The 145th Chapter
Meeting served both a reminder (coming of Teacher’s Day on 1st
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.
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| 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”.
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| 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.
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| 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”
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| 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”
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| 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.
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| 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)
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| Congratulations to (from left) Rusman, Souvik and Samuel |
With
the resounding and eventful close of this meeting, see all of you on 14
September 2019, our 146th Chapter Meeting. Cheers!
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| Cannot do without a wefie by Club President, Valliappan |
Article
by: Wee Chee Sian ACB, ALB
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