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.
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
