130th Chapter Meeting Recap

"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work”

- Vince Lombardi

Kanagavelu Ganesan, Sergeant-At-Arms of the evening, began the 130^th Chapter Meeting by asking everyone how we contribute to saving the environment. While most shared that they use recycled bags while grocery shopping, bring our own bottles, cups etc., there was one unique response that intrigued me. Lucas shared that he would clean and collate Styrofoam boxes after using them, and eventually send them to one of the recycling companies in Hong Kong to do the job. And I thought the extent to which Lucas has gone to, deserves praise and commendation, and will encourage more people to contribute in saving the environment.

Next on the list, we have the Language Evaluator, Zulhafni Zulkeflee, introducing the word of the day ‘obfuscate’. Then, we went on to the five prepared speeches by Andy Ang, Wee Chee Sian, Rama Krishna, Helena Lim and Robert Chen respectively. Andy shared with us the magical recipe (healthy real food) of losing weight. Chee Sian took us back in time and told about history of his hometown. Rama Krishna spoke about how he started reading novels and how that became one of his favorite hobby now. Helena shared about different types of Diabetes. Robert, guest from NUSS Toastmasters Club, tried to sell a toaster! It was a wonderful presentation on sales technique.  

After short refreshment break (Thanks to Jenny for Yummy corn and boiled potatoes!!), the evaluation session started with Jeff Lin, Zulhafni Zulkeflee, Valliappan Selvamani, Hu Richen and finally, Jenny Au. And If have successfully reached this point, and read my “detailed report on the evaluation session” I probably have fulfilled my goal of explaining the word of the day, ‘obfuscate’.

Yes, I meant to confuse the readers in my previous paragraph with the sole reason to explain ‘obfuscate’. The meaning of this word is to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially with an intention. By doing so, I hope readers are able to remember the meaning of this word through experiential learning. However, if you are not bewildered by the brief report in the third paragraph, please pardon me for my obfuscating attempt.

Nevertheless, let me take you through the snippets of last major segment of the Chapter Meeting the Table Topics. Lucas Lui, the Table Topic Master, introduced a refreshing theme on how we would react in the case of an (extreme) emergency. An example of a question is: “Given a situation where you are in the lift with two other passengers descending from the 40^th floor. Halfway through the journey, the lift plunges down in high speed, what will you do?” Even though the nature of these questions tends to instigate a type of answer, the questions still stimulate our brain to think of how we ought to respond in such absurd situations.

Certainly, the evening would not have been possible if not for the coordination and communication between the President, the Executive Committee and some committed members. For instance, the intended member who volunteered to be the Toastmaster of the Day fell sick the last minute and could not make it for the meeting. However, Muthu Ganesh immediately volunteered himself to take up this role at the eleventh hour and even did a great job in spicing up the session for the guests and members. 

All our chapter meetings make me feel:

Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes 
our Anchorvale Toastmasters Club Work.

-by Zhaomin Wang

My Experience being an Emcee! Thanks to TM!- by TM Dinesh

I joined the Anchorvale Toastmasters club with one objective in my mind

“To develop confidence good enough to be able to walk onto a stage anytime, and to be able to speak as well engross the crowd.”

I attended a few toastmaster’s meetings and presented few speeches, however I always wanted to try hosting the meeting or an event. I was always eager to take up the ‘Toastmaster of the day’ (TMOD) role, but before I could do that, a better opportunity shook my door.

One day our Club’s President Chee Sian during his opening address, announced that Sengkang West Zone L Resident Committee (RC) needs an Emcee for their Halloween event. I did not blink my eyes and raised my hands of the opportunity at hand.

It was as if half of the battle was won, however varied thoughts started running in my mind and I started having doubts and fear about my decision of agreeing to be the Emcee. The event date was 27^th October and President told me that RC would contact me. Few weeks passed by, however no one contacted me, so I thought I was out of the event. But to my surprise on 22^nd October, I got an email from Mr. Ivan telling that the event was on and I would be required to host the event.

I got only few days to prepare however, I told myself not to take that as an excuse to opt out. I called Chee Sian and asked him for few tips. He referred me to one of our Senior Members of the club Muthu Ganesh. I spoke with Muthu and he gave me some valuable tips. I prepared the script for the event and sent to RC for review.

I asked my son to accompany me for moral support during the event. I dressed up comfortably with an aim to be decently formal at the same time have a hint of party look. I reached the venue one hour early, had a good discussion with the organizer about the setup, games and overall timings for each event, which really helped me to be prepared. At sharp 6:30 PM, I took over the mic and started welcoming the guests. I welcomed the Guest of Honor (GOH) with gusto. I started quite well, voice was clear and I could see a good response from the audience and noticed that they were able to follow my instructions.

I felt that my involvement with the crowd was appreciable and I could manage the crowd well during the games. I felt my lessons from toastmasters coming alive at the event.

My son’s presence helped me a lot. He was encouraging me, helping me as and when needed and took pictures for me.

After the event I felt satisfied with my accomplishment, however there were few areas which I felt could have been better. I felt I could have rehearsed a bit more and I could have been more engaging by asking more questions and cracking more jokes.  I do realize that it was my first emceeing experience and I can use this experience and learnings from toastmasters to do even better next time.

All in all, it was a great experience, a baby step towards the big milestone of becoming a great speaker. I am thankful to our Anchorvale toastmasters club and RC for the wonderful opportunity and here is my small piece of advice for all the club members:

“Whenever you get an opportunity to implement and showcase lessons from toastmasters’ meetings, do grab the opportunity, it will indeed be a very enriching experience for sure!”

-TM Dinesh Aggrawal