2014 Div A Humorous and Evaluation Speech Contests

Wow!!! What a way to celebrate the weekend for Anchorvale TMC!

Filled with hope and confidence, FOURTEEN of our members travelled from one end of Singapore to the other - for me, it's the longest drive I’ve ever made within Singapore- to witness a historic moment for Anchorvale.

It was a very well organized Division A contest, that had a fantastic line up of speakers, who have proven their worth in their area contests. Our Anchorvale friends managed to grab seats together resulting in fun and LOUD camaraderie. 

The Contest started with the Humorous speech. From the first few speakers, I still remember one speech about "Where is my Mr.Right?" It was truly hilarious, especially with funny Toastmasters acronyms like; DTM-Desperate To Marry.  Even before this speaker began, the entire hall burst into laughter when her speech-title was announced, "Where is my Mr.Right?", because the previous speaker's topic was something about "Finding a right girl". I believe it was sheer coincidence! 

While we were enjoying the humorous delivery from the earlier contestants, we were anxiously awaiting Riz's performance in the Humorous speech line-up.

The moment "Riz" was announced, Anchorvale’s cheers and screams shook the whole contest hall! It made everyone look back at the centre where the Anchorvale troop was anchored! Salma's voice definitely stood out and I believe some people passed appreciative comments about it during the break. We were the club with a vibrant group of cheerleaders!

Then the much awaited "Falling in Love, all over again" started with a trademark by Riz. Despite hearing this speech for the third time, we still laughed at every opportunity. It was a courageous speech as well - to call his wife a "tigress" right in front of her!

At the end of the humorous speech contest, the winner was very clear in my mind. The dramatic speech, clear and vivid expressions, excellent vocabulary and of course the witty humour, all stood out clearly from the other contestants.

After a fun refreshment session, it was time for another Anchorvale Champion to prove his worth in the evaluation contest! Zulhafni!!

Yes, with another thunderous cheer, Zul delivered a fantastic, trademark evaluation - with an analogy. He exceeded our expectations. This time, he used Singapore taxi drivers to analyse the test speaker’s speech. I am simply amazed by his talent of preparing and structuring his speech in such a short time. His delivery was very distinct and way beyond everyone else's!

When the time came for announcing the winner, it was a unique experience for both Humorous and Evaluation contests results. When the first runner-up was announced, there was a huge cheer from Anchorvale! Not for the runner-up, but because it became clear that the winner was Riz and Zul in their respective contests!

A sweep by the Champions of Anchorvale at the Division A Humorous and Evaluation Evaluation Speech Contests! We have finally defeated our Division hoodoo.

Kudos to the Division A champions, Riz and Zul. But the battle is not over yet, one more final feat to achieve. We are hoping that would be achieved as well.

The District 80 Humorous and Evaluation Speech Contests will take place on Sunday 2^nd November 2014. We wish our champions all the best, I am sure they will make us proud, no matter what the results are!

Written By: Clement Raj (Rasu)

Evaluation Champion doing it like a boss

The awe-inspiring funny man

The Champs with our intelligent and fabulous DvG

Lots of love from our AG and past DvG

Anchorvale fun times

Family photo after the results :)

Anchorvale TMC 60th Chapter Meeting on 11th Oct 2014

A thing (An Essence) of beauty is a joy forever, and that beauty resides in Anchorvale TMC. The difference between success and failure is a great team, Anchorvale TMC has a great team, great leaders and that continuous success has been witnessed by many of us, many of our visitors.

The Traditional 'Anchorvale' Birthday VIP Treatment!

Kelvin, TM  as Sergeant-At-Arm called the meeting to order by banging the gavel on the lectern with the warmest welcome to the entire audience. Kelvin introduced himself, adding a topic on his favorite animal and rolled the ball to his right as an ice breaking topic. Fellow toastmasters and the distinguished visitors joined the crowd -  introducing themselves and their favorite animals from chicken, fox, wolf, cow to elephant with interesting thoughts.

Immediately after the introductions, the Sergeant-At-Arm introduced the Toast Master of the Day, Deb, TM, who jovially kicked off the program by re-articulating the two  historical events that happened in October (1) Evacuation of 5 million people in preparation of Cyclone Phailin in 2013 (2)  Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Chinese author Mo Yan in 2012 on '11th Oct' coinciding our 60^th Chapter Meeting Date.

In the opening address, our dear President, Sathiyamooorthi, CC, shared his motivational experience in swimming at his thirties and leveraging that successfully on his son at age four. His message was well articulated, that 'the fear lives until we do it for the first time' and thereafter the fear becomes no-fear. Thomas, CC politely shared his 'wish come true' to stand one day before everyone as language evaluator. He announced the 'word of the day'  as Pugnacious explaining the meaning and correct usage of the word. Looking forward to hear more such words from Thomas, CC, creating a sense of illusion in the thinkers mind :-)

Toastmaster of the Day, Deb, TM gave us a heads up about the forthcoming excitements as there were 5 marvelous prepared speakers lined up to thrill us with their chill topics. Alice, TM continued the momentum of the chapter meeting being first speaker of the day. She has shared her bicycling experience on 2^nd Project titling "Bicycle (hurt healed by love)".Mae, TM enlightened the audience by the power of the words, both spoken and unspoken. Pang, TM  made entire audience 10 years younger by his speech and providing the techniques on "How to be 10 years younger".  Being an engineering student, Norman, TM  influenced us with a strong inspirational story about a mouse, chicken, pig, cow and how small events can end up making big changes. Finally Hareesh, TM engaged the audience by compelling us to write down our 3 dreams and reminding us that "You have the freedom to choose".  

Being born in the month of October, Kelvin, TM,  Thomas, CC & Hareesh, TM gave us the  opportunity to celebrate their birthday with the Anchorvale Toastmasters Club family. Chee Sian, TM remains unbeatable in organizing events and it was one of the arrangements beside BBQ party, Trip to Malaysia, etc. the 20 minute refreshment break indeed flew in a second with real enjoyment.

Deb welcomed back everyone with a humorous joke 'Eat whatever you want and bill will be paid by your grandson'.  Roger, CC/CL,  Zulhafni, ACB, Sanchit Rao, CC, ALB, Richard Tay, DTM, Salma, CC  as evaluators, provided the honest reaction in a constructive manner to the speaker’s efforts which not only helped the speakers but provided many key take-aways for all of us.

The most awaited segment of the chapter meeting was led by Mae, TM - the best ever Table Topic comprising the quotations from various Philosophers, Politicians, Celebrities, Scientists from different parts of the world. 7 speakers, acombination of  fellow toastmasters, visitors, welcomed guests, re-emphasized those quotes in their individual speeches.

Immediately after Thomas, CC shared that many of the speakers have used the 'word of the day' well, Salma, CC was led the grand presentation for certification of Hareesh & Norman on their successful completion of 10^th project entitling "Competent Communicator" with a burst of poppers and cheers. Congratulations to Hareesh & Norman for achieving the milestone, and congratulations to all award winners from 60^th Chapter Meeting!

Relatively being a new member of Toastmasters club, I, Debananda Patro have eagerly agreed to take up the role as TMD on the 58^th & 60^th Chapter Meeting with short notice - it gave me a wonderful experience to host and long-term benefits. This is not just about playing a role but it gave me enormous experience and ideas to create an atmosphere of interest, expectation, receptivity. I'd look forward to more such opportunities going forward.

Last but not least, thank you for the sweet words from Sanchit Rao, CC, ALB, EASB TMC Melvyn Goh, CC, CL, Area A2 Governor, Armada, SIA Toastmasters club, Jackie CC, NUS TMC and their remarkable appreciation about our Toastmaster club – made our day. Those words remain unforgettable in Anchorvale Toastmasters Club's book.

Salma, CC Claiming Best Evaluator Ribbon!

Best Prepared Speech: Hareesh

Best Project Evaluator: Salma, CC

Best Table Topics: Melvyn, CC, CL

Laughter, Fun, knowledge is the cherished diet for us will go and go on .. ..

With that, we wish Norman and Hareesh our heartiest congratulations for completing their CC Manuals! And do join us for the next meeting on the 8th November!

Entry by:  Debananda, TM

Anchorvale TMC 59th Chapter Meeting on 27th September 2014

59^th chapter meeting @ 59 Anchorvale Road

To many, Saturday is the best day of the week. Often there is no work, no school, nothing but a free day to do what you need to care of, or have fun. What could make a Saturday afternoon even better? It was attending the Anchorvale TMC’s Chapter Meeting.

The sergeant-at-arms, Ying Leong, kicked off the 59^th chapter meeting by bringing out our attention on the specialty of this particular meeting. It was the number of this chapter meeting which matched with the location of Anchorvale TMC at 59 Anchorvale Road. Ying Leong embraced this coincidence and serendipity, and proposed to share our “59^th birthday wishes” as the ice-breaking session topic. Our toastmasters, honored visitor and guests shared their creative and heartwarming wishes for their far and near 59^th birthday to come.

In the opening address, our dear President, Sathiyamooorthi, CC, shared his experience with a passenger service staff and how he became inspired by her to have passion in whatever he does. When our language evaluator, Zulhafni, ACB gave us the “word of the day”, he mystified us by introducing the word “obfuscate”. This word challenged all of our speakers throughout the chapter meeting until Zul explained his intention of sharing this word. As an effective communicator, we all should be sensitive with the language we are using and to avoid using obscure words to obfuscate the audience.

There were 6 speakers who attempted their projects in the prepared speech session. All of their speeches were beyond eloquent. Rasu, the 1^st speaker of the day, narrated the importance of being rich. Mae delivered a beautiful speech by sharing her personal travelling experience to India, Sri Lanka and many other places. Her speech elaborated the quote “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” which was recognized by most of audiences. Ken with his powerful mix of serious and humorous style, recounted the downside of technology in communication. He reminded us the importance of face-to-face communication and to retain the skill of personal interaction with others. Our powerful lady, Anila, delivered us the techniques of being successful. Chee Sian presented his speech in a great creative form, to connect the characters in “Journey to the West” (one of the most well-known Chinese mythologies) with employees in modern corporate world. Our affable Salma, CC demonstrated the truth of “the last is the best”. She revealed the “Anchorvale’s Wow Factor” in her first goodwill speech from advanced communication manual. Her emphatic and epigrammatic speech won her the best speaker in prepared speech session.

During the break for refreshments, Anchorvale TMC revealed another “Wow factor” by celebrating birthdays for members born in September. I was honored and overwhelmed with emotion for being the only birthday person attending this chapter meeting. A delicious rainbow cake was prepared by Chee Sian, and shared with everyone present in this chapter meeting. Thank you for the arrangement!

In the project evaluation session, our esteemed evaluators, Prasad, Roger, CC/CL, Riz, Kee Min, Harseesh and Muthu, CC, provided their thoughtful evaluations to the respective speakers. Muthu’s waggish comments towards Salma’s speech won him the Best Evaluator of the day.  Next came to the most exciting section– table topics. Our table topics maters, Anila, gave the theme of sharing “embarrassment moments” in life. It is always enjoyable to hear the impromptu speeches from the colorful characters.  Our guests were brave enough to stand up and to think hard about the awkward moments in their lives. The room resounded with the laughter upon listening to their recounts.

Before Zul shared with us his language evaluation, Salma held a small induction ceremony for the newly joint members. All the new members in Anchorvale TMC were committed to make every endeavor to participate and contribute to TMC events.

Congratulations to all award winners! It was the best day of the week! The presence and participation of our toastmasters, honored visitor and guests made this Saturday afternoon even more wonderful.

To experience it for yourself, visit us at Anchorvale TMC’s 59th Chapter Meeting on the 10th of October.

Special thanks to all appointment holders and visiting Toastmasters: Kee Min.

Best Prepared Speech: Salma, CC

Best Project Evaluator: Muthu, CC

Best Table Topics: Fina

Written by: Yue Qi

Most "Wow" Speaker!

Top Table Topics Taker!