February 24, 2011: International Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest Events

Preparations are underway for the Linguists of Listowel International Speech and Speech Evaluation Contests.
Top left: Linguists of Listowel club members and guests from the Mount Forest Motivators finalize preparations before the Speech Evaluation Contest begins.

Middle: Area Governor, Keith Stoltz is finalizing the list of competitors for the International Speech and Speech Evaluators Contest. Club president, Brent Jemmett is shown looking on and helping out.

Bottom left: In the foreground is George Stevers shown reading up on the finer points of evaluating a speech. Both Richard Boertien and Marie McCutcheon are shown greeting our guests from the Mount Forest Motivators club.

February 24, 2011: International Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest

Fellow Toastmasters and Friends

This past Thursday, the Linguists of Listowel held their International Speech and Speech Evaluation contest. It was an excellent night filled with lots of great speeches and lots of guests (Eight). We had 13 members in attendance with everyone taking a part in the contests. We also had lots of help from our guests from the Mount Forest Motivators who helped fill in roles such as judges and counters.

Our Chairpersons for the night were Leo Brisebois for the Speech Evaluation Contest and Keith Stoltz for the International Speech Contest. They both did fantastic jobs as chairpersons. Our chief judge for both contests was Audrey Orth and Richard Boertien was the Sergeant of Arms. The timers were Marilyn Miller and John Ridgeway from the Mt. Forest Motivators. The target Speaker for the Evaluation contest was Ron Hills from Top Talkers, who gave a very entertaining speech called "Is Anybody Listening?".

The winners of the Evaluation Contest were:

1st - Jane Stoltz, 2nd - Keith McCluskie 3rd - Brent Jemmett

The winners of the International Contest were:

1st - Sharon D'Arcey (What Really Matters), 2nd - Brent Jemmett (Mackenzie's Figure Skating Career), 3rd - Leo Brisebois ("Perceptions")

The first and second place winners will compete at the Area contest on March 9th in Listowel.

This Tuesday, March 1st, is the Mount Forest Motivators contest and if you are able to make it there to support them like they did our contest, it would be good to help them out.

Hope to see you all this Thursday at our meeting with the theme of "What Season Are You?"

Brent

February 17, 2011: Additional Club Point

Club president, Brent Jemmett is shown holding the Linguists of Listowel club point chart.
Club secretary, Marilyn Miller will add another point to the club chart for completing her 10th speech of the Competent Communicator manual.

February 17, 2011: Competent Communicator Speech Number 10

Congratulations to Marilyn Miller for completing her 10th speech from the Competent Communicator manual.
Club president, Brent Jemmett is shown presenting Marilyn Miller with her certificate of achievement.

February 17, 2011: New Member Induction

Karen Bott is being welcomed into the Linguists of Listowel Toastmaster's club by Keith McCluskie.

February 17, 2011 - Theme: Favourite Destinations in the Summer

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

We had a lot of fun at Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting with the theme of "Favourite Destinations in the Summer". It had all 13 members in attendance thinking of the warmer weather. George Nichol called the meeting to order and named many favourite summer destinations. Keith McCluskie did a great job as the chair for the evening and opened the meeting by telling everyone some of his favourite things to do in the summer.

Lorna Vanderploeg with Inspirational Thought gave us a quote from Bob Marley. Next, Richard Boertien got the laughs going with Joke of the Day by telling us some summer jokes. Our newest member, Karen Bott tackled the role of Toast and Timer for her first time. She gave a timely toast to Canada with all the things that we are able to do in the summer. Leo Brisebois with the role of Literary Corner shared an entertaining reading from William Safire's book - "Lend Me Your Ear". The Grammarian role was done by Richard Boertien and he challenged everyone to use the word "Conundrum" and it was used 6 times.

The first speaker was Marilyn Miller, who did speech number 10 out of her CC manual. She did a very entertaining speech called "Enthused - A Journey Through Toastmasters". Our second speaker was Jane Stoltz and she gave us an Educational Corner on what it takes to reach all the levels (ie. Competent Communicator, Advanced Communicator Bronze, etc) at Toastmasters. The speech and Educational Corner were evaluated by Lorna Vanderploeg and Wayne Stoltz respectively. They both gave great feedback to our speakers.

Then we had an Awards Ceremony where I presented Marilyn a certificate for receiving her CC and also helping us reach another point towards our Distinguished Club Program. Next, we had an Induction Ceremony by Keith McCluskie where we inducted our new member Karen Bott to our club.

Heidi Menzi was our General Evaluator and she reviewed with us how the meeting was going. I was the Table Topics Master for the meeting and had everyone pick a summer destination out of the envelope and tell us why it was there favourite thing to do in the summer. The winner was our Chairperson, Keith McCluskie. Keith Stoltz was our Quiz Master and he challenged everyone's listening skills with some of the good phrases for the night and also tested us on the agenda.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our Club's International and Evaluation contest, so get those speeches all polished up. Also, we will need people to fill roles of judges and counters.

Brent

Club Contest Dates

Linguists of Listowel Thursday February 24^th

Talk Talkers Saturday February 26^th

Mount Forest Motivators Tuesday March 1^st

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

February 10, 2011 - King of Spades and Queen of Diamonds

Table Topics - Depicting Famous Couples for Valentines Day.
Top Left: Clarke Kent (Keith M) and Lois Lane (Marie McCutcheon).
Middle Left: Romeo (Audrey Orth - on right) and Juliet (Heidi Menzi).
Middle Right: Gracie Burns (Jane Stoltz) and George Burns (Richard Boertien)
Next Left: Robin Hood (Leo Brisebois) and Maid Marion (Lorna Vanderploeg)
Bottom Left: Blondie (Lucy D'Arcey) and Dagwood (George Stevers)

February 10, 2011 - King of Spades and Queen of Diamonds

Marie McCutcheon presents an oratory speech from the courtroom segment of the book entitled "To Kill a Mocking Bird".

February 10_2011 - King of Spades and Queen of Diamonds

Marilyn Miller - Chairperson (Her majesty, the Queen of Diamonds)
Marilyn displays the gifts of her treasury, complete with royal crowns for the King and Queen of Table Topics.

February 10, 2011 - Theme: King of Spades and Queen of Diamonds

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

This past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting was the second night of our Open House for the month of February and what a fun night it was! We had 13 members in attendance and 1 guest (Karen Bott).

The theme for the night was "King of Spades & Queen of Diamonds". Lorna Vanderploeg called the meeting to order and introduced her royal highness “Queen of Diamonds – Marilyn Miller”. Marilyn took on the role of chairperson for the evening and did a great job outfitted with her royal attire, props that complimented the theme of the meeting and introductions of all the roles.

Keith McCluskie filled the role of Joke of the Day and presented a giggle for the evening entitled “My Dad Scribbles”. Audrey Orth held the role of Toast and Timer and gave a toast to Canada, the land that we can all be kings and queens without being born with royal blood.

Literary Corner was done by Heidi Menzi who read from a newspaper article entitled “Small Business” written by local columnist Raymond Canon. The article consisted of businesses such as Happy Foods Group – inventors of Holy Crap Cereal and also a company located in Hensall, Ontario called Ice Sculpture – makers of ice sculptures that are sold world wide.

The Grammarian role was done by Keith McCluskie and he challenged everyone to use the hyphenated word "gung-ho" and it was used 9 times. It was noted that “ah’s” and “so’s” were the most common filler words used during the evening.

Our first speaker was George Stevers with his speech titled "Achieving Food Sovereignty". Our second speaker was Richard Boertien and he presented his speech called "Abstract Concept". The third speaker was Marie McCutcheon with her oratory speech entitled “To Kill a Mocking Bird”.

Leo Brisebois acted as Toastmaster/General Evaluator and introduced all of our speech evaluators individually. The speeches were evaluated in sequence by Lucy D’Arcey, Keith Stoltz and Jane Stoltz respectively who all gave each speaker instant feedback.

Diane Bender did a great job as Table Topics Master. Diane paired us up to portray famous acting couples and proclaim our Valentines love and wishes to each other. The couples were; Clarke Kent and Lois Lane, Blondie and Dagwood, Maid Marion and Robin Hood, Fred and Wilma Flinstone, George and Gracie Burns and Romeo and Juliet. The winning couple was Clarke Kent and Lois Lane that played by Keith McCluskie and Marie McCutcheon.

Leo Brisebois, as general evaluator, gave us feedback on the overall meeting with glow and grow points.

A Challenge from the President to the Linguists of Listowel - I will give a prize to the member who brings out the most guests for the month of February during our Open House month.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs Feb 17: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Favourite Summer Destination

Club Contest Dates

Linguists of Listowel Thursday February 24^th

Talk Talkers Saturday February 26^th

Mount Forest Motivators Tuesday March 1^st

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

February 3, 2011 - Theme: The Good Ole Days

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

This past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting was the start of our Open House for the month of February and what a great start! We had a full house with 15 members in attendance and 3 guests. Sharon D'Arcey, our V.P. of Public Relations brought out the media to show them what we are all about. We had Andrew Smith from the Listowel Banner and Gary Moon who is the Vice Chair of the North Perth Arts and Culture Council and was taking pictures for Snap Perth. Also, Heidi Menzi brought out her friend Karen Uhler.

The theme for the night was "'The Good Ole Days" and Audrey Orth called the meeting to order with her thoughts on the theme. Sharon D'Arcey took on the role of chair for the evening and did a great job with her introductions of all the roles.

Richard Boertien started the laughs going with some Bar room jokes for Joke of the Day. Wayne Stoltz held the role of Toast and Timer where he gave a toast to Canada where we are free to speak. The Grammarian role was done by Marie McCutcheon and she challenged everyone to use the word "Cliché" and it was used 10 times. She also challenged everyone to use their favourite cliché during the meeting.

Leo Brisebois acted as Toastmaster and introduced all of our speakers. Our first speaker was Marilyn Miller with her speech titled "Just my Thoughts". Our second speaker was Richard Boertien and he re-presented his humorous speech called "Acronyms". The third speaker was Keith Stoltz and he gave an entertaining speech called "5 days". The speeches were evaluated by Rich, George Nichol and myself where we all gave the speaker instant feedback.

Heidi Menzi did a great job as Table Topics Master and had us all describe our favourite thing that we picked out of the envelope. Some examples were; favourite type of tree or favourite road trip. The winner was Marilyn Miller. George Stevers gave our second Joke of the Day with a funny joke about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson camping. Diane Bender was our Quizmaster and she challenged everyone's listening skills with some of the good phrases for the night. Jane Stoltz took on the role of general evaluator, where she introduced all the speech evaluators and gave us feedback on the overall meeting.

A Challenge from the President to the Linguists of Listowel - I will give a prize to the member who brings out the most guests for the month of February during our Open House month.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs Feb 10: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Queens vs Kings

Club Contest Dates

Linguists of Listowel Thursday February 24^th

Talk Talkers Saturday February 26^th

Mount Forest Motivators Tuesday March 1^st

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

January 27, 2011 - Theme: Jokingly Speaking

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting with the theme of "Jokingly Speaking", we had 11 members in attendance. Diane Bender called the meeting to order and challenged us with some trivia. I was the chair for the evening and opened the meeting by telling everyone my favourite comedians and some of their jokes.

Lucy D'Arcey held the role of Toast and Timer where he gave a timely toast to Canada. Heidi Menzi got the laughs going with a funny Joke of the Day. The Grammarian role was done by Jane Stoltz and she challenged everyone to use the word "Gobbledygook" and it was used many times. Gobbledygook means jargon or hard to understand. Audrey Orth took on the role of Literary Corner where she read a very entertaining story from the magazine Country Woman.

The first speaker was Lucy D'Arcey, who presented speech number 3 out of her CC manual. She did a very informative speech with a good message called "I'd Rather Be Fooled" and it was about random acts of kindness. Our second speaker was Richard Boertien, who did speech number 4 in the Advanced Communication and Leadership Program which was "The Demonstration Talk". He told a very entertaining speech called "Filler Words". The speeches were evaluated by Diane Bender and Sharon D'Arcey. They both gave great feedback to our speakers.

George Nichol did a good job as Table Topics Master and had us all try to finish the punch line to the joke that he started telling. The winner was Rich Boertien. Keith Stoltz was our Quizmaster and he challenged everyone's listening skills with some of the good phrases for the night and also tested us on the agenda. Leo Brisebois took on the role of general evaluator, where he went over how the meeting went by telling us what we did well and what we could improve on.

Remember - Challenge from the President to the Linguists of Listowel - I will give a prize to the member who brings out the most guests for the month of February during our Open House month.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs Feb 3: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Ground Hogs -OPEN HOUSE

Thurs Feb 10: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Queens vs Kings - OPEN HOUSE

Club Contest Dates

Toastmasters of Hanover Monday January 31^st

Linguists of Listowel Thursday February 24^th

Top Talkers Saturday February 26^th

Mount Forest Motivators Tuesday March 1^st

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

January 20, 2011 - Theme: Jeopardy

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

On Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting, we had another very enjoyable meeting. The theme for the night was "Jeopardy". We had 11 members and one guest (Karen Bott) in attendance. Brian Camacho called the meeting to order and gave his thoughts on what the theme of Jeopardy meant to him. I was the chairperson for the evening and opened the meeting by giving the definition of Jeopardy and talked about the game show Jeopardy which I used throughout the meeting.

Keith Stoltz held the role of Toast and Timer where he gave a timely toast to Canada. The Grammarian role was done by Heidi Menzi and she challenged everyone to use the word "Wabash" and it was used 5 times. Wabash means good man or an Indian word meaning did it well.

Our speaker Richard Boertien presented speech number 2 in the Advanced Communication and Leadership Program which was "Resources For Informing". He told a very entertaining speech called "I Call It Home Now". It was about his hometown of Listowel and it was very informative. The speech was evaluated by George Nichol and he gave great feedback. We also had an Educational Module where we learned what goes into creating an outstanding Club climate which was given by Audrey Orth.

Leo Brisebois did a good job as Table Topics Master and had us all ready to play some baseball. He started telling a story of a baseball game and we had to keep the story going to explain how the winning run was scored. The winner was George Nichol. Jane Stoltz was our Quizmaster and she challenged everyone's listening skills with some of the good phrases for the night. Sharon D'Arcey took on the role of general evaluator, where she went over with everyone what we did well and what we could improve on.

A Challenge from the President to the Linguists of Listowel - I will give a prize to the member who brings out the most guests for the month of February during our Open House month.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs Jan 27: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Jokingly Speaking

Thurs Feb 3: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Ground Hogs

Thurs Feb 10: Linguists of Listowel, Regular Meeting, Queens vs Kings

Sat. Jan 29: Officer Training, Phase 2, in Hanover, Details to Follow

Hanover at the Grace United Church. Starting with registration at 8:30 Presentations for all executive and would be executives until 10:45. 10:45 am to 11am will be a short coffee break and then a great session on Memory... How to Make It Better. This will be followed by a hot lunch (included in the training cost). Then two seperate presentations; one on Judging and one on Evaluations will be conducted. It will be over by 3:30. Cost is $10/person.

Club Contest Dates

Toastmasters of Hanover Monday January 31^st

Linguists of Listowel Thursday February 24^th

Talk Talkers Saturday February 26^th

Mount Forest Motivators Tuesday March 1^st

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

January 13, 2011 - Theme: Junk Mail in January

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At Linguists of Listowel, we had a great meeting filled with lots of laughs. The theme of for the night was "Junk Mail in January". We had 13 members in attendance and a guest (Heidi's friend - Elsie Havenga). Audrey Orth called the meeting to order with a very good introduction of the chair for the meeting. Leo Brisebois was our chair for the evening and he opened the meeting by telling us all about the different kinds of junk mail out there.

The joke of the day was done by George Nichol, who gave us a very funny joke that got the laughs started. Marie McCutcheon was our Toast and Timer, who gave a toast to Canada and how we have so many plentiful things even junk mail. The Grammarian role was done by Keith McCluskie. He picked the word "fidget" to challenge everyone to use during the meeting and it was used 11 times. He also counted the number of laughs during the meeting and we had a whopping 114 laughs. Next, George Stevers for his role of Literary Corner read a couple of poems called "Success" and "Life is Earnest".

Our speaker Heidi Menzi gave a speech out of the Storytelling manual. She told an entertaining personal story called "On the Way to School". The speech was evaluated by Keith Stoltz and he gave great feedback. We had an Educational Module where Jane Stoltz told us how to set goals and how to plan to reach those goals

Sharon D'Arcey did a very fun Table Topics with the theme of "Junk Mail in January". She had an envelope in front of us that had junk mail inside and we had to promote the junk mail. George Stevers took the award for his promoting of Toastmasters because he comes to Toastmasters for the free counseling. I took on the role of Quizmaster and challenged everyone's listening skills with some of the good phrases for the night. Richard Boertien took on the role of general evaluator, where he reviewed how the overall meeting went.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Dates to remember:

January 20th - Jeopardy

January 6, 2011 - Theme: Sports Night

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

Happy New Year everyone! At Linguists of Listowel's first meeting of 2011, we had lots of laughs and a very sporty meeting with our theme of "Sports Night". We had 12 members in attendance and a guest (Richard Boertien's daughter - Deirdre). We had lots of members participating with the theme by dressing up in their favourite jerseys. Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order with a very enthusiastic introduction of the chairperson for the meeting that included his favourite sport which was the Canadian Tobogganing Team. That Montreal Canadians fan, Leo Brisebois was our chair for the evening and he opened the meeting by giving us the history of sport which was very informative.

The joke of the day was done by one of the Toronto Maple Leaf fans at the meeting, who was myself. I gave a joke involving the Montreal Canadians. Also, to show that I was a good sport I gave a joke about the Leafs. Keith McCluskie was our Toast and Timer, who gave a toast to Canada and our ability to play any sport. The Grammarian role was done by Jane Stoltz and she picked the word "cue" to challenge everyone to use during the meeting that was used an incredible 18 times. Next, Heidi Menzi for her role of Literary Corner gave us some history of the Olympics and sports.

Our first speaker was another Toronto Maple Leaf fan, Lucy D'Arcey. She had a very informative speech with great visual aids called "Information". Next Sharon D'Arcey gave a speech on the role of V.P. of Public Relations and all that is involved. Keith Stoltz gave an entertaining and informative speech called "What Kind of Leader are You?". The speeches were evaluated by Rich Boertien, Marie McCutcheon and Audrey Orth where they all gave great feedback to our speakers.

Jane Stoltz did a very fun Table Topics with the theme of "Sports Night". Everyone was partnered up and one person picked a sport out of the envelope and spoke about the positives of that sport. The second person had to debate why that sport wasn't the best sport. Everyone did a good job debating their sport and the winner of table topics was the boxing fan, Audrey Orth. I took on the role of general evaluator, where I reviewed what was good, what we could do better and what we did best.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Dates to remember:

Jan. 13th - Junk Mail in January

January 20th – Jeopardy

December 2, 2010 - Accepting the Award ACB

On December 2, 2010, Leo Brisebois presented his final speech to achieve his ACB award (Advanced Communicator Bronze).

Club president, Brent Jemmett (Leaf's fan on the left) is shown congratulating Leo Brisebois (Hab's fan on the right) on his achievement and is presenting Leo with his award certificate.

December 16, 2010 Theme: Christmas is a Feeling

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At our annual Linguists of Listowel's Christmas Potluck dinner/meeting, we enjoyed great food and had lots of laughs with our theme of "Christmas is a Feeling". We had 13 members in attendance and 3 guests. Keith Stoltz called the meeting to order with a great introduction of chair Richard Boertien. Rich opened the meeting by explaining to us how "Christmas is a Feeling" and told us the history of St. Nick.

The joke of the day was done by Keith McCluskie, who had us all laughing. Jane Stoltz was our Toast and Timer, who gave a toast to the spirit and feeling of Christmas in Canada. George Stevers gave the Grace.

After the great meal that we all enjoyed, we had some very special entertainment. Leo and Holly Brisebois showed us their dance moves by demonstrating the Cha Cha. The Grammarian role was done by myself and I picked the word "Yen" to challenge everyone to use. It was used 13 times. Next, Heidi Menzi for the role of Literary Corner shared some personal Christmas stories and memories.

Marie McCutcheon did the Table Topics/Gift Exchange. She had a couple of elves give out all the presents. Then through her instructions, we were passing the gifts back and forth till we finally ended up with a gift in front us. With that gift, we had to explain to everyone who had re-gifted the gift and had brought it to the meeting for the exchange. It was a lot of fun and filled with many laughs.

George Nichol tested all our listening skills with Quizmaster and Audrey Orth shared a very interesting story for the Inspirational Message.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope to see you all at our next meeting on Thursday January 7th.

Brent

Dates to remember:

Jan. 7th - Sports night

December 9, 2010 - Theme: Secrets of Speaking

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Linguists of Listowel's meeting, we had lots of laughs and a very informative meeting with our theme of "Secrets of Speaking". We had 13 members in attendance. Sharon Diehl called the meeting to order with a great introduction of chair for the meeting that included a quote from Dale Carnegie. Richard Boertien was our chair for the evening and he opened the meeting by giving us all some excellent tips on improving our speaking.

The joke of the day was done by Leo Brisebois, who gave us a very funny joke involving President Obama. Keith Stoltz was our Toast and Timer, who gave a toast to Canada and our opportunities to be able to speak in public. The Grammarian role was done by Keith McCluskie and he picked the very fun word "Humdinger" to challenge everyone to use during the meeting that was used a whopping 15 times. Next, Diane Bender explained her role for Literary Corner and read a story from Albert Cuthery called "Future Tells of Christmas Eve".

When our first speaker wasn't able to make it to the meeting, Wayne Stoltz stepped up and gave a very funny off the cuff speech about his Uncle Willy's adventure of trying make a salami sandwich late one night. Next George Nichol did his first speech out of the Special Occasion Manual where he gave a great wedding toast to his son and daughter in law which included personal stories and excellent humour. George's speech was evaluated by Leo Brisebois, where he gave great feedback.

I did Table Topics with the theme of "Secrets of Speaking", I gave everyone a chance to work on their toasting. Everyone gave an instant toast to whatever they picked out of the envelope. Some were serious toasts and some not so much. Everyone did a good job with it and the winner of table topics was Leo Brisebois. Marie McCutcheon took on the role of general evaluator, where she gave us all some help on how to evaluate a meeting and a speaker. She asked for some our newer members to come to the front and help evaluate the meeting.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting and our Christmas Potluck. Everyone is to bring something for the potluck, their plates and cutlery, a gift for the always fun gift exchange. This year we have decided to bring some food to support our local food bank. You can also bring a guest to our always enjoyable Christmas meeting.

Brent

Dates to remember:

Dec. 16th - Christmas Potluck - Christmas is a Feeling. Bring a guest, plates and cutlery, a gift for the exchange and some food for the food bank.

Jan. 7th - Sports night

December 2, 2010 - Theme: What's Your Best Ideas for Someone Who Has Everything

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

On Thursday night, we had very fun and enjoyable meeting with our theme of "What's Your Best Ideas for Someone Who Has Everything". Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order with an introduction of myself as chair and he told everyone what he would get me for Christmas. I opened the meeting by going over how hard it is to find that gift for some people and I was going to give them some ideas throughout the meeting.

Keith McCluskie was our Toast and Timer, who gave a timely toast to Canada. The Grammarian role was done by Richard Boertien and he picked the word "Expropriate" to challenge everyone to use during the meeting. Next, I presented Leo Brisebois with an award for getting his Advanced Communicator Bronze and he used it to do his Accepting Award speech.

Our first speaker was Diane Bender and she gave us a very informative and entertaining speech called "Where's the Cache". It was about Geocaching. Then Heidi Menzi did her speech out of the Interpretive Reading Manual where she read a poem from Archibald Lampman called "In November". The Speeches were evaluated by the round table format where everyone gave great feedback to our speakers. Leo Brisebois for Point of View spoke about the always increasing price of electricity and Richard Boertien had to Counter the Point.

Lorna Vanderploeg presented a very enjoyable Table Topics where she gave everyone an object that she had in her gift bag and we had to try to sell it to another toastmaster. Everyone did a good job with it and the winner of table topics was Keith McCluskie. Sharon Diehl filled the role as Quizmaster and challenged our listening skills. Keith Stoltz took on the role of general evaluator and he gave a review of a recent Education module that Marie McCutcheon did on Toastmaster etiquette. He went over some of the ways that we can improve our etiquette during the meeting. After the meeting, everyone enjoyed refreshments provided by Heidi Menzi.

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Dates to remember:

Dec. 9th - Secrets of Speaking

Dec. 16th - Christmas Potluck - Christmas is a Feeling

Jan. 7th - Sports night

November 23, 2010 - Theme: A Novel Profession

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

On Thursday night, we had yet another great meeting with our theme of "A Novel Profession". We had excellent attendance with 17 members and even a guest (Paul Stevers who is George's brother). Sharon Diehl called the meeting to order with a very good introduction of Keith McCluskie as chairperson. Keith opened the meeting by going over what his thoughts were on the theme for the meeting. He made the meeting very fun and had great introductions for everyone by describing what he thought their "Novel Profession" would be. He also explained everyone’s roles for our new members and our guest.

For Joke of the Day, I read a joke about Sherlock Holmes and Watson on a camping trip. Lucy D'Arcey was our Toast and Timer, who gave a timely toast to Canada and our freedom to be in any kind of profession. The Grammarian role was done by Keith Stoltz and he always picks a fun word to challenge everyone to use during the meeting. The word was "Bamboozle" which means to deceive or to get the better of someone by trickery or flattery.

Our first speaker was Leo Brisebois and he was completing his final speech for his Advanced Communicator Bronze. His speech was out of the Management Manual and was called "Controversial Issues at Breeze Comforts" then he had a question/answer period. Then Lorna Vanderploeg did her second speech in the CC Manual which was called "An Honourable Profession" where she described her profession as a Municipal Bylaw Officer and Animal Control Officer. The Speeches were evaluated by Diane Bender and Sharon D'Arcey, who gave great feedback to our speakers.

George Nichol did a very enjoyable Table Topics session where he had everyone pick a profession out of an envelope and describe their Novel Profession. Marilyn Miller filled the role as Quizmaster and Audrey Orth was our Laugh Counter and she recorded 94 laughs. Richard Boertien took on the role of general evaluator and he gave a review of how the meeting went and some grow points on how to improve our meeting. For Anything for the Good of Toastmasters, some of the members who attended the Fall Conference described what a great time they had at the conference. After the meeting, everyone enjoyed refreshments provided by Diane Bender.

Happy first year anniversary to Sharon Diehl, Richard Boertien and Sharon D’Arcey!

Hope to see you all on Thursday for our next meeting.

Brent

Dates to remember:

Dec. 2nd - Theme - What's Your Best Ideas for Someone Who Has Everything

Dec. 9th - Secrets of Speaking

Dec. 16th - Christmas Potluck - Christmas is a Feeling