Anchorvale TMC 67th Chapter Meeting on 25th April 2015

It was yet another Chapter meeting on 25^th April, but it was anything but uneventful, as it had several guests with us, hailing from Grassroots TMC, Hope@Toastmasters, Bishan Toastmasters and NTU Toastmasters.

The meeting kicked off with our very own President, Sathya delivering his opening address and asking the audience, “What is your nickname?” Everyone is bound to have a nickname at some points of our lives – but it is merely an alias that is suitable for our own true style J

Thereafter, we had our Prepared Speech segment, spearheaded by Alvin, who did his P1 Ice Breaker! He shared his musings about how he originally thought Toastmasters stood for ‘Toast Bread’ Club. As he narrated his hilarious recollections, we as an audience were ‘stun like vegetable’ but never so certain about his flair for public speaking :)

Next up, we had Deb who delivered his P7- Research your topic! He spoke about hobbies and its importance as a form of relaxation. As the saying goes, a hobby a day, keeps the doldrums away! Speaking about his favorite hobbies, Match box, Stampers and Watches, Deb even brought his own impressive collection of watches! Dedication indeed!

Our 3^rd speaker of the day was In Tiam, and today was a momentous occasion as he was delivering his P10 Inspire your audience. Question of the day- what is your goal of being here? As In Tiam encouraged everyone to adopt SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bomb) goals, he also shared with us simple and achievable steps towards realizing our goals but all the while emphasizing the need to be realistic and grounded.

Our last speaker, Melvyn spoke about Risk and our risk inclinations as part of his AP5 – Speaking to Inform. Through the sharing of some very useful and thought-provoking statistics, Melvyn pieced apart the notion of risk and elucidated how one’s risk can be easily tainted between Perception and Reality, which separates the real hazards from the imaginative ones. His takeaway message - Life is all about taking risks. If you never take a risk, you will never achieve your dreams.

All the speeches were very interesting, but there could only be one best speaker, and that honor went to Deb! Congratulations!

As our evaluators prepared their speeches, we delved into the Tables Topics segment conducted by Norman. The theme for today’s segment is ‘What is your ideal holiday?’ with a catch – each speaker must draw a random mode of transport and budget from a pre-determined list. Kudos to all who attempted, Vinay, Rachel, Alvin, In Tiam and Jackie and congratulations to Vinay who impressed us the most with a $200 trip to Kuala Lumpur via bicycle! 

Next up was the project evaluations conducted by our impressive lineup of Deb, Leo, Melvyn and Zulhafni! It was Deb’s maiden attempt at evaluation and it was a close fight. However, the veterans were too strong and the competition was so intense that there was a triple tie for the best evaluator, which eventually went to our Area Governor, Melvyn Goh! Congratulations!

Last but not least, we had our special guests DTM Crispin Rodrigues and Jennifer Lee CC, CL to deliver the Language Evaluation and General Evaluation respectively! Crispin wowed us with his intricate yet spot-on analysis of the meeting’s language use while Jennifer crafted such a detailed evaluation, reminding us at Anchorvale that we definitely still have room to become better =)

Special thanks to all our guests who took time off to visit us today, Thomas, CC, ALB and Jennifer, CC from Grassroots TMC, Melvyn, CC, CL from Hope@Toastmasters, Leo Tan from Bishan Toastmasters and last but not least, DTM Crispin from NTU Toastmasters!

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon, albeit a little too short. Regardless, do join us next month, as we will be having an Extraordinary Team Building Chapter Meeting! There will also be a barbecue together with games, so do join us for this special extravaganza!

Details are as follows:

• ·         Date: 9^th May 2015
• ·        Venue: Seletar Springs Condo
• ·        Time: 5.30- 8.00pm

See you there!

Written By: Norman Tan

Language Evaluator Crispin wowing us as usual

Alvin after delivering an impressive Ice Breaker

Congrats Vinay for a terrific table topic

Awesome AG after an exquisite evaluation

Deb as usual successfully prepared a splendid speech

Riz the talented Toastmaster of the Day getting his CC ribbon

In Tiam the intelligent inspiration receiving his CC ribbon

Anchorvale's joint meeting with Grassroots Toastmasters on 4th April 2015

Unity is Strength

That was theme for our meeting and we resonated with it by having a joint Chapter Meeting with Grassroots Toastmasters. Joo Ee kicked of the session by getting everyone to introduce their favorite fruits. It became crystal clear that durian is still the king!

 

Salma, CC/CL was our Language Evaluator that day and she introduced the word “value” which was widely used during various speeches that day.

 

Zachary gave his first prepared speech by sharing 3 crazy incidents in his life which led to where he was standing now, and concluded by reminding us that sometimes, a crazy decision will lead to positive outcomes. Jackie spoke about the innovation of Apple and how we can embrace Apple’s philosophy about thinking of a novel idea and sticking with it all the way to ultimate success. The phrase, thinking and persisting reverberated throughout his speech. 

Then Tavin spoke about his mother’s advice to him – to be more outdoors and make more friends. Finally Greg told a personal story about his triumph over childhood obesity and how he left no stone unturned as he fought to become a fitness instructor. He recounted his hilarious experience as a goalkeeper and how he overcame all odds to 'make a pig fly!'  : )

 

Table topics master Thomas prepared various envelopes, each corresponding to quotes related to the theme of unity. Speakers will then have to share stories which reminds them of the quote. We had some hilarious and engaging answers filled with colorful language. Chee Sian, in true Toastmasters tradition stepped up as a replacement and gave his maiden General Evaluation. It was short and sweet, but more importantly, concise and constructive! Well done Chee Sian.

It was a truly enjoyable evening. I want to thank all the people who made this happen. Especially our phenomenal president Sathiya CC and vastly valuable VPE Norman CC who was also a thoroughly terrific toastmaster of the day. I look forward to more joint meetings. 

 

Special thanks to Grassroots for hosting us at their home ground!

If you want to see how we do things at Anchorvale, please visit us at our next chapter meeting on 25th April 2015 at Anchorvale CC from 2pm-5pm. Hope to see you there!

Written By: Zachary Chew

An Anchorvale Fun Shot

President Sathiya giving his closing address

Salma as the Language Evaluator

Zachary giving his Ice Breaker

Jackie delivering an intelligent Project 2 speech

Julie Mae tackling the table topics

Another group shot :)