Meeting #15 on 11th February 2014 at RSUC

It was celebration-themed meeting, a 2014 CNY HORSEy meet. None came dressed as horses but there were plenty of red fabric around plus red packets, oranges, cookies and the traditional yee sang dish during the meal break. TOE - KC Lim, introduced TM in a fresh, entertaining perspective flavoured with humorous comments. Well done.

Table topics was well-helmed by Indra G (for Guru) - topics ranged from lavishness of celebration to giving all to charity. The TTE was Margaret Chua who focussed on content, vocal variety and gestures.

Some of our TT speakers - LR Amy Siew, Anand, GT Singam, Kaladevi

 

Break included the tossing of yee sang for good luck and good fortune for the coming year.

Three prepared speeches were given - ShiYing 'frightened' the listeners to start flossing their teeth or else; Indra R (for Retired) narrated a descriptive episode of her lost dog; Guan Leong lightened the atmosphere with a humorous account of 'aging' suitably spiced with jokes.

We were also entertained by the first-time member, Krishna Kumar who cracked Chinese-themed jokes. I suspect we'll be seeing more of him in action soon. Other roles taken up were GE - Tan Soo Guan, LE - Kaladevi, Timekeeper - Rosa Phua, Ah Counter - Dr Subhassh.
Winners for the night were Stephen Francis - Best Table Topics Speaker AND Best Speech Evaluator while Indra R. bagged the Best Speaker award.

All agreed we had a good time and are looking forward to the next meeting on 25th February which will be the Club's International Speech and Table Topics contest.

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

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.

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.

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.

Post by Passiontab.com.

Map to Royal Sg Ujong Club - our Meeting Place

Here's the map to RSUC where PDTMC hold their meetings. Click on the flag to view details of our meetings.

View My RSUC in a larger map

Meeting #12 on 17th Dec 2013 at RSUC

The Xmas-themed meeting opened with a Christmas song by Robert Tan in his dual role as Acting President and TOE. There were a few reindeers with enough red elf caps plus the surprising appearance of Santa who dished out "sweets" (reward for a good year's work) to spice up the holiday mood.

General views of members and interested guests - Ashoka, Raghavan, Devadas, Kris, Yoges . . Lots of Christmas caps and reindeers around though without the red-noses.

Dr Subhassh as Table Topics Master gave mind-mining topics catching most respondees off-guard BUT in the TM way, all managed to answer to everyone's satisfaction. The good Dr claimed to have mined his topics from spiritual teachings which he thought would be in line with the festive occasion. The questions were too complex to record so the reader has to ask the Dr himself. TTE Stephen Francis evaluated on content and gestures adding his opinion in many cases.

The various role players are depicted in the various pictures shown below. Tan Lai Hock managed to influence the "aliens" enough to bag the best Table Topics Speaker.

Our own Santa

Tan Lai Hock (GE) and Robert Tan (TOE) at the Control Centre

Rosa Phua gave an informative, spirited and interesting account of the possible origins of Santa Claus and Christmas. It had to to do with the giving of gifts and the shift of the Dutch word Sinterklass (Sint Nicolas or Saint Nicholas) to Santa Claus. It seems the evolution of SC looks came from the Coca Cola advertisement and promotion image. Rosa was sooo effective she got her wish.

Sinterklaas - pic from Wikipedia

PD Toastmasters wishes its members, ex-members, guests, friends a Merry Christmas with the Best to come for the New Year. Please note the next meeting has been brought to the FIRST Tuesday i.e. 7th January 2014. HO! HO! HO!