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

129th Chapter Meeting - Sapid Spices for Your Speech With Visual Aids: Special Guest-Fernando Young

“Well-designed visuals do more than provide information; they bring order to the conversation.”

-       Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger

129^th Chapter meeting was all about visual aids. Mr. Fernando Young the prominent member of Toastmasters International District 80, who is also known to be highly humorous, apprised Anchorvale TM’s chapter meeting with a session on “Sapid Spices of Your Speech, with Visual Aids. “

The meeting started with Sergeant at Arms, Salma, posing a question to everyone “If you were to be a vegetable, which vegetable you would like to be, and why?” People came up with funny and informative answers. The President Chee Sian in his Address announced that our Club received the “Select Distinguished Club” title for the Term 2017-2018. The Ribbon was handed over to Immediate Past President, Salma. The Toastmaster of the Day, Valli, read out the Agenda for the session and handed over the session to the enthusiastic guest for the day Fernando.

Fernando through is colourful slides and colourful ideas took us through his fun session. He mainly focussed on how to make the right use of Power Point Slides and shared with us few Do’s and Don’ts. We understood, how videos, audios and gifs make our message more impactful. He not only gave us tips on power point slides, but also shared his real-life experiences and stories which made the session even more interesting. In between, he posed questions to audience and distributed chocolates for the correct answers. The 90 minutes session was a visual treat to everyone present.

After a short and delicious (special Red Bean Soup by Jenny!!) break, prepared speeches session began! The speakers had volunteered to do their projects using visual aid for this special meeting. For a change, this time prepared speeches brought us back, the memories of schools!! Yes! It was Lucas’s turn first and he talked about Samurais: William I, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Japanese Bakuhan Taisei. He shared about the battles fought by them and shared anecdotes about them. After the history class, came the maths teacher! Deepthi spoke about the Fibonacci series, its significance and its relation to God. It was all about numbers, multiplications and divisions. After that we got some dose of Biology! Helena talked about the most dreaded disease, Dementia. She shared with us causes of dementia and some precautions and remedies. It was indeed an informative speech.

The “Visual Aids” expert Fernando evaluated all the speakers and gave his valuable feedback. The speech evaluators Muthu, Zul and our guest DTM John Liew evaluated the speeches by highlighting good points and pointing out improvement areas. Debbie and Thomas were keeping check on time and “ah-counts” diligently throughout the session. The awards were handed over in the end. Best evaluator ribbon was received by Zul. All the speakers were given small gift of appreciation brought by Jenny. The special guest of the day, Fernando, was also given a token of gratitude by our club mentor Jenny.  Everyone gathered together to take a fun snap and then all departed to their home.

128th Chapter meeting Recap

128^th chapter meeting held on 14th of October, was an amalgamation of learning and relish.

The sergeant at arms Richen Hu asked everyone “Given a chance, what is it that you would like to relearn?” Some shared their aspirations of relearning mathematics and certain languages, while a few shared their desire to relearn dancing and singing. The podium was then handed over to Muthu Ganesh, the toastmaster for the day. He read out the meeting proceedings for the benefit of guests and new members. With his euphonic voice Muthu invited the President Chee Sian for his address. Soon after that, language evaluator shared the word of the day “ Scintillating “ (synonyms: sparkling, shining, bright, brilliant, gleaming, glittering, twinkling, coruscating, flashing, shimmering). The first speech in the prepared speech session was given by Zhaomin Wang wherein she talked about the meaning of her name. It was her icebreaker speech and she broke the ice with confidence. Next turn to break the ice was of the husband-wife duo, Clarie and Joseph. Both of them gave the introductory speech with zest and zeal. After three “project 1” speech, Lucas gave his Pathway level 1 project 3 speech. Next one in line, Audrey spoke about “cookies” (No, No, No not the tasty crispy cookies, but internet cookies). Satya in his speech spoke about reasons for High blood pressure and also demonstrated how to make a healthy avocado sandwich!! Rusman then came in to rescue all those members who were not clear about the pathways program. He spoke about how to use Pathways toastmaster website.

After a quick “yummy” break, evaluation session began. Evaluators Hemant, Jeff, Haresh, Andy, Frank and Zul appraised the speeches and highlighted some improvement points. The table topic speech session was conducted by Sajith, wherein he brought interesting and witty quotations as topics. Few guests and members participated in the session. Language evaluator, Deepthi, shared the “hits and misses” in the language usage done throughout the session by all speakers. Valliappan and Valliappan’s daughter Rathi were diligently keeping check on the “ah counts” and time, respectively. Jenny did the general evaluation of the session and shared her insights & suggestions. In the end, awards were handed over. The best speaker tag was received by Joseph, and the best evaluator and table topic speaker award was received by Zulhafni. Ribbons were also give to First time speakers and Guests. It was then time to say good bye, but before that a sweet snap was captured. 

It was indeed a scintillating session!

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!    

127th Chapter meeting Recap

The meeting kick started with the SAA Jeff Lin asking everyone about their views on global warming and recent calamities that had happened in Japan and Indonesia. Mixed opinions were shared and ideas/solutions were exchanged. The SAA then handed over the session to toastmaster of the day (TMOD) Sajith Kumar. TMOD welcomed Chee Sian for the presidential address. Chee Sian mentioned that “there is always a first time for anything” and encouraged all to participate in the upcoming humorous speech and tall tale contest. Soon after that language evaluator Jenny shared the ‘word of the day’ Magnanimous (meaning generous, charitable, benevolent, beneficent, open-handed).

In the prepared speeches session first speech was given by Dinesh; he spoke about Tiger Woods and his Life Journey. The second speaker was Sarah who spoke about her passion for running. The third speaker Francis spoke about, how our thinking directly impacts our action. 4^th speaker Rusman shared talked on the topic of stress management. The prepared speeches session was entertaining and informational.

Soon after that we had a small break in which everyone enjoyed the sumptuous food including pizzas and tasty lontong/sayor lodeh prepared by Jenny.

During the evaluation session evaluators gave assessment and valuable feedback to the speakers. First speech was evaluated by Lucas, second speech by Valli, third by Deepthi and fourth by Valliappan. For the table topic session Hemant brought very witty and thought-provoking topics e.g. “Who would you haunt when you are gone?”, “Who would you want to invite in next chapter meeting and how would you convince him/her to come?” and many more. Guests and members participated in the session enthusiastically. Language evaluation was then performed by Jenny and it was indeed one of the best evaluation which was beneficial for all the members.

In the end, awards were handed over. The best speaker ribbon was handed over to Francis for is wonderful speech on “Our Thoughts, Our Action” and the best evaluator as well as the best table topic speaker award was handed over to Valliappan. The meeting then concluded and everyone dispersed after taking few mirthful photos!!

Recap: 126th Chapter Meeting

Doesn’t 126 remind you of the delicious dim sum place from Geylang? Besides Geylang 126, I know I can always find good food and great company in Achorvale Toastmaster club. It is also a great place to learn public speaking, especially as we are growing together with a group of experienced, warm and supportive community. As a member, I truly feel fortunate to be part of this family, being able to grow and learn together amidst all the fun and laughter.

126^th chapter meeting, was started by SAA Sathiyamoorthi asking us a very practical question that we encounter in our everyday lives, “What do you do when you face setback?” There were many interesting answers from our club members and guests, some look past the negativity of the situation, some distract themselves by doing things that they enjoy, while others will keep encouraging themselves.

Today TMD is Jeff Lin, he has a very clear voice and a very calm energy which made him a very compose host. Following which, he introduced the club president Chee Sian for the opening address. President Chee Sian started with a very smooth transition by connecting back to the topic SAA Sathiyamoorthi mentioned on setbacks. He used the example of placing in Olympics swimming heats and mentioned that even if the current situation is not very hopeful, things may change for the better.

Followed by LE Muthurama introduced an interesting word of the day for all the prepared speakers, which is “Blind Spot.” A good example would be, “The speaker has a blind spot to the ethical issue.”

TMD Jeff Lin introduced Desmond Chong for the first prepared speech speaker, who was very confident and spoke about his experience in NPCC and concluded that he has gained more having gone through this experience.

The second prepared speech speaker Pratik Pandya spoke about the different experiences he has and concluded why we should break the ice before the ice melt because doing is better than regret. He was very comfortable sharing his anecdote and we enjoyed his speech.

The third prepared speech speaker Anthony Lin spoke about an experience from officer cadet school called the confidence jump and concluded that it is better to just take a small step forward rather than to worry about it.

The last prepared speech speaker Sajith Kumar Dara, shared on an interesting topic about tattoos.  He shared about the different tools and reasons why people would put a tattoo. We can see from his presentation that he is very experienced and was well prepared for this speech.

For the evaluation, we have Audrey Lim, Helena Lim, Owen and Rusman Hadijanto. They were all very encouraging and gave very good advice to each speaker. It is not easy to be a good and encouraging evaluator, and they have shared their opinion objectively instead of being subjective. Some of their advice includes; to use good English, keep eye contact with everyone, and share 3 points or less.

It is time for tabletop master Thomas Lee and his favorite subject on quotes, and as usual, Hermant started the ball rolling. In fact, many guests and toastmaster participated that our tabletop master ran out of quotes. To me, this is a good problem to have. It was a great sharing of many motivational ideas from the quotes that Thomas has prepared.  

Ah, Counter Lucas was meticulous and did a fabulous job in ensuring that he has captured all the filler words for everyone who presented that day. Timekeeper Freya has also diligently timed and explained what was the required timing for the speakers.

LE Muthurama shared on his observation for the prepared speakers that day. Some of the points he mentioned were to use the same tense throughout the sentence, paragraph, and story. This is to ensure that the audience is able to follow the story. Another point he shared was to use triage so the ideas shared will stick with the audience.

GE Aaron Koh gave a very wholesome review. He shared his observation from the beginning when he entered the door until the moment he stands in front of the pulpit not forgetting our blog. As a guest, he noticed that the strength of Achorvale Toastmaster club is that we are very warm and welcoming like a family, and yet the quality of learning and education is as good as other toastmaster clubs if not better.

As usual, the day ended with our President Chee Sian giving out awards to speakers who have done their icebreaker speech, best-prepared speech, best evaluator, and best tabletop speech! Of course, we did not forget to take pictures before leaving, it was truly a beautiful day for all of us.

Thank you everyone, for making it possible.

-Penned by TM Anthony