The 89th chapter meeting of Anchorvale CC concluded last Saturday in a rather peculiar manner. Most in attendance, probably took away two main dishes. One, maid uniforms. The other, the admiration for inspirational people rather than speeches.
The chapter meeting held at the Sengkang West Zone ‘A’ RC Center was its usual cosy self. Nowhere near the typical formalities that one would witness in similar Toastmaster settings.
On the contrary, doing away with
the formalities allowed me, the Toastmaster of the Day, to welcome guests and
club members in an unorthodox yet a heart-warming way.
Background music was played with familiar tunes from the
past and present.
Owen, the Sergeant-At-Arms, called the meeting to order by
greeting club members and guests with his ever-so charming bright smile. We
could also say that other than his bright smile, second to that could be his
forehead. Back on track, Owen asked everyone to introduce themselves.
To finish their introductions proper, Owen
challenged the great minds of the club members and guests by getting them to
answer on who they will like to emulate by being in someone else’s shoes.
Once the introductions were finished, it was evident that
the visiting Toastmasters and maiden visitors were easing into the chapter
meeting.
Benjamin took over the limelight from Owen by performing his
role as the Toastmaster of the Day. With his experiences already being as a
professional emcee, he knew he had to make the chapter meeting a memorable one.
And so, he asked the guests to guess his age.
To his inevitable disappointment, no one came close. Still,
one visiting Toastmaster had the closest call with the answer of 26. For a quick trivia, Benjamin is only 23 this
year!
Moving on from there, the usual club members knew how
different their introduction would be with Benjamin helming the role of
Toastmaster of the Day. Each speaker had a powerful introduction! No
disappointment at all!
For this 89th chapter meeting, those in
attendance were very fortunate to be listening to Leena Santore give her speech
that made her Division Z’s International Speech Champion! What a delight it
was, having to hear such a beautiful speech that spoke about her passion for
dancing and the strong will she had in her to never succumb to failure!
On the note of speeches, there were a total of three Project
Speeches and two Special Presentations.
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| Sindu embarking on her Project 2 |
Hemant doing his first project
Thomas doing his best to persuade us with his project 9
An evaluator is very crucial in helping to shape a
Toastmaster in crafting their public speaking skills to the best that they can
achieve. The evaluator points out the goods and those parts where improvements
can be done to help sharpen their public speaking skills.
We were very
fortunate to be able to listen to five different evaluators who held different
titles, which only meant that we were able to hear various styles of evaluating
that each one grew accustomed to. The best part of hearing the Project
Evaluations is that anyone can also pick up the pointers to help improve
themselves too!
So once all the projects and evaluations were done, it was
high time for Table Topics! Some love it. Some dread it. Some fear it. Some hate
it. Some adore it. Some ‘sabo’ others for it.
Vinay, the Table Topics Master,
came up with a hilarious way of conducting the Table Topics. He brought back a
little nostalgic moment within those present by presenting the Yellow Pages.
Yes, an actual book. Yes, with physical pages. Yes, you have
to manually flip the pages too.
He prepared some slips of papers with page numbers on them.
So participants will come up and draw a slip which will determine what page
number they will be speaking on. The idea is that, the page number represents a
certain advertisement and participants are to act out as representatives of
that organisation/company.
As always, the first one up is always one that is ‘sabo’ for
it. Participants drew out maid agency, security work, cleaning services to pest
removal services.
It is also, at this point of time, our maiden guests
participated and gave their best despite having no experience whatsoever! A
very commendable effort indeed!
Though, out of all the participants, those present would
have vividly remember Zul for he drew a slip of paper that got him to represent
a maid agency. In which, he said his maids will be able to cook for you. Clean
for you. Take care of you. And, shower with you. No doubt that those who heard
it, burst in a synchronised laughter!
It was an absolutely delightful meeting! If you want to
experience more, do join us for our next chapter meeting on the 28th
of May 2016 at Anchorvale CC, 3rd Floor Conference Room (Falcon)
from 2pm to 5.30pm.
We will be having another amazing array of prepared
speeches, two important briefings about the EXCO roles and Competent Leadership
Manual as well a fun pack of Table Topics.
Congratulations to all award winners!
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| Congratulations for completing your Ice Breaker Hemant |
Best Table Topics: Benjamin Leow, CC
Best Project Evaluator: Muthu Rama Ganesh, CC/CL
Written By: Benjamin Leow
