June 14, 2012 Tenth Speech Completion

Marie McCutcheon (left) presents Val Hummel with a certificate of completion after Val presented her tenth speech from the Competent Communicator manual.
Congratulations Val!

June 14, 2012 Theme: Generation Differences

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.  Marie was Chairperson for the night and talked about the different types of generations:  Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and the Millennials.  She said people blame their parents for the first half of their lives, and their children for the second half.  Heidi then provided Joke of the Day about a $300 payment to a pizza delivery person.  Vern was in charge of Literary Corner and read an article about paradoxes that was creatively written by comedian George Carlin.  Brent was Toast and Timer and led us in a toast to Canada.

Two speeches were presented.  Val gave a speech titled “Just Like Sally Field”.  It was her 10th speech and Marie presented Val with a Certificate of Achievement.  Jane gave a speech called “Shake Rattle and Roll” and called upon members to save their pennies and donate them to cancer research.  Keith Stoltz was Table Topics Master and he had half the members act like teenagers and the other half act like grandparents.  There was good back and forth comments between the generations! Next were evaluations which provide the speech givers with immediate feedback.  Tony evaluated Val’s speech and Audrey evaluated Jane’s speech.  Leo was General Evaluator and commented on how the meeting ran smoothly.  Reports were next.    Keith Stoltz announced Keith “Gramps” McCluskie as the winner of Table Topics.  Brent gave his Timer’s Report and Keith McCluskie announced there were 90 laughs during the meeting!

For the good of Toastmasters:

Resolution regarding Tall Tales/End of Year Celebration:

MOVED BY Leo Brisbois

SECONDED BY Keith Stoltz

THAT Club funds be used to purchase pizza for the End of Year celebration and Tall Tales Contest scheduled for June 28, 2012.

…CARRIED

Manual Exchange

Members were reminded to always bring their Competent Communicator manuals to each meeting and to get someone to evaluate them on tasks completed.  Tony suggested it become part of the meeting agenda to have members pass their CL manuals to someone else for evaluation.

Meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m.

Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

June 7, 2012 Award and New Sign

Tony Galvao (left) completed his sixth speech from the Competent Communicator manual and was presented with a certificate of achievement from Jane Stoltz.
Congratulations Tony!













The Linguists of Listowel purchased a new Toastmaster sign and it was placed out in front of St. Paul's Lutheran church for the first time on June 7th.

June 7, 2012 Theme: Summer Holidays

Leo called the meeting to order at 7:17 p.m. and introduced Jane as Chairperson.  Jane spoke of all the delightful things we associate with summer including barbeques, going barefoot, backyard parties, beaches, boating and camping.  She introduced Keith McCluskie who got the meeting off to a fun start with Joke of the Day.  Keith’s joke was about Age-Related Attention Deficit Disorder and a full day spent being active without any progress.  Marg then provided Literary Corner and shared a fun poem called “Grandma’s Shoes”.   Jill was Toast and Timer for the evening and led us in a toast to Canada.  Keith McCluskie was Grammarian and Laugh Counter.  The word that he asked members to use as many times as possible during the meeting was “bosh”.  Bosh is a noun meaning absurd or foolish talk. 

Speeches were next.  Tony handled Project 7 and researched his topic for a speech called “The Great Outdoors” about how nature deficit disorder can be cured with camping.  Members learned many things about camping including the importance of always taking a lot of water with them when riding bikes on the trails:  you never know when you’ll have to share it!  Keith Stoltz also did Project 7 and his speech was called “Summer Weather”.  He had everyone thinking hard about why it gets warm in the summer and cold in the winter.  The answers are not always as obvious as one would think!

There was one presentation to be given out, and an induction ceremony.  Tony received a Certificate of Achievement for doing 6 speeches from the Competent Communicator manual.  Marg was inducted as the newest official member of the Linguists of Listowel.  Welcome Marg!  Jane will be acting as Marg’s mentor.

Val managed Table Topics and had everyone describe the sights they would see if they were given money for a 2-week all-expenses-paid summer vacation.  Evaluations were next with Sharon evaluating Tony’s speech and Audrey evaluating Keith’s speech.

Reports were up next.  Keith McCluskie counted 81 laughs in the meeting and the word “bosh” was used 10 times.  Jill gave her Timer’s Report and Val announced Tony as the winner of Table Topics for his description of travelling to eastern Canada and eating lots of lobster.  Vern was General Evaluator and provided some overall commentary on the well-run meeting.

Jane then asked if there was anything for the good of Toastmasters and the following items were noted:

·         Members were asked to think about getting their RSVP’s for the Tall Tales Event and Potluck to be held on June 28^th.  Members wishing to participate in Tall Tales should be prepared to speak for 3-5 minutes. 

·         On behalf of the club, Jane expressed appreciation to Sharon for all the work Sharon did for the club’s booth at the Home and Lifestyles Show held recently.  Thanks Sharon!!! 

·         Jane noted that Officer Training will be held in Guelph on June 9 and in Hanover on June 16. 

·         Appreciation was expressed to Vern for the sidewalk sign he had made for the club.  It will sit out at the sidewalk in front of the church each Thursday meeting and catches attention by announcing that the meeting starts at 7:14 p.m.  Thanks Vern!!

·         A meeting of the Executive will be held following the June 14^th regular meeting.

With all business complete, Jane adjourned the meeting with a whack of the gavel at 9:02 p.m.

May 31, 2012 Theme: Acronyms

George called the meeting to order at 7:16 p.m. and introduced Leo as Chairperson.  Leo spoke on the proliferation of acronyms in our lives and also explained what word truncations are.  They are shortened words such as Tues. and Wed.  Tony provided Joke of the Day and it was a story about the acronym T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It's Friday!).  Brent carried out the role of Toast and Timer, noting the many acronyms used in the world of baseball.  Audrey was Grammarian for the evening and used T.G.I.F. as the acronym of the evening. 

Speeches were next.  John gave a speech called “It Could Have Been Worse” which was about his experience hitting his father’s horse with his car.  Luckily, both horse and driver survived.  The car was not so lucky, and the horse wouldn’t come near John for months.  It was Project #4 for him.  Then Jill gave Speech 2 titled “Dog Gone” and told us a stirring story about the family dog that went missing for 4 days and how Jill searched for it.  Faint barking was finally heard and the dramatic discovery of the dog at the bottom of a 6 foot catch basin was the happy ending.  Val gave her ninth speech called “Pumped About Pompeii” and described Pompeii, Italy as the titillating highlight of a recent Mediterranean Cruise.  Leo provided an interesting educational module that involved a review the roles that members fill at each meeting and also of each position on the executive.

Vern managed the meeting as Table Topics Master and had everyone present use their last names as acronyms and assign a word to each letter of the name.  It was harder than expected but everyone rose to the challenge!

Next were evaluations which provide the speech givers with immediate feedback.  Keith McCluskie evaluated John, Sharon evaluated Jill and Keith Stoltz evaluated Val.  Everyone did a great job according to the evaluators.  Brent gave the Timer’s Report and Audrey gave the Grammarian’s report noting that T.G.I.F. was used several times during the meeting.  John even incorporated it into his speech twice!  Audrey said there were very few ums and ahs during the meeting.  Tony gave the Laugh Counter’s report and stated it was a busy night for him:  he counted 91 chuckles, laughs and giggles during the meeting.  There were no guffaws.  Vern declared Audrey as the winner of Table Topics and presented her with a bright and shiny trophy.

Jane was Quiz Master and quizzed members’ listening skills by sharing interesting quotes from members.  Heidi was General Evaluator and noted that there was a full house at this meeting.  She encouraged everyone to learn the role of Timer and she also thanked everyone for helping to make a successful meeting by coming out and filling all of the roles.  Chairperson Leo concluded the meeting and adjourned at 9:15 p.m. 

Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

May 24, 2012 Theme: Garage Sales

Jill called the meeting to order and introduced Chairperson Keith Stoltz.  In Keith's Chairperson's Welcome, he shared the secrets to getting good deals at garage sales and the dangers of garage sale parking.  Val provided the Joke of the Day with a list of 5 fun but mean things to do at garage sales.  Tony was the Toast and Timer for the evening and led members in a toast to Canada before settling down to time speakers.  Heidi was Grammarian and Ah Counter and her word of the evening was "exorbitant" which is an adjective meaning "goes beyond the limit" or "excessive". 
Speeches were next with Jill giving a touching Icebreaker speech called "I Am A Country Girl".  Vern was next and smoothly presented Speech 4 titled "Useful But Annoying" and had members laughing with his thoughts about his wife's overloaded keychain, paperclips and straws.   
Jane handled Table Topics and had each member pick a garage sale item out of a box and then explain why it would be perfect for the person sitting next to them.  Evaluations were next with Jane evaluating Jill, and Val evaluating Vern.  Reports were next with Tony giving the Timer's report; everyone did well with their time limits.  Heidi gave the Grammarian's Report and said the word of the evening was used 4 times.  Val reported there were 22 laughs at the meeting.  Jane announced a tie in the Table Topics competition and announced Tony and Keith McCluskie as the joint winners.  Marg was Quiz Master and tested members on their listening skills by having them identify who said certain phrases during the meeting.  Keith McCluskie acted as General Evaluator and provided comments on the overall operation of the meeting.   
With the majority of the meeting completed, Keith Stoltz asked if there was anything else for the good of Toastmasters and Vern provided an estimate for the cost of a sidewalk sign that can be placed outside at the front of the church on Thursdays to let people know when Toastmaster meetings are to be held.
MOVED BY Val Hummel, SECONDED by Keith McCluskie that the Linguists of Listowel purchase a sidewalk sign from Burrows Signs in Elmira.
Discussion on the motion:  Members fully supported the purchase of the sign and provided some input on sign content.  However, members were comfortable leaving the final decision on wording up to the members involved with the purchase. MOTION CARRIED
  
With the sign purchase discussion finished, Jane filled some roles for the next meeting (although some roles are still up for grabs!) and Keith adjourned the meeting at 8:51 p.m.
 
Submitted by Val Hummel, Club Secretary

May 17, 2012 Theme: Positive Thinking

The meeting was called to order by Keith Stoltz at 7:15 pm for a group of 12 people in attendance. Keith introduced Tony Galvao as the chairman of the meeting. This was Tony's first time taking on the role of chairman. Tony gave his opening remarks on the theme of positive thinking, reviewed the agenda and welcomed our newest member Marg VanDonkersgoed and her husband Hank as a guest.
Brent Jemmett provided the Joke of the Day and filled the role of Laugh Counter. Keith McCluskie provided the loyal toast to Canada as part of the role of Toast and Timer.
John Van Meeteren filled the role of Literary Corner and read a poem about positive thinking. Vern Noseworthy was the Grammarian and Ah Counter. Vern provided the group with a new word of the day "Collusion" which means a secret agreement between 2 or more parties to commit illegal dealings or stealing.
Heidi Menzi was the Table Topics master and tested our speaking ability with the theme of sales of products (the products to sell were given to each member by Heidi).
Jane Stoltz introduced a new agenda item to the meeting named "3 Minutes" which is a form of Table Topics. Two teams of 3 people each were formed and the first, second and third speaker had to be selected. Each team had to speak constantly for 3 full minutes. The opposing team was to look for faults such as "um's", "ah's", pauses that were too long, repetitive phrases and/or change the topic completely. If this occurred, the opposing team would challenge that speaker and that speaker couldn't speak again during that 3 minute segment. Once a team was challenged, the speaking role was passed over to the other team to speak for a 3 minute segment. The team with the most speakers remaining won or the team that was successful in speaking for the full 3 minute segment was the winner.
Keith McCluskie provided reports from the timer. Vern stated that the word "collusion" was used 4 times during the meeting. Brent Jemmett reported that there were 33 laughs during the general meeting and 25 laughs during the "3 Minute" agenda segment. Heidi Menzi reported that Marg VanDonkersgoed won Table Topics with her 1 minutes sales speech. Marg was presented with a gift of an umbrella that was donated by Val Hummel.
George Nichol was the General Evaluator. George liked how everyone introduced themselves to our newest member Marg. George also liked the new agenda item "3 minutes" and felt that we should add this to the agenda again.
Closing remarks were given by Tony Galvao who did a great job being the chairperson of the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.

May 10, 2012 Theme: May Day

Jill Wagemans called the meeting to order right on time and welcomed Leo Brisebois as our chairperson for the meeting. We welcomed our three guests; Marg and Hank Van Donkersgoed and Barry Heinmiller to the meeting as well as 12 of our regular members and our Area Governor Gregory C.N. Smith.
Vern Noseworthy got the laughs started with Joke of the Day. Audrey Orth gave a patriotic toast to Canada and kept the meeting on time by filling the role of Toast and Timer.
Jane Stoltz was the Grammarian and provided us with a great new word "Esoteric" to use during the meeting and throughout the following week. Esoteric is a word meaning "beyond the understanding of the average mind".
Heidi Menzi delivered a speech from the Storytelling manual and did a great job. Keith Stoltz delivered a voice variation speech from the Competent Communicator manual and also did a great job by using props and lots of laughter.
An induction ceremony was conducted to induct both John Van Meeteren and Tony Galvao as our newest members to the Linguists of Listowel.
George Nichol provided us with the Table Topics portion of the meeting. Jane Stoltz and Marie McCutcheon were the speech evaluators and did a good job providing the speakers with glow points and a grow point.
Reports for the evening resulted in the word "Esoteric" being used three times during the evening, grammar and proper use of the English language was very good for the evening. Hank Van Donkersgoed was the winner of Table Topics.
Tony Galvao was the General Evaluator and did a great job for his first time filling this role!
Area Governor, Gregory C.N. Smith announced that after June 30, 2012, Area 66 will change to become Area 65. This change will now include the following clubs into one area; Listowel, Mount Forest, Hanover, Owen Sound and Kincardine.
Next meeting will include a business meeting to discuss more details about the upcoming anniversary in the autumn.
Leo adjourned the meeting on time and everyone enjoyed snacks and fellowship afterwards.

May 5, 2012 Listowel Home and Life Styles Show

Lorna VanderPloeg at the Listowel Home and Life Styles Booth.

May 3, 2012 Theme: Elections

The meeting was called to order at 7:20 p.m. Brent introduced Chairperson Heidi who welcomed everyone and received agenda changes.  Tony provided the Joke of the Day and Lorna led members in a Toast to Canada.  Leo handled Literary Corner with a reading from the Book of Numbers. 
Vern gave his speech called "Soup Sundays" and was then evaluated by Jane.
 
Keith Stoltz managed the election of the new Executive.  Members appointed to Executive positions will take over as of July 1, 2012.  Training will be available before that date.

The 2012-2013 Executive Officers are; 
President:  Keith McCluskie
Vice-President of Education: Val Hummel
Vice-President of Membership:  Tony Galvao
Vice-President of Public Relations:  Brent Jemmett
Secretary:  John Van Meeteren
Treasurer:  Jane Stoltz
Sergeant-at-Arms:  Vern Noseworthy


With elections over, the meeting continued with Val hosting Table Topics. 
Brent was announced as the winner of Table Topics with his detailed instructions on how to care for an ingrown toenail.
Audrey served as General Evaluator. Some of the grow points she offered included advice to speakers to avoid fiddling with pens when speaking at the lectern and also speakers should not start off with an apology if they feel unprepared. Just wing it!
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

April 26, 2012 Theme: Everything Backwards

 A lot of fun and sustained laughter was had at this meeting as a result of the backwards theme. One member even had his shirt on backwards. Chairperson Keith McCluskie adjourned the meeting promptly at 7:15 p.m.  Heidi was General Evaluator and noted that tonight's speakers all spoke with confidence and lots of descriptive words.  Jill gave the Timers Report and noted that some of roles took hours to complete!  Audrey provided the Grammarian's Report and advised that members used the word of the evening a record 83 times.  Keith Stoltz announced that Val was the winner of Table Topics, much to Val's surprise.  Vern provided the Inspirational Quote for the evening and read a touching poem called "Crabby Old Man".
 
George evaluated Leo's speech, noting that Leo started out very quiet but ended up loud and aggressive.  He commented on the dance steps that Leo did on the way back to his seat after his speech.  Jane evaluated Tony's speech and said it was a very serious speech and she noted that he tripped on the way up to the lectern.  She said he used lots of exaggerated gestures he also used the word of the day too many times in his speech.  Jane was surprised that Tony sang "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" on his way back to his seat.  Sharon evaluated Val's speech stating that Val walked around the room and grabbed at the shirts of members of the audience while speaking.  She noted that Val had lots of sustained eye contact and had to keep her notes in her hand when speaking.
 
Keith Stoltz handled Table Topics and let each member speak for one minute on any topic they chose.  Then he told them what their assigned topic was.  Needless to say, the speeches varied greatly from the topics assigned by Keith.
 
Leo presented his Educational Module called Asserting Yourself Effectively and provided a handout.  Audrey assisted him with role-playing and Leo tried to assertively work with Audrey to fix a problem but ended up telling her she was going to do things his way!  Tony did his 5th speech on gestures.  It was called Sign Language and he demonstrated many of the common day-to-day signs that people use.  He tripped on the way up to the lectern and fell into Keith McCluskie's arms.  Tony also demonstrated awesome singing skills on his way back to his seat.  Val did her 8th speech with the goal being to persuade the audience to agree with her point of view.  Her speech was titled It's Time To Take a Stand and she did her speech backwards starting with the conclusion and ending with the introduction.
 
Jill provided the Toast to Canada and toasted all of the farmers who are now waiting for rain.  John read "The Backwards Poem" both backwards and forwards. Audrey said the word of the evening was "And" and "DNA".  She said "and" is a conjunction which is a connecting word between two sentences.  She told members what "DNA" stands for but no one could repeat it.  Jill accurately recorded the laughs for the evening at an astounding 159 laughs.  George provided Joke of the Day about an e-mail that a husband sent to his wife that went to the wrong address and was received by a widow who was astonished at what she thought was an e-mail from her dead husband.  Keith handled agenda changes.  New member inductions were postponed until May 10th.  Keith provided his Chairman's Welcome and then Sharon called the meeting to order at approximately 9:00 p.m.

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