September 22, 2011, Theme: Fall Harvest

Valrie Hummel (left) takes part in the induction ceremony presented by Lorna VanderPloeg (V.P. of Membership).

















Lorna VanderPloeg (right) welcomes our newest member Valrie Hummel (left) to the Linguists of Listowel Toastmaster's club.

















Valrie Hummel provides us with a literary reading about Fall Harvest.

















Karen Bott provides us with a series of poems about Fall Harvest during her literary reading.

















Marilyn Miller (left) and Karen Bott (right) provide Heidi Menzi (centre) with some suggestions for her next speech during the Coaches Corner.

September 22, 2011, Theme: Fall Harvest

The Theme was Fall Harvest which brought out many good memories of back on the farm around Harvest Time.

We kicked off the meeting with Valrie Hummel's Induction Ceremony done by Lorna VanderPloeg, our V.P. of Membership and Valrie's mentor.

Jane provided the joke of the day about a preacher’s son getting his license and asking his dad for the car however his dad asked him to complete a list of tasks. The son completed all of the tasks but forgot to cut his hair. The son recalled that the prophets had long hair. The pastor replied, Yes, and everywhere the prophets needed to go, they walked.

Jane also presented an Educational Corner on tips to use in the Humorous and Table Topic contest coming up on September 29th. She also gave us coaching ideas on how to find a speech title using the brainstorming technique.

Literary Corner was provided by both Valrie Hummel and Karen Bott. Both speakers read autumn poems quoted by famous writers. Both read exceptionally well and made us all feel like we were part of the experience.

Toast and Timer role was filled by Audrey Orth. She described how fortunate we are to live in a country full of bounty. Table Topics was done by Heidi Menzi. We all had to tell a story about what we remember, positive or negative, about Autumn Harvest. We all had good stories to tell. Karen Bott won with her story about her youth when she used to collect a bag full of baby frogs and scare people with them.

Grammarian, Lorna VanderPloeg, gave us the word "Ruckus" which was used over 7 times during the night. The Quiz Master, Marilyn Miller, had some good quiz's to get us thinking and test our memory.

George Nichol, who was the General Evaluator of the meeting and chairperson for the Evaluator role for Keith McCluskie, gave us an evaluation of the meeting with suggestions for improvements.

All in all, we had over 35 laughs and there were lots of good autumn stories that we had the pleasure to enjoy at the meeting.

Linguist of Listowel

Leo Brisebois

September 15, 2011, Theme: Hero's

Jane Stoltz (Vice President of Education) presents Keith Stoltz (past Area Governor) with the D.T.M. (Distinguished Toast Master) award.










Keith Stoltz discusses his journey to obtain his D.T.M. award.


















George Stevers presents his 6th speech about his trip to the Perth County Plowing Match with his son.

















Lucy D'Arcey presents her 5th speech entitled "Writer's Block".


















Lorna VanderPloeg (Vice President of Membership) presents her 8th speech entitled "What is a Hero".

September 15_2011, Theme: Hero's

Calling to Order was done by Keith Stoltz who also introduced the chairperson. Keith told the story of his gold fish burial and my cat as the culprit for the introduction, I don’t think my cat, Kosmo would appreciate that accusation. He is very quiet and keeps out of trouble....he needs to be, he has 2 dogs to watch out for.

The Theme was Hero’s. Who is your hero and who do you consider a Hero. We remembered stories of 9/11and the people who made a difference.

Also joining us for the meeting was a friend of Lucy D’Arcey and a guest to our meeting, Tracy Ireland, who came out to see what it was all about.

Keith McCluskie started us off with the Joke of the Day. It was about some funny answers that doctors provide to their patients about what ails them. Eg. Patient “I am on this diet and it’s not going so good I got so hungry that I bit off someone's ear. The doctor replied, “Oh my, that is a lot of calories". Eg. Can I get a second opinion? The doctor replies, Certainly, come and see me tomorrow.

Toast and Timer, George Nichol proposed a toast to our firefighters, the police all those who make a difference in our lives and sometimes the ones that we take for granted.

Award Presentation by Jane Stoltz to Keith Stoltz in getting is DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster Award). Jane explained his journey in reaching this high plateau. She also explained to everyone that it’s achievable and time is not a factor.

Keith Stoltz was the Grammarian with the word of the day "Immortalize". The word was used a few times throughout the meeting.

Lucy D’Arcey filled the role of Literary Corner where she read out of the "Book of Awakenings". It is a book of inspirational readings on standards that we have on ourselves and others without awareness.

Lucy also had a speech named "Writers Block" and how she used the article in the Toastmasters magazine from David. It was a column telling us that everyone has something to say and the more we listen to it the more we get a different meaning to the story. Eg. Did you hear about this or did I tell you already, you tell so many people about something you heard that you start forgetting who you told it too.

George Stevers presented his 5th speech from the Competent Communicator's manual about going to the Perth County Plowing Match with is son Chris. The speech objectives were to display Vocal Variety.

Lorna VanderPloeg presented her 8th speech from the Competent Communicator's manual. It was an inspirational speech about Hero's. Lorna is well on her way to achieving her C/C.

Jane Stoltz V.P. of Education had an educational module on the D.C.P. chart, explaining the different goals for each part of the chart.

Table Topics, the fun part of the night was chaired by Keith Stoltz our new DTM. We each had to pick an object or tool out of a bag and explained how it made us into a hero or a saviour. The winner, Audrey Orth, had a tool to snuff out candles and she told us all how she used it to put out a small fire. With Table Topics the criteria is to use an introduction, body and conclusion along with hand gestures to make it real.

Audrey was also the General Evaluator who introduced the evaluators, Lorna VanderPloeg, Heidi Menzi and Leo Brisebois for the 3 speeches. She also evaluated the evaluators and gave grow points along with the next meeting.

All in all the laugh counter hit 50 last night, what a feeling. We had comments from our guest Tracy who congratulated us on making her feel welcome and pointed out to us how brave we are to stand up there and speak, we invited her to come visit us again and maybe join our club if she would like to.

It was a fun meeting, we had a lot of laughs. After the meeting, we had snacks and treats provided by Jane Stoltz.

Linguist of Listowel

Leo Brisebois

September 8_2011, Theme: Summer Reflections

Valrie Hummel was the Table Topics winner.


















Jane Stoltz (left) - Vice President of Education presents Lorna VanderPloeg (right) - Vice President of Membership with an award for completing her 6th speech from the Competent Communications manual.









Leo Brisebois (left) - club president chats with member George Stevers (right) after the meeting.











The new club executive officers for 2011-2012.
Back row, left to right: Brent Jemmett (Sergeant at Arms), George Nichol (club Treasurer), Leo Brisebois (club President) and Keith McCluskie (Vice President of Public Relations).
Front row, left to right: Marilyn Miller (club Secretary), Jane Stoltz (Vice President of Education) and Lorna VanderPloeg (Vice President of Membership).

September 8_2011, Theme: Summer Reflections

A recap of last night meeting and the 1^st meeting since the summer break.

The meeting was kicked off by Karen Bott who welcomed me (Leo Brisebois) as the chairperson and she had some guesses on how I spent my summer holidays and she did get 2 out of 3 correct.

We had the introduction of the new officers and presentation of the Handbooks. George had the joke of the day and it was about air conditioning and how the inventors of the air conditioner got there names engraved on all the systems that were installed by Mr. Ford and they went by the names of low, medium, high and max.

Our Toast and Timer Brent Jemmett gave us a recap of his summer reflection and how fortunate we are to be in this great country called Canada. The Grammarian was Valrie Hummel who gave us the word of the week - Doleful. It was used very dolefully throughout the meeting. Heidi Menzi the Literary Corner had a poem for us about a summer in 1988 and how hot it was and how we waited under a shade tree for the heat to pass us by.

We had 2 speakers; Keith Stoltz (who is working on his second C/C project # 5) gave us his summer reflection of cruising with his Red Honda Goldwing down the highway, the second speaker was Audrey Orth (who is also working on her second C/C) gave us her experience being in the wrong place at the wrong time with her new van.

Sharon D'Arcey's (Table Topic Master) topic was summer reflections. She asked us each to speak about our summer adventures, the good and doleful moments. The winner was Valrie who told us about her beaver tail experience in Ottawa. Keith McCluskie and Lorna Vanderploeg, the evaluators, provided glow and grow points for each speaker. Jane Stoltz was our Quiz Master and Laugh Counter. She had some good ones. We had to think about who said what. There were 105 laughs during the meeting, can you imagine?

General Evaluator, Diane Bender gave us a good summary of the meeting along good grow points to bring forward.

We ended the night with snack Thanks to Valrie.

Leo Brisebois

July 21_2011, Theme: Meet Mr. Mic

Wayne Stoltz was the chairperson of the meeting.
The meeting was held at the residence of Wayne Stoltz.

Thursday, July 21_2011: Theme: Meet Mr. Mic

Newest member, Valrie Hummel's Ice Breaker speech.


















Richard Boertien delivers his speech presentation to the group.


















Brent Jemmett is the Table Topics Master.


















Jane Stoltz is the speech evaluator for Valrie's Ice Breaker speech.

















Lorna VanderPloeg is the speech evaluator for Richard's speech presentation.

June 23, 2011 - Awards and Induction Ceremony

Area Governor, Keith Stoltz, officially dismisses all current club executive members and inducts all of the new club executive members for the 2011/2012 year.
















Area Governor, Keith Stoltz (right) officially inducts Leo Brisebois as the new club president of the Linguists of Listowel for the 2011/2012 year.
















Diane Bender (right), presents Brent Jemmett with the Brenda Karges trophy for his work as club president during the 2010 - 2011 year.










Brent Jemmett (club president for 2010 - 2011) gives his acceptance speech after receiving the Brenda Karges award.

June 23, 2011 - Theme: Tall Tales Contest and Year End Party

Audrey Orth presents her Tall Tales speech entitled "Mary Sue".

















Richard Boertien presents his Tall Tales speech entitled "My New Neighbour .......Jim."

















Richard recreates the Mission Impossible scene and background music as he acts out his presentation.

















Richard is on the move in "stealth mode" as he acts out his speech.

June 23, 2011 - Theme: Tall Tales Contest and Pizza Potluck Supper

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At Thursday's meeting there were 12 members in attendance and 6 guests. The guests were; Rhea Longman (former member), George Nichol's wife Marilyn, Marge Seawright and her friend April (from the Mt. Forest Motivators), Lorna VanderPloeg's friend Val Hummel (our newest member) and Richard Boertien's wife Pauline. Heidi Menzi called the meeting to order by introducing myself and Keith McCluskie as the chairpersons for the night. We opened the meeting by sharing with everyone what the Tall Tales contest was all about.

Marge Seawright said grace and then we enjoyed our Pizza and Potluck dinner. Our Tall Tales Contest had 6 very funny and extremely exaggerated stories. Keith Stoltz was the Chief Judge and Diane Bender and Geogre Nichol were the timers. The speakers were; Brent Jemmett - "The Great Outdoorsman", Lorna VanderPloeg - "Maple Syrup Festival", Leo Brisebois - "How the Big One Got Away", Keith McCluskie -"Family Reunion", Richard Boertien - "My New Neighbour___Jim", and Audrey Orth - "Mary Sue".

Richard Boertien placed 1st, Brent Jemmett placed 2nd and Lorna VanderPloeg placed 3rd.

Diane Bender presented myself with the Brenda Karges award for being the club president and achieving Presidents Distinguished status for the Linguists of Listowel. Our Area Governor, Keith Stoltz dismissed the old executive members (effective June 30th at 3:00 am) and officially inducted the new executive for the upcoming 2011/2012 year.

Hope to see everyone at our next meeting at Wayne Stoltz's house in Trowbridge on July 21st.

Brent

June 16, 2011 - Theme: Fabulous Fifties and More

Club President, Brent Jemmett (left) presents Sharon D'Arcey with a certificate of achievement for completing her Competent Communicator manual. This certificate is achieved by presenting 10 speeches.








Club president, Brent Jemmett (left), presents Lorna VanderPloeg with a certificate of achievement for completing her 6th speech from the Competent Communicator manual.

June 16, 2011 - Theme: Fabulous Fifties and More

Brent Jemmett was the chairperson for the evening.


















Wayne Stoltz provided us with the Joke of the Day.


















Diane Bender filled the role of Literary Corner and provided all members with a reading.

June 16, 2011 - Theme: Fabulous Fifties and More

Lucy D'Arcey presented her speech from the Competent Communicator manual entitled "Are Your Assumptions Correct?"
















Leo Brisebois presented his speech from the Advanced Manual. Leo performed a roast of his co-worker entitled "Roasting Bernie".
















Audrey Orth presented her speech entitled "Life in the Fifties".











Audrey Orth (far right) holds pictures of her life in the fifties as Diane Bender (left) helps Audrey with her props.










Sharon Diehl was the Table Topics Master for the meeting.

June 16, 2011, Theme: Fabulous Fifties and More

Lorna VanderPloeg was the speech evaluator for Lucy D'Arcey's speech.

















Keith Stoltz was the speech evaluator for Leo Brisebois speech presentation.

















Sharon D'Arcey was the speech evaluator for Audrey Orth's speech presentation.

















Richard Boertien was the Grammarian for the meeting. His word of the evening was "obstructive" meaning to block or impede.

















George Nichol was the general evaluator of the meeting. He introduced each speaker and gave a review of the entire meeting with glow and grow points.

June 16, 2011 - Theme: Fabulous Fifties and More...

Hello Fellow Linguists of Listowel and Friends,

At Thursday's meeting there was 14 members in attendance. Wayne Stoltz called the meeting to order by introducing our theme of the night "Fabulous Fifties and More..." and he also mentioned some of the things that happened in the 50's. Then he introduced myself as the chairperson. I opened the meeting by sharing my thoughts on the Fabulous 50's and introduced everyone with some comments made in the 50's.

Wayne Stoltz started the laughs going with a very funny joke for Joke of the Day. Heidi Menzi held the role of Toast and Timer and she gave a toast to Canada and our freedom. Diane Bender for Literary Corner read an entertaining story from Kerri Cox's "50's Housewife". Richard Boertien held the role of Grammarian and he challenged us to use the word "Obstructive" which was used 5 times.

Our first speaker was Lucy D'Arcey and she gave a very inspirational speech called "Are Your Assumptions Correct?". Next, Leo Brisebois completed his 3rd speech from the Special Occasion manual called the The Roast. His speech was very humorous and was called "Roasting Bernie". Then our third speaker was Audrey Orth, who completed speech #8 out of the CC manual. It was a very interesting and informative speech called "Life in the 50's"

Sharon Diehl was our Table Topics Master and she had everyone tell a family tradition or memory of the 50's. The winner was a tie between George Nichol and Wayne Stoltz. Lorna Vanderploeg gave an evaluation for Lucy's speech, Keith Stoltz evaluated Leo's speech and Sharon D'Arcey evaluated Audrey's speech. George Nichol gave the meeting an evaluation as our General Evaluator. For Point of View, Sharon D'Arcey gave the benefits of being able to walk in someone else's shoes. Then Keith McCluskie did a great job trying to counter the points.

We also had an Awards Ceremony for Lorna Vanderploeg completing her 6th speech and Sharon D'Arcey for completing her Competent Communicator manual.

After our meeting we enjoyed some refreshments provided by Lucy and Sharon D'Arcey.

Please join us at next week's Tall Tales Contest and Pizza/Potluck Dinner. Remember to bring your plates and utensils.

Brent

June 9, 2011 - Theme: Yes You Can

Keith Stoltz (Area Governor) was the Chair Person of the meeting. He provided us with lots of ways to get involved with "Yes, you can".
















Lucy D'Arcey provided the members with the "Joke of the Day" and she also filled the role of "Literary Corner".

















Lorna Vanderploeg presented her 6th speech from the Competent Communicator manual entitled "How to Deliver Difficult Messages".
















Sharon D'Arcey completed her 10th speech from the Competent Communicator manual. Her speech was entitled "Excuses, Excuses, Excuses".

June 9, 2011 - Theme: Yes You Can

Shown Right: Jane Stoltz was the Table Topics Master for the evening. All members in attendance had to read Tongue Twisters aloud three times (slow to start, faster, and very fast).
















Next Right: George Nichol was the speech evaluator for Sharon D'Arcey's speech number 10 from the Competent Communicator manual.
















Bottom Right: Sharon Diehl was the General Evaluator of the meeting. She introduced each speaker and also gave a general evaluation of the whole meeting with glow and grow points.