"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships" - Michael Jordan.
Top three results on google search for "top football players" are Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. These are some of the most popular names in households that love football. Have we ever wondered why then was FIFA 2014 won by Germany, and not one of the countries represented by the top players? It's the team! As a team they were invincible. Some one once said, a team is about common people achieving uncommon things. How true was it in this case!
Thus started 108th chapter of Anchorvale CC Toast Master on 22nd, July 2017, where a group of ladies and gentlemen gathered to exercise as a team to achieve their mountainous goal. We were the people who believed our tongue is mightier than the pen.
Top three results on google search for "top football players" are Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. These are some of the most popular names in households that love football. Have we ever wondered why then was FIFA 2014 won by Germany, and not one of the countries represented by the top players? It's the team! As a team they were invincible. Some one once said, a team is about common people achieving uncommon things. How true was it in this case!
Thus started 108th chapter of Anchorvale CC Toast Master on 22nd, July 2017, where a group of ladies and gentlemen gathered to exercise as a team to achieve their mountainous goal. We were the people who believed our tongue is mightier than the pen.
Today's gathering was kicked off by sergeant-at-arms Sam Wang with his intriguing thoughts on teamwork and he invited everyone to share the same. Dripping wet in the creative splashes of everyone's thoughts on team work, we moved on to the short introduction by Toast Master of the day Thomas Lee. He reinforced the idea of team work with the quote "No man is an island".
Following this was the opening address by president Salma Begum, on a previously unknown place to many "Pulau Semakau" which essentially is the dumping ground of Singapore. The beauty of the place and journey of a chocolate paper to Pulau Semakau were new to many of us too. The "Eagles nesting on the trees in Pulau Semakau" requires a special mention, and it ended with a question to all of us: "Are we socially responsible?".
After this was the word of the day from language evaluator, Roger Yap which happened to be "Decide-Decisive". It was his responsibility to collect the usage of "Decide" in all of today's speeches, which he duly did and presented towards the end of chapter.
Following this was the opening address by president Salma Begum, on a previously unknown place to many "Pulau Semakau" which essentially is the dumping ground of Singapore. The beauty of the place and journey of a chocolate paper to Pulau Semakau were new to many of us too. The "Eagles nesting on the trees in Pulau Semakau" requires a special mention, and it ended with a question to all of us: "Are we socially responsible?".
After this was the word of the day from language evaluator, Roger Yap which happened to be "Decide-Decisive". It was his responsibility to collect the usage of "Decide" in all of today's speeches, which he duly did and presented towards the end of chapter.
Following this were seven prepared speeches starting off with Tan Wee Liang presenting his project 10 - 'Inspire Your Audience' on 'Mind over Matter', driving into the audience the moral "Only when you decide, you can achieve. He indeed did inspire our audience by his speech.
Next were 3 icebreakers starting with Mishrita Gundluru where we experienced her reflection speaking to us for the most part, on its struggle with continual changes and school course taking off, and ended with the sure note "In chess king can move only one step, but he rules the game". Now it was Sarah Ong's chance to break the ice, that she did it well on "Another bucket list checked", where she mentioned her bucketlist items and the strength it took to tick them off, among those were getting Taekwando blackbelt, flea market and Kayaking. Last one to break the ice was Vincent Wong who made us sob with his 'brave' speech on "uncertain future", from being a chef in a Michelin star restaurant to quitting his job to follow his dreams.
Project 7-research your topic was presented by Vinay Krishna on sHuman. I leave it to you to fill up what that 's' in sHuman stands for. While you keep guessing, continue reading for clues. He presented a problem that most of us millennials face by our obsession on smart phones and texting. A well researched and thought provoking speech indeed.
Next were 3 icebreakers starting with Mishrita Gundluru where we experienced her reflection speaking to us for the most part, on its struggle with continual changes and school course taking off, and ended with the sure note "In chess king can move only one step, but he rules the game". Now it was Sarah Ong's chance to break the ice, that she did it well on "Another bucket list checked", where she mentioned her bucketlist items and the strength it took to tick them off, among those were getting Taekwando blackbelt, flea market and Kayaking. Last one to break the ice was Vincent Wong who made us sob with his 'brave' speech on "uncertain future", from being a chef in a Michelin star restaurant to quitting his job to follow his dreams.
Project 7-research your topic was presented by Vinay Krishna on sHuman. I leave it to you to fill up what that 's' in sHuman stands for. While you keep guessing, continue reading for clues. He presented a problem that most of us millennials face by our obsession on smart phones and texting. A well researched and thought provoking speech indeed.
Next was Deepthi Valsan's turn to tell a story on "Let's get personnel" where she shared a childhood story of her father and her going on a walk, when her father does something that gave her realization on the duty to warn/inform/help others. She concluded by sharing a poem by Don Merril, "I chose to look the other way".
Final prepared speech for the day was from Norman Tay for "The demonstration talk" on "Unlimit yourself". Ah Man! who knew can we draw? But yes, Norman did know that we can all draw. He made us all draw three beautiful cartoon characters that pressed Thomas Lee to add a disclaimer "any resemblance is purely coincidental".
After the long waited snack break and cake cutting for the birthday babies in the month of July, it was evaluation time. It was time for the speakers to fall to the ground and get wounded. But hey! wounds heal, and that is what makes us aware of the pitfalls of public speaking.
To disturb the silent, serious, no-laughter bunch the room has become after the evaluations time, there came the table topics and for today. There were a total of eight topics. We witnessed speakers nervously whipping up random ideas and articulating those into speeches.
After the long waited snack break and cake cutting for the birthday babies in the month of July, it was evaluation time. It was time for the speakers to fall to the ground and get wounded. But hey! wounds heal, and that is what makes us aware of the pitfalls of public speaking.
To disturb the silent, serious, no-laughter bunch the room has become after the evaluations time, there came the table topics and for today. There were a total of eight topics. We witnessed speakers nervously whipping up random ideas and articulating those into speeches.
It was now time for general evaluator's report from Richard Tay where he disclosed some doctrines of evaluation from his book of secrets. Following are the take-home points: Expression, Precision, Doll-up, Connect, Train your mind and Listen intently.
That heralded the most awaited awards ceremony.
That heralded the most awaited awards ceremony.
108th Chapter Meeting Award Winners:
Best Project Speech Speaker: Deepthi Valsan, CC, CL
Best Project Evaluator: Wee Chee Sian, CC, ALB
Best Table-Topics Speaker: Sam Wang, TM
Best Project Speech Speaker: Deepthi Valsan, CC, CL
Best Project Evaluator: Wee Chee Sian, CC, ALB
Best Table-Topics Speaker: Sam Wang, TM
Ending note was from president Salma where she reiterated the importance of speaking with mention of how Roger remembered the quote from a month old speech of Helena. Let's end this with the quote: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi.
Did you fine what the 's' in sHuman stand for? Here is to those that diligently tried guessing and to lazy ones like me for having totally forgotten it: smart Human.
Article by: Ashok, T.
