2016 / 2017 Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests

" An Experimental Learning Experience!!"

I was rushing from my office because the contest was about to begin in few minutes which comes only once in a year and at the same time weather scared me with full dark clouds, thunder and lightning over my head. I was too obstinate to keep moving until I reached to the venue. Somehow I managed to reach the club by 7 pm and it started to drizzle. I was happy, anxious, excited and yet too angry at my boss in office for what he said, “You do your speech and come back to work immediately”. I was one of the contestants on this day in our club Humorous speech and Evaluation contest 2016/2017.

I’m a kind of speaker who always loves to speak last. That day because of my caring and yet unmanaged boss, I had to ask my lovely contest toastmasters- Wendy Sim and handsome Foo Fung Jiun that I would like to speak as the first speaker in humorous as well as in Evaluation contests with my heavy heart. With that I had to change my favorite speaking slot number from 5 to 1.

By the time contest venue Money Mastery -KL Toastmasters club was once again jam packed with chuckling audience to enjoy and entertained by the contestants.

Contest Chair the very lovely and yet very pretty Yap Ooi Yee, she was busy organizing the contest and sweating to make this contest successful at any cost. I was heartfelt to see new members like Mandy, Wenny and Chitirra helping so actively in full swing. Half of my brain was on my phone to see if my manger calls me to get back to work.

All set to learn, inspire and laugh out loud tonight when the SAA (Sergeant- At -Arms) Sharian Raj, CC called contest to order exactly by 7.15 pm.

I started feeling nervous and breathing tight when I looked at the massive crowed.  When I looked at other contestants, noticed they are hiding their nervousness through their sweet and gentle smile and say as if, bro we are in the same boat.

Soon after the contest chair’s opening address Contest Toastmaster Wendy Sim called my name Manish Kumar – Run, Run and Run and I ran from behind of the audience to the front.  All were surprised and stared at me with no clue, and soon all realized it was just a speech Title. 

I did, my performance I can’t say was the best because best were yet to come. I tried to inculcate a simple message into the audience’s mind-  Run, Run and Run - every day, irrespective of days Sunday ,Monday or time morning or evening because reward of running everyday is so big, that you can’t just imagine that bigger in your mind until you run regularly. I shared my experience, how I became LCD from CRT in terms of thickness; also in the next level how I achieved LED thickness from LCD simply by running everyday early morning. There was a time when my best friend, Priyanka told me once when my friends used to say a 5 little Coca Cola bottle- Manish either you do something for yourself or God definitely will do. On this, I went straight to a temple and said, God either you make me slimmer and taller or make my friends fat and short just like me.  That means I was not just fat and I was obese. Finally I killed the biggest killer of my life and I killed obesity simply running every day. I also told my audience it’s time to become SMART LED and showed them ways, by doing Gym, mediation, swimming.etc, which I still do constantly from the past 5 years.

I can be your inspiration or you choose someone else to be, but never stop running. Having said that, I had great time with my speech when my audience acknowledged me; however I missed many funny parts of my script. On the other hand, Mathew P.- was getting ready with his Bicycle. Not really bicycle -a speech title called Bicycle. What do I have to say about Mathew, he is my inspiration, I have always dreamed to speak like him. The moment he jumped on the stage and holding a green color card painted with a picture of a bicycle. I guessed, it was definitely some funny childhood story he was going tell us, and that was what he exactly did. While learning how to ride a bicycle how he fell down and checked If nobody noticed him and tried to act cool. I too had the same experience when I was small and I think I know you too would had the same experience if you have tried, especially with a big bicycle. He really entertained us and inspired us. 

By the time, CP Lau was getting nervous, Mathew-WHY LIKE THAT? CP Lau not just entertained us but also convinced us with real time example why like that. Audience was enjoying, smiling, giggling and laughing. It was mesmerizing moments to see.

It was Ken’s turn, Ken was searching a ground to intrigue audience mind and asked who thinks he/she is a sucker. No takers! 

Why, because no one wants to be a sucker right? Hahaha ! A sucker gets the shorter end of bargain, being taken for advantage, taken for a ride. Ken accepted that he born to be a sucker. He started with natural nourishment, using pacifier in primary school and punished by parading in the hall of fame (Shame).  He met at work many suckers around. Toxic people- suck your energy, called energy suckers. Hahahaha...

Ken said a wife is a sucker for someone who can make her laugh and say sweet nothing to her. He has been married for 30 years and makes puns of his interactions with his wife. All married members of the audience laughed out loudly.  I didn’t understand why so loudly, my friend who was sitting next to me said, you get married 1st.

My friend’s, world really needs suckers, not everyone can win who can make the world go round. It’s okay to be Sucker but be a smart sucker and has the last laugh. So, join me and say I’m a sucker. All applauded with soulful laughter.  Kevin Khoo was also not behind anyone. He shared with us, how to find different types of personalities that are needed to create a dynamic team, sounds great right? True my friends, if you really know the technique you can have super productive team at work. 

The meaning is very clear, to know the potential of someone who is good at what and bring them in that team that only a effective leader can do and a leader could be anyone me, you or anybody. In Toastmasters we practice how to be an effective leader.

It was time to have evaluation contest.  You will not believe our most daring speaker SS Cheng who had never done any evaluation in club meetings but he dared and evaluated our test speaker directly in evaluation contest, hahaha!  My eyes remained wide open for 100 meter long and 500 meter wide and nearly for 2 minutes without blink. I saw him evaluating. Hats off to you SS Cheng, you were awesome.

Time really flies, soon time came when Chief Judge Gerard A peter he got an envelope in his hand and moving towards Contest Toastmaster Wendy Sim. Guess what this envelop would have, some surprise. It was the moment of the truth. All the contestants once again felt nervous with their hope and ready to face the moment of the truth. Soon announcements were made.

Our Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) Ken Chan once again crowned as winner in Evaluation contest and Mathew P. was crowned as Humorous speech champion. It’s not easy for everyone to make someone laugh; only champion can do. 

It was an experimental learning experience. Life is short my friend. So, laugh and make all others laugh. Let’s be the part of Toastmasters community and give your best to world champions of humorous public speaking. You too can be. Being a contestant in the Humorous speech and evaluation contest, for me it was another level of experimental learning experience which can only be experienced. I saw, how an ordinary person can develop extra ordinary skills from their numerous practices to spread sea of laughter in the world.  I also evidenced leadership on this day from our young leaders. Usually we practice leadership in every meeting by taking up different roles voluntarily. Each role demands different set of challenges. Here, our challengers were so actively doing their roles like multimedia support by Chitirra, Sergeant- at- Arms (SAA) Mandy ,Wenny and Sharian  to make sure the every second contest is going smoothly. With that wonderful time we came to an end to finish our contest. I hope you will join us once again to support of our champions in Area level contest which is on 24th September 2016. Money mastery will rock once again. See you all. Time to say Good night. we shared our one of the best moments and a a warm hug to each other and in this way another wonderful night registered in the history of Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters club.

Yours Sincerely,

Manish Kumar, CC

2016/2017 Installation Night Cum 14th Anniversary Celebration

The night of all nights, the installation Night of Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters club finally arrived upon the dusk of a Saturday on the 24^th of July 2016.  Our installation night was held at Nando’s in Jaya One in Petaling Jaya. The organizing chair, Wendy and her team, found a perfect spot to celebrate this memorable night. The place was outdoors with a good ambiance and was spacious. The venue had a setting that look like a stage for the installation ceremony and we were also able to install our LCD projector and the screen. Members and guests had sufficient space to move around and sit around the tables to enjoy the dinner. We were blessed with good weather and clear skies overlooking us from above. There weren’t many stars though for all of them were on the ground that night. 

With an enthusiastic team of committee, namely Fung Jiun, Mandy, Chitirra, Ji Sheng, Dr. Thilla C., ACG, ALS and CS Quah they had the Installation Night moving smoothly and steadily with much poise, with Wendy at the helm. Kevin Khoo, CC was the advisor for the team. 

The crowd were slowly drawing in by 7.15pm and we had with us some very distinguished guest, Distinguished Toastmaster Lakhmichand (Lucky), DTM and Distinguished Toastmaster Geoff Andrews, DTM who were the key people responsible for the chartering of Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club. The other important people were our Division Director KM Srinivas, ACB, ALB and our Area Director Charmaine Lee, ACB, ALB. We had the honor of having our District Director Distinguished Toastmaster Thiagarajah Nesan, DTM upon his arrival at the airport from London as he chose to make his presence at our event.

If one had a bird’s eye view before the event, you could have seen how the committee were a busy swarm of bees buzzing around to ensure that the event would be as sweet as honey. We had Serena setting up the stage, Fung Jiun getting the orders for the food, Mandy preparing for the games, Kevin being a whiz at the laptop, Chitirra snapping the evidence of it all and Wendy ensuring everything was in place. She ensured that her committee was not only in check, but comfortable as well as most of us were nervous wrecks being newbies part of such a huge event.

As the sun was setting, the fellow Toastmasters were getting more excited and the new EXCO were getting more anxious.  The event started rolling in as the Toastmaster of the Evening; Dr Thilla C. welcomed everyone and started the agenda flowing.  She called on the Installation chairperson Wendy Sim, who with much delight welcomed everyone and announced what was in store for everyone. 

Next, Mathew P., CC, ALB, the out-going President was invited to take the floor and spoke with much vigor. We also had the privilege to hear our Area Director Charmaine Lee, ACB, ALB with her Inspiring speech which filled everyone’s hearts before they could fill their tummies.  

And so, with that, dinner was served. Juicy, tender chicken flavoured with the spicy level one’s taste buds could handle, were placed on the thick ceramic plates on everyone’s table. Alongside with it were two mouth-watering side dishes picked by the individuals such as coleslaw, corn, tantalizing Mediterranean rice, wedges and a few other options. Everyone were finally on “Catch-Up” mode, chattering away as they satisfied their stomachs. Free flow of laughter came along with free flow of drinks from the excellent and attentive crew at Nando’s. A sweet chocolate desert complimented the savoury dining experience and as the sky fully immersed into its darker shade of blue at about 8.15pm, both the former and new EXCO members also got into their dark shades of blazers to get ready for the main part of the event. 

Our Division Director KM Srinivas, ACB, CL, led the whole Installation process at 8.20pm with much ease and charisma. The out-going EXCO committee lead by the out-going President, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB came in line and was recognised for their diligence and hard work over the past year. They were then discharged of their duties. 
 

 

The EXCO lined up were then called to come to the front to take the oath of office. They came in a single file and each stepped forward with the gavel as they swore to take up their duties and responsibilities. It was beautiful sight to behold with all of them in their full suit. Finally, was the in-coming President Ron Yeap himself who took the office being fully in charge for Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club. All the officers received their pins. The Immediate Past President Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB then pinned the President Badge to the President Ron Yeap, CC. In return President Ron Yeap, CC pinned the Immediate Past President (IPP) Badge to Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB. 

With his new role, he drove the team together with his speech. 

With a thundering applause the new EXCOs were officially installed and the next item on the agenda begun. 

Nothing like stirring some fun with games in an event like this. With the help of our creative Game Master Mandy, the games session took place. 

The first game was a quiz. Not any ordinary quiz but a brain teasing, noodle dancing game that got the crowd that were split into two groups shouting out hilarious yet intelligent guesses. Upon draining everyone’s brain juices, the second game started. 

Charades it was and it was much more exciting, watching the members act out words from a scroll to form a short story. We even had an Ultraman in the house. The winning team received Kit-Kat bars that were shared eventually between both teams because sharing is what we do best here at Toastmasters. Everyone is a winner at Toastmasters.

The achievements and undying support of certain members were recognised at the awards session. During the recognition award, the IPP Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB gave away the awards to few long standing members, supportive committee and accomplished speakers during his term in office.

As the night was drawing to a close, the team ended the night with a sweet cake cutting session followed by a group snap. What a great night it was and the magic of photography added the to the memorable event into the minds of everyone.

Everyone indulged in their cakes and although they tried very hard to keep the taste of the chocolate lasting onto their tongues, they somehow easily managed to etch a memory of the great Installation Night into their hearts as they bid goodbye.