Monday, January 27, 2014

Meeting #14 on 21st January 2014 at RSUC

How time flies! This was the second meeting in the new year; we have passed the half-way mark. In case you have not noticed, this meeting 14 out of 24 (possible).
It was a night of PLEASANT SURPRISES! First, we hosted 10 guests to our 16 members, surely? a record. Second, two guests signed up to join as members (to be confirmed?), impressed perhaps, by the way the meetings were run, the good, inspiring speeches delivered and genial fellowship atmosphere experienced; I'm sure all these collective efforts played a major contributing factor in how others perceive our club and the benefits of its programmes. Third, unexpected winners - read on.

The meeting opened with awarding of STARs to the PDTMC for achieving President Distinguished Club Status for the previous term, a significant feat and one to repeat this term. TOE Ong Guan Leong enriched the audience on the significant advantages of becoming a Toastmaster, displaying the various training manuals and monthly magazines. TTM Singham gave table topics themed around the celebrations of Asian festivals like Vesak, Deepavali, HR Puasa, Christmas and Chinese New Year. Dr Subhassh, the TTE commented favourably on the responses in terms of content and eye contact.
Our not-so-new Kanaga in his first CC speech introduced us to his growing up years in Sungei Petani, Kedah and how he eventually landed up in aircraft maintenance. Robert Tan talked about the current state of crime and need to be constantly vigilant in various ways. Dilaasha, warned us of the dangers of obesity, starting from childhood and the contributory factors leading to the condition in her presentation (with slides) on 'The Stuffed Child".


Speech evaluators were Kaladevi (back after a long spell), Nageswary, and Chandran, respectively for the three prepared speeches.

LE Indra G (G for guru, very apt) shared some of the good phrases used - mutually supportive, build on strengths, emotionally engaging, capture your imagination, allow us to digest, best foot forward, momentary lapse of concentration. These were spoken by by a few speakers and indicates the generally high level of English in the club. Well done and push the boundaries. The other role players were - Rosa Phua (Ah Counter, captured quite a bit of fillers), Loo Shi Ying (Timekeeper), Yeoh Lian Geok (General Evaluator).

The winners were definitely a surprise. Nagesary was the deserving double-winner, bagging the Best Table Topics Speaker as well as the Best Speech Evaluator. She needs to attend more meetings to show more of her capabilities to the other members aspiring to move on to higher levels of communication. Dilaasha came out the Best Speaker, showed much confidence in engaging the audience. Definitely, our hope for future Club speech contenders (anything to do with genes and inheritance here?).
Nageswary - the double winner
Dilaasha - Best Speaker



Saturday, January 18, 2014

Message from VPE, Robert Tan DTM

Dear members,
   Didn't we have a gala time in sending off our President, Chua Eu Chieh and his wife Shi Ying with a sumptous dinner at the Regent Restaurant, Seremban on 8th January 2014. They were truly touched by our warm hospitality and our close fellowship. Thanks to all who made the dinner a memorable one. Do enjoy the photos on our Facebook (click the icon link on the right column) and view the album.
   On 11th January 2014, Kay Ku, Lim Kheng Chew, Shun's daughter Dilaasha and myself attended COTS, at PJ. With this effort, the Club has now attained 5 points towards the Distinguished Clubs award. Our goal is to achieve the President's Distinguished Club award which requires another 5 points. So to those who have the last few speeches to complete (for the points), MAKE IT your 2014 resolution to do it before June this year.  
           PD Toastmasters 'Boleh.'
   We will be having our International Speech and Table Topics Contest (club level) on 25th February 2014. Members who have completed the 6th speech in the CC Manual are eligible to take part in the International Speech Contest; however, the Table Topics Contest is open to all. We expect a good response from you all.
   Happy toastmastering,
                                        Robert Tan.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Meeting #13 on 7th Jan 2014 at RSUC

Our VPE, Robert Tan (DTM) opened the meeting , ushering in the New Year, reminding us of the halfway mark. He also welcomed the return of longlost Indra G. who invited along two guests, Messrs Gerrard and Krishna Kumar. Hope to see Indra back in vocal action soon. Next came the induction of new Toastmaster Kanaga, seen in photo with his mentor, Dr Subhassh.
                   Opening the Meeting                                  Indra and guests                                  
  Kanaga : I pledge to ... as TM               Members: We pledge to support ....
 Rosa Phua as TOE gave a captivating, entertaining and personalised, much animated version of  history of TM and how she benefited from its activities. Young Arrchanaa (as TTM)in her giggly manner, threw thought-provoking Table Topics - brief but eliciting varied responses. Chandran as TTE focused in evaluating eye contact, gestures and intonation; all did well, an indication of progress in this area. Anand volunteered in his first attempt at providing humour - good vocal variety, commendable effort.

Only two prepared speeches were delivered - we need to reinforce this area soon. Stephen Francis started off with his talk on 'Goal Setting' based on his years as a trainer. He attributed his success in this area to skills developed and honed at Toastmasters. Next Ong Guan Leong gave a humorous speech "Its All About Hair" but surprised and entertained the audience with stories of the 'Ballerina', axilla hair and introduced a new word - chaetophobia.
The other role players were: GE - Tan Soo Guan, LE - GT Singham, Humourist - V Anand, Ah Counter - Dr Subhassh, Timekeeper - Yeoh Lian Geok, Speech Evaluators - Amy Siew (for Stephen Francis), Tan Lai Hock (for Ong Guan Leong). 
Winners for the night were: Dr Subhassh, Tan Lai Hock and Stephen Francis.
Dr Subhassh - Best Table Topics Speaker






Tan Lai Hock - Best Speech Evaluator  
Stephen Francis - Best Prepared Speech
Meeting ended with a reminder that the next meeting will be on the 21st January 2014, a change of date due to coming CNYear.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Got this from Soo Guan's Facebook. Thought it's amazing a Chinese immigrant can deliver such humour. Skills to pick up for us here - make your speeches humorous.