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!

Meeting #11 on 10th Dec 2013 at RSUC

Another well-attended meeting with 8 guests, a record? Our VPE, Robert Tan started off the meeting, welcoming our guests - Cheong, Kris, Nellie, Mahes, brother Yoges, Joel (from Hospital Tuanku Jaffar), Li Yin (MMC), Jia Lin (Shell Refinery, PD). The meeting was ably helmed by TOE Chandran.

Table Topics was all about COLOURS - devised by TTM Rosa Phua, questions were simple but difficult to answer. These ranged from pink cars, orange shoes, purple gown, blue lemonade, multi-coloured food, one-colour shirts (controlled), toxic food colouring, brown/black Santa and even choice of bedroom colour. TTE Shun gave encouraging pointers based on speaking style, content and was credited with a mesmerising voice.
All were handled well by the table topics speakers, proving the popularity of the mental exercise, eagerly looked forward to by many TMs. Some of these speakers were:

Only one prepared speech was delivered - Robert Tan (3rd round CC#3) on How to Save on Electricity Usage, focusing on 4 areas of cooling (air-con), food preservation (fridge), heating (ironing), lighting. Tan Ban Yeow made his maiden speech evaluation.

Margaret volunteered to provide some humour; Yeoh Lian Geok was the Language Evaluator while Tan Soo Guan rounded up the assessment of the meeting as the General Evaluator. Our Ah Counter was Lim Kheng Chew who managed to collect some additional fines for the kitty while Dilashaa reminded us of the time expended for each activity.

As there was only one prepared speech, only the award of Best Table Topics Speaker was presented - winner was Nageswary.

Best Table Topics Speaker - Nageswary B.

Meeting #10 on 26th Nov 2013 at RSUC

The club VPE, Robert Tan presided over the meeting in the absence of the President. It was a good turn-out with four guests (including Irene). The TOE, Stephen Francis, completely sold everyone the idea and need to join Toastmasters, engaging the audience with his story of his daughter's admiration (for daddy) and personal success story of his working career, thanks to skills developed through Toastmastering. I am sure the guests are also ready to sign up!
Young and enthusiastic Lim KC threw interesting and mind-labouring table topics like "What if you could live forever; If you only had 24 hours to live; Should media be Government controlled; Failing or never trying; Which bad habit to stop; Should smoking be banned; Who are the better teachers - men or ladies?" Keep up the trend of posing thinking questions!

 Tan Soo Guan gave a spirited roundup of the various table topics speakers; humour was provided by Indra R. Other roles taken up were: Language Evaluator (Kay Ku), General Evaluator (Chandran N), Ah Counter (Dilaasha), Timekeeper (Aarchanaa), Speech Evaluators (Indra R, Rosa Phua).

Only two prepared speeches were delivered, Robert Tan on "Safeguarding Your Bank Account" and Ong Guan Leong spoke on "Diabetes - the Malaysian Epidemic."
The meeting ended with the awards to the winners who were :

Best Table Topics Speaker - Tan Lai Hock

Best Prepared Speech - Robert Tan

Best Prepared Speech Evaluator - Rosa Phua