March 7, 2013 Linguists of Listowel Club International Speech and Evaluation Contest

The Linguists of Listowel hosted the club level contest for the International Speech and Evaluation Contest.

Apryl Browning was the chairperson of the International Speech portion of the contest.
Speech competitors were; Leo, Val and Tony.
The speech contest winner was Val Hummel.
Congratulations Val!

Vern Noseworthy was the chairperson of the International Evaluation portion of the contest.
Evaluation competitors were; Brent, Val and Tony.
The evaluation contest winner was Tony Galvao.
Congratulations Tony!

Both Val and Tony will compete at the Area 65 level of International Speech and Evaluation Contest on March 8, 2013 in Hanover.

February 28, 2013 Theme: Speech Craft Graduation (Memorable Moments)

Speech Craft members; (Left to Right) Horst Dankewitz, Daniela Temlin, Tony Galvao (Speech Craft Coordinator) and Bryan Long.

 Speech Craft Graduates; (Left to Right) Horst Dankewitz, Daniela Temlin and Bryan Long.
Congratulations to all of you!

Speech Craft graduation cake.

February 28, 2013 Theme: Speech Craft Graduation (Memorable Moments)

There was energy in the air for this meeting. There were 11 in attendance for the graduation night for the Speech Craft members.

Heidi called the meeting to order and welcomed Tony Galvao as the chairman of the meeting. Tony welcomed everyone and discussed the agenda changes. Vern was the Toast and Timer of the meeting and explained his role as well as gave a loyal toast to Canada.

Leo was the Grammarian and provided the word of the evening "Destiny" which was very fitting for graduation night. Destiny was used 5 times during the meeting.

Speakers for the evening were; Bryan Long with a speech presentation about ECO Tuning, Daniela Temlin with a speech about Speech Craft and Horst Dankewitz with a speech about Speech Craft as well. Every speaker presented a great speech.

Tony Galvao officiated over the Speech Craft graduation ceremony and presented each Speech Craft member with a certificate of completion and accomplishment. Congratulations Speech Crafter's!

Table Topics was held next and Leo was the Table Topics master for the evening. The winner of Table Topics was Tony Galvao ...good job Tony!

Heidi was the General Evaluator and she introduced the speech evaluators and evaluated the overall meeting with her view points of what was done well and what might be good to change.

Val evaluated Bryan's speech presentation, Keith McCluskie evaluated Daniela's speech presentation and Audrey evaluated Horst's speech presentation. All evaluators provided positive feedback to the speakers as well as some small suggestions for possible improvements.

Reports were presented orally, the March 7th contest was discussed and who would be competing was discussed as well.

Tony provided the chairperson's closing remarks and the meeting was adjourned for everyone to enjoy a piece of Speech Craft Graduation cake.

February 21, 2013 Theme: Common Sense

The meeting was called to order a smidge late because Brent didn’t realize Val had snuck his name onto the agenda as the person responsible for Call To Order.  Brent quickly jumped into his role and introduced Tony Galvao as the meeting’s Chairperson.  Tony warmly welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted some minor changes on the agenda.

Keith McCluskie presented a loyal toast to Canada and was the meeting’s Timekeeper.  Vern was the Grammarian and his word of the evening was “conscience” which is the ability to know right from wrong. 

The Speech craft speakers were next.  Horst presented his gestures speech called “Communication Aids” and treated us to a demonstration of playing the harmonica and dancing.  Daniela presented her gestures speech called “Crazy Driving in Italy” and told the group that when she first saw how people drive in Italy, she thought it was rush hour but was shocked to learn that’s how they drive all the time.  Bryan presented his well prepared and organized speech about vehicle emission controls.  At the end of his speech, Tony noted that the exhaust of some trucks will soon be cleaner than the air in some cities.  Vern wondered if we would all soon be sucking on tailpipes to get some clean air.

Val gave an educational module to educate members on the importance of including vocal variety in speeches and everyday conversations.  Apryl Browning gave the demonstration speech called “Achieving a Work/Life Balance” and spoke about her life on the pier.  By the end of her speech, she had the group shouting Peter Pan phrases like “I don’t wanna grow up!” 

Tony handled Table Topics.  Each member received an unusual word and had to pick someone else in the group to define it.  Keith’s imitation of a humming lamp was creative as was Bryan’s demonstration of his knowledge of French words such as “french fry”.

Brent launched himself into the role of General Evaluator and introduced the Speech Evaluators.  Daniela evaluated Horst’s speech.  Heidi evaluated Bryan’s speech.  Horst evaluated Daniela’s speech.  All evaluations were well done.  Brent gave his remarks as General Evaluator based on the Good/Better/Best model.  He said everyone did a great job and the meeting room was set up well thanks to Vern.  He suggested a new set-up for the tables next week to avoid getting into a comfort zone of the same set-up each week.  He reminded members to remove the gavel from the lectern following the opening of the meeting.  He asked everyone to give a good description of their roles for the benefit of the Speechcrafters.

Next, Keith gave an efficient Timer’s Report.  Vern shared the Grammarian’s report and noted he had lost count of all the laughs and the word of the evening was used about 6 times in good conscience.  Tony presented the Table Topics award to Bryan for his creative definition of a mysterious word.

Tony gave the Speechcrafters their assignments for February 28^th.  Horst and Daniela will read Chapter 9 on Vocal Variety and Bryan will read Chapter 8 for Show What You Mean.  Each of the Speech craft participants will present another speech next week for 3-5 minutes.  The graduation ceremony for Horst and Daniela will be held next week while Bryan will finish his 6^th speech on March 14^th.  Cake will be served courtesy of Keith M’s darling wife (or, if she refuses, Keith will bake it).

Val updated the members on the upcoming March 7^th International and Evaluation Contests.  So far, there is one person signed up for each contest and more are needed.  She encouraged any member who has completed at least 6 speeches to sign up.

Tony gave the Chairperson’s closing remarks, noting the benefits of joining a Toastmasters Club.  He closed this laugh-filled meeting on time, and the members shared snacks that were provided by Keith.

Adjourned.

Minutes submitted by

Val Hummel, VP of Ed

February 14, 2013 Theme: Valentine's Day

Meeting attendees; Apryl Browning and Dan Browning (guest), Vern, Tony, Leo, Brent, Bryan, Marie, Daniela, Keith M, Horst Dankewitz and Rose Dankewitz (guest).

Vern called the meeting to order and introduced Tony as the chairperson for the meeting.  Tony welcomed everyone and asked for the guests to be introduced by their spouses.
Horst was the Toast and Timer for the meeting and presented a short speech about the meaning of Valentine's and how it came to be as well as provided us all with the loyal toast to Canada.
The Grammarian was Leo and the word of the day was Infatuation which means "foolish or all-absorbing passion". The word infatuation was used 4 times during the meeting.
Horst introduced Bryan Long as the first speech craft presenter with his speech entitled "Grandparents". 
Bryan introduced Daniela Temlin as the second speech craft presenter with her speech entitled "Trip to Slovenia".
Daniela introduced Horst Dankewitz as the third speech craft presenter with his speech entitled "Combustion". 
Apryl presented an educational module for the next speech craft speech presentation about "Show What You Mean". Brent provided a demonstration speech on the use of gestures. Brent's speech was entitled "This is Suppose to Be Relaxing?"
Marie McCutcheon was the Table Topics master. Marie asked four people to stand at the front of the room (all 3 speech craft participants and Tony as well). One person started the beginnings of a verbal love letter "I wrote a letter to my love....", the next person continued on with the body of the letter, the third person provided the ending of the letter and the fourth person summarized it all. Vern was selected from the audience as the recipient of the love letter and had to respond to all of the things verbally stated in the letter. There was lots of laughter had by all.
Keith M was the General Evaluator and introduced; Vern to evaluate Bryan's speech, Leo to evaluate Daniela's speech and Marie to evaluate Horst's speech. All three evaluators provided good evaluations with lots of glow points and some grow points too. Keith provided a general evaluation of the meeting as well.
Tony Galvao won the Table Topics award for the evening. 
Tony provided the speech craft participants with their assignments for next week and closing remarks for the meeting. Tony adjourned the meeting and we all enjoyed snacks and refreshments courtesy of Apryl Browning. 

 

February 7, 2013 Theme: Family

Meeting attendees; Jill Wagemans, Jane Stoltz, George Nichol, Keith McCluskie, Bryan Long, Horst Dankewitz, Daniela Temlin, Keith Stoltz, Leo Brisebois and Audrey Orth.

Audrey called the meeting to order with an explanation of families and she introduced Keith Stoltz as the chairperson of the meeting. Keith expanded on the family theme and asked each person in attendance to introduce themselves and tell a bit about their own personal families.
George was the Toast and Timer. He provided us all with information about the various family days in provinces across Canada and gave the loyal toast to Canada. Keith Stoltz reviewed the highlights of what the Speech Craft participants have learned so far.
Bryan Long presented his Ice Breaker speech entitled "Bryan in 2.5 Minutes".
Horst introduced Daniela and she presented her speech entitled "The Importance of Clean Rooms"...referencing her business, The Listowel Country Inn.
Daniela introduced Horst and he presented his speech entitled "Being Earnest and Charitable" .......referencing the importance of donating blood.
Jill presented and Educational Module about organizing a speech and used a mind map to illustrate how it can be done. Keith Stoltz presented a demonstration speech referencing how to organize a speech with an opening, body and conclusion.
Vern was the Table Topics Master and he asked everyone to select a fortune cookie from the container, speak for one minute about how the fortune relates to that person's family or a trip to be made with the family member. If the speaker didn't like the fortune, they could pass it on to the next person and select another cookie and fortune to speak about.
Leo was the General Evaluator and introduced the speech evaluators. Audrey evaluated Bryan's speech, Jane evaluated Daniela's speech and Keith M evaluated Horst's speech.
Horst won the Table Topics award for the evening. Leo provided his general evaluations of the meeting and thanked Keith Stoltz for filling in as the Chairperson of the meeting. It was a good meeting and everyone did well in the roles that they filled for the meeting.
Keith Stoltz explained the Speech Craft assignments for next meeting. Keith M provided everyone with an update from the last executive officer meeting. Keith Stoltz discussed Anything for Good of Toastmasters and adjourned the meeting. Snacks and refreshments were enjoyed following the meeting.

January 31, 2013 Theme: Family

Meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. Theme to be used for next week's scheduled meeting.

January 24, 2013 Theme: Winter

The theme was “winter”.  Keith McCluskie called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.  He read the Club’s Mission Statement and noted that it was John and Tony’s one year anniversary as Club Members.  He introduced Chairperson Tony Galvao who gave a few welcoming remarks and  handled agenda changes.  He had everyone participate in introductions for the benefit of the Speechcrafters.  Brent was Timer and provided a Toast to Canada.  Heidi was Grammarian for the evening and her word of the day was “flexible”.  

The Speechcraft Ice Breaker speeches were next.  Horst was up first and spoke of his work as a Metalsmith for many years.  Daniela was next with her Ice Breaker and spoke of her business and family.  This was Bryan’s first meeting and he will give his Ice Breaker speech at the January 31st meeting.  Daniela’s mentor is Val.  Keith McCluskie is Horst’s mentor and Brent took on the role of Bryan’s mentor.

Apryl practiced a eulogy for her aunt who recently passed away.  Then she provided an Educational Module for the Speechcrafters called “Introducing a Speaker”.  Leo gave a demonstration “Be In Earnest” speech called “What is Stress and How Are We Handling It”.  Jane took over the meeting for Table Topics and gave each member a mysterious word that they had to come with a definition for.  Bryan Long was the Table Topics winner of the night.  Vern was the General Evaluator for the evening.  He introduced Keith McCluskie who evaluated Horst’s Ice Breaker speech.  Val was next and evaluated Daniela’s speech.  Reports were received.  Tony asked the Speechcrafters to read Chapter 4 on Introducing Speakers and Chapter 5 for their “Be In Earnest” speech.  They are to speak for 3-5 minutes on a topic of interest, use eye contact, facial expressions and vocal variety in their speeches on January 31st.  The Speechcrafters will also introduce each other’s speech next week.  Tony asked if there was anything for the good of Toastmasters.  Jane said the Mount Forest Motivators are looking for a target speaker for their contest on February 12.  Anyone who is interested should see Jane.  There was nothing further and the meeting adjourned.

Submitted by

Val Hummel

VP of Education

January 17, 2013 Theme: Speech Craft

Meeting attendees were; Heidi Menzi, Jane Stoltz, Val Hummel, Tony Galvao, Vern Noseworthy, Brent Jemmett, Leo Brisebois, Keith McCluskie, Keith Stoltz, Audrey Orth, and Apryl Browning.

Speech craft participants were; Horst Dankewitz and Daniela Tremlin.

Vern Noseworthy called the meeting to order.  Tony Galvao welcomed everyone and had everyone participate in introductions.  Audrey Orth served as Toast and Timer for the evening.  She explained her role then read a short story from a Chicken Soup for the Soul book before her toast to Canada.  Brent explained his role as Grammarian and identified the word of the evening as “Tenuous”.  Tony provided a short session on the importance of public speaking in everyday life.  Jane gave an education module called “Selecting Your Topic” for the benefit of the Speechcrafters and as a refresher for regular members.  She encouraged attendees to talk about what they know, and identified many potential speech subjects including hobbies, jobs, trips, health, pets, home renovations, social activities and TV shows.  Speech topics can be found in everyday life, you can Google topics, and use books and magazines for inspiration.  Religion and politics are to be avoided.

Apryl and Vern gave demonstration ice breaker speeches.  Table topics followed with Apryl starting the group off with a story and each person added to the story.  The final outcome was humorous.

Speech evaluations were next with Leo evaluating Apryl and Val evaluating Vern.  Tony then gave the Speechcrafters their assignments for January 24^th.  They must read Chapters 1-3 in the Speech craft manual and prepare a short ice breaker speech for next week.

Keith Stoltz was the general evaluator.  He noted that the Speech craft participants will need mentors assigned.  He suggested the introductions be repeated at the next meeting but with people introducing someone different.  He encouraged members to help out with the Speech craft program as much as possible.

Submitted by,

Val Hummel

January 10, 2013 Theme: Favourite Sports Teams

Meeting attendees: Apryl Browning, Audrey Orth, Jane Stoltz, Tony Galvao, Vern Noseworthy, Leo Brisebois, Keith McCluskie, Wayne Stoltz, Brent Jemmett and George Nichol.

Wayne called the meeting to order and introduced Keith Stoltz as the chairperson of the meeting. Keith asked for each person in attendance to stand, introduce themselves and explain the importance of the sports clothing that they were wearing and the significance of them to everyone else.
Brent provided us with the Joke of the day (a funny joke about Habs fans). Vern provided the loyal toast to Canada, described his role and told a very funny story about his hockey experiences in his younger years. Jane was the grammarian/laugh counter for the evening and she provided us with the word of the day "Assertive". Assertive means to become very determined, to write down your goals and achieve them.
Literary corner was presented by Apryl who read a great baseball poem entitled "Casey at the Bat".
George Nichol presented a eulogy praising the life of a long term friend/co-worker/mentor named John. This was project # 2 - Speaking in Praise from an advanced manual.
Keith Stoltz presented the results from his High Performance Leadership project - Area 65 Humorous speech and Table Topics contest in Hanover, Ontario on October 19, 2012. He highlighted the pro's and con's of the project and reflected on some suggestions for improvements if he does it again.
Table Topics master was Jane. She provided an envelope containing strips of paper with names of hockey teams and an explanation of how they received their name. Each member was encouraged to use the word of the day in their Table Topics presentation as well as use an opening, a body and a conclusion.
Leo evaluated George's speech, Apryl evaluated Keith's presentation and each evaluator provided glow and grow points to the presenters.
The word assertive was used 6 times during the meeting. Table Topics winner was Keith McCluskie.
Tony was the general evaluator and provided his thanks and comments of parts of the meeting that went well and suggestions for improvements for the next meeting. Brent Jemmett has us all thinking/remembering as he provided us with snip-its of phrases and conversations spoken during the meeting.
Keith provided his closing remarks, anything for the good of toastmasters (club officer training coming up, speech craft program starting next week, roles for the next week's meeting required) and adjourned the meeting announcing snacks and social time for the members.

December 20, 2012 Theme: Christmas

Meeting attendees (club members); Vern Noseworthy, Heidi Menzi, John Van Meeteren, Marie McCutcheon, Brent Jemmett, Keith McCluskie, George Nichol, Keith and Jane Stoltz, Valrie Hummel, Marg Van Donkersgoed, Audrey Orth, Leo Brisebois, Jill Wagemans.
(Guests); Ralph and Jane Dwarika, Harriet Noseworthy, Marilyn Nichol, Hank Van Donkersgoed, Holly Brisebois, Andrew Wagemans.

The meeting was called to order by Keith McCluskie and he introduced Tony Galvao as the chairperson of the meeting. Tony welcomed all of the guests and members to the Christmas meeting. George Nichol provided us with the loyal toast to Canada and kept the timing for the meeting. Pastor Ralph Dwarika provided the invocation for the meeting and catered meal by Thyme & Again with Andrea.
Audrey provided us with an interpretive reading. Vern presented his speech entitled "A New Beginning".
Lots of fun and laughter resulted from the gift exchange/Table Topics portion of the meeting. Marie McCutcheon was the Table Topics master and had three male "elves" sit in chairs by the Christmas tree. Each person had to receive a gift from one of the elves or Marie and then sit on the elf's knee to open the gift. If the person choose not to keep their gift, they could "exchange" their gift with someone else that had opened theirs and wanted to keep it. With all of the gifts opened up, a second round of gift exchanges occurred and most everyone that picked a gift they wanted originally went home with a different gift due to someone exchanging theirs for someone else's (Note: gifts were limited to a $10.00 value ....and re-gifting of last year's presents for exchange was encouraged as well).
Reports for the meeting were heard and anything for the good of Toastmasters was discussed.
A very big thank-you to the caterer's, the decorating committee (Jane and Heidi), and Heidi for the gifts of poinsettia's and glass ornaments for all.
Tony Galvao provided closing remarks and wished everyone a merry Christmas and happy holiday season.

December 13, 2012 Theme: Dr. Seuss Quotes and Stories

"Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened."

In attendance:  Heidi, Marie, Leo, Tony, Brent, Audrey, Vern, Keith Stoltz, Marg and John.

Heidi brought the meeting to order, with what promised to be another evening filled with fun and laughter.

Marie, our Chairperson for this evening, gave her opening remarks.  Following this, she then went around the room and gave her "Dr. Seuss" to everyone present and finished this segment with a history on Dr. Seuss.

Agenda changes were next and the agenda was adopted.

Joke of the Day was done by Leo, followed by Tony who was our Toast and Timer.  Tony gave a compelling short statement on the rights that we have as a free country.  These rights include the privilege on reading books such as Dr. Seuss stories.

Marg was our Grammarian and Laugh Counter.  The word she chose for this evening was "imaginative", a fitting choice for the theme.

Literary Corner was done by John who read a short narrative called "Dr Seuss explains a computer".

There were no speeches this evening but the next part done by Keith.  It was called a Fun Break and he had the members come up in pairs to the front.  Once there, one would be an adult Santa and the other member would tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.  Something new to a lot of the members but a lot of fun was had in this portion of the evening.

Brent led the next section which was Table Topics.  Each member got a slip of paper with the title of a  Dr. Seuss book.  When it was their turn, each member got to speak at a "press conference" on the release of their new book.  The twist was that the other members then got to ask questions about the book.  Kudos to Audrey for handling all of the questions asked of her so well. 

Vern was the General Evaluator this evening.  He first called for the reports.  Tony gave his timer report, followed by Marg with the Grammarian report.  The word of the evening had been used 12 times and Marg had counted 51 laughs.  Brent was next with his Table Topics report.  The winner this evening was Audrey.  Vern then gave his General Evaluator remarks on the evening.

Wrapping up, Anything For the Good of Toastmasters was next, followed by assigning roles for the next week.  Marie then gave her closing remarks and ended the meeting for this evening.

December 6, 2012 Theme: Adventures of a Lifetime

Meeting attendees were; George Nichol, Vern Noseworthy, Audrey Orth, Leo Brisebois, Keith McCluskie, Brent Jemmett, Jill Wagemans, Marg Van Donkersgoed, Val Hummel, Tracy D'Arcey and Heidi Menzi.

Vern called the meeting to order and introduced our chairperson Heidi Menzi. Heidi provided opening remarks and reviewed agenda changes. Jill provided the joke of the day and Brent provided the loyal toast to Canada and kept time during the meeting.

Keith was the grammarian and provided the word of the day "adventurous" which was used 17 times during the meeting. Marg kept track of the number of laughs during the meeting which totaled 30 good laughs in all. Keith had the role of literary corner and read an article about a young boy's struggles waiting for a kidney transplant.

Tracy did a great job presenting her first speech (The Ice Breaker speech) which was entitled "Just About Me". Vern practiced a toast that he was going to present during a lunch celebration for 25 years of success in business.

Leo presented an educational module about finding new members for your club. Val was the Table Topics master and she kept everyone on their toes in anticipation as she called out their number and the corresponding topic that they had to speak for 1 minute about.

Vern evaluated Tracy's speech and reflected on what she did well during her presentation. Audrey was the general evaluator and reflected on what went well with the meeting and some suggestions for improvements for the next meeting. Audrey also happened to be the winner of Table Topics.

George had us all thinking/remembering as he provided us with snip-its of conversations during the meeting with his role as Quiz Master. Heidi had her closing remarks and adjourned the meeting with an invitation to enjoy snacks and some social time following the meeting.

November 29, 2012 Theme: If I Had A Billion Dollars

Tonight’s theme was "If I Had A Billion Dollars..." and the meeting was called to order on time by Tony.  Tony gave us a top 10 list of the richest Billionaires in the world.  Next, Tony introduced Keith S., our chair for this evening.  In his opening remarks, Keith gave some information on Canadian Billionaires and what they are worth.

The only agenda change for this evening was that Apryl would be the Grammarian and Laugh Counter.

Keith M. was then introduced to do the Joke of the Day.  Keith had two short jokes, both of which were related to the theme.

Audrey was the Toast and Timer and led us into the Toast to Canada.

The word of the evening was "wealth", a noun with several meanings, one of which is abundant worldly possessions.  Apryl's choice of word was fitting to the theme.

Literary corner was next with John reading and article titled "The Dying Art of Conversation".

Speeches were next and tonight there were two.  Vern was first with his speech "Old Age".  His evaluator John read the speech objectives. The speech was about what it means to grow old and how does one know when you are old.  He was followed by Val and her speech "The Art of Gathering", a way on how to keep teenagers fed on a budget.  Val's evaluator was Apryl who also read the speech objectives.  Both speeches were well done and a minute for written evaluations followed each speaker.

Table Topics was done by Brent.  He had everyone write down how they had earned a Billion dollars on a slip of paper.  When done the papers were passed to the left.  When it came time to speak, the member could look at the slip of paper passed to them and then begin to tell the other members how they had earned the Billions based on what the other person had written.  Like usual, a wealth of laughs were heard.

Tony was up again as the General Evaluator.  He first asked for the speech evaluations to be done for Vern and Val.  John was first to evaluate Vern's speech followed by Apryl's evaluation of Val's speech.  Next, Tony asked for the general reports.  Audrey gave her report as the Toast and Timer, followed by Apryl who gave her Grammarian report.  The word of the evening had been used seven times and Apryl had also recorded 60 laughs.  Last, Brent gave his report for Table Topics.  This week the winner was John.  Tony concluded this section by giving his General Evaluation of the meeting.

The last section before the Chairperson concluded the meeting was the Quizmaster Report.  This was done by Apryl, and she challenged our memory on various things that members had said throughout the night.

Keith S. then took control of the meeting again for the final few items.  Anything for the Good of Toastmasters was discussed, as well as the assigning of roles for next week's meeting.  Keith then gave his closing remarks and brought the meeting to an end.