Learn, Lift and Lead by Anchorvale CC Toastmasters

Our 97th Chapter Meeting was a special one! Our humble meeting room received visitors and guests young and old, from far and wide, to this action-packed meeting!

SAA Rusman kicked off the meeting by getting everyone to share their name, occupation and favourite holiday destination. Interestingly, the most popular answers were Japan and... home sweet home.

Next up, our guest language evaluator Jasmine, DTM introduced the word of the day, "Acme", which signifies the point at which something is at its best or most highly developed. 

Toastmaster of the Day Salma earlier introduced Jasmine as "one of the most amazing language evaluators I have ever met". Indeed, Jasmine exudes the acme of passion for language and clear pronunciation. She also taught us some basic English phonetics, and urged everyone to delve into phonetics to aid us in our journey for better pronunciation.

With such an energetic introduction, we welcomed the first speaker of day, Jenny Au, DTM. She gave an informative presentation on Effective Leadership Focus, and highlighted that strength-based leadership is the best way to motivate and engage staff.

Broke the ice!

After hearing from such an experienced speaker, it was time to lend an ear to the prepared speeches. I was the first one up to give my first ever prepared speech in a Toastmaster setting. I am immensely grateful for the attention and encouragement from the audience, and look forward to hone my skills in future speeches to come. 

We had two Project 2 speeches from Dino and Angela. Both made good progress and had improved from their previous speeches. 

This was followed by a Project 10 speech from one of our club's longest serving member, Valliapan. Although it took him 5 years to complete the ten projects, the fact that he did not give up was very inspiring for all. 

The last prepared speech was from Ben. He "roasted" club members present or absent with such poise and humour that the room roared with laughter. His speeches are consistently of such high standards that I even thought of a tagline for him -  

"Ben the man, never lets you down."

Break: We were blessed with two home-cooked dishes from club mentor Jenny! Members and guests alike had raving reviews for her mee siam and potato salad. I think her food alone may boost membership by at least 50%.

After the break, Kevin Cottam, ACB from Leng Kee Advanced TMC, gave the audience an interactive workshop on different techniques on how to begin your speech. Kevin asked us to demonstrate the various ways to start a speech. You could arouse suspense, start with a personal story, give a quote, etc. All in all a beneficial workshop for new and experienced speakers alike.

We next welcomed Richard Tay, DTM another of our club’s mentor, to gave a speech on how to achieve success in speech contests. He delivered some tough love, and urged toastmasters to have a clear end message in mind. He spoke from a judge's perspective and bluntly advised us to deal with our challenges by rising above it. It is insufficient to just express and impress, we should also aim for tangible progress and to keep our message simple.

Next up, we had a hilarious Table Topics session helmed by Jackie Lin, ACB, CL from NUS TMC. He showed us pictures of famous icons and speakers were to give a Toast to those individuals. Examples included the Joker from the Dark Knight and Donald Trump, the next USA President and finally, Jackie Lin himself.

It was finally time for the long-awaited language evaluator’s report. As we were running behind time, it made Jasmine's task even more challenging. Nevertheless, her eloquence and attention to details left an indelible impression on me. A marathon meeting that lasted for a solid four hours was finally concluded with awards presentation and closing address by the Exco. It was a long but fruitful meeting filled with laughter, friendship and learning!

Congratulations to the Award Winners:

Best Prepared Speech: Benjamin Leow, ACB. CL

Best Table Topics: Chye Bei’an from Money Mastery Toastmasters

Best Project Evaluation: Chai Pei Shan, ACB, ALB from Money Mastery Toastmasters

Bombastic Bowling Bonanza @ Safra Punggol

We bowled it!!! What a splendid Bowling Bonanza held at Orchid bowl, Safra Punggol!

It was the first time ever our Chapter meeting was held in a bowling alley and we all geared up excitedly despite our seeming "lack of experience" in bowling.

First up was the warm-up round, aka ‘Sizzling up the Alleys’. During this friendly match, some were bouncing the balls while others resorted to crawling and even rolling the ball to knock at least one pin. Bowling indeed, was not our strongest suite.

Hidden talents for bowling

Shockingly, we discovered some members who had a hidden talent for bowling and were striking multiple times. (Hint: Vi**y , He**nt, R***an)

After everyone was warmed up, we proceeded to the real challenge… BINGO Bowling aka the game with funny twists. Everyone was grouped into 4 teams and for every bowling score obtained, teams were allowed to strike off 1 number off their BINGO list.

Only at Anchorvale Toastmasters, are you able to play BINGO while bowling J After a long, hard fought battle, Team Vinay was to first to get BINGO!

Team Chee Sian looking deadly serious and ready to kill

Next up was Round II - ‘Frames vs Pins’ where teams had to score above the frame number for their scores to be counted. Pulling back from their initial defeat, Team Hemant climbed back to emerged victorious for this second round.

Rusman in his first TMD role, at a unique setting no less!

Finally after the tiring bowling, the meeting adjourned to Pizza Hut for lunch and to begin our chapter meeting proper. Rusman our TMD, welcomed all Toastmasters and especially our two prepared speakers Vicky and Benjamin.

Food glorious food !

Vicky on his P4- How To Say It, shared his terrible experience about days of having blackouts while Benjamin (AP2 – Speaking in Praise) spoke about his father’s advice on choosing the right things in Life.

Our Table Topics Master Sathiyamoorthi took to the stage next and stunned us all with his unique twist of ‘Team Topics’, a combination of table topics and trivia questions about members. 

The questions were so tough that Salma was stumped

Everybody had a chance to participate in the Table topics session and perhaps the funniest part was Sathiya’s clues!

Nevertheless, at the end of the day everyone was a winner and was able to walk home with prizes!

Team Valliappan! (who wasnt present as he left earlier :x) 

Team Vinay aka 'Master Strikers'

Team Hemant with the overall highest score!

Thank you to all of you for making this Bowling Bonanza such a great success!  

Yes!! WE BOWLED IT altogether!!!

Proudly contributed by: Dino 

Awesome photos by: Benjamin