Recap: Inaugural Humorous Speech & Tall Tales Contests - 22 September 2018

There is a famous saying quoted by Will Rogers, American stage and motion picture actor,

"Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else." 

However, on 22nd September, every speech was funny and every speaker awakened the "hidden comedian" inside them. Last Saturday, members of Anchorvale toastmasters club witnessed the inaugural humorous speech and tall tale contest.

The ever bubbly and cheerful Salma was the contest chair. She started the session with great gusto. The contestants and appointment holders were briefed, and speaking order was decided.  As it happened, President Chee Sian got the lot to be the first speaker. He cracked clever puns on looking younger. Then came the 'first time participant of humorous speech contest' Anthony, he spoke about his experience being a 'weird kid'. Next speech was by Deepthi, she poked fun at "toastmasters" itself. Next speaker was Valliappan, he spoke about his funny hair therapy experience. Next speaker Thomas spoke about the F word (do not misunderstand!); he entered the stage holding an umbrella and holding everyone's attention! Last speaker Helena, spoke about her dog Simba and her funny experiences with him.

Audience indeed had a hearty laughing moments during the first session. Then came the time to fill in the tummies. Mouthwatering dishes were offered to everyone which also included refreshing shorba. September babies cut the birthday cakes and every sang birthday wishes for them.

It was then time for lies and unbelievable stories! Time for tall tale contest. First one to come and "lie" was Sathya, he spoke about how things went wrong when he send wrong messages to wrong people! Then came Chee Sian to speak about his "organic; out of scratch" burger!! Muthu spoke on length about the lucky doll and the shepherd Muthu Ganesh!! Zul came in and spoke about The great Egyptian, he himself. The last one to come and tell a tall tale was Francis. He shared how he lost his lush hair (breaking hearts of his girlfriend"S") and how he planned to grow back his hair (by winning them back!). All the speakers did a great job, they confused the audience! they met the objective!!

It was then the time for Awards!

Humorous Speech Contest

1st Position: Deepthi 

2nd Position : Valliappan

3rd Position: Thomas

Tall Tale Contest 

1st Position: Francis

2nd Position: Muthu

3rd Position: Chee Sian

Trophies were handed over to the winners by Club Mentor, Jenny. The appointment holders and the Judges were also given mementos. The organizing committee chair Richen and his team were praised for being a the backbone of the entire show. President Chee Sian in his closing address, marked the end of the session wherein,he presented vote of thanks to everyone who had a part in making the event a BIG SUCCESS!    

127th Chapter meeting Recap

The meeting kick started with the SAA Jeff Lin asking everyone about their views on global warming and recent calamities that had happened in Japan and Indonesia. Mixed opinions were shared and ideas/solutions were exchanged. The SAA then handed over the session to toastmaster of the day (TMOD) Sajith Kumar. TMOD welcomed Chee Sian for the presidential address. Chee Sian mentioned that “there is always a first time for anything” and encouraged all to participate in the upcoming humorous speech and tall tale contest. Soon after that language evaluator Jenny shared the ‘word of the day’ Magnanimous (meaning generous, charitable, benevolent, beneficent, open-handed).

In the prepared speeches session first speech was given by Dinesh; he spoke about Tiger Woods and his Life Journey. The second speaker was Sarah who spoke about her passion for running. The third speaker Francis spoke about, how our thinking directly impacts our action. 4^th speaker Rusman shared talked on the topic of stress management. The prepared speeches session was entertaining and informational.

Soon after that we had a small break in which everyone enjoyed the sumptuous food including pizzas and tasty lontong/sayor lodeh prepared by Jenny.

During the evaluation session evaluators gave assessment and valuable feedback to the speakers. First speech was evaluated by Lucas, second speech by Valli, third by Deepthi and fourth by Valliappan. For the table topic session Hemant brought very witty and thought-provoking topics e.g. “Who would you haunt when you are gone?”, “Who would you want to invite in next chapter meeting and how would you convince him/her to come?” and many more. Guests and members participated in the session enthusiastically. Language evaluation was then performed by Jenny and it was indeed one of the best evaluation which was beneficial for all the members.

In the end, awards were handed over. The best speaker ribbon was handed over to Francis for is wonderful speech on “Our Thoughts, Our Action” and the best evaluator as well as the best table topic speaker award was handed over to Valliappan. The meeting then concluded and everyone dispersed after taking few mirthful photos!!

Recap: 126th Chapter Meeting

Doesn’t 126 remind you of the delicious dim sum place from Geylang? Besides Geylang 126, I know I can always find good food and great company in Achorvale Toastmaster club. It is also a great place to learn public speaking, especially as we are growing together with a group of experienced, warm and supportive community. As a member, I truly feel fortunate to be part of this family, being able to grow and learn together amidst all the fun and laughter.

126^th chapter meeting, was started by SAA Sathiyamoorthi asking us a very practical question that we encounter in our everyday lives, “What do you do when you face setback?” There were many interesting answers from our club members and guests, some look past the negativity of the situation, some distract themselves by doing things that they enjoy, while others will keep encouraging themselves.

Today TMD is Jeff Lin, he has a very clear voice and a very calm energy which made him a very compose host. Following which, he introduced the club president Chee Sian for the opening address. President Chee Sian started with a very smooth transition by connecting back to the topic SAA Sathiyamoorthi mentioned on setbacks. He used the example of placing in Olympics swimming heats and mentioned that even if the current situation is not very hopeful, things may change for the better.

Followed by LE Muthurama introduced an interesting word of the day for all the prepared speakers, which is “Blind Spot.” A good example would be, “The speaker has a blind spot to the ethical issue.”

TMD Jeff Lin introduced Desmond Chong for the first prepared speech speaker, who was very confident and spoke about his experience in NPCC and concluded that he has gained more having gone through this experience.

The second prepared speech speaker Pratik Pandya spoke about the different experiences he has and concluded why we should break the ice before the ice melt because doing is better than regret. He was very comfortable sharing his anecdote and we enjoyed his speech.

The third prepared speech speaker Anthony Lin spoke about an experience from officer cadet school called the confidence jump and concluded that it is better to just take a small step forward rather than to worry about it.

The last prepared speech speaker Sajith Kumar Dara, shared on an interesting topic about tattoos.  He shared about the different tools and reasons why people would put a tattoo. We can see from his presentation that he is very experienced and was well prepared for this speech.

For the evaluation, we have Audrey Lim, Helena Lim, Owen and Rusman Hadijanto. They were all very encouraging and gave very good advice to each speaker. It is not easy to be a good and encouraging evaluator, and they have shared their opinion objectively instead of being subjective. Some of their advice includes; to use good English, keep eye contact with everyone, and share 3 points or less.

It is time for tabletop master Thomas Lee and his favorite subject on quotes, and as usual, Hermant started the ball rolling. In fact, many guests and toastmaster participated that our tabletop master ran out of quotes. To me, this is a good problem to have. It was a great sharing of many motivational ideas from the quotes that Thomas has prepared.  

Ah, Counter Lucas was meticulous and did a fabulous job in ensuring that he has captured all the filler words for everyone who presented that day. Timekeeper Freya has also diligently timed and explained what was the required timing for the speakers.

LE Muthurama shared on his observation for the prepared speakers that day. Some of the points he mentioned were to use the same tense throughout the sentence, paragraph, and story. This is to ensure that the audience is able to follow the story. Another point he shared was to use triage so the ideas shared will stick with the audience.

GE Aaron Koh gave a very wholesome review. He shared his observation from the beginning when he entered the door until the moment he stands in front of the pulpit not forgetting our blog. As a guest, he noticed that the strength of Achorvale Toastmaster club is that we are very warm and welcoming like a family, and yet the quality of learning and education is as good as other toastmaster clubs if not better.

As usual, the day ended with our President Chee Sian giving out awards to speakers who have done their icebreaker speech, best-prepared speech, best evaluator, and best tabletop speech! Of course, we did not forget to take pictures before leaving, it was truly a beautiful day for all of us.

Thank you everyone, for making it possible.

-Penned by TM Anthony