88th Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club Chapter Meeting on 23rd April 2016

Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light
–Vera Nazarian - Armenian-Russian American Author

Don’t ever let somebody tell you "you can’t do something" not even me. You got a dream….You gotta Protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you “you can’t do it”. If you want something, go get it. Period.
-Chris Gardner (Movie: Pursuit of Happyness)

Books vs Films – this was the theme of the 88th Chapter meeting held on 23rd April 2016 at the Anchorvale CC. It was an exciting topic which most of us were eagerly looking forward to, as books and films open the doors of our imagination and dreams.

Kelvin Yap was our SAA and Toastmaster of the Day ( dual role like some movie heroes J ). He asked each of us introduce ourselves and share our short-term goals and our most admired Hero in either Books or Films as an Ice Breaking session. Sridhar Maroju shattered the ICE when he spoke about his ‘Girls’ (Sorry… Goals) for this year and made the whole audience laugh boisterously.

President Zulhafni Zulkeflee, ACB gave his opening address about the heroes in books and movies and spoke about how we should be inspired by them in our real lives. As usual he rocked with his signature speech.

The excitement built up as we move on to the next segment - Prepared Speeches.

Ram Kumaresan – (That’s me) I am the first speaker in this segment and I spoke about the ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ written by Steven covey for P2 - Organize your speech.  To recall here are the seven Habits to be effective:

Habit 1 – Be Proactive

Habit 2 – Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3 – Put First Thing First

Habit 4 – Think Win / Win

Habit 5 – Seek First to understand the to be Understood

Habit 6 – Synergize

Habit 7 – Sharpen your Saw.

Vinay Krishna, TM – was the second speaker (P4 - How to say it ) and spoke about how he was inspired by his senior in college, who concentrated fully during his exams and after getting a job, began celebrating it with 'Beer and Briyani'. He also shared about another friend, Mr. Cool, on how to stay cool in stressful situations. Vinay’s speech was extremely engaging with his colorful presentation slides that brought the stories in front of our eyes like a movie.

Sridhar Maroju, TM – was the third Speaker (P5 - Your body Speaks). He began by sharing how he became a ‘Victim’ of a scam where a lady lied to him and looted money and how his father was about to get trapped in an insurance scam and his narrow escape from it by being cautious this time.

Thomas Lee, TM – was the Fourth Speaker (P8 - Get comfortable with visual aids). Thomas walked up straight to the wall instead of the Podium and we wondered why…. And he switched off all the lights and made the hall dark simulating it to appear as a dark forest night. (Maybe he watched some Horror Movie last night….??? K  At least, that is what was running through my mind). He narrated an incident which occurred during his National Service training in a dark forest. He spoke about how we are like Empty Cups every time when we encounter a new venture. And how slowly we gain confidence over time (like an empty cup being filled with water) He transformed himself as a magician to demonstrate his idea in a funny manner. Owen was called up to stage as a volunteer to participate in the Magic Show (Is Owen considered a Prop for Thomas’ Speech??? J) and made all of us laugh to the core.

Sathiyamoorthi, CC — was the Final Speaker in this segment (Advanced Project 3 – The Demonstration Talk from the Speaking to Inform Manual. He started by drinking water from a Cup and appeared like a ‘Robot’. He explained how a Robot changed to a Human by showing how his body became flexible doing Yoga. Sathiya himself demonstrated the 12 steps of Sun Salutation (aka Sathiya’s Salutation) which changed him. (Also called Surya Namaskar). Nowadays Sathiya doesn’t wait for a shop to open in Compass Point Mall, as he knows that the renovation will take time to complete. If he needs to purchase something, he will simply move to other operational malls to buy things. (Those who missed this chapter meeting may not understand this joke. Which means do not miss the chapter meetings. J)

Everyone felt relaxed and cool after several laughing sessions, and then took a break with pizzas and other snacks.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”

– Bill Gates

That’s the next important session -  Project Evaluation which helped all the speakers understand their strengths and learn how to sharpen their saw. We had an enjoyable round of evaluations.

Now we moved on to the best part of the day - Table Topics. Alvin Tan, TM conducted his Film Vs Books: Dawn of Comedy Table Topics. He opened the presentation with an offer for a Course on How to become Critic / How to act like a Critic and earn millions out of that J. It was a humorous and fascinating session where most of the members and all the guests participated and become / acted like a critic. Some criticized a Book and others chose Films. This session was something new with movie clips being played on screen. Each one of them were shown either a Book Cover or a Movie clip and the participants’ colorful critiques added plenty of laughter to this session.

The Ah Counter report was done by Debbie Hoo, CC. Our heartfelt thanks to her for visiting our Anchorvale Toastmasters Club and supporting us.

Most importantly, we had two guests - Paneer and Angela who enjoyed the session by participating in the Table Topics as Critics and shared their thoughts about Anchorvale Toastmasters club and showed their willingness to join our club. Looking forward to meeting them in our upcoming sessions.

Finally the Awards Presentation:

"If you're strong enough, there are no precedents." - F Scott Fitzgerald

Congratulations to the Award Winners!

Best Speaker - Thomas Lee, TM

Best Table Topic – Owen Roma, TM

Best Evaluator – Zulhafni Zulkeflee, ACB

Filled with fun memories, I am eagerly looking forward to the next Chapter meeting to be held on 14^th May 2016 at Sengkang West Zone 'A' RC Centre, Blk 303B Anchorvale Link, #01-92, Singapore 542303 from 2pm to 4.30pm. Do join us there if you are free! It is guaranteed to be another great day with Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club J

Written By:

Ram Kumaresan