Thursday, April 21, 2011- Theme: Earthquakes

Hello fellow Linguist of Listowel members and friends,

Our meeting last Thursday evening was held at Perth Meadows (The Meadows) located in the southwest corner of Listowel.

At 7:00 pm, we had a PowerPoint presentation from Norm McLennan and Susan James. We learned about the pricing of the rooms in the facility ($154,000.00 for a one-bedroom and $194,000.00 for a two-bedroom). We were shown the 3rd and 4th phases of additional assisted care building and a nursing home building. No projected date for building it though. We had a tour of the 36 unit facility from Carol McCracken and Susan James.

We started our regular meeting at approximately 7:50 pm with 8 members in attendance and 1 guest (Holly Brisebois).

Call to Order: Jane Stoltz - She welcomed everyone and explained her thoughts on the meaning of Earthquakes (Disturbance that can be extremely disruptive or a disorderly outburst.
Chairperson's Welcome, Welcoming of Guests, Agenda Review: Jane Stoltz - she welcomed Holly Brisebois as a guest.
Loyal Toast and Timer: Karen Bott (first time at this role) - Toast to Canada and the fact that we only have small tremors instead of full scale earthquakes.
Grammarian: Jane Stoltz - Word of the day "Shock" (noun - sudden or violent blow or collision). Jane explained various meanings and ways to use the word in a sentence. Eleven earthquakes occur around the world each day. The word of the Day “Shock” was used 19 times during the meeting.
Literary Corner: Leo Brisebois - Spring Flyer of attractions across the country. Leo did a comparison of the tourist attractions he had while living in Cornwall, Ontario and Listowel, Ontario. Cornwall was 5 minutes from the USA border and he went over 3 or 4 times per week (gasoline and shopping). Now his wife Holly gets on a bus with other women and goes to the USA for a whole weekend to shop.
Listowel is close to Sauble beach, Wasaga beach, Elora Gorge, St. Jacobs shops.
Speaker # 1: Marie McCutcheon - Speech title "When I Retire".
Marie asked each person in attendance provide her with a speech topic on a piece of paper in advance. She quickly read them over and went to the front to present a speech without the use of notes. The speech presentation included information that we learned from the tour of the facility and how she could retire at "The Meadows". The speech presentation also included mention of all of the written topics provided to her from each person in attendance.
Table Topics: Keith McCluskie - Keith asked each person in attendance to write down their own table topic on a slip of paper and then hand it to the person on their right (twice). There was a variety of topics and it was quite humorous as each person was called to the lectern to present table topics.
Evaluator # 1: We all provided Marie with written notes for her evaluation.
Report from Timer: Karen Bott – All speakers stayed fairly close or better than their alloted times for speaking.
Best Table Topic Award: Keith McCluskie - Winner was Diane Bender.
General Evaluator: Sharon D'Arcey - Provided glow and grow points for the meeting. (New facility with 4 large tables put together with chairs all around made a cozy meeting. Fun meeting that went well with a small group in attendance).
Suggested that a full minute of silence be provided while written evaluations were provided to the speaker.
Anything for the Good of Toastmasters: Diane Bender discussed the upcoming elections for new club officer roles and asked who would be running and what positions. Diane asked for assistance with the chair of the nomination committee.
Chairperson's closing remarks: Jane Stoltz - good meeting and very nice facilities. Next meeting at the regular time and place.

Call to Order: Jane Stoltz - She welcomed everyone and explained her thoughts on the meaning of Earthquakes (Disturbance that can be extremely disruptive or a disorderly outburst.
Chairperson's Welcome, Welcoming of Guests, Agenda Review: Jane Stoltz - she welcomed Holly Brisebois as a guest.
Loyal Toast and Timer: Karen Bott (first time at this role) - Toast to Canada and the fact that we only have small tremors instead of full scale earthquakes.
Grammarian: Jane Stoltz - Word of the day "Shock" (noun - sudden or violent blow or collision). Jane explained various meanings and ways to use the word in a sentence. Eleven earthquakes occur around the world each day. The word of the Day “Shock” was used 19 times during the meeting.
Literary Corner: Leo Brisebois - Spring Flyer of attractions across the country. Leo did a comparison of the tourist attractions he had while living in Cornwall, Ontario and Listowel, Ontario. Cornwall was 5 minutes from the USA border and he went over 3 or 4 times per week (gasoline and shopping). Now his wife Holly gets on a bus with other women and goes to the USA for a whole weekend to shop.
Listowel is close to Sauble beach, Wasaga beach, Elora Gorge, St. Jacobs shops.
Speaker # 1: Marie McCutcheon - Speech title "When I Retire".
Marie asked each person in attendance provide her with a speech topic on a piece of paper in advance. She quickly read them over and went to the front to present a speech without the use of notes. The speech presentation included information that we learned from the tour of the facility and how she could retire at "The Meadows". The speech presentation also included mention of all of the written topics provided to her from each person in attendance.
Table Topics: Keith McCluskie - Keith asked each person in attendance to write down their own table topic on a slip of paper and then hand it to the person on their right (twice). There was a variety of topics and it was quite humorous as each person was called to the lectern to present table topics.
Evaluator # 1: We all provided Marie with written notes for her evaluation.
Report from Timer: Karen Bott – All speakers stayed fairly close or better than their alloted times for speaking.
Best Table Topic Award: Keith McCluskie - Winner was Diane Bender.
General Evaluator: Sharon D'Arcey - Provided glow and grow points for the meeting. (New facility with 4 large tables put together with chairs all around made a cozy meeting. Fun meeting that went well with a small group in attendance).
Suggested that a full minute of silence be provided while written evaluations were provided to the speaker.
Anything for the Good of Toastmasters: Diane Bender discussed the upcoming elections for new club officer roles and asked who would be running and what positions. Diane asked for assistance with the chair of the nomination committee.
Chairperson's closing remarks: Jane Stoltz - good meeting and very nice facilities. Next meeting at the regular time and place.

April 14, 2011, Theme: Boost Your Hometown

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

On Thursday, we had a great time at our meeting with the theme of “Boost Your Hometown”. There were 10 members in attendance. Audrey Orth called the meeting to order by introducing myself as the chair for the meeting. I boosted the home towns that I have lived in and discussed why everyone should boost their home town.

Rich Boertien took on the role of Joke of the Day and got the laughs going by telling a couple of really funny jokes. Wayne Stoltz filled in for the role of Toast and Timer and he gave our toast to Canada and our home town of Listowel. George Stevers took on the role of Literary Corner and read a very interesting story from The Book of Virtues by Wayne J. Bennet.

Our first speaker was Marie McCutcheon with her speech presentation "You can make a story out of nothing”. We all got to hear about her very interesting trip getting to the Spring Conference in Toronto. Next, Jane Stoltz filled the role of Educational Corner and taught us the basics of parliamentary procedures. We will be using parliamentary procedures in our upcoming Officer Election in May.

Rich Boertien took on the role of Point of View where he explained the importance of clean living and taking care of yourself. Then Wayne Stoltz had to counter his Point of View.

Keith McCluskie for the role of Table Topic master and had us all pick an Easter egg out of the basket. Inside the egg was a topic or method of how we would each boost our home town. The winner was Marie McCutcheon. Keith Stoltz took on the role of general evaluator, where he introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Leo evaluated Marie’s speech.

Remember that our next regular meeting on Thursday with our theme "Earthquakes" will be at a different location. The Meadows which is at 710 Nelson St. in Listowel (behind Zellers) and the meeting is at different time (7pm).

Brent

April 7, 2011 Social Media

Left: General Evaluator - Heidi Menzi












Below: Quizmaster - Brent Jemmett

April 7, 2011, Social Media

Left: Chairperson - Sharon D'Arcey
Speaking about social media.

















Left: Karen Bott presented her first Ice Breaker speech.










Left: Richard Boertien, speaking about his new house.









Bottom Left: Karen Bott being congratulated by club president Brent Jemmett for presenting her Ice Breaker speech "All About Me".

April 7, 2011, Theme: Social Media

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel, we had a very enjoyable meeting. There were 9 members in attendance. Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order by introducing Sharon D'Arcey as our chairperson for the meeting. Sharon introduced our theme for the evening of "Social Media" by telling us what social media is and how it is used in today's society.

I took on the role of Joke of the Day by telling a couple of jokes about Facebook. George Stevers held the role of Toast and Timer and he gave our toast to Canada. Keith Stoltz for the role of Literary Corner read a story from Gold Wing Magazine about a trip that some Americans took on their motorcycles through Western Canada.

Our first speaker was our newest member, Karen Bott's Icebreaker speech called "All About Me" and we all got to know more about her. Our second speaker was Rich Boertien had a very entertaining and informative speech called "Reduce the Stress in Your Life".

Sharon D'Arcey also filled in for the role of Table Topic master and had us all speak about the pros and cons of social media. The winner was Leo Brisebois.

I tested everyone's listening skills as Quizmaster and Heidi Menzi took on the role of general evaluator, where she introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Keith evaluated Karen's speech and Leo evaluated Rich's speech.

Hope to see you all at our next regular meeting on Thursday with our theme "Boost your Hometown".

Also, remember Tuesday is Mt. Forest's workshop on "Be An Exceptional Presenter!" by Gary Mull.

Brent

March 31, 2011, Theme: Great Leaders

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At Thursday meeting, we had a fun time with the theme of “Great Leaders”. There were 12 members in attendance and two guests (Dorothy Reid and Caroline Beren from the Mt. Forest Motivators). Sharon D'Arcey called the meeting to order by introducing myself as the chair for the meeting. I went over what makes a great leader and some the people that I considered a Great Leader.

Keith Stoltz took on the role of Joke of the Day and got the laughs going by telling a really funny joke. Lorna Vanderploeg took on the role of Toast and Timer and she gave our toast to Canada. Rich Boertien was the Grammarian and he challenged us to use the word "Great" throughout the meeting. Heidi Menzi took on the role of Literary Corner and read a very interesting story about medieval times.

Our first speaker was George Stevers with a very informative speech that was titled "Winston Churchill". Rich Boertien was our second speaker and he had a very entertaining speech entitled "Our House" and his experiences about the building of his new home. Next, Jane Stoltz for an Educational Corner went over the role of General Evaluator and the new way that we are using the role at our meetings.

Marie McCutcheon for the role of Table Topic Master had us all write down a great leader. Then we had to pick a quirk out of the envelope and act out that great leader with a quirk (Example; Itchy/scratchy feeling, loud voice, whispering while talking, run-on sentences, etc.). The winner was Richard Boertien.

Keith McCluskie took on the role of general evaluator, where he introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Jane evaluated George's speech and Marilyn evaluated Rich's speech.

Hope to see you all at our next meeting on Thursday

Brent

March 24, 2011 - Table Topics Theme: Blizzard Stories

Table Topics participants adding their personal experiences to the on-going blizzard story started by Table Topics Master, Karen Bott.

Keith Stoltz (top left)

Richard Boertien (bottom left).

March 24, 2011 - Table Topics Theme: Blizzard Stories

More Table Topics participants adding their experiences to the on-going blizzard story.

Marilyn Miller (top right)

Lorna Vanderploeg and Table Topics Master, Karen Bott (next right)

Leo Brisebois (middle)

Jane Stoltz (next right)

Marshall McCoy and Table Topics Master Karen Bott (bottom right)

March 24, 2011 - Table Topics Theme: Blizzard Stories

Even more Table Topics participants add their personal past experiences to an on-going blizzard story.
George Stevers (left)

George Nichol (second left)

Brent Jemmett (next left)

Audrey Orth (next left) shown with Table Topics Master, Karen Bott

Heidi Menzi (bottom left)

Thursday, March 24, 2011 - Theme: Blizzard Stories

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At this past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel, we had lots of fun with the theme of Blizzard Stories. There was 13 members and 1 guest (Lorna's son - Marshall) in attendance. Marilyn Miller called the meeting to order with a minute of silence for the fallen firefighters and then she introduced our chair for the meeting. Audrey Orth was chair for the evening and she told some blizzard stories. She also told us how the community came together with volunteers to help organize the funeral for the firefighters (Raymond Walters and Ken Rea).

Rich Boertien started the laughs going with the role of Joke of the Day by telling a couple of jokes. Keith Stoltz held the role of Toast and Timer and he gave a toast to the fallen heroes (Ken and Raymond). The Grammarian role was done by George Nichol and he challenged everyone to use the word "Obfuscate".

Our first speaker was Lorna Vanderploeg and she gave us a very entertaining speech about some personal blizzard stories. Our second speaker was Heidi Menzi and she told us about the time she visited Victoria Island, British Columbia with all their beautiful gardens (Butchart Gardens). I did the role of Point of View and told the points of why people should join Toastmasters. Then Leo Brisebois had to counter those points with reasons why not.

Karen Bott took on the role of Table Topics Master and had us all continue a story that she started by using some props that she brought. The winner was Audrey Orth. Keith McCluskie tested our listening skills with the role of Quiz Master and Jane Stoltz took on the role of general evaluator, where she introduced our evaluators and went over what we did well and some grow points during the meeting. Marilyn evaluated Lorna's speech and Keith McCluskie evaluated Heidi's speech.

Hope to see you all at our next regular meeting on Thursday. There will be a short business meeting to follow our regular meeting for the club executive officers.

Brent

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - Theme: St. Patrick's Day Celebrations in Listowel

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

This past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting was an extremely enjoyable meeting filled with many laughs. We had 13 members in attendance and one guest (Marilyn Miller's sister - Georgina Salter). The theme for the night was "'St. Patrick's Day Celebrations in Listowel" and Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order by introducing Sharon O'D'Arcey who was our chair for the night. She went over the history of St. Patrick's day and what the day means to her.

Audrey Orth started the laughs going with the role of Joke of the Day by telling three Irish jokes. Lorna Vanderploeg took on the role of Literary Corner where she shared some facts about St. Patrick's day. I held the role of Toast and Timer where I gave a toast to Canada where we are able to celebrate all different cultures. The Grammarian role was done by Jane Stoltz and she challenged everyone to use the phrase "Luck of the Irish" . It was used 19 times and Jane counted 93 laughs.

Our first speaker was George Nichol and did an interpretive reading of the monodrama from a George Bernard Shaw play entitled "Getting Married". Our second speaker was Marie McCutcheon and she gave us a very informative speech and discussion about the dangers of microwaving food. Next Jane Stoltz did an Educational Corner on the different levels at Toastmasters. Keith McCluskie evaluated George's speech.

Keith Stoltz did a great job as Table Topic Master and asked us all questions dealing with St. Patrick's Day. The winner was Keith McCluskie. Marilyn Miller took on the role of general evaluator, where she explained her role very well and gave us feedback on the overall meeting.

Hope to see you all at our next regular meeting on Thursday.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs March 24: Linguists of Listowel, Blizzard Stories

Thurs March 31: Linguists of Listowel, Great Leaders

Contest Dates

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

Thursday, March 10, 2011 Theme: Face The Fear and Do It Anyways.

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

This past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel meeting, we had 9 members and 1 guest (Marilyn's friend Ron Coleman) in attendance. The theme for the night was "'Face the Fear and Do It Anyways" and Audrey Orth called the meeting to order with her thoughts on the theme. I was chair for the evening and discussed some of the top fears as well as some of my fears.

Wayne Stoltz started the laughs going with the role of Joke of the Day. Marilyn Miller held the role of Toast and Timer and she gave a toast to Canada where we are able to face our fears. The Grammarian role was done by Sharon D'Arcey and she challenged everyone to use the word "Frivolous". It was used 10 times.

Our speaker was Keith Stoltz and he gave us a very informative Educational Module on going outside the club. He went over with everyone the District's "Go outside your club program". We gave an evaluation by the round table format where everyone gave Keith glow and grow points.

Sharon D'Arcey also took on the role of Table Topics Master and had us pick a question from a Trivial Pursuit card. Then we had to explain to everyone how we knew the answer to one of the questions. The winner was Audrey Orth. George Stevers tested our listening skills with Quiz Master and Keith McCluskie took on the role of general evaluator, where he went over a checklist of what we did well and we missed during the meeting.

Hope to see you all at our next regular meeting on Thursday and remember to wear your green for St. Patrick's Day.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs March 17: Linguists of Listowel, Paddyfest Celebrations

Contest Dates

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

March 3, 2011 Theme: What Season Are You?

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

This past Thursday's Linguists of Listowel's meeting was a great meeting filled with many laughs. We had 15 members in attendance and 1 guest (Mary Lynn Ericson). The theme for the night was "'What Season Are You?" and George Nichol called the meeting to order with his thoughts on all the different types of seasons. I was chair for the evening and went over what my favourite types of seasons are.

Jane Stoltz started the laughs going with the role of Joke of the Day. Keith McCluskie held the role of Toast and Timer where he gave a toast to Canada where we have all different temperature ranges like being -50 degrees in the winter to being +33 degrees in the summer. The Grammarian role was done by Diane Bender and she challenged everyone to use the word "Seasonable" . Our newest member Karen Bott took on the role of Ah Counter, where she listened for the those filler words.

Our first speaker was Sharon D'Arcey with her inspiring speech titled "What Really Matters". Our second speaker was Keith Stoltz and he gave us a very entertaining speech that he was going to give at the Toastmaster Appreciation Brunch in Mississauga as the keynote speaker. Sharon's speech was evaluated by the round table format where everyone gave her glow and grow points. Keith had an evaluation form that he had us all complete to help him get feedback.

Lorna Vanderploeg did a great job as Table Topics Master and had us all describe our favourite thing or memory about a certain season. Marie McCutcheon took on the role of Literary Corner and Audrey Orth took on the role of general evaluator, where she gave us feedback on the overall meeting.

Hope to see you all at the Area's contest on Wednesday night in Listowel and at our regular meeting on Thursday.

Brent

Toastmaster Calendar Dates

Thurs March 10: Linguists of Listowel, Face the Fear and Do It Anyways

Thurs March 17: Linguists of Listowel, Paddyfest Celebrations

Contest Dates

Area 66 Contest Wednesday March 9^th

Division W Contest Friday March 25th

March 3, 2011: Table Topics

Lorna Vanderploeg was the Table Topics Master during the meeting themed; What Season Are You?
Lorna guessed what season each member liked best and asked each of us to answer a question related to that season.

March 3, 2011: Speech Presentation Participants

Richard was purring like a cat to help with sound affects during an interactive portion of Keith Stoltz's speech presentation.
Mary Lynn Ericson (left) and Marilyn Miller (centre) enjoy Richard's antics.

February 24, 2011: International Speech and Evaluation Contest Winners

Area Governor Keith Stoltz (back centre) congratulates the winners.

The winners of the International Evaluation Contest were: (left) 2nd place- Keith McCluskie and 1st place - Jane Stoltz.

The winners of the International Speech Contest were (front centre)1st place - Sharon D'Arcey (What Really Matters), (right) 2nd place - Brent Jemmett (Mackenzie's Figure Skating Career).

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.