#412 You are One and Only

Ever wondered what your purpose was on this earth? What makes you so special? Meeting #412 helped us answer that question!   

Themed “You Are One and Only”, the one and only Serena Kong, ACB, CL kick started the meeting at sharp 7.15pm as the SAA. Being one of the only clubs that recites the Toastmasters’ Promise before beginning a meeting, she brought us through this set of reminders smoothly before passing the floor to the new President of the club. Chitirra took stage for the first time as the President of the club, welcomed the guests and invited them to introduce themselves and speak of the theme of the day along with the word of the day which was “sanguine”. It means to remain positive even in an adverse situation. She was as sanguine as she was nervous. An array of views were projected throughout about the theme. You may be one but you are the only one and without you things cannot be completed. Like a missing piece of puzzle to a beautiful picture. Have you already realized how important you are?

Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB is one of the few “one and only” kind of people who will step up to any given challenge at any given time and he came forth when called upon to do so spontaneously as a replacement invocation speaker. Things happen for a reason and we could not have had a better invocation to invoke not just this meeting but the whole term ahead of us. He reminded us all of our purpose as Toastmasters.

Manish Jha, CC, IP1, our new Vice President of Education then took over the stage as the Toastmaster of the Evening. He was lively and enthusiastic. Upon giving a short brief about Toastmasters to our guests he called upon the technical role players of the day to describe their roles. Yap Ooi Yee, CC was the Ah-Counter, Shain Anand was the Grammarian, EK Yeo, CC, CL was our Timer and boy were we lucky to have Lakmichand M.A., DTM a.k.a Lucky to grace our first meeting as the General Evaluator. 

Once again Serena Kong, ACB, CL came on to the stage to take us through the Table Topics™ session as the Table Topics™ Master. She came up with many interesting topics that our guests and members attempted with such will and enthusiasm. Julia rocked the stage and inspired us all to be great Toastmasters.

Upon completing the first part of our meeting, we moved on to the second major element of a regular Toastmasters meeting which was the Assigned Speech Session. We had with us 4 vibrant speakers tonight namely Shelly Sim, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB, KT Chok, PM1 and Dato’ Dr. Mary de Silva, PM2. 

Shelly made a comeback with her second speech entitled Flat Earth to prove her point that the earth indeed was flat. Did she manage to convince us? That, we shall see in her repeat speech as per her speech criteria in the next round.

Mathew did his repeat speech on “A Crucial Moment” and once again left us thinking on how we would react given an emergency situation. 

KT Chok left us with laughter in his Effective Body Language speech entitled “Now Everyone Can Win” letting us know that the less you lose, the more you win. What a tactic?

Finally, Dato’ Dr. Mary engaged with her audience in a useful tutorial on how to pack our bags for travel. Pretty useful tips with a twist of entertainment as we learnt how to twist our clothes into sausage rolls for packing light. True to her speech title “There is Hope”, there was hope. 

After a jam packed line of speeches, we went for a short break and resumed 10 minutes later for the 3^rd element of the Toastmasters’ meeting which was the Evaluations Session. 

Lakmichand M.A., DTM led this session in his usual authentic manner. Foo Fung Jiun, CC was called up first to give the Table Topics™ evaluation and he could not have been more observant, kind and genuine at the same time. Following, we had the 4 evaluators for the 4 speakers in accordance of the speakers. First up was Ron Yeap, ACB, CL, followed by Julia Leong, ACB, ALB, then K L Loh, ATMG and finally Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL.

After their respective evaluations, we had a 5 minute open evaluation followed by the technical evaluations from the Ah-Counter, Grammarian, Timer and finally our General Evaluator himself.

To close the night, the President was called upon again to give out the awards to the achievers for the night.

Awards:

Best Table Topics™ Speaker: KL Loh ATMG

Best Project Speaker:   Dato Dr Mary de Silva PM2

Best Evaluator: Julia Leong ACB, ALB

Several key announcements were made and the guests gave their warm feedback about the meeting and the meeting was adjourned with a wonderful photoshoot.

In life, we face many struggles but help is always given to those ask and sometimes even when you don’t. Like how I was struggling to finish this piece and a random stranger heard me say “Oh, I’m so not inspired to write” and he said “Well, sometimes it happens! You get a writer’s block but the 2^nd wind will come” and he left like a passing cloud. He was the one and only that helped me complete this blog. Your purpose, be it big or small is still pivotal. So remember that you are unique and you are one and only. 

Thanks to contributors, writers and reviewers.

Sincerely

Dato Dr Mary de Silva, PM2

Money Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club

VPPR (Vice President of Public Relation 2018/2019)