Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club 145th Chapter Meeting 24th August 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)

  

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 146^th Chapter Meeting. Cheers!

Cannot do without a wefie by Club President, Valliappan

Article by: Wee Chee Sian ACB, ALB

143rd Chapter Meeting 27th Jul 2019 recap

The session was kickstarted by Sergeant-At-Arms, Freya Gwee (myself). Yesterday, Singaporeans above the age of 50 raced for HUAWEI smartphone promotion at S$54, this was sure a trending & conversation starter; this prompted my ice-breaker topic:  Are you a Brand or a Price-conscious person?

Clearly, our members are mature adults with Quality & Reliability as their deciding indicators. These are perspectives we hold and we do things differently so let us live & let live.

Being tasked with dual roles, Toastmaster of the Day (TMD) is one of the most valuable experiences in our Club. It was a challenging role where TMD is the host to put the entire meeting together based on the schedule and to run an upbeat, lively meeting. I decided to jump on.

The success of every chapter meetings required supportive members, introducing the appointment holders of the day.

·        Language Evaluator, Jenny Au (DTM)

·        General Evaluator, Pang In Tiam (CC)

·        Timer, Audrey Lim (PM1)

·        Ah Counter, Andy Ang (DL2)

Today, our humble Club President, Valliappan, presented an inspirational speech on how an IT professional reached out to a stranger, transforming life and change for the better. The first step to change someone’s life is to care. There are a thousand ways to show someone you care and people can do great things when they know that at least one person cares. It gives us hope and strength to face the future, and inspire them towards a better life.

In our Club, we care for everyone who shares the interest to learn & be a better person than you were yesterday.

Before we started, Language Evaluator, Jenny Au, plays an important role in helping all members improve their grammar, vocabulary and noting good use of English words/phrases.  

Word of the Day: Flexible 
Members are encouraged to be creative thus do be willing to make your speech plans flexible (adjective) by using the given Word of the Day, this is another way to improve one’s adaptability and flexibility (noun) by thinking on your feet.

Upcoming was the Prepared Pathway speeches by the speakers who decided not to take the audience seat this time!

1.      Speaker: Wilson Lee (TM) 
Pathway Level 1 Project 1 Ice Breaker 
Title of Speech: Life's 2nd Chances

Evaluator: Rusman Hadijanto (DL3) 

Wilson had his first speech at the age of 13yo but fear consumed him, joining Toastmaster gave him a 2^nd chance to conquer his fear.  Graduated with a diploma in Engineering but the passion in Accountancy, he dived in when given another chance and graduated with BA (Hons) Accounting.

2.      Speaker: Marc Wong (TM)

Pathway Level 1 Project 1 Ice Breaker 
Title of Speech: Ice Breaker.  

Evaluator: Deepthi Vasan (IP1)

Marc amazed us with his curiosity about the cycle of ice (solid, liquid & gas stages) since he was a kid. The Internet unlocked a world of opportunity and together with his Internet friend, Google, he has been always crystal clear about his life, his visions, and goals.

3.      Speaker: Ebnu Etheris (CC)

Pathway Level 1 Project 2 
Title of Speech: The pain & joy of doing research. 

Evaluator: Wee Chee Sian (ACB, ALB)

Ebnu completed a Master’s program & all he remembered was “Writing thesis was painful” however he was determined for Ironman Triathlon & took up Sports Physiology studies to understand the human body! The audience broke into spontaneous laughter when he revealed the mantra “No pain, No gain” doesn’t work at all.

Right after our refreshment break, 3 seasonal evaluators took their stand. Evaluation is the heart of the Toastmasters program.  Rusman Hadijanto (DL3), Deepthi Vasan (IP1) and Wee Chee Sian (ACB, ALB) observed the speeches & offer evaluations of speakers’ efforts; speakers were advised to receive with an open mind. 

The last segment of the chapter meeting, also nail-biting one for most: TableTopics. It was only by standing here; one realized the overwhelming feelings of anxiety and brain freeze.  Table Topics Master of the Day, Hilda Xie, came out with quotes from famous & memorable movies.

A round of applause for today’s guests: Samrit, Samuel, Andrew & Pravin for being spontaneous and our members Hu Richen, Margaret, Desmond Chong & Audrey Lim.  

Congratulations to our award winners! 
Best Prepared Speech: Ebnu Etheris (CC)
Best Project Evaluator: Wee Chee Sian (ACB, ALB)
Best Table Topics: Desmond Chong (TM )

    

Lastly, I ended my role as TMD; taking on this role for the first time allows me to better understand the Club procedures and with more opportunities to come, it definitely shapes my presentation style, time management, and public speaking skills.

Thank you

Written by Freya Gwee.

Recap: 142th Chapter Meeting by Freya Gwee

The session was kickstarted by the new team of EXCO 2019/2020, starting with Sergeant-At-Arms, CP Yuen; asking all to share the experience of stepping out of the comfort zone and doing something for the first time. From Swimming, Ski-ing, participating in singing contest, wake-boarding and more, our members are learning something new to experience the first-timer adrenaline!

 As the Toastmaster of the Day, TMD, Sarah Ong said

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. By Walt Disney”

So fellow members, do be courageous to explore the unfamiliar and reclaim the joy of learning.

New President, Valliappan, presented a meaningful speech on how National Day Parade, led by example, by collaborating with Zero Waste SG; a new not-for-profit and non-governmental organization dedicated to help Singapore eliminate the concept of waste, and accelerate the shift. For example, from distributing lunch bento boxes to buffet spread, thus reducing unimaginable of plastic waste. Similarly, members are encouraged to suggest or recommend any suggestions to improve the Club functionality. Small steps to big changes.

Next was the crafted Prepared speeches by the confident members. There were a total of six (6) by Joseph Lum – How good is it to have a mentor, Bharathmma – The boy who costed his life, Rusman – Organizational Changes, Wee Chee Sian – The Folk Tale: Journey to the West (Chinese: 西遊記; pinyin: Xīyóu Jì), In Tiam – Diffusing Verbal Criticism & Ebnu Etheris –  Finding Balance.

Following the end of the prepared speech segment, a short refreshment break gave us the opportunity to mingle with members & guests.

The project evaluations segment came right after our refreshment break. Narayana Rao, Norman Tan, Pang In Tiam, Hilda Xie, Jeff Lin and Wee Chee Sian gave their opinions on the respective prepared speech speakers. 

Finally came my favourite segment of the meeting, both nerve-wrecking and adrenaline rushing – TableTopics! Table Topics Master of the Day, Tee Lee Hong, prepared with a purpose – To help members think on their feet with glares of anticipating audiences. A total of 8 courageous fellows took the opportunity to challenge themselves! A round of applause for Sathya, Samuel (guest), Pravin (guest), Wilson, Desmond, Freya, Jeff and Sarah.

Appreciation to helpful members:

·        General Evaluator of the Day – Valli Kasinathan,  

·        Ah Counter – Andy Ang and

·        Timer – Wilson Lee, for their contributions.

Before Valliappan wrapped up the meeting, congratulate to:

·        Wee Chee Sian who was voted Best Speaker,

·        Norman Tan who was voted Best Evaluator,

·        14yo Samuel (guest) who was voted Best TableTopic.

·        Joseph Lum who progressed to next Level.

Club President, Valliappan, expressed his heartfelt gratitude who made the meeting a successful, fruitful & eventful one.

Thanks everyone.

Post written by Freya Gwee

Team Building Meeting and New Executive Committee 2019 / 2020 Installation

On 29 June 2019, Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club had its annual Teambuilding Meeting cum Exco Installation. 

                                   Our Immediate Past President 2018/2019 Wee Chee Sian was preparing the room



The meeting was started by Immediate Past President 2018/2019 Wee Chee Sian to share on Annual General Meeting for his CEO term in 2018/2019.

After the AGM, Chee Sian congratulate the Immediate ExCo and Team Members by presented award-winning prizes to Immediate ExCo 2018/2019 Valliappan, Rusman, and Alice (unfortunately other ExCo were not available to attend this meeting), and Team members Achievement in completing their Pathways within the year 2019: Level 1 (Sarah), Level 2 (Andy), and Level 3 (Rusman)

                                                              Members Award Winning 2019 announcement prior ExCo Installation


After this AGM, we were enjoying food refreshment and celebrated the June's birthday babies, we were all wishing to still be a baby :)

Once we have made our stomach happy :),

We have the distinct honour to have Raymond Zhang, Area A4 Director Elect 2019/2020 to conduct our Club's incoming EXCO 2019/2020 installation.

Raymond began the installation by thanking the outgoing Exco members for their valuable contributions. In the 2018-2019 term, Raymond visited Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club thrice, including this visit. He has always been impressed by the quality of speakers in this club, but more importantly, the camaraderie of the club members. It was very clear to him that that the members are a close-knit family, and whenever he visited, He is always felt at home with the Anchorvale CC Toastmasters team wonderful hospitality.

Raymond then went on to install each of the exco members by reading out their roles and responsibilities, and behind every “I will”, it was evident that they are very committed to serve Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club to the best of their abilities and to overcome any challenges that come along their way. 

                              ExCo Installation for term 2019 / 2020 with our new President Valliappan (right corner)

The evening continued with three fun games- “It’s All About You”, Charades, and “Three of a Kind”.

Hilda Xie, the incoming Vice President Education, hosted the segment “It’s All About You”. It was a series of very interesting Table Topics set by her, whereby participants had to pull out the question from the envelope. The questions were all one word long, and they were all intricately designed by Hilda. We all had a great time reflecting on the various aspects of our lives!
  

                                                                    Freya in action to performed her table topic impromptu speech

Sarah Ong and Yuen Cheok Pui hosted the charades segment. The living room was divided into two teams and each team had to send ‘actors’ to ‘act’ out the phrases to the audience in our team for them to guess what it was. All ‘actors’, including myself, amused the audience as we struggled to depict various words and phrases. Indeed, we are all blessed with a mouth to be able to articulate our thoughts well, and it is only through this game, that we realise that our tongues are indeed, very powerful when it comes to communication! 

                                                               Winners of actors to act games


The last game, “Three of a Kind”, was hosted by outgoing President Chee Sian and Freya Gwee. Participants were each given three words, and they had to do an impromptu speech (of any genre), 1-2 minutes long, using these three words. To win the game, the audience must be unable to guess these three words within three attempts. We all had a great time trying to string a story with these three words, and of course, peppering some drama and creative juices to make the stories as fictional as possible.

The night culminated with a BBQ party. I saw many members of the club, working tirelessly just to cook food so that we all could enjoy a hearty meal. I had a great time in the living room, chatting with various members, catching up with them on Toastmasters happenings and even on Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club itself. I could see everyone was enjoying themselves amidst the celebratory and relaxed mood. 

                      

 

          

Here was the feedback from Raymond Zhang, Area A4 Director, District 80, 2019-2020 as he has closely witnessed the Team Building and performed the ExCo Installation for Anchorvale CC Toastmasters club:

Big congratulations goes out to Chee Sian and his team for achieving 10 perfect DCP points for this term! Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club has consistently been doing very well and I’m delighted for all that you have achieved. 

Thank you so much for your hospitality, and it has been a huge honour to be your Installation Officer. I enjoyed myself greatly at your party, and I look forward to visiting you more in my term as the Area A4 Director.
All the best to Valliappan and his team in this new term!

Anchorvale CC Toastmasters Club would like to thank so much for Raymond Zhang to came visited us and performed the Exco Installation 29th June 2019.


Written by:
Raymond Zhang, Area A4 Director, District 80, 2019-2020
Rusman Hadijanto, VP PR, Anchorvale CC Toastmasters, 2019-2020

Recap: 141th Chapter meeting by Norman Tan

Despite not having attending Toastmasters in a long time, I was exhilarated to be attending Anchorvale Toastmasters 141th Chapter meeting, as this would mean seeing old friends, making new friends all the while bonding over sumptuous food.

As predicted, the moment I entered I was greeted by the ever-friendly Jenny, our Club Mentor as she treated us to spring rolls, carrot cake and chee cheong fun. What would we do without our beloved mentor Jenny and without the delicacies that she always prepares? J

With that, the meeting got off to an energetic start, with Hilda breaking the ice by asking everyone what their passions was. Next, Club President Chee Sian delivered a rousing opening address, with a call to new members to take up roles in the new exco term.

Next I sauntered onstage to explain the Word of the day, “Endeavour”, which connotes an attempt, to aim or to try to achieve. Its always encouraging to see members endeavouring to stretch their vocabulary and challenge themselves to use the WOTD in creative ways.

Next up, it was Toastmaster-of-the-day Valli, Timer Cheok Pui and Ah-Counter Hilda turn to shine as they readied themselves for the start of the meeting proper. Cheok Pui in particular, was raring to go :P

For the Prepared Speeches, Claire demystified and distilled the mental condition of Dementia using an analogy of a shifting bookcase which I can’t quite forget. Next, Audrey posed us a question “How Lucky are You?” and peeked a little deeper at the very habits that makes us successful. Thereafter, Bharathi shared about the most important 4Gs in her life. Lastly, Jeff espoused about Steven Bannon, Donald Trump and their profound impact on the world.

As with all Toastmasters speeches, our project evaluators came next to assess our speakers on whether they had met their respective project objectives. For that, we had Helena Lim, Muthu Ganesh, Rusman and Jenny to share on their acute observations. Its always useful to hear an independent assessment of your speech to identify new areas for improvements.

Last but not the least was our Table Topics session, where our Table Topics Master Joseph quizzed the crowd on beautiful quotes from famous movies such as Mulan, and Forrest Gump. While the participants sweated, the audiences were enthralled. Kudos to all (Margaret, Andy, Souvile, Kar Keng, Wilson, Samuel, Clara, Cheok Pui, Marcus) who bravely attempted the topics!

With that, it sums up our 141th Chapter Meeting. Till the next meeting (hint: Chalet) for more exciting and fun adventures!

Best Speaker: Audrey, PM1

Best Table Topics: Margaret

Book Review by Desmond Chong: The quick and easy way to Effective public Speaking by Dale Carnegie.

“Try your best to develop an ability to let others look into your head and heart. Learn to make your thoughts, your ideas, clear to others, individually, in groups, in public. You will find, as you improve in your effort to do this, that you—your real self—are making an impression, an impact, on people such as you never made before.” 

― Dale Carnegie, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

This book provides a quick and concise method about improving your public speaking skills, in a few simple but important rules and some tips as well. Simple but importance examples and rules are shared and Carnegie sums it up into 5 steps

The 5 steps highlight the importance of public speaking not only in a professional stage but also how effective public speaking helps not just in a corporate environment but also in daily lives and allows you to know how to convince others by display a high level of confidence.

Part one explores the fundamentals of acquiring basic skills with a few simple points. For example taking heart from your own experiences or even others, keeping your goal before you, predetermine your mind to Success and also seize every opportunity to practice which eventually leads to success. He emphasizes how to build confidence by first acting confident, preparing in the proper way and the importance of never making a scripted speech. Speaking about something which you are deeply passionate or highly experienced about is certainly the way to be connected about your topic as your listeners are likely to be easily bored or disconnected with a mechanical memorized speech.

Part two then goes about looking at the speaker, Audience, and speech. It goes into limiting the subject and about developing reservice power and in particular, goes into the kinds of examples and the illustrations that can add to an engaging speech, for eg using metaphors to create vivid pictures in your mind

Part three looks into the purpose of prepared and Impromptu talks. Great insights about  how to do talks to persuade/ inform and convince with preparation, Impromptu speaking can be persuasive, informational or even entertaining depending on the occasion demands to make your communication powerful.

Part four goes deep into the art of communicating and how to deliver the talk. Effectively shows how being eager to share your message will ensure you deliver your speech with ease and your audience will be eager to hear your message.

Part five relates to how to use specific details to apply to everyday conversation and most importantly in public speaking situations

I find this book highly insightful, engaging and effective. It gives great for everyday communication in both personal and business situations. I would really recommend this book for everyone, especially to the budding toastmasters.

“In almost any subject, your passion for the subject will save you. If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it. If you wish to be good, you will be good. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. Only then you must really wish these things and wish them with exclusiveness and not wish one hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.” 
― Dale Carnegie, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

Book Review By Desmond Chong