The usual Saturday club chapter meeting had an interesting twist on the 26th March and all of us gathered for a very exciting session to ensue.
SAA Ram Kumaresan called the meeting to order by starting an ice
breaker session. He invited everyone present to introduce themselves and also
share about the most memorable prank which they either committed or experienced.
This was due to the upcoming April Fool’s Day. The answers we heard were certainly amusing and generated plenty of laughter.
The Toastmaster of the Day, Sridhar, took over to run through the
agenda. Then, President Zulhafni began
his opening address with a tall tale, sharing about how he got injured and considered not attending the meeting. With his tall tale, he was hinting on the upcoming agenda and went
on to emphasize on the need to make a commitment to commitment! His main message was about how we should all
strive to commit to the choices and responsibilities we have taken up, in all
aspects of our lives.
Next up, was the Prepared
Speeches section. We heard 3 extremely impassioned speeches. Senthil got the ball rolling with his
Project 7 on ‘How to Stay Motivated.’ He shared clear tips that will motivate
us to achieve our goals for the future.
Next, Valliappan hooked the audience with his Project 8 on ‘How to make
your children clean up their room.’ He even used clothes as his visual aid, and
created a scene of a messy room during his speech. Everyone was eagerly waiting
for his solution but Valliappan swiftly turned the tables around, by ending his
speech by desperately seeking advice from the audience instead!
Zulhafni rounded up the section with an
unconventional folktale about ‘The Prince and the Honest Girl’ as part of his
Advanced Project from the Storytelling Manual. The surprising twist at the end
taught all of us the importance of honesty.
The refreshment break was
refreshing indeed with pizzas for the day. The club also celebrated the
birthday of March baby Sridhar!
Then came the most valuable
Project Evaluations where the 3 speakers received their feedback. Visiting Toastmaster
Debbie CC, from MDIS, highlighted on
the importance of using multiple sources of information while researching a
topic in her evaluation of Senthil’s
speech. Sathiya CC gave a motivating
evaluation to Valliappan, only expressing
his disappointment at how there was no solution to ensure that children clean
up their rooms! (No surprise there :D). Salma
commended Zulhafni on his folktale
and shared her thoughts on how the moral of a story is important to
story-telling.
My favourite segment, the Tall
Tales Contest was next! This was a new contest at Anchorvale, which was done
for the first time! Tall Tales is not practiced in Singapore, but Anchorvale decided to try something new.
It was definitely a great success. 3 of our members
spontaneously signed up for the contest on the day itself to try their hand at
tricking everyone else whilst the remaining 6 speakers had signed up prior to the contest.
Contestants had to tell the audience a
tale for about 3-5 minutes. This tale could either be true or false but should
be narrated in a way to convince the audience to believe the opposite. So if
the story was true, one had to narrate it in a way to ensure the audience
believed it was false or vice-versa.
Each audience member tricked
would mean 1 point for the contestant. The audience would also be allowed to
ask the contestant questions at the end of their tale for 1 minute and this
really got everyone engaged! Norman especially was stepping up as the primary
interrogator of the Tall Tales contest. The questions directed at the speakers
were utterly hilarious.
It was a brilliant showcase of
all the beautiful liars at Anchorvale TMC! 9 members took their shot at
tricking everyone with their stories. From enthralling overseas experiences
like drinking urine, driving in the dark or getting robbed, to home stories of
running away, being hit by a car, dealing with a python or modelling experience, it was an
oratorical and creative treat. Some stories were definitely too good to be true
while others were so convincingly powdered with meticulous detail that one
would definitely assume it to be a true tale.
It was at the end when Zulhafni went through each story, that
he revealed which was true or false, when we realised how we were fooled by
most of the contestants. In the midst of the colourful tales, there were true
stories which shocked the audience because it seemed like they were false. It
also went on to show some of the unknown facets of our members, bonding the
club together as we listened to their experiences which were for real!
Our General Evaluator for the day
aka Secret Agent 008 was finally revealed to be Past President Roger Yap. Roger
gave an emphatic evaluation about the events of the day and also the overall progress
of the club from where it was a few years ago. He complimented the EXCO for
their sincere efforts in bringing forth creative ideas and motivated everyone to
step up the game, in improving the Toastmasters experience for themselves and for
the club as a whole! Incredibly inspiring!
Last but not least, the Awards
Presentation!
Tall Tales Contest:
 |
| Most Creative Speaker: Norman Tan |
The Top 3 Tall Tales Titans listed below refer to the speakers who earned the most points by fooling the audience with their speeches.
 |
| Tall Tales Titan Winner: Tang Hiang Huang |
 |
| 1st Runner Up: Sindu |
 |
| 2nd Runner Up: Thomas Selvaraj |
 |
| Best Project Evaluator: Salma Begum |
Congratulations to all the winners
and speakers! Thank you to all our appointment holders, especially Debbie and Came from MDIS. And special shout out to Alice for the pictures and Secret Agent Roger for his General Evaluation.
Please join us for our upcoming
meeting on the 9th April 2016 at Sengkang West Zone 'A' RC Centre, Blk 303B Anchorvale
Link, #01-92, Singapore 542303 from 2 to 4.45pm for another wonderful evening with Anchorvale Toastmasters!
In the meantime, you can follow
the Anchorvale Toastmasters on Facebook
for the latest updates and photos!
Written By: Sindu
Written By: Sindu
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