April 19, 2012 Theme: Staying Fit

Val Hummel called the meeting to order and introduced Chairperson Leo.  

Leo spoke of ways to keep fit and have fun while doing it through exercise and diet.  

John gave us the joke of the day about a treadmill being left as an inheritance in a will.  Brent was Toast and Timer and led us in a Toast to springtime in Canada.  

Val was Grammarian for the evening and explained the meaning of the word "blatant".  It is an adjective that can be used to describe something visually loud like a bright colour or something that is offensively noisy or something that is obtrusive in a way that offends.  

Keith Stoltz handled Literary Corner and read the Obituary of the Penny.  He explained that the penny was "born" in 1858 and will come to the end of its "life" at the end of this month.  It will be withdrawn from circulation later this year.  

Vern gave a speech entitled "Senses" which described the five senses.  He concluded with a description of how his mother's homemade bread was enjoyed by all five senses and left everyone craving bread and butter.  

Tony chaired Table Topics and distributed pennies to each member.  Each person read the date on their penny and explained something important that had happened to them in that year.  John was Table Topics winner for his description of the first car he ever bought which happened when he went into a car dealership to ask for directions.  

George evaluated Vern's speech and gave lots of grow points stating it was an interesting speech with smooth transitions and good hand gestures.   

Heidi was general evaluator for the evening and commented on the great job everyone did with their roles.  

Brent gave the Timer's Report, and Val gave the Grammarian's Report.  The word "blatant" was only used about 4 times so it was blatantly clear that Val should have given a better explanation of the meaning of the word.  In preparation for the upcoming election of Executive members, Leo read the responsibilities of each role and asked who was interested in each role.  Some roles had interest but only the crickets chirped when Leo asked who was interested in VP of Public Relations!  Elections will occur at the May 3^rd meeting and interested candidates will give 2-3 minute "fun" speeches outlining reasons why they are interested in a role.  The roles for next week were mostly filled although some opportunities for participation still exist.  A fun meeting was had by all with lots of laughs, and Leo adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m.

Submitted by:

Val Hummel,

Club Secretary.

April 12, 2012, Theme: Friday the 13th

The meeting was called to order by Sharon D'Arcey and she introduced Marie McCutcheon as the chairperson of the meeting.
Marie discussed the theme of the meeting and how Friday the 13th was deemed to be unlucky. Marie provided interesting facts about how 13 was an unwanted number because there were 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 months in a year, a dozen is 12 and in years past it was stated that a table was considered full with 12 people. If there was ever 13 people invited for a meal, the hosts used to hire another person to attend the meal so that there wasn't 13 people at the table (it was noted that there were 12 members in attendance at the meeting). High rise buildings don't have a 13th floor and hospitals don't have a room 13.
Another interesting fact is that there are three Friday the 13th's in 2012 and they are 13 weeks apart.
Sharon D'Arcey was the Toast and Timer for the meeting and provided a toast to Canada. Tony Galvao was the Grammarian and Ah Counter. Tony described his roles and provided the members with the word of the day "Disambiguate" which means "make clear and more comprehendible".
John VanMeeteren filled the role of Literary Corner. John provided one of the club members with a difficult word to pronounce and asked for the word to be pronounced aloud so that John could use this word as part of his literary reading about the origins of Friday the 13th. John read aloud how both Fridays and the number 13 have been unlucky throughout history.
Speaker # 1 was Keith Stoltz. He was presenting Project # 9 from the Competent Communicator manual with his speech entitled "Bed and Breakfast". The speech described the various bed and breakfast locations that he and Jane have stayed at during their travels to various places around the world. He also described how the people that run them are very accommodating and it is a great opportunity to meet people from various parts of the world as well.
Vern Noseworthy provided a speech presentation with Point of View. His speech was about how more coal fired plants should be built to produce electricity, create more jobs and use some of the natural resources that are available to us.
Keith McCluskie provided a Counter Point of View and debated the points that Vern made in his speech presentation.
Table Topics was done by Jane Stoltz. Each member was provided two slips of paper with phrases about a specific superstition. Each member spoke for a minute about the topic and there were lots of laughs.
Leo Brisebois was the speech evaluator for Keith Stoltz's speech presentation. Leo gave lots of glow points and one grow point.
The Timer's Report was presented by Sharon D'Arcey and she highlighted 3 time offenders that went over the allotted time for their vocal presentations.
Tony Galvao provided the Grammarian and Ah Counter reports. The word "Disambiguate" was used 9 times during the meeting. There were 33 - Um's, Ah's and Oh's used during the meeting. The words And, But and So were misused 3 times each.
Jane Stoltz provided the Table Topics report - Keith McCluskie won Table Topics.
Brent Jemmett was the Quiz Master and challenged all of us with remembering who said what phrases during the meeting.
General Evaluation was done by a round table method with each member providing a glow and grow point of the meeting. Suggestions were made such as; add a laugh counter to the agenda as a role to be filled, ensure Joke of the Day is on the agenda as a role to be filled, the table arrangements were done well and the double doors being closed helps eliminate distractions.
Anything for the good of Toastmasters prompted reminders of the following; Friday the 13th is the Division contest at the Manulife building, the Home and Lifestyle Show is May 4th and 5th - volunteers needed to run the booth, Executive role selection next meeting - club officers to prepare a speech about their roles in preparation for the upcoming elections, 20th anniversary in September 2012 - planning a murder mystery supper theater.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm. Members enjoyed fellowship and refreshments.

April 5, 2012 Theme: Spring into April

The meeting started right on time with Keith Stoltz calling the meeting to order and Keith also filled the role of Chairperson.
Keith welcomed all 7 members to the meeting and in keeping with the theme, he suggested that we all spring in April action and put away the winter clothes, snow blowers, snow shovels and bring out the lawn mowers.

Joke of the Day was presented by both George Nichol and Jane Stoltz. George had some funny accounts of how children view marriage and how to choose a mate. Jane told of a funny story about 3 intoxicated men getting into a shopping cart and going through an automatic car wash late at night.
Keith McCluskie filled the role of Toast and Timer and gave a patriotic toast to Canada.

Speaker # 1 was Tony Galvao with his speech presentation entitled; Spring. This speech was the fourth from the Competent Communicator manual. Tony provided the members with his views of what constitutes spring. For example; Spring is a feeling, the call of frogs, the sightings of robins, the fragrant smell of country air as the barnyards get cleaned out after the winter storage, apple blossoms and fresh cut grass.

The Point of View role was filled by Keith Stoltz who presented his view that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist. Why, who has ever seen a real large pink bunny rabbit? It is a figment of our imagination.
The Count Point of View role was filled by Heidi Menzi who presented her views of how there is an Easter Bunny. Why, how could so many people be fooled into thinking that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist? The happy children on Easter Sunday morning are the proof of it's existence.

Table Topics Master role was filled by Vern Noseworthy. Vern asked each member what their view of Spring would be from the eyes of a jogger, camper, construction worker, farmer, etc. Each member got two opportunities to present Table Topics presentations.

George Nichol was Tony Galvao's speech evaluator and he provided lots of glow points of Tony's speech and one grow point.
A report was given on timing. Table Topics winner was Keith McCluskie. Heidi Menzi was the Quizmaster and she had the group thinking about who said what phrase throughout the meeting.

Jane Stoltz was the General Evaluator and she provided the members with her views of what she liked from the meeting and some recommendations for improvements.
With a small group, it is a good opportunity to take on agenda roles that you may not normally try or fill multiple roles in the meeting. It is recommended that members state their roles before presenting so that other members and guests understand what the purpose is.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 pm and members enjoyed refreshments and social time afterwards.

March 29, 20112, Theme: Celebrations

John Van Meeteren called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Brent Jemmett.  Brent welcomed everyone and spoke about the reasons why people hold celebrations and said that Spring is also a celebration.  He welcomed guest Apryl Browning.

Vern Noseworthy provided the Joke of the Day.  His joke was about an old prospector named Ralph who dealt creatively with a gunslinger.

Lorna VanderPloeg was Toast and Timer for the evening and she led members in a toast to Canada and her friend of 25 years, Dave Billings, who passed away.

Jane Stoltz was the evening’s Grammarian and Ah Counter.  Jane presented “hullabaloo” as the word of the evening.  It means racket, din or uproar.

The speakers of the night were Keith Stoltz and Leo Brisebois.  Keith presented a speech entitled “Driving in New Zealand”.  He spoke of the challenges of driving a car on the opposite side of the road and dealing with some of the different traffic rules that exist in New Zealand.  His key message was “Stay left, stay left, stay left!”  Leo presented an educational model on coaching and gave tips on coaching employees.  Audrey assisted with a demonstration of a supervisor coaching an employee on how to deal with a problem. 

Tony Galvao handled Point of View.  He said human beings should be genetically engineered to produce chlorophyll so they can produce their own food.  People would be green but there would be no more famine.  He noted there were 7 Billion people on Earth in 2011 and that number is expected to rise to 13 Billion by 2067.  He said 1.5 Million children die annually of famine, so genetically altering people to produce chlorophyll from the sun would solve many problems because people could sunbathe and produce food at the same time.  Marie McCutcheon provided her Counter Point of View.  She said if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day but if you teach a man how to fish, he eats for a lifetime.  She said people should stop taking advantage of their luxuries and should work to teach people in the poorer countries how to help themselves.

Diane Bender handled Table Topics.  She had each member pull a picture out of an envelope and describe how it was related to a celebration. 

Keith McCluskie was General Evaluator.  He had Sharon D’Arcey evaluate Keith Stoltz and George Nichol evaluated Leo. 

Chairperson, Brent Jemmett asked Val Hummel to provide the inspirational thought of the day about how our thoughts become actions.  He called for the reports.  Jane provided the Grammarian’s report and noted that “hullabaloo” was used 23 times!   Audrey Orth was announced the winner of Table Topics for telling us about an incident involving a cake left on a car roof and having to chase her husband after he drove away.   

Keith’s comments as General Evaluator included encouragement for evaluators to provide at least one grow point when evaluating a speaker.  He asked speakers to ensure they hand control of the meeting back to the Chair.  He noted the coffee maker is noisy.  He reminded members to wear their name tags, and he also reminded members to turn their cell phones off at the start of a meeting.

Guest, Apryl Browning thanked the people who competed at the March 24^th speech contest in Mount Forest, and also thanked those people who helped with running it. 

George reminded members that dues need to be paid by March 31^st.

Leo reviewed the Distinguished Club Program Chart and pointed out that the Linguists of Listowel have two more categories to complete before June 20, 2012.  The categories are in number of members who finish the Competent Communicator manual, and new members.

Brent adjourned the meeting early at approximately 8:50 p.m.

March 22, 2012, Theme: Spring

Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Jane Stoltz.  

Jane welcomed members and spoke of the warm spring weather that Ontario has enjoyed for the past week with above-average temperatures.  She spoke of the things that people do in spring such as spring cleaning, washing windows, hanging laundry outside, planting tulips, and putting away winter garments.  She said spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!”

The members of the Executive marched the new Club Banner into the room, took pictures to commemorate the event, and proudly hung the banner up on the wall.

Guest Tina was introduced by Val, and Toastmasters gave Tina a warm welcome.

Val Hummel provided the Joke of the Day.  She noted that the joke was supposed to be related to the theme of spring but she could not find one, so her joke was about the next best thing - a hamster.  Heidi was Toast and Timer for the evening and she led members in a toast to Canada and the green goodness of spring.  Audrey was Ah Counter and outlined her role to count the number of times each member used “ah” as a filler word.  George provided members with an amusing reading from a James Herriot book called “Tricky, a Triumph of Surgery” for Literary Corner.

The speakers of the night were Vern, Brent and Leo.  Vern bravely gave his Ice Breaker speech titled “It’s All About Me” and members enjoyed hearing about his adventures while growing up in Newfoundland.   Brent gave a speech entitled “The Day I Thought Would Never Happen” about the moment of devastation he endured when he learned that Wayne Gretzy had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988.   Leo provided an educational module to give members tips on how to evaluate and motivate speakers.  He said evaluators should not use humour when evaluating because it takes away from the speaker.  He reminded members to evaluate the speech, not the speaker.  Members received a handout on tips for evaluating speakers.

Lorna deftly handled Table Topics.  She had each member pull an item out of a bag and describe how it was related to the meeting theme of “spring”.

Jane called each of the speech evaluators to the lectern to provide their evaluations of the speakers.  Keith McCluskie evaluated Vern, Val evaluated Brent, and Keith Stoltz provided comments as general evaluator.  When introducing a speaker, Keith asked members to include a member’s role on the executive.  He noted that the room was warm and windows could have been opened.  He reminded members that the goals and objectives of a speech should be read before calling the speaker up.  He also noted that the agenda should list the reports before the General Evaluator.

Heidi provided a Timer’s Report.  Audrey educated members with her Ah Counter’s report and advised each member of how many times they used the “ah” crutch.  Lorna declared Jane the winner of Table Topics for her one-minute speech on combing her cat.  The upcoming Speech Contest in Mount Forest on March 24^th was noted.  Guest Tina stated that she enjoyed observing the meeting as a guest. 

Jane adjourned the meeting early at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Chairperson, Jane Stoltz is shown here holding the new club banner for the Linguists of Listowel. 

                  

Shown left are most of the members of the club executive officers with the new club banner; 

Left to Right; Keith McCluskie (V.P. of Public Relations), Val Hummel (Club Secretary), Brent Jemmett (Sergeant at Arms), George Nichol (Club Treasurer), Jane Stoltz (past V.P. of Education), Leo Brisebois (Club President) and Lorna VanderPloeg (V.P. of Membership).

March 15, 2012, Theme: Luck of the Irish

The meeting’s theme was “Luck of the Irish” and many Toastmasters sported green in celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.  Vern started things off by calling the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.  He introduced Lorna who was chairing the meeting for the first time.  Lorna welcomed everyone and ensured the guests were properly introduced.  Each Toastmaster also introduced themselves for the benefit of the guests.  

Leo presented the Joke of the Day.  In his joke, an armed robber robbed the Bank of Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day.  Anyone who saw his face was promptly dispatched.  When he called out to see if there was anyone else who had seen his face, an elderly Irish gent slowly raised his hand and advised that his wife may have caught a glimpse.  

George took on the role of Toast and Timer and his toast was about Irish immigrants to Canada who settled in this area and how they named many towns in Ontario after towns in Ireland, including Listowel.  

Jane was the evening’s Grammarian with the word “shenanigans” which means devious tricks or questionable conduct.  The word “shenanigans” was used 21 times during the evening.

Diane provided us with a fable for Literary Corner that highlighted the saying “Blessings are won by a good deed done!”

Keith was the lone wolf speaker for the evening with a speech about his and Jane’s recent 28-hour flight to New Zealand.  He provided us with advice for how to have a good trip:  relax, arrive early, treat the airport staff with courtesy, go with the flow, and be friendly with everyone.  He spoke of the thrill of flying First Class on the way there, and how he and Jane were relegated to “cattle class” on the way home.  A positive attitude helped make the flight home relaxing too. 

The Toastmasters enjoyed hearing Marie’s point of view on how Paddyfest in Listowel could make money without having to rely on alcohol.  She suggested that participants could enjoy power shakes made with leafy greens, or drink green tea or limeade.  Jane countered with her point of view that a better moneymaking idea would be to serve haggis.  Many Toastmasters turned green at the thought of both points of view.

Val took over the Table Topics portion of the meeting and had members finish the sentence, “I must be Irish because...”.  

Brent served as General Evaluator and reminded members to be sure to wear their name tags to meetings.  He had Audrey evaluate Keith’s speech.  George gave the Timer’s report, and Wayne was declared the Table Topics winner of the evening with George and Miranda tied for second place. 

Members were reminded that their dues must be paid before the end of March.  Payment should be submitted to George.  Miranda offered positive guest comments on the meeting stating that she enjoyed participating.  Lorna brought the meeting to a close and thanked everyone for attending.  

The next regular meeting of the Linguists of Listowel is March 22nd.

March 8, 2012, Theme: International Speech & Evaluation Club Contest

Winners of the Linguists of Listowel International Evaluation Club Contest are; First place, Marie McCutcheon (centre) and Second place, Jane Stoltz (right). Also shown on the left is the District 86 Area Governor, Gregory C.N. Smith.

Winners of the Linguists of Listowel International Speech Club Contest are; Second place, Leo Brisebois (left), Third place, Marie McCutcheon (left centre), First place, Val Hummel (right centre) and (right) is the District 86 Area Governor, Gregory C.N. Smith.

February 23, 2012, Theme: Up and Down

Theme: Up and Down

Jill stepped up to the plate and called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. on the nose.  She introduced Chairperson Marie McCutcheon who welcomed everyone and spoke of the meeting’s theme.  Marie noted the importance of climbing back up when you’ve been knocked down, and the value of family and friends.

The Joke of the Day was given by George Nichold. The joke was about a trained talking parrot that was given as a gift and it ended up being roasted and eaten.  Audrey was Toast and Timer for the evening.  In her toast to Canada, she spoke of some of the trials or “downs” that Canada has had but noted that Canada has had many more “ups”.  

Vern was our Grammarian and provided the Word of the Night “tantalize” which means to tease or bait someone with something good and then take it away. 

Leo presented his third speech from an advanced manual on Interpersonal Communication.  The first part of his speech presentation was an educational module about handling criticism and then he had Keith help with some role-playing.  Keith portrayed a very unhappy client and Leo had the impossible task of trying to make customer Keith happy again.

Diane presented Speech # 9 from her second Competent Communicator’s Manual.  The objective of the speech was “Persuading with Power” and the title of the speech was “Komodo Dragons”.  Many of the Toastmasters had never heard of Komodo Dragons before and it was a very educational speech.  Diane persuaded the Toastmasters to do what they can to protect the continued existence of Komodo Dragons.

Val took on the Table Topics portion of the meeting for the first time and tied it in with the meeting’s theme of “up and down”.  Val gave each Toastmaster a topic to speak about that was related to something that goes up, or down, or both.  She also challenged members to use the word “tantalize” when speaking.  All of the Toastmasters did exceptionally well, with Keith McCluskie winning the coveted trophy for talking about tax pain. Lorna is also to be commended for her ability to speak about eyelids for an entire minute.

Lorna was General Evaluator for the evening. Brent evaluated Leo’s speech and Diane received a Roundtable Evaluation for her speech.  The roles for the March 1^st meeting were filled although some roles still need to be filled.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Submitted by

Val Hummel

Secretary

February 16, 2012, Theme: Graduation

Shown in this picture are the spring 2012 Speechcraft program graduates of the Linguists of Listowel.

Left to right are; Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren, Christine Aitchison and Tony Galvao.

Shown in this picture are the spring 2012 Speechcraft program graduates of the Linguists of Listowel along with the club president.

Left to right are; Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren, Christine Aitchison, Tony Galvao and club president/Speechcraft Program facilitator, Leo Brisebois.

A Speechcraft graduation cake was enjoyed by all in attendance.

February 16, 2012, Theme: Graduation

It was graduation night for the Speechcraft participants and the air was filled with positive energy and excitement. Each Speechcraft participant had their speeches polished and ready to present. They were also prepared to introduce each other and evaluate each others speech presentation as well. It was a small group in attendance however the evening made a big impact.
Brent Jemmett called the meeting to order and introduced Leo Brisebois as the chairperson of the meeting and of the Speechcraft program. A review of instructions for the evening was provided to the members and Speechcraft participants.
Joke of the Day was presented by Keith McCluskie. George Nichol was the Toast and Timer for the meeting. George provided a patriotic toast to Canada and kept the meeting moving along on schedule by activating the timing lights on cue.
Audrey Orth was the Grammarian for the evening and provided everyone with a new word to use during the meeting and into the next week. The word was "Trepidation" which means fearful.
There were four speech presentations for the evening given by; Christine Aitchison, Ella Kieftenburg, John Van Meeteren and Tony Galvao. All speeches were excellent and very well presented.
Club president, Leo Brisebois presented each of the four Speechcraft participants with a certificate of accomplishment for completing the 6-week Speechcraft program.
Sharon D'Arcey was the General Evaluator for the evening. Part of her role was to introduce each of the speech evaluators who took turns providing feedback on one of the other speeches presented. All four Speechcraft evaluators did a very good job sincerely evaluating each others speech.
Table Topics was presented by Tony Galvao and the theme was "Back to School Supply Store". Objects were handed out and each member had to comment on how this object could be sold to children as needed supplies to go back to school with. The winners of Table Topics were; Brent Jemmett and John Van Meeteren.
George provided the timing report. Audrey provided the Grammarian report - Trepidation was used 5 times.
General Evaluator, Sharon D'Arcey provided everyone with her views of how the meeting went.
Leo expressed his sincere thanks to the Speechcraft participants and all were congratulated on how well they did graduating from the program.
Meeting was adjourned and everyone was treated to a Speechcraft graduation cake, snacks and drinks.

February 9, 2012 Theme: Green

Theme: Green
Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order at 7:19 p.m. and introduced Chairperson Leo Brisebois. Leo gave the Chairperson's welcome and reviewed the theme of the night which was "Green". He spoke of things that remind him of green such as spring. He reviewed the Speechcrafter program and we were surprised to learn it is already in its fifth week! Agenda changes were made and then Ella Kieftenburg gave Joke of the Day which was about the Purina Pet Food Diet. Vern Noseworthy was Toast and Timer for the evening and led us in a patriotic toast to Canada and our green planet. Larry Appleby's word of the day was "perambulate" which means to walk, roam or stroll about.

The Speechcrafters each gave their "Show What You Mean" speeches. Tony Galvao went first with an amusing speech on gardening and described how each spring he clutches the new seed catalogue like a drowning man. John Van Meeteren shared his memories of the Netherlands and we got to learn about what it was like when he was growing up there. Ella's speech was called "Our Bodies" and Christine Aitchison was unable to attend the meeting.

Brent Jemmett provided an educational module on Vocal Variety. Val Hummel gave a sample speech using vocal variety that was about the animated Disney Pixar movie named "Up". It was her seventh speech in the Competent Communicator manual.

Tony led us in Table Topics. He passed around items that he had picked out of his recycling bin and asked each speaker to describe how they would re-purpose the item. Tony had to dodge a plastic jar that Larry decided would make a good football and Ella chastised Tony for his use of margarine since she lives on a dairy farm.

Marie McCutcheon stepped up as General Evaluator. Each of the Speechcrafters evaluated each other with Ella evaluating Tony, Tony evaluating John, and John evaluating Ella. Tony announced that Ella was the winner of Table Topics, and Vern gave his Timer's Report. Marie provided some tips for future meetings:
- Use last names when introducing speakers;
- Joke of the Day does not have to be given at the lectern (to save time);
- The Timer can just hit the major points or point out where people may have exceeded their time limit (to save time).

Anything for the Good of Toastmasters: Members were reminded of the upcoming International Speech and Evaluation contest on March 8th in Listowel.

Leo reviewed next week's assignment for the Speechcrafters. They'll be doing speeches using vocal variety.

Leo adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m.

February 2, 2012 Theme: How Pets Teach Us Lessons

Club President, Leo Brisebois opens the meeting with personal stories of how his pets teach him valuable life lesssons.















Club Sergeant at Arms, Brent Jemmet provides the members with the word of the evening "Malarkey".
It was a great word and it was used a few times during the meeting.

Club V.P. of Membership, Lorna VanderPloeg keeps careful watch over her pet Stella as they both prepare to present a sample speech to the Speechcraft members and the rest of the club members.

February 2, 2012 Theme: How Pets Teach Us Lessons

Lucy called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. sharp. She introduced the Chairperson, Leo Brisbois, noting that Leo is an animal lover and he has a dog named Lucy. Leo told the Linguists how he has learned so much from his pets over the years. Right now, he has two dogs, Cody and Lucy, and a cat named Cosmopolitan.

Leo reported that this is Week 4 of the Speechcrafter program and congratulated the Speechcrafters on their courage for being a part of the program and for the efforts they have made to improve their skills.

Vern had an awesome joke of the day involving a story about an elderly gentleman who got a new hearing aid. When asked how it was working out, the elderly gentleman said, “Great! My family doesn't know that I have it and I’ve changed my will three times!”

Keith McCluskie was Toast and Timer for the evening and made a creative toast to Canada that included a reference to Groundhog Day and the inability of the three groundhogs to agree on whether or not spring is coming early.

Brent Jemmett’s word of the day was “Malarkey”, a noun meaning nonsense or writing to obscure or mislead or impress. Brent’s example of the use of the word was “Leo is full of malarkey when he says the Maple Leafs won’t make the play-offs!”

The Speechcrafters each presented a speech. Ella spoke of the impact that cell phones are having on our lives. Christine spoke of the many layers of her artsy side. Tony spoke of the joys and stresses of parenting. John spoke of the joys of reading and urged members to plan an excursion with their family to a local bookstore.

Val provided an educational corner on the use of gestures, explaining how gestures make a speech come alive and keep the audience alert, engaged – and awake! She described how speakers can use all parts of their body to make gestures and should avoid pacing, lip biting, hands in pockets, tugging at clothes and gripping the lectern.

Lorna brought her parrot Stella out to the meeting to help with her sample speech on “Show What You Mean”. Speaking as Stella, Lorna creatively described a day in Stella’s life while Stella chewed on Lorna’s speech papers as she talked.

Tony stepped up to the role of Table Topics Master and handed out animal-related questions. Everyone had a good laugh and Tony’s idea was well thought out and funny. He declared everyone the winner!

Lucy jumped into the role of General Evaluator with gusto. This was her second week in the role and she said she felt a lot more comfortable doing it. She suggested that meeting participants should look at doing a role several weeks in a row to get comfortable with it.

Keith gave the Timer’s Report and Brent gave the Grammarian’s report. He said the word “Malarkey” was used 9 times. He also enjoyed Val’s use of the word “meat wrinkles” when she described her Cornish Rex cats during Table Topics. Brent noted that there were 72 laughs during this meeting…that may be a record.

Leo concluded by giving the Speechcrafters information on their assignments for the February 9^th meeting. With nothing further, Leo adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.

Submitted by

Val Hummel

Recording Secretary

January 26, 2012 Theme: Laughter is the Best Medicine

Thursday night’s meeting theme "Laughter is the Best Medicine" was just enough to get the butterflies to fly in formation. We had over 55 laughs. Jane called the meeting to order, getting us into the spirit when she introduced the chairperson by imitating a golf stance and how he got his hole in one.

The night was exciting. We had the speechcrafters workshop going into its 3 week, everyone but one made it despite road conditions. Everyone had their speeches ready and introduced each other’s speeches.

We had the visit from our Area Governor Gregory C.N. Smith who introduced himself to the club and speechcrafters. It is always a pleasure to have him present at our club. We had the speechcrafters introduce themselves and some toastmasters also.

We had an educational corner by Sharon D’Arcey on Organizing your Speech. It was broken up in 3 parts.

Introduction

Tell them what you are going to tell them

Body

Tell them

Conclusion

Tell them again what you told them

Keith McCluskie gave the sample speech about his bike run and how he broke his personal record. Joke of the Day, by Brent Jemmett, about how to get someone to give you a push. Table Topics, by Lorna VanderPloeg, stepped in for Val Hummel. Her and Val had the material ready in advance for Lorna to use and it worked out well.

Vern Noseworthy, the Grammarian, with his word of the week LAMPROPHONY was used over 6 times. Lamprophony means "verbally effective and loud". Good job Vern.

George Nichol was the Toast and Timer. George, always looking relaxed and poised, has something positive to say every time. Lucy D’Arcey, General Evaluator, did a great job introducing the Evaluators and giving us a good grow point, One Minute Evaluations, to explain the purpose of the One Minute Written Evaluation between speakers in order for our guest to be informed.

Good job again to our evaluators and advisors for getting the speechcrafters ready for each of their roles. Good job as well to Jane Stoltz and Sharon D’Arcey for getting the agenda out on time with all the changes and for everyone stepping in to fill a role when needed. All in all giving me the help required in order to make this a successful meeting and workshop.

We had a good meeting with lots of laughs. The room was full of energy with 18 people present at the meeting. We are hoping to increase this number for the next meeting.

Have a good week and see you at our next meeting.

Leo Brisebois

Club President

January 19, 2012 Theme: Declutter Your Life

Val Hummel, Club Secretary, was the Grammarian for the meeting. She provided the new word "Pervasive" for the club members to use during the meeting.
















Jane Stoltz, V.P. of Education, (left) presents Valrie Hummel, Club Secretary, (right) with a certificate of accomplishment for completing her sixth speech from the Competent Communicator manual.















Jane Stoltz presents three club members with pins for completing their Competent Communicator manuals.
Shown left to right; Jane Stoltz (outgoing V.P. of Education), Keith McCluskie (V.P. of Public Relations), Lorna VanderPloeg (V.P. of Membership) and Sharon D'Arcey (incoming V.P. of Education).





Lorna VanderPloeg, V.P. of Membership, (shown right) inducts two new members into the Linguists of Listowel Toastmasters Club.
From left to right, the new members are; Vern Noseworthy and Jill Wagemans.

January 19, 2012 Theme: Declutter Your Life

The Linguists of Listowel met on Thursday, January 19, 2012. The theme of the meeting was "Declutter Your Life". Sharon D'Arcey called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. and introduced Chair Leo Brisebois. Leo welcomed everyone to the meeting and reviewed the theme. He said we should work to declutter our lives and he described a recent effort to clean out a large closet at home, making one side for "him" and one side for "her". We have to wonder how long that will last! He spoke of deleting negative experiences. Delete, delete, delete! Leo reviewed last week's first instructions for the Speechcrafters and said the theme for their program this week is "Get Your Feet Wet".

There were several agenda changes and then Leo had the Speechcrafters introduce themselves and explain a little bit about why they were involved with the program. Vern Noseworthy was introduced as the Toast and Timer and spoke of our good fortune to live in Canada before having us make a toast to our wonderful country.

Grammarian Val Hummel introduced the word of the night: pervasive. This word means to "flow throughout" and the word was chosen because sometimes clutter can be pervasive in our lives.

The Speechcrafters bravely gave their Ice Breaker speeches. John Van Meeteren gave us a laugh by describing that he is able to give a 10 minute speech in one breath. Christine Aitchison spoke of the many changes she has had in the recent past. Ella Kieftenburg spoke of her travel to Canada and how she ended up meeting and marrying her husband. Tony Galvao gave us a laugh as he spoke of his love for libraries.

Sharon D'Arcey was the evening's Sample Speaker and gave her "Be In Earnest" speech. She was practicing for a "Women into Networking" speech that she will be giving soon. She did a great job and showed confidence and poise at the podium.

Jane Stoltz took care of Table Topics and the Speechcrafters and some of the Toastmasters received items that Jane felt had been cluttering her home, and speakers had to convince Jane that she should keep the items in her home. Good idea, Jane! John won the coveted Table Topics trophy for his explanation of why Jane should keep a needlepoint hoop. Jane will take it home and will be able to use it to draw the perfect circle. And Keith can also use it as a halo as needed.

Val received her Certificate of Merit for completing 6 speeches. Sharon, Keith McCluskie, and Lorna VanderPloeg received their pins for completing all 10 speeches of the Competent Communicator manual. Congratulations to all!

VP of Membership Lorna took over the meeting to handle an induction ceremony for our newest members, Vern Noseworthy and Jill Wagemans. Current Toastmasters all voted unanimously to accept Vern and Jill as official members. Keith McCluskie will mentor Vern and Sharon will mentor Jill. Welcome to the Linguists of Listowel, Vern and Jill! We look forward to your speeches.

Keith McCluskie jumped into the role of General Evaluator and handled the introduction of the speech evaluators. Vern gave his Timer's Report and Val reported that participants used the word "pervasive" at least 6 times. Few filler words such as "ah, um or uh" were used at the meeting. Good job! Keith ended his role as General Evaluator by giving some good tips on how speakers can relax, on how to transition control of the lectern and he asked members to clap a little longer at transitions of speakers.

Leo concluded the meeting by giving out Speechcrafters assignments for next week which will be on how to introduce a speaker. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Have a good week

Val Hummel

Club Secretary

January 12, 2012 Theme: Winter Sports

We kicked off the Speech Craft Workshop last night. We had 5 participants and one guest come out to the meeting. The meeting was kicked off by a great big welcome with our theme WINTER SPORTS. No one came with his/her sports jersey to show and tell us about his/her favorite sport and favorite team.
The Speech Craft participants were briefed about the program. They were lead through the introduction and even participated in the Table Topic portion of the meeting lead by Lorna VanderPloeg. She gave everyone, especially the Speech Craft participants the advantage of speaking off the cuff. The winner was Speech Craft participant, Tony Galvao. What a great job!

We had certain amendments to the agenda but we kept Joke of the Day by Heidi Menzi, Toast and Timer by Brent Jemmett, Grammarian by Diane Bender with the Word of the Day "EXHILARATING". This was the right word to kick off the workshop and it was used over 6 times throughout the meeting.

We had an educational corner by Jane Stoltz where she demonstrated about how to choose your speech topic. The Ice Breaker sample speech was well presented by Valrie Hummel.

Lucy D’Arcey, presented her inspirational speech that happened to be her 10^th speech that now completes her Competent Communicator manual. Great job Lucy!

We had speech evaluators; Keith McCluskie and Audrey Orth who stepped up and helped fill the roles for the meeting.

Also special thanks to everyone for helping out at the kickoff to Speech Craft by helping mentor and making our new Speech Craft participants welcomed and for assisting them with their roles during the meeting and for the coming weeks.

I also want to thank all Toastmasters for giving me the support in making our kickoff a success.

We had Keith Stoltz, General Evaluator, who did a great job wrapping things up for us. It was an exhilarating meeting with lots of laughs. It started kind of slow but once we got everyone laughing, it kind of broke the ice. The laughs were well over 60 and it was electrifying having over 20 in attendance at the meeting.

Good week to everyone.

Leo Brisebois

Club President

January 5, 2012 Theme: Resolutions

Literary reading was presented by our club secretary,Val Hummel. She read some of "Life's Greatest Lessons" to the members.
















Sharon D'Arcey is inducted as the new Vice President of Education by Keith Stoltz.

















Marie McCutcheon was the Table Topics Master for the evening and she explained the requirements of each person's Table Topics speeches.
















Lorna VanderPloeg (V.P. of Membership) was the General Evaluator for the meeting and she gave the members some comments about how to improve the meeting for next time and also complimented all the good things of the meeting.















Audrey Orth provided Brian Camacho with an evaluation of his impromptu speech.

January 5, 2012 Theme: Resolutions

Resolutions

We all have resolutions and Sharon D’Arcey, chairperson explained the importance of resolutions and gave examples. George Nichol gave us the Joke of the Day about a bus ride where he hit a rabbit and explained to us how this nice old lady revived it using a can of hair spray. The information on the can read; Hairspray revises hare and gives permanent wave.

Grammarian's word of the day was "CAPRICIOUS". An example of how this word was used is; The boss was very capricious of his employees' performance. The word was used 8 times during the meeting and during Table Topics. There were over 55 laughs during the duration of the meeting. It was great and left us all with a good feeling.

Jane Stoltz, Toast and Timer, explained the importance of having resolutions but also more important to set attainable goals for yourself.

Literary Corner, by Valrie Hummel "Life’s Greatest Lessons". The lessons were about freedom and strength, ability to choose and we have choices, excuses for not taking advantage of the opportunity to take action like by choice not by chance. Human's are not designed to live by chance, we are designed to live by choice.

We had an election for V.P. of Education lead by Keith Stoltz. Sharon D'Arcey was sworn in to take over for Jane Stoltz who had agreed to do it on a 6 month term and will be mentoring Sharon in her new role. Thank you Jane for accepting the role and helping the club at the beginning of the year.

Marie McCutcheon filled the role of Table Topics. Her topic was Resolutions and she picked the topic for every participant. The winner was Brian Camacho. It was nice to see Brian back last night after being away for the last 6 months because of his job. Brian also stepped up and did an impromptu speech as well.

Speech evaluator, Audrey Orth, evaluated Brian on his impromptu speech.

General Evaluator, Lorna VanderPloeg, gave a brief about the meeting and its different roles.

Quiz Master, Keith McCluskie, quizzed us on some easy ones and some not so easy quotes/statements made during the evening. The members scored a 9 out of10 quizzes correctly.

Next we will be starting the Speech Craft course for the following 6 weeks, I will be coordinating the workshop however would appreciate everyone’s help if we are going to make this a successful workshop.

Leo Brisebois

Linguist Club President

December 15, 2011 Christmas Theme and Road Kill Cafe

The Linguists of Listowel were blessed with a nicely decorated Christmas tree and shiny new presents to open .......or were they? Rumour had it that some presents were re-gifted from last year's Christmas gift exchange?
Each member had to wait until the Table Topics portion of the meeting to find out if their present was new or re-gifted.
If the member liked the gift they picked, then they may not get to keep it as "stealing/trading" another member's gift was allowed until the end of the Table Topics program.
All ended well as each member got to take a present home with them.
Watch out for next year because some of those gifts may be making an appearance again at the 2012 Christmas gift exchange.





Members were greeted by the sound of wonderful Christmas songs played by Jane Stoltz.

















Val Hummel and Keith Stoltz prepare for the meeting.


















Lorna VanderPloeg (left) discusses the meeting preparations with George Nichol (shown in middle).
Also shown is Marilyn Nichol (front right) as well as Leo and Holly Brisebois (back right).

All members and guests enjoyed a delicious potluck meal.
Keith Stoltz provided entertainment for the evening with his descriptions of the menu selections from his Road Kill Cafe.











Jane Stoltz provided all members and guests with the rules of the Table Topics Christmas gift exchange.
No gift can be "stolen/traded" more than three times.
We all learned that the present we selected wouldn't necessarily remain with us as we had to move our present to the left and the right according to the instructions provided in a story.
If we really wanted the original present back, we had to present a 1 minute table topic speech explaining why we needed to trade it.
Even after all of that, a member's present wasn't safe until all of the Table Topics speeches had been completed and all of the "stealing/trading" was completed.
Great fun was had by all!