Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests 2020

Charlie Chaplin once said, “A day without laughter is a day wasted”, and the 50-odd of us who attended Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club’s Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests held on 7 November 2020 certainly did not waste our Saturday as the many talented contestants had us splitting our sides with laughter the whole afternoon.

The first contestant, Chee Sian, left us craving for more as he talked all about food and linguistics in his speech, “Food for thought paradise”. Valli, went next, entertaining us with her re-enactment of the interactions she had with her son vs those she had with her mother when she was younger, in her speech titled “Generation Gap”. She also gave us helpful advice on how to bridge this gap. Next, Salma enthralled us with her torrid love affair with—Youtube! In her speech “My Love Affair with Online Videos”, she explains to us her love-hate relationship with the popular video-sharing site. This was followed by Valliappan, who condensed his past 10 years of experience in trying to find a good helper into his speech titled “How to find a domestic helper for dummies”.

Clockwise from top left: Chee Sian, Valli, Salma and Valliappan

The fifth contestant, Kok Siong, had us all in stitches as he enumerated the seemingly endless benefits of having a shaved head, in his speech, “My Unique, Cool Hairstyle”. Bharathamma, the sixth contestant, kept us on the edge of our seats as she recounted an anecdote of how she successfully pulled a prank on her grandmother’s friend in her speech, “One Fine Sunday”. Rusman then grabbed our attention with some fancy martial arts moves as he told us a hilarious story of how he got beaten up by bullies when his cockiness got the better of him after a few kungfu lessons in his speech, “My Story”. The eighth contestant, Joseph, surprised us by listing the ways in which the pandemic has not changed people’s behavior much in his amusing speech, “Has Covid-19 changed people’s behaviour?” He did however, end on a heartwarming note where he observes that many people have shown kindness and charity to those who have lost their jobs, businesses and loved ones, and concluded with a call to action for us to do the same. The final contestant, Siva, told us all about his penchant for “i-products” with his speech titled, “My Obsession with Apple Products”. He had us all roaring with laughter when he confessed that he remembers his wedding anniversary and children’s birthdays because they coincide with the launches of certain apple products! (For his sake, I hope his wife doesn’t read this!)

From top: Kok Siong, Bharathamma, Rusman, Joseph and Siva

After wiping away our tears (from laughing), Contest Toastmaster, Jennifer Lim, led everyone to take a Zoom group photo before adjourning for our coffee-break.

Zoom screen almost cannot contain all enthusiastic participants

After the break, it was time for the much-anticipated Evaluation Contest! To hype us up, Contest Chair, Aaron Ting, showed us the random draw that decided the contestants’ speaking order—which to our amusement, picked Chee Sian as the first contestant and Siva as the final contestant, like the Humorous Speech Contest earlier. After a quick briefing on the rules and regulations by the Contest Toastmaster, the Test Speaker for the Evaluations Contest was introduced—Divya Sharma, from SIA Toastmasters Club. In her speech, “How did this happen?” her vivacious personality shone through as she shared with us how her various passions led her to becoming a flight attendant, taking up a Masters degree in psychology, and joining Toastmasters. With her well-delivered speech, she definitely did not make it easy for our evaluators to pick out points of improvement!

Evaluating Test Speaker, Divya Sharma

The Evaluation Contest contestants were then placed in a separate zoom breakout room to prepare their evaluations while Jennifer held a little informal Q&A with Divya. After which, the contestants, Chee Sian, Valliappan, Rusman, Santwana, Marc, Sarah, Salma and Siva delivered their insightful evaluations on Divya’s speech. In particular, Salma (winner of the Evaluation Contest) amazed us all with her ingenuity as she delivered her evaluation to Divya in the form of a mother-in-law giving advice to her future daughter-in-law. 

Overall, it was definitely a Saturday well-spent. Congratulations to all the contest participants for a job well done and special thanks to all the appointment holders, without which this contest would not have been possible.

Humourous Speech Contest 

2nd Runner Up: Rusman Hadijanto Lee

1st Runner Up: Salma Begum 

Champion: Valliappan Selvamani 

Evaluation Contest 

2nd Runner Up: Marc Wong 

1st Runner Up: Valliappan Selvamani

Champion: Salma Begum

Written by Audrey Lim, PM2

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!    

Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club International Speech & Table Topics Contests 2018 10th February 2018, Saturday

It’s the one weekend to feel the approaching festive mood of the Chinese New Year coming the following Friday. At Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club, this mood is one up further with the anticipation of the highly awaited International Speech & Table Topics Contests 2018. A yearly event at Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club is known to have customary huge attendance.

Such crowd only exude our brave contestants’ finest. And finest is an understatement to describe what the audience took away. With such deep treasures of messages from our International Speech Contest Participants:

Cherish every moment with your loved ones (Ricky Setiawan)

Do not wait to tell how much you love them…the important family, friends (Deepthi Valsan)

Talking a troubled youth into the correct path, it is possible (Salma Begum)

Don’t look back, don’t attempt to change the past (Muthu Ganesh)

Emotion is the key to motivation for motion (Owen Lorena)

Step out, step in (Zulhafni Zulkeflee)

Keep the wisdom of our ancestors…do good be good…to move from real life hell to real life heaven (Hareesh BN)

Good spread of food and drinks during the refreshment break followed after the International Speech Contest. Beside an opportune mingling time, as if to hint at anything, the Table Topic Contest commence right after with the hand picked topic by our Chief Judge, Carolyn Street, DTM, … “Food or drink? What is your poison for 2018?”

Our stomach filled contestants tackled the topic with great humour; our audience however, took it all in with jest even though they are no longer hungry, literally.

Balance is the key. Just like her love of perfume. No excess. Eat in moderation (Deepti Monga)

Grape growers funded research stating red wine is “good for health” (Hareesh BN)

Food beyond what you need is not appropriate. Just look at me (Muthu Ganesh)

Coffee during day time to keep awake. Alcohol at night to lower the energy for a good sleep. As long as you know how to use it (Owen Lorena)

Liquor - can be poison to many people. Overeating is poison – antidote is to exercise. Worked hard at poison. Need to work harder on the antidote now (Ricky Setiawan)

Excessive bulge comes from overeating after marriage. Abundance of food she cook now becomes “poison” to her husband (Salma Begum)

Poison is sugar drink. To cut body fat, cut sugar drink – Coca Cola. Painful but necessary (Vincent Wong)

She drinks alcohol. From vodka, to tequila shots, to cocktail, to finally appreciate wine – not just for old ladies. (Gu Weite)

Tried cutting out gravy on food. Only to prefer no mental stress, over stressing on reducing fatty food. (Zulhafni Zulkeflee)

Photos with some of our appointment holders.

Norman Tan - Organizing Chair

Mishrita Gundluru - Timer

Sarah Ong - Food I/C

Richen and Manonmani - Tally Counters

Anchorvale's Adopted Member - Debbie He

Carolyn Street DTM - Chief Judge

Many thanks to our appointment holders who made the Contests a great success. What better way to show our appreciation than to give them gifts of love ……. Carolyn Street (Chief Judge); Sarah Ong and Norman Tan (Organizing Chairs); Chye Bei’an (Contest Chair); Sathya, Vincent Wong, Debbie He and Narayana (Sergeant At Arms); Hu Richen and Manonmani (Tally Counters); Mishrita Gundluru and Suresh Subramaniam (Timers).

Drumroll….. and the winners are……….

International Speech Contest:

Champion - Salma Begum

1^st Runner Up - Muthu Rama Ganesh

2^nd Runner Up - Zulhafni Zulkeflee

Table Topics Contest:

Champion - Salma Begum

1^st Runner Up - Zulhafni Zulkeflee

2^nd Runner Up - Gu Weite

Come support our winners representing Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club at the Area A1 International Speech & Table Topics Contests to be held on 24^th March 2018 at Function Hall, 2 Bishan Street 25 #26-07, Singapore 573973! See you there!

Article by: Wee Chee Sian CC, ALB