Anchorvale's 69th Chapter Meeting on 23rd May 2015

It was a chilly Saturday afternoon. Our Sergeant-at-Arms Valliappan launched the meeting with an Ice Breaker Question – ‘Selfie Culture’. The atmosphere turned warm when each speaker introduced themselves and most of them agreed that the "Selfie Culture is good, but too much of anything is not good."

Next, Club President Sathya gave his opening address - "How did he KISS the Ugly Frog in his life". Subsequently, our imaginative Language Evaluator, Zulhafni, introduced the "Words of the day." There was a small twist. Speakers were told to use synonyms of the following words: GOOD/BAD/HARD. This is because he felt these words are generally over used. 

We moved on to prepared speeches. There were five exciting speakers waiting to enlighten the audience. The first speaker was Vinay, he delivered his maiden speech - "Boath to Bath". He narrated his life journey from Boath to Bath and finally to Toastmasters. There were surprises in every word he displayed in his slides. The next speaker was Jackie, as he delivered a very informative and interesting speech on ‘Smart Phones,’ now we know who to approach when we want to buy new smart phones.

The third speaker was Rasu, his topic was “Power of Language,’’ he vividly described how he learnt two languages when he travelled from his home town to a distant state. He concluded with a quote “ If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, it goes to his heart.” Our next speaker was Julie Mae, her speech topic was "What's in the T?" She did substantial research and showed vivid images for her speech. It was an eye opener for most of us. 

The final speaker was Peter from Toa Payoh TMC, he showed us ways we could beat the stress, by giving us the ‘Stress Buster.’ By showing us statistics from various research papers, he said that ‘Gratitude’ will bust the stress.  All the speakers were equally impressive, Rasu and Julie Mae were voted as the best prepared speakers for the meeting and kudos to them.

After a refreshment break, we celebrated Birthdays of our May babies, Rasu and Valliappan, and then the project evaluation segment began.

Alice, Rachel, Deb, Rebecca and Muthu gave their respective evaluations of the prepared speeches, Speakers appreciated the valuable feedback from the evaluators. Muthu's evalution scored him the best evaluator's Ribbon.

Ricky, our table topics master, wanted to increase the members' brain cells by twisting the Table Topics. Each participant would draw a topic and first line of the speech should be the topic, i.e once upon on a time. There were nine brave speakers on this segment, Deepti's "This is the day" speech won her the Ribbon.

Everyone was eagerly waiting for the Language Evaluation cum Ah-counter report from our incoming President Zulhafni. His evaluation was impeccable with specific suggestions to each speaker. The audience was especially thrilled with his unique ah-counter report. Another great  meticulous evaluation.

However, all good things must end. The meeting ended with awards presentation and an update of the Revitalized Education Program from our past Area Governor Rebecca Chan. This was yet another scintillating meeting and I hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Congratulations to everyone, we are just inches away from President's Distinguished Club again. Keep up the good work. Special thanks to all appointment holders and visiting guests: Peter Goh (Toa Payoh Central CC TMC), Rebecca Chan, ACS/ALB (Fort Canning TMC).

Best Prepared Speech: Rasu and Julie Mae

Best Project Evaulation: Muthu, CC, CL 

Best Table Topics: Deepti

Written By: Sathya CC

The President doing his thing

Our entertaining Toastmaster of the Day - Yue Qi

Very Happy

Birthday Boys

                                      

Sharing is Caring. Julie Mae and Rasu win the Best Prepared Speech Ribbon

As usual, Muthu gives another astute evaluation

New Member Deepti impresses as she delivers the Best Table Topic

Special Bonus - Some of our members at the BIG Conference 

Anchorvale's Extraordinary Teambuilding/ BBQ Chapter Meeting on 9th May 2015

It truly was a beautiful day to have a barbecue @ Seletar Springs Condo

BIG THANKS to Jenny, Chee Sian, Sathya, Rachel, Norman, Zul and other committee members!

2 PM to 5 PM – Toastmasters Chapter Meeting

5 PM to 6:30 PM – Team Building Games

6:30 PM onwards – Barbeque

Anchorvale TMC is full of surprises!!!

I was surprised by the wonderful venue for our barbecue.

We were surprised by a 'square' in our team building games.

Ricky surprised all of us and won the best speaker award for his maiden speech!

‘The surprise is that you continue to be surprised’. Stay tuned for more surprises.

The meeting kicked off with Chee Sian, Sergeant-at-Arms and asking the audience, “What will you do for your mother in Mother’s Day?” All that we are, or hope to be, we owe to our angel mother. Followed by our very own President, Sathya delivering his opening address.

Then we had our Prepared Speech segment, began by Ricky, who did his P1 Ice Breaker!  He shared his target for this year and his passionate reason to join toastmasters. We were stunned by his presentation and wondered if this was P1 for CC or DTM.

Next up, Sridhar delivered his maiden speech P1 for ice breaker. He shared how he overcame his challenges to join toastmaster club. Well done for interacting with the audience.

Our 3^rd speaker of the day was Deb, and today was a momentous occasion as this is the first time someone brought a blender to deliver his P8 Get Comfortable with Visual Aids. I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. Deb does and I understood. Before today, nobody knew how to make an Indian tea. After today, we all knew how to make it and how it tastes! Thank you Deb for your tea!

Our last speaker, Pang spoke about investment as part of his AP5 – Speaking to Inform. It started with a song “Money Money Money” to grab our attention. Through the sharing of some very useful and eye-catching statistics, Pang pieced apart the return and risks of investment.  His takeaway message – Be mindful and pay respect to the market

All the speeches were very interesting, but there could only be one best speaker, and that honor went to Ricky! What a diamond in the making! Congratulations!

After our “sweetest” refreshment of ice cream and dessert, they were project evaluations conducted by our impressive lineup of Anila, Thomas, Hareesh and Ritz. Did you notice someone was preparing his evaluation while others enjoyed their food and speeches? He was the best evaluator for the day, Hareesh! Congratulations!

Next up was Tables Topics segment conducted by Zul. The theme was ‘Describe the item chosen from the basket of surprises.’ The prizes were whatever you picked from the basket!  Rachel, Thomas, Christine, Ricky, Deb, Vinay, Siew Ping hurried and picked up their surprises. Congratulations to Deb who impressed us the most with his imagination.

Next was Norman to deliver the Language Evaluation! Norman loved the use of a song to start my speech and reminded us to check the internet before speaking a foreign language in a speech. Here at Anchorvale TMC, we can always do better!

But guess what folks, our fun has just begun! After crossing a beautiful swimming pool, we reached our barbecue pit. Our first challenge was to make different patterns using 7 pieces of different shapes. Chee Sian, we just want to relax and enjoy. Please spare us from this kind of strenuous game next time, ok?

Right after that, it was lead the blind and make the word. Dashing off starting points, team A completed the game within 4 minutes. It was 1 minute faster than team B. Well done!

Our funs continued with Balloon War! We were divided to two teams. The team which pierce all balloons from the other team was winner. Interestingly, Salma kept her balloon and did not pierce anyone. Why? Because she was too smart and escaped from the battle!

Finally, barbecue time! A person who does not like barbecue does not exist in our club. We all gathered around the barbecue pit and fight for the foods.

WOW! Chicken wing, corn, fish, mushroom, satay and HOTDOG! This was the heaven of food. All foods on table were finished in seconds!

Special thanks to all our guests who took time off to visit us today, Christine and Siew Ping.

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon, evening and night. Do join us for our next meeting on 23rd May.

Congratulations to all Award Winners!

Best Prepared Speech: Ricky Setiawan

Best Project Evaluation: Hareesh BN

Best Table Topics: Debananda Patro

Anchorvale TMC 67th Chapter Meeting on 25th April 2015

It was yet another Chapter meeting on 25^th April, but it was anything but uneventful, as it had several guests with us, hailing from Grassroots TMC, Hope@Toastmasters, Bishan Toastmasters and NTU Toastmasters.

The meeting kicked off with our very own President, Sathya delivering his opening address and asking the audience, “What is your nickname?” Everyone is bound to have a nickname at some points of our lives – but it is merely an alias that is suitable for our own true style J

Thereafter, we had our Prepared Speech segment, spearheaded by Alvin, who did his P1 Ice Breaker! He shared his musings about how he originally thought Toastmasters stood for ‘Toast Bread’ Club. As he narrated his hilarious recollections, we as an audience were ‘stun like vegetable’ but never so certain about his flair for public speaking :)

Next up, we had Deb who delivered his P7- Research your topic! He spoke about hobbies and its importance as a form of relaxation. As the saying goes, a hobby a day, keeps the doldrums away! Speaking about his favorite hobbies, Match box, Stampers and Watches, Deb even brought his own impressive collection of watches! Dedication indeed!

Our 3^rd speaker of the day was In Tiam, and today was a momentous occasion as he was delivering his P10 Inspire your audience. Question of the day- what is your goal of being here? As In Tiam encouraged everyone to adopt SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bomb) goals, he also shared with us simple and achievable steps towards realizing our goals but all the while emphasizing the need to be realistic and grounded.

Our last speaker, Melvyn spoke about Risk and our risk inclinations as part of his AP5 – Speaking to Inform. Through the sharing of some very useful and thought-provoking statistics, Melvyn pieced apart the notion of risk and elucidated how one’s risk can be easily tainted between Perception and Reality, which separates the real hazards from the imaginative ones. His takeaway message - Life is all about taking risks. If you never take a risk, you will never achieve your dreams.

All the speeches were very interesting, but there could only be one best speaker, and that honor went to Deb! Congratulations!

As our evaluators prepared their speeches, we delved into the Tables Topics segment conducted by Norman. The theme for today’s segment is ‘What is your ideal holiday?’ with a catch – each speaker must draw a random mode of transport and budget from a pre-determined list. Kudos to all who attempted, Vinay, Rachel, Alvin, In Tiam and Jackie and congratulations to Vinay who impressed us the most with a $200 trip to Kuala Lumpur via bicycle! 

Next up was the project evaluations conducted by our impressive lineup of Deb, Leo, Melvyn and Zulhafni! It was Deb’s maiden attempt at evaluation and it was a close fight. However, the veterans were too strong and the competition was so intense that there was a triple tie for the best evaluator, which eventually went to our Area Governor, Melvyn Goh! Congratulations!

Last but not least, we had our special guests DTM Crispin Rodrigues and Jennifer Lee CC, CL to deliver the Language Evaluation and General Evaluation respectively! Crispin wowed us with his intricate yet spot-on analysis of the meeting’s language use while Jennifer crafted such a detailed evaluation, reminding us at Anchorvale that we definitely still have room to become better =)

Special thanks to all our guests who took time off to visit us today, Thomas, CC, ALB and Jennifer, CC from Grassroots TMC, Melvyn, CC, CL from Hope@Toastmasters, Leo Tan from Bishan Toastmasters and last but not least, DTM Crispin from NTU Toastmasters!

All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon, albeit a little too short. Regardless, do join us next month, as we will be having an Extraordinary Team Building Chapter Meeting! There will also be a barbecue together with games, so do join us for this special extravaganza!

Details are as follows:

• ·         Date: 9^th May 2015
• ·        Venue: Seletar Springs Condo
• ·        Time: 5.30- 8.00pm

See you there!

Written By: Norman Tan

Language Evaluator Crispin wowing us as usual

Alvin after delivering an impressive Ice Breaker

Congrats Vinay for a terrific table topic

Awesome AG after an exquisite evaluation

Deb as usual successfully prepared a splendid speech

Riz the talented Toastmaster of the Day getting his CC ribbon

In Tiam the intelligent inspiration receiving his CC ribbon

Anchorvale's joint meeting with Grassroots Toastmasters on 4th April 2015

Unity is Strength

That was theme for our meeting and we resonated with it by having a joint Chapter Meeting with Grassroots Toastmasters. Joo Ee kicked of the session by getting everyone to introduce their favorite fruits. It became crystal clear that durian is still the king!

 

Salma, CC/CL was our Language Evaluator that day and she introduced the word “value” which was widely used during various speeches that day.

 

Zachary gave his first prepared speech by sharing 3 crazy incidents in his life which led to where he was standing now, and concluded by reminding us that sometimes, a crazy decision will lead to positive outcomes. Jackie spoke about the innovation of Apple and how we can embrace Apple’s philosophy about thinking of a novel idea and sticking with it all the way to ultimate success. The phrase, thinking and persisting reverberated throughout his speech. 

Then Tavin spoke about his mother’s advice to him – to be more outdoors and make more friends. Finally Greg told a personal story about his triumph over childhood obesity and how he left no stone unturned as he fought to become a fitness instructor. He recounted his hilarious experience as a goalkeeper and how he overcame all odds to 'make a pig fly!'  : )

 

Table topics master Thomas prepared various envelopes, each corresponding to quotes related to the theme of unity. Speakers will then have to share stories which reminds them of the quote. We had some hilarious and engaging answers filled with colorful language. Chee Sian, in true Toastmasters tradition stepped up as a replacement and gave his maiden General Evaluation. It was short and sweet, but more importantly, concise and constructive! Well done Chee Sian.

It was a truly enjoyable evening. I want to thank all the people who made this happen. Especially our phenomenal president Sathiya CC and vastly valuable VPE Norman CC who was also a thoroughly terrific toastmaster of the day. I look forward to more joint meetings. 

 

Special thanks to Grassroots for hosting us at their home ground!

If you want to see how we do things at Anchorvale, please visit us at our next chapter meeting on 25th April 2015 at Anchorvale CC from 2pm-5pm. Hope to see you there!

Written By: Zachary Chew

An Anchorvale Fun Shot

President Sathiya giving his closing address

Salma as the Language Evaluator

Zachary giving his Ice Breaker

Jackie delivering an intelligent Project 2 speech

Julie Mae tackling the table topics

Another group shot :)