Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club, Singapore (Sengkang): [Recap] 73rd Chapter Meeting, 25 July 2015

Anchorvale TMC reaches another milestone at its 2015/16 EXCO installation.

Text by Steven Lee
Photos by Rasu Ramalingan, Norman Tan and Rachel Heng

Last Saturday, I was invited by VPM Salma to attend the 73rd chapter meeting as it also marked the new EXCO installation for the club. It was an important milestone in our club's history, so I gladly accepted her invitation.

TMD Roger

The meeting was kicked off by our Toastmaster of the Day, Roger – who was, as always, inspiring and motivated. After explaining the programme of the day, he invited Outgoing President Sathya to make his speech. Next up was a video montage prepared by Deb and Riz. I really enjoyed the video, and it was like watching an international movie trailer! The voice-over was done by none other than Riz himself, who was astonishing.

EXCO installation

Then it was time for the EXCO installation. Roger introduced each member individually, explaining their roles and what is expected. I was looking forward to new President Zulhafni's speech and I was not disappointed. Although he had prepared it at the very last minute, it was an outstanding speech. I was inspired by how he encouraged the members to be more involved in the club: it's not about what the club can do for us, but about what we can do and how we can improve.

Outgoing President Sathya thanks the club members for their support and enthusiasm over the past year.

Incoming President Zulfani encourages members to participate in club activities in order to improve themselves.

Up next was Division A Director Santhanam Ramkumar, our guest of honour. He reminded us that being a toastmasters is not only about speaking to others, but also about listening and helping people, a sentiment with which I agree totally. This idea is why, as one of the club's founding members and VPM in 2010, I focused on the two aims, ‘be kind to one another’ and ‘have fun learning'. I was very happy to see that these aims are still relevant today!

Division A Director Ramkumar

Ramkumar then conducted the installation ceremony, where the EXCO members pledged to do their duties to the best of their abilities.

After the installation, it was announced that our very own Salma will be taking on the role of Area A1 Director this year! I believe she will be an outstanding are director and she has an outgoing and personable character.

Presenting the Anchorvale TMC 2015/16 EXCO

Then came my favorite time: refreshment break! We had outstanding home -cooked food and it was delicious. I could da-pao (take away) some of it home too – so happi-licious!

Happi-licious food to fill our tummies!

Project Speeches

We had three project speeches that day:

Linda (Project 1: Icebreaker) – I was impressed by her speech on ‘My Name’. She was confident and composed, although she looked at her notes on her phone a few times. It was understandable as it was her first speech! We learnt that everyone’s names mean something.
Jackie (Project 5: Your Body Speaks) – His speech was detailed and I could see he had put in a lot of hard work. He was also able to compose himself . It would be fantastic if he could use more action and body movement.
Deb (Project 10: Inspire your Audience) – Great topic: The 5 Why’s. He told us a true story about his daughter's request for an expensive toy. It was ‘wow’ because not only did Deb tell a story that touched me, but I also I learnt how to ask the 5 Why's.

Linda tells us about her name.

Jackie makes his body speak.

Deb explains the 5 Why's.

Table Topics

One of my favourite part of the meeting is Table Topics. When the club was founded in 2010, everybody will try to avoid Table Topics by avoiding eye contact and even going to the toilet. On 25 July 2015, I was ‘shocked’ because a lot of members now willingly volunteer to speak on Table Topics! I felt that Anchorvale TMC members were on a roll that day! I was also asked to participate, but I would like to sit back and enjoy the show. However, they said no way, so I spoke too. The theme was proverbs and I was amused by Jackie's take on his proverb: "If you chase two rabbits at the same time, you will not catch either one." He immediately thought about the difficulty of two girlfriends at the same time! It was so funny and serves as a lesson to not to be greedy. Visiting TM, Danny from YMCA TMC also gamely took part and did a such good job explaining his proverb that he won the Best Table Topics Speaker. I hope I can one day visit YMCA TMC; it would be an honour to visit and learn from him.

Clockwise from left: Ricky, Valliappan, Steven, Danny, Vinay, and Owen.

Listening intently to the speeches!

Project Evaluation

Voting time!

We did not have a Best Evaluator vote because our club mentor, Richard, who always gives his best on evaluations, said not to include him in the vote as he would be going overtime in order to explain his ideas in detail. This left only two evaluators in the voting, which may put the members in a difficult position. Thus, our president decided to forego the vote today.

Closing

There was a special session by VPE1 Norman to brief us about the Competent Leadership (CL) manual that many of us neglect. He went through with us the objectives and projects that we can clear in the manual. Then President Zulhafni continued the practice of asking new members and guests for their opinions and suggestions on what we can improve on. I am really glad as this shows the club's drive to better ourselves!

Do join us for the next chapter meeting on 15 August! Please click on "About Us" at the top for the details.

Congratulations to all Award Winners!

Best Project Speech: Deb
Best Project Evaluation: NA
Best Table Topic: Danny