

Brian, Jane, Keith, Diane, Marie a great job by everyone!

And the winners are…….(drum role)…….Linda P runner up and Keith 1st, way to go contestants for the humorous speech contest.

Table topics winners……..(drum role again)……3rd place was Diane, 2nd place was Jane and 1st place was Keith…..way to go contestants. Very entertaining and enjoyable evening.

Anything for the good of toastmasters – reminder – membership dues are due!

Meeting adjourned at 9:30p.m.

Linda D

Meeting - September 22, 2005

There were 16 members present. Theme: Going Backwards.

A very entertaining evening and lots of laughs. John adjourned the meeting at 7:15 and we immediately had a few announcements all for the good of Toastmasters. Linda P our Treasurer announced that the fees are going up. Jane announced that the church is looking for participants for a variety night and all donations will be sent to the survivors of Katrina. Keith thought the agenda was out of order and Marie corrected him that the agenda was absolutely accurate. Heidi is looking for 2 readers and Brenda and Grace volunteered. They have also asked for a 15 minute skit and 13 people are needed. December 8 is the night of the murder mystery and will be held at the Listowel Golf Course. Supper will be at 6:30. Keith, Allan, Jane, Marie, Harvey and Heidi were all involved in the International Plowing Match this week as members of Toastmasters. Felix gave the Timers report and Audrey gave the Language Enricher report. Keith gave the general evaluation of the meeting tonight – very funny, creative and well done – he scolded a couple of members for their inappropriate fighting during the meeting. The Quizmaster for tonight was Diane, well done Diane, once again very humorous. Linda P. evaluated Heidi and said she used tonight’s word for the evening 15 times.....wow amazing Heidi! She also scolded her about doing cartwheels in a skirt! tsk tsk!…..George was amazed that 15 people tied for first place in Table Topics competition. George asked all participants to come up with whatever they wanted – a nice variety of topics and some had a lot to say about nothing! Brian challenged Marie’s point of view (which it hasn’t happened yet), but anyway, did not support her view on legalizing marijuana use….Marie on the other hand challenged Brian by referring to the people who were raised in the 60’s as opposed to being born in the 60’s. An excellent debate and entertaining and was also noted and for the record - that Brian and Marie are not friends! Heidi gave her speech and opened it up with an attempt at cartwheels, a very good attempt I might add. Her speech was about the International Plowing Match and MCing – it sounds like a few challenges to say the least. Linda D gave literary corner by reading an article on the “Power of your Mind”. Audrey provided the word “volunteer” and a reminder to all that it is an important and powerful word. Without volunteers there would be a lot of things that wouldn’t get done. There were no guests tonight. Felix gave the toast to Canada. Jane called the meeting to order at 8:45 and announced how boring and dry it was tonight – all agreed and packed it in for the night and went home.

Linda D

Meeting - September 15,2005

Linguists of Listowel Toastmasters Club met at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Listowel on Thursday Sept. 15, 2005. They had a terrific time as 13 members participated with the theme “Defense Plea”. George is always great at getting the audience warmed up with one of his jokes and getting the meeting off to a fantastic start. He introduced our chairperson for the evening Ken. Ken is very experienced and has been involved in toastmasters clubs since 1972.

Brenda handled the toast and the microphone with confidence and kept very accurate timing throughout the evening. Linda P. word for the meeting was 'deposition' meaning sworn evidence. It was used 18 times during the meeting.

Jane presented an educational program on how to handle table topics. You only have one to two minutes to get your point across. You must remember to listen, pause, confirm, tell, and end. The Table Topics contest is Sept 29th so we needed to practice what we had just learned. Everyone did well with Brian's Table Topics. Each member had to plead “guilty” or “Innocent” to minor disdemeanors such as “taking candy from a child” to “feeding your husbands' cooking to the dog!”

Our speaker for the evening was Heidi. She shared and inspirational speech on hope. Marie gave an excellent evaluation. Daine presentented a very effective evaluation of the meeting. We conducted a short business meeting. Fees are due now. They are $60 semi annually or $120 for the year. Marie moved that the new member fee remain the same. Brenda seconded it and was carried.

Brenda moved that the initial fee for new members be $20 and $120 for the annual fee for a total of $140 for new members for the first year. The fee would be pro-rated during the year. Linda P. seconded the motion.
Carried.
The meeting closed at 9:05

Everyone is invited to attend the humorous speech and table topic contest so invite your neighbours, your friends and your relatives to this fun event Sept 29, 2005. The agenda is full so come for a fun evening.

Secretary for the evening Diane

September 8, 2005 Meeting

Greetings fellow Toastmasters:

Lots of fun was had by all tonight – it was great to see such a good turnout – 15 members in all for our very first fall meeting of 2005. The meeting was kicked off by Ezra with the call to order and a good joke. John our illustrious leader was our chairman for the evening and gave a complimentary salute to our teachers who are in the midst of kicking off another school year. Marie volunteered to be our toast and timer with a salute to Canada our great country as well as commenting on other blessings that we experience on a daily bases living here. Linda D. presented language enricher and introduced the word “dyspeptic” which means bad tempered, short tempered, mean, snappish or prickly. (Please note, there aren’t any of these types of people in our group!), but still…. an interesting word. It actually got quite a bit of use tonight as well as few chuckles. Brenda presented Literary Corner and cautioned us about swimming right after eating and the dangers associated to this – thanks Brenda, it’s great to get a reminder about this sort of stuff again. Brian rose to the occasion (spontaneously) and presented a speech about “I just can’t get away”… Brian has so many relatives and no body remembers his name! …. only that he is a cousin, brother, uncle, or son of someone else. Linda M. did tables topics this evening - reminding us of the joy of children and their need to hear childhood stories about their parents – especially stories when they got into trouble – this lead into a table topics for all to participate and tell everyone about a childhood story/incident of their own. Brian’s story was very entertaining and he won the award for the evening. John presented the education module and the “Distinguished Club” presentation outlining the goals a club has to achieve in order to win the award. Diane gave Brian his evaluation feedback which was very positive – way to go Brian. General Evaluator was Linda P. and gave the meeting an “A” - very complimentary of all participants in the meeting. Marie finished off the meeting with the timers report. Brenda commented on the new increase in fees to join the Toastmasters club going forward – fees were voted on and unanimously accepted and meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm