Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club, Singapore (Sengkang): September 2019

The 145^th Chapter Meeting served both a reminder (coming of Teacher’s Day on 1^st September 2019) and reminiscent of the teachers we have all encountered. Our Sergeant-at-Arms of the Day, Valli Kasinathan, CC, asked all of us present, to tell about the teacher(s) we are most grateful to, during the ice-breaking session. While many cited teachers we met in our school days, some extraordinary ones mentioned include trainers, supervisors; next of kin and relatives such as mother, uncle; as well as people whom we do not know personally such as television personality and motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins.

SAA of the Day, Valli Kasinathan, reminded us about Teacher

Our Toastmaster of the Day, Sathiyamoorthi, ACB, next invited our Club’s President, Valliappan, CC, to give us the opening address. Coincidentally, Valliappan’s message of ‘continuous learning’ and ‘sharpening our axe’ binds close to the idea of having good teachers to guide us. Beside giving well known exemplary figures such as the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew (who continued to learn Chinese in his 90s) and Albert Einstein, Valliappan also recounted his own 80 year old aunt who managed to gather 200 women in stitching a large crochet, breaking a world record, as an example of the importance of never ending learning.

Our Language Evaluator, Aaron Ting, DTM, Division D Director, from Chua Chu Kang Toastmasters Club uniquely introduced a prefix – ‘pro’ in place of the usual Word of the Day. ‘Pro’ is to take something forward, eg. progress, promise, proposal, prolific, procession…. Members in the meeting were encouraged to use words with the prefix ‘pro’ in their speeches.

Like the stars constellation used by olden days sailors in their navigation, Audrey Lim, PM1, spoke fondly about her mentor who, like her “north star” that “lights up” her path forward, guided her well. Bharathamma, IP2, showed us her persuasive skills in selling a Samsung dishwasher machine to Rusman, DL4. Her convincing words stem from her painful experience in the past, having paid for a damaged dishwasher due to errors in operating it. She stressed the importance of having one that is user friendly in her sales pitch. After being ‘sold’ on the dishwasher, it’s Rusman’s turn to sell us on the great value of joining a Toastmasters Club. Good fortune came when his supervisor encouraged him to join Toastmasters. He saw and is still seeing change in himself with his confidence build up in speaking, volunteering to present to customer, and even received three job offers after acing in the interviews. Woohoo! Claire Teo, IP1, spoke about the 2 Ps (passion and perseverance) and 3 Cs (communicator, courage and confidence) needed in a leader. Leader can exist in any place, be it school, family or workplace. Like what Rusman had mentioned, “leadership can start even in an organization such as a Toastmasters Club”.

Bharathamma (right) selling dishwasher to Rusman (left)

We are doing our part to be environmentally friendly. We are going paperless. Our Timer, Andy Ang, DL2, introduced menti.com for online voting immediately after the completion of the prepared speech segment.

The refreshment break is another opportunity members get to let the hair down for a while and bond over good food and leisure conversations. Our Club mentor, Jenny Au, DTM, ever the one spoiling us with her delicious Lontong, in addition to the pizzas we have during this bonding period. The singing of a birthday song for those born in the month of August and sharing of the birthday cake amongst members filled our stomach to resume our meeting proper.

The Club is indeed fortunate to have guest speaker, Eric Tan, DTM, from AIA Toastmasters Club to share with us “Pathways Management for Leaders”. Answering commonly encountered questions such as “Can we not go through ice breaker, evaluation and feedback, researching and presenting again when we go to another path?” with an earnest “Why not practice again?” Eric points to the value of Pathways with examples of how it enriches our personal development. The Persuasive Influence path is one example. This path requires one to keep a journal daily, recording notes on how to maintain a positive outlook. Eric noted some members still continue to keep the journal after completion of the path. Eric ended on a high note with an advice not to ditch the materials of the old curriculum. These can be used as speech workshop materials.

Guest speaker Eric Tan shares “Pathways Management for Leaders”

Norman Tan, ACB, CL, felt like he is in a leadership symposium when evaluating Claire’s speech. Paralleling it to the likes of Martin Luther King and Aung San Suu Kyi, the speech strives towards a higher platform too. Norman suggested personal or historical stories to be incorporated with quotable quotes to make the speech better. Souvik, TM, compared Audrey’s speech delivery to a hammock with a good blend of highs and lows. He thought Audrey could slow down her pace for the audience to better capture the essence. Ponnuchamy, TM, applauded Bharathamma on the use of humor to engage the audience. He encouraged her to use better vocabularies to fill the room for improvement. CP Yuen, TM, proposed an introduction upfront to the audience, on what to expect in Rusman’s speech. He would also like to hear how Rusman can use the experiences mentioned in the speech to impact Rusman’s subordinates.

Our bubbly Table Topics Master, Freya Gwee, TM, prepared a list of interesting questions coupled with just as cute pictorials to our brave takers:

Diya (Sathiyamoorthi’s young daughter) - What made you laugh this week?

“Meet my friends”

“Teacher’s funny words”

Youngest brave soul of the day, Diya, with Table Topics Master Freeya

Saabry - What are some recent compliments you received?

“Photos taken by me received positive feedbacks”

Shamil - Are you a television monster?

“Was ever glued to a particular TV program”

Samrit - How would you describe your childhood?

“Memories of childhood mostly on studies”

“Ever attempted crickets, a sports popular in India.”

“Was ever in an intensive crickets training camp for 3 months”

“Realized cricket as a sport is not for him”

Samuel - How do you spend the majority of your free time?

“Mostly on studies or exercise”

“Observed some people engaged in bad habits”

“And even developed into an addiction like gaming”

“Advised free time should be used wisely”

Cute pictorials too from our bubbly Table Topics Master, Freya Gwee

First time Ah Counter, Marc Wong, TM, has been listening attentively while the meeting is in progress, capturing the pause fillers used by all speakers. His diligence was shown in his concise Ah Counter report. Well done Marc!

Language Evaluator, Aaron Ting captured several good use of words and phrases such as “profound”, “mentoring is a push in the right direction” and even offered his own personal favorite “live as if you are to die tomorrow”. Aaron ended his language evaluation with a highlight and reminder on the importance of pronunciation.

A very ‘Pro’ Language Evaluator, Aaron Ting

General Evaluator, In Tiam, CC, complimented on the Club’s program sheet (agenda) on being colorful and user friendly with the QR codes included for guests to easily go to the Club’s blogspot and Facebook page. Another first for the Club, the introduction of menti.com to vote was highlighted. In Tiam encouraged the Club to continue the good work to innovate and inject unique elements at times into an otherwise normal chapter meeting.

Guests Saabry and Aaron were asked for feedbacks on the Club’s meeting by our Club President, Valliappan, towards the end of the meeting. Aaron described the Club as warm, friendly, encouraging, with good applause for affirming every speaker’s effort.

Drumroll….. and the awards go to……….

Best Prepared Speech: Rusman Hadijanto, DL4

Best Project Evaluator: Souvik Chowdury, TM

Best Table Topics Speaker: Samuel (guest)