104th Chapter Meeting - 20th May 2017

Rarely does life teach us something in an easy way. Lessons learned the hard way are the best lessons that never slip from our mind.

We were all reminded of such life lessons on Saturday, 20th May 2017, in the Anchorvale Toastmasters 104th Chapter meeting, a themed meeting, with the theme being “Lessons learned the hard way”.

Sergeant-At-Arms for the day, Salma kicked off the meeting. Everyone was asked to introduce themselves and share a lesson that they learned the hard way.  It was fascinating to hear from our fellow members about their life lessons. Some of the lessons shared were: follow the traffic rules no matter what, never ever argue with your boss, learn to accept the fact that not all colleagues can be your friends and so on.

The charismatic toastmaster of the day Benjamin took over the podium and engaged all of us in a short game. He gave everyone a chit and asked us to express in writing or drawing anything positive that came to our mind, there and then. All of us scribbled in the paper which was then collected, shuffled and shared amongst us. Everyone ended up getting a positive note which brought an ear to ear smile in everyone’s face. The chit on my hand read “If it didn’t kill you, it made you stronger. Keep swimming.” It was indeed a wonderful way to engage everyone and gear up for the meeting. Kudos to Benjamin for the unique idea!

Club President Norman Tan was invited for Presidential address wherein he stated the importance of lessons that are learned the hard way. After the short and sweet Presidential opening the ‘prepared speeches’ session began. 

We were treated to a brilliant Ice Breaker speech “My fear” from our new member Helena Lim. Helena delivered a very well structured speech and it will be fun hearing  more of her speeches as she works her way through the speeches in the Competent Communicator manual.

It was now the turn of Lum Yong Kang to surprise everyone through his Project-2. When he started speaking, Bao Long came out of nowhere and started hitting him which startled all of us. Like bystanders, we were wondering what was happening in front of us, when Kelvin came and saved him. When Yong Kang started speaking again we realised it was all an act to lead us to his topic “The bystander”. 

The next speech, again a P-2, “My journey through Aotearoa” was delivered by Prasanna Rao. He took us for a virtual journey to New Zealand through his speech. It was an educational and entertaining escape to New Zealand.

After two P-2’s, it was time to listen to two Project-3 speeches with an objective to ‘Get to the point’. The audience were transfixed by Lim Bau Long’s speech: “U-Turn or not?”.  He shared a colour story about his holiday to Maldives and the experiences he went through that made him question, whether he would take a U-Turn or not?

After Bao Long's captivating speech it was Kelvin’s turn capture everyone’s attention with his inspiring speech “Be yourself”. Kelvin shared about his aggressive attempts to lose weight and the unhealthy habits he formed to do so. His message was, if you want to do something, make sure it is because you chose to do so for your own self. Both of them made sure that their point was nailed down permanently, in everyone’s mind. 

Angela Cai gave speech titled “Hate it or love it”. It was her Project 4 and she shared her interesting “Running” episode and the lessons she learned the hard way. Angela was humorous in her attempts to show how she dreaded running, and how she eventually picked it up and does it properly now.

After that it was my turn to give the speech from Storytelling Manual, Advanced Project 1: Folktale. I shared a story about “The stone cutter”. I thoroughly enjoyed telling the story; story time is always fun. My story was about the Stone Cutter who constantly wanted to be someone else, and was never satisfied with what he had, until he returned to being a stone cutter.

The Toastmaster of the Desserts

After the prepared speeches session we took a refreshment break which was the yummiest part of the entire meeting. It was not just the “pizza- time” as usual but we all got to taste the yummy green beans soup which was prepared by Jenny Au. 

The birthday Babies for the month of May, Helena and Kelvin, cut the cake and we all sang the birthday song for them. After filing our tummies with cakes, pizzas, and two - three rounds of soup, we head back to the meeting room.

Hemant's Maiden Evaluation

Senthil passionately presenting his points

Benjamin took on a dual role

Chee Sian being absolutely hilarious

Richen with a concise evaluation

Norman thoroughly evaluating based on the objectives

Jenny with a tough evaluation on an advanced speech

A series of thoughtful and comprehensive evaluations followed, from Hemant, Senthil, Benjamin, Wee Chee Sian, Richen, Norman and Jenny.  The evaluations were a combination of praise, areas for improvement, and specific suggestions. I am sure the points shared by the evaluators has added value not only to the speakers but to everyone in the audience.

Sridhar's adorable daughter

Alice Ow after her Kopi-time with PM Lee

Sridhar trying to live up to his daughter

Angela bravely trying the table topics

First Time Visitor tackling the table topics

New member Guo Xuan gallantly shared his table topics experience

Then it was time for our ‘favourite’ part of the meeting – Table Topics, as we always end up having a few laughs, as speakers talk on varied topics and share their experiences. Toastmaster Salma was at the helm and she challenged the audience with topics related to the theme “Lessons learned the hard way”. 

But the speakers were all up to the challenge, especially the kids of Sridhar. Both the kids were very enthusiastic and were eager to face the audience and speak. Two visitors also participated in the table topics and shared their lessons learned the hard way.

After the table topics session, Zul conducted the Master Evaluation and evaluated the speech-evaluators. I am sure his insightful observations will help everyone to fine-tune their evaluations the next time. 

Throughout the Jam packed meeting, Rusman Lee as timer for the day, was keeping a check on time.

Best Table Topics: Alice Ow

Ice Breaker Ribbon for Yong Kang

Ice Breaker Ribbon for Helena Lim

Best Project Evaluator: Jenny Au

Best Prepared Speech: Lim Bao Long

Time for reward and recognition had finally come. Helena and Yong Kang were given the icebreaker ribbons. The best speaker ribbon went to the Lim Bao Long, Jenny Au got the best evaluator ribbon and Alice Ow got the best table topic speaker ribbon. Congratulations to all the winners!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to another enlightening and fun meeting and very special thanks to Jenny for the tasty soup.

Written By: Deepthi Valsan