#416 – Merdeka: Love Malaysia

Every year in August people in Malaysia get ready for a celebration of unity and joy but this year, with a new Malaysian administration, and a Malaysia Baru, everyone seemed to be even more excited and were looking forward to its 61^st National Day to be celebrated on 31 August. 

Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club, had taken the opportunity to celebrate the National Day, by using the theme: Merdeka: Love Malaysia.  The word of the day Congenial gelled well with the theme because there is no other congenial place to be in, than Money Mastery KL Toastmasters Club!

The meeting began punctually at 7.15 where our dedicated SAA, Manish Jha, CC, CL, IP 1, gave everyone a warm welcome through the formal opening and led the meeting with the Toastmasters’ Promise, a reminder of what we are to do for Toastmasters. When you read this at every meeting, its a check-and-balance of whether we had fulfiled the promises.

Following this, our ever cool President, Chitirra, dressed in one of the national attires, welcomed all guests, allowed the Grammarian to introduce the Word of the Day and invited all present to a round of self-introduction and to use the theme and the word of the day. Everyone did well, and spoke either of their Merdeka experience, sentiments, feelings and their gratitude towards this beloved country, Malaysia. The congenial atmosphere was excellent in bringing the meeting to higher spirits.

As the mood was set, the floor was passed on to the Toastmaster of the Evening, the sharp-looking, ever-enthusiastic, seemingly entertaining, and congenial  KT Chok, PM2. As there were non-members present, he gave a brief on Toastmasters' history and that of MMKL that led us through the meeting with pride in our hearts. It gave us the reassurance that we are in the greatest Club in town!

The role players of the evening were, Dato Dr Mary, PM3 as Grammarian, EK Yeoh, CC, CL as the Ah-Counter, Jet Yang as Timer and the General Evaluator was the charming Jessie Lin, ACB.

Upon defining their roles, the meeting cruised to the exciting Table Topics ™ session led by our very able and intrepid Table Topics ™ Master, Manish Jha CC, CL, IP 1 who was equipped with 25 topics for speakers to choose from! Now this is his enthusiasm! To keep in line with the theme of the day, topics revolved around the country’s Independence Day and his speech titles were tricky and witty, but all speakers displayed their skills of story-telling by speaking on their feet.  Something not easy to do but yet gets us all prepared for impromptu speeches.

Members such as Dato Dr Mary PM3, and Hj Hashim Adnan, DTM were in a challenge with a newbie Mike and a guest Ryan.  It was incredible to see how speakers are required to present a short topic without any time for preparation, except for a few seconds, and yet engulf us with an enlightening, experiential or merely hypothetical speech.

It was stimulating to see the assigned speech sessions commence with yet another promising speech by Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB. This time he was attempting Project 1, Ice Breaker, with the title “Changing Along with Time”. His personal sharing on love, forgiveness and reconciliation moved us in our hearts as we listened to how he coped with a difficult experience in his life.  We definitely got to know him better.

The next speaker was Ken Chan, DTM attempted Project 3, How to Say It, with his intriguing title “Unforgettable, Forgettable, Forget”, that got us all wondering what it would be about.  He used his best method of story-telling, keeping us all on the edge of our seats as a drama enfolded about a relationship between a couple. This would have made an interesting chapter in a romance novel about love!  Huhuhu😍 We hope to hear the second part of this story in another speech by Ken, because Ken can.

The next speaker was none other than our President, Chitirra, LD 1, speaking on her Project 8, Get Comfortable with Visual Aids, titled “Saree Not Sorry”.  With that title, we could not guess what it was going to be about and how she would use the element of saree, in her speech.  She not only surprised us, but overwhelmed us with a brief on the origin of sarees and then gave everyone a 101 demo lesson on draping a saree on an aspiring yet nervous model-in-waiting, Cetani Chen, who by the end of the speech was draped in a beautiful blue saree. What a show!!.  With that speech of Chitirra’s everyone now knows that sarees are at least 6 yards long!

Last but not least, we had with us Olivia Chen, PM1 from the Level 2 of Pathways, Understanding Your Communication Style, who presented an captivating speech titled “Double 7 Festival”. This title once again got us all speculating what the presentation speech would be about. It turned out with a twist of how the speaker  accomplished her feat in organizing an event and found that its success was inadvertently based on just having good communication skills, or may I say, excellent communication skills.

The break was congenial, enveloped in a hearty session as members grabbed up the remaining delicious nasi lemak and bananas, but regrettably the fellowship ended soon as we were ushered back into the hall for the session resumed with the evaluations sessions. Timeliness was essence in every toastmasters’ meetings.  Where else do we practice such discipline?  Nowhere really. Such discipline is monumental in personal discipline.

Our expert evaluators, all of whom display their best selves while giving an evaluation were next in line on the programme. The session began with our General Evaluator, Jessie Lin, ACB inviting K L Loh, ATMG, over to give the evaluation on the Table Topics ™ speakers. His observations were always gripping as he would highlight the little things that made a big difference.  Following this, we had in order of the speakers, Hj. Hashim, DTM, Mathew Philippose CC, ALB, followed by Ken Chan, DTM and Ron Yeap, ACB, CL to evaluate the speakers respectively.

After a simple open evaluation, the role players gave their brief reports and the session commenced with our General Evaluator giving her extensive feedback on the overall proceedings of our congenial meeting. There are always praises for Money Mastery KL Toastmasters but we do not let it go to our heads. We take any criticism with an open mind, with the intention of raising the bar to make improvements.  These fresh eyes of a GE sometimes surprises us with the least obvious observations that only they will see.

The President, Chitirra, then proceeded to give out the awards to the best speakers for the night. Note was made that due to time disqualifications however, no voting was done for the Project Speech speakers. Nevertheless, the Table Topics™ session saved the day. The drum rolls are what creates excitement in the room.  The louder the drum roll, the suspense heightens.  Then the announcement ..........The best Table Topics ™ speaker went to Dato Dr Mary, PM3 who spoke on her thoughts of what she would do if she was the Prime Minister in the last 2 terms.. The best evaluator was none other than expressive, full of body language, swinging from one end of the stage to the other, Ken Chan, DTM!  Congratulations! Congratulations! 

The evening ended with a difference.  Area C1 Director Ron Yeap, ACB, CL delivering his address by sharing his pride of being a member of MMKL.  His advice was on the Exco having a better bonding amongst themselves to become like-minded to help the club grow to superior heights. As he spoke, everyone was having this intense attention as he shared with honesty and sincerity that our club must raise the bar and become the best!  At every meeting, we learn, laughed, worked and most of all matured together.

Announcements were made, appreciations done, and the meeting drew to its close with everyone giving their best pose in the group photo. 

Now let’s get ready for Merdeka and celebrate with the nation! 

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

J

Thanks to contributors, writers and reviewers.

Sincerely

Dato Dr Mary de Silva, PM3

Money Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club

VPPR (Vice President of Public Relation 2018/2019)

# 415 – Change Your Routine, Change Your Life

If you want to make a change that feels significantly different, you need to learn and put them in place of your life. Each person starts from where they are right now. That means in order to move on to another place you need to accept where you are at this very minute. But accepting where you are does not mean you have to stay there.

Colin Firth as Harry Hart in Kingsman says it this way: “My point is that the lack of a silver spoon has set you on a certain path that you needn’t stay on.   If you are prepared to adapt and learn, you can transform”.

As usual, the venue of the club meeting was held at MCA Petaling Jaya Selatan, No. 9C (2^nd Floor), Lorong 8/1D, 46050 Petaling Jaya.  There are 12 our club members and 5 quests who included members from MIA Toastmasters Club Joshua Chan, ACB, ALB as General Evaluator and Phoenix Toastmasters Club Poi Yu Ai as Ah Counter.        

    

ASAA Olivia Chen called the meeting to order at 7:15pm.  Then the meeting begun with “A Toastmaster’s Promise” recited by the Toastmasters’ members to pledge their commitment in the Toastmasters Educational Program.

Our Club President Chitirra took over the control of the meeting. In her welcome address, she greeted our distinguished guests – General Evaluator Joshua Chan, ACB, ALB from MIA Toastmasters Club. Then, Grammarian, Shain Anand introduced the word of the day “Humdrum”. She invited members and guests to do a self- introduction and encouraged them to use the word of the day “Humdrum” and to use the theme of the day “Change Your Routine, Change Your Life”. All the members and guests did well during the self- introduction session.

Next our veteran club member Hj. Hashim, DTM gave his Invocation Speech which was perfectly aligned with the theme of the day. He intently shared with us about integrity, relationship and commitment which he experienced in his career and family life. It was a marvellous and inspiring speech coupled with his always amazing use of vocal variety and body language.

The Toastmaster of The Evening, EK Yeo, CC, CL briefed us on the history of Toastmasters International and our club. He mentioned how TI (Toastmasters International) was founded and inspired millions of people across the world.  He also explained the benefits of the Toastmaster Educational Program to our professional career and personal life. He then introduced the role players from our club for this meeting in the sequence below.

Grammarian – Shain Anand;

“Ah” Counter– Poi Yu Ai (Phoenix Toastmasters Club)

Timer– Wendy Sim, CC

General Evaluator – Joshua Chan, ACB, ALB (MIA Toastmasters Club)

All the role players introduced their roles and objectives for the evening and from then it was all-set-go!

Table Topics™ Master, Chitirra was invited to take over the control from the TME. She had prepared 8 topics related to word of the day. Members and guests were encouraged to participate. She explained the objective of Table Topics™, the time limitation for each speaker and the rules before all the Table Topics™ speeches. The purpose of the Table Topics ™ session is to develop the impromptu speaking skills of individuals where they are required to follow the structure of speech making with an opening, body and conclusion during the speech delivery.

The order of Table Topics™ speakers were as below:-

1) Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB –“What do you want most?”

2) Jason – “What chances do you wish you have taken?”

3) KL Loh, ATMG– “Change is only constant”

4) Mike Chin– “If not now, then when?”

5) Olivia Chen, PM1 – “When was the last time you tried something new?”

All 5 speakers received a big applause and soon votes were cast for the best Table Topics™ speaker.

The efficient TME took over the session from the Table Topics™ Master and proceeded with the assigned speeches from the Advanced Communication Manual and Pathways.

1^stSpeaker – KT Chok, PM2

Pathway: Presentation Mastery Level 3: Project 1 – Persuasive Speaking

Speech Title – “Buy this pen”

Evaluator – Chitirra

KT Chok, PM2 shared with us his story on “Wolf of Wall Street”, and how people buy on emotion, greed, generosity or even goodwill, buying things for solutions and buying based on the story of the item. His speech was delivered with confidence, the required vocal variety and as usual, it was injected with humour.

2^nd speaker – KL Loh, ATMG

Advanced Communication and Leadership Program

Manual: The Professional Speaker

Project 4: The Professional Seminar

Speech Title – “Fishing Rods n Hooks”.

Speech Evaluator – Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB

KL Loh had demonstrated a variety of presentation styles in his speech using elements of body language, vocal variety and good eye contact. He introduced us the investment tools by using charting in the stock market. You will be mistaken if you think this topic is humdrum then you will miss the opportunity to create your wealth from the stock market shared by the speaker.

The meeting called for a break for refreshments for 10 minutes at 8:45 pm.

Soon after our TME EK Yeo, CC CL called the meeting to order and then invited the General Evaluator, Joshua Chan, ACB, ALB to chair the meeting. He led the session with his panel of evaluators. He began by explaining the purpose of the evaluation followed by the evaluation from the  respective evaluators:

-        Table Topics Evaluator  - Manish Jha, CC, IP1

-        Speech Evaluators  - Chitirra and Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB

Evaluation on Speech Evaluators under Pathways’ Evaluation Projects:

-        KL Loh, ATMG on Chitirra

-       Hj. Hashim, DTM on Mathew Philipose, CC, ALB

The purpose of the evaluation was to share what the speakers or evaluators have done good, and if there are any shortfalls by giving constructive criticism for their improvement.

Role players’ reports were given splendidly by:

• Grammarian – Shain Anand
• Timer – Wendy Sim, CC
• Ah Counter – Poi Yu Ai

Club President Chitirra was called on the stage by the TME to give her presidential closing address. She first thanked the TME who handled the meeting diligently. Then she presented the award for the best speakers for the evening.

Best Table Topics™ Speaker – Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB

Best Speech Evaluator – Hj. Hashim, DTM

 

Token of appreciation to the GE – Joshua Chan, ACB, ALB

Finally, Mdm President, Chitirra summarized the entire meeting and asked the guests to share their thoughts about our meeting for the night. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm

It was indeed not a humdrum meeting with two project speeches. The meeting designated with superior quality of project speeches, Invocation Speech, Table Topics Session and Evaluation reports which enlightened everyone as the joy of club members and guests were visible towards their Toastmaster journey. It was a great evening! 

Thanks to EK Yeo, CC, CL, contributors, writers and reviewers.

Sincerely

Dato Dr Mary de Silva, PM3

Money Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club
VPPR (Vice President of Public Relation 2018/2019)

#414 - Who Am I?

I can never seem to find out. Confused and complex this quest of life is to me as I type this out. Did this meeting give me an epiphany to that? You’ll find out at the end of this post.

The epiphany that we all discovered before this meeting however was that Money Mastery KL TMC (MMKL) and Shah Alam TMC (SATMC) both have their meetings on the same day at the same time so decided to synergize and come up with a double powered joint meeting!

The date was set at 31^st July 2018 through the initiative of MMKL’s Immediate Past President, Wendy Sim, CC through the request of two epic members of the respective clubs, Hj. Hashim, DTM and Robert Ram, DTM.

The day arrived, the two club members drew in slowly and at sharp 7.15pm MMKL’s EK Yeo, CC, CL called the meeting to order, recited the Toastmaster’s Promise and invited MMKL’s President, Chitirra to give her opening address. Embracing the power of synergy she acknowledged the sweat that both club members broke to make this a reality.

Following, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB of MMKL came out to give his invocation speech in which he left no one out whilst enlightening us to discover ourselves as Toastmasters. He took us to church indeed for his speech was such an epiphany. Without having to say, the theme of the day was “Who Am I?” and the word of the day “Epiphany” and he lived up to it.

Our ever ready and steady CP Lau, ACS, ALB of MMKL took on the role as Toastmaster of the Evening and briefly went through the history of Toastmasters International, called upon the role players to introduce their roles and handled the meeting through and through with care and charisma.

The role players for the night were, Wendy Sim, CC of MMKL as the Ah-Counter, Ron Yeap, ACB, CL of MMKL as Grammarian, Serena Kong, ACB, CL of MMKL as Timer and the ever enthusiastic Robert Ram, DTM of SATMC as the General Evaluator overseeing the meeting held at MMKL itself.

Then came the exciting session of Table Topics ™ by MMKL’s toastmaster, Shain Anand and with him he had an array of challenging topics for all to try.

We then eventually moved on to the Assigned Speech Session with 4 speeches for the night, 2 representatives from each club.

The first was a Competent Communication Manual speech from Sarah Abedi Abdullah, DTM of SATMC doing her CC#10 entitled ‘To Be More Than You Can Be’ and indeed she pushed us beyond our horizons, to go the extra mile and surely inspired us to more than what we can be. There was epiphany in the air and we were breathing it from her speech that was oxygenated with it.

Next up was KT Chok, PM1 from MMKL with his final project under Level 2 of his Pathway Presentation Mastery. With his speech ‘Mentor Mentee Love Hate Relationship’, the epiphany he passed down to us was that “If the student is ready, the teacher will be”. Likewise for a mentee to be ready in order for his mentor to guide him in his Toastmasters’ journey. Truly the words of Master Yoda himself as he coached Luke Skywalker to be one of the greatest Jedi Masters of all times.

Next was Dato’ Dr. Mary de Silva PM2 from MMKL as well, in her final project under Level 2 of her Pathway Presentation Mastery. With her title “Write To Sell” she caught our attention in her grand opening with a dazzling string of pearls. As she was trying to promote that fine piece of jewellery, she moved on to tell us that actually one of the best ways to sell anything is to write a book about it. Master your field and write away right away in order to boom your business.

Finally, the epiphany we all needed as Toastmasters was someone to show us the light or rather in this context the “path” to the Pathways programme in Toastmasters. For that, we had our final speaker from SATMC, Safura Atan, ACB, CL. Also a Pathways Guide she used this to her advantage whilst educating us in her Advanced Communication speech from the Speech by Management manual themed ‘Communication Change’. Her title was ‘Navigating Through A New Path’ and she navigated us through the Pathways programme and encouraged us to kick start it as soon as possible.

After a bang of speeches, a short break was given and the members of both clubs mingled over MMKL’s classic Nasi Lemak.

EK Yeo, CC, CL, timely called us in for a round two of digesting and that was for the Evaluations sessions. Robert Ram, DTM emceed this session and called back for EK Yeo, CC, CL to give his table Topics ™ evaluation of each member. 

Following in order of the project speakers:

Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB of MMKL 
Mohd. Lofti of SATMC
Zarina Abu Bakar, ACB, ALB of SATMC and 
Hj. Hashim, DTM of MMKL each gave their unique evaluations for the speakers

A round of open evaluation was in order before each role player gave their reports and both club Presidents were called out to give the awards to the best role players of the night, all of which were bagged by the members of SATMC to take home to their club with pride.

Best Table Topics ™ Speaker: Mohd. Lofti

Best Evaluator: Zarina Abu Bakar, ACB, ALB

Best Assigned Speech: Sarah Abedi Abdullah, DTM

Alas the night of fun was coming to its end and to wrap it up with a bang we invited the President of SATMC, Safura Atan, ACB, CL to give the closing address. It was inspiring and encouraging indeed as she spoke of how the camaraderie between both clubs gave tonight’s meeting a meaning.

With that, looking forward to a next joint meeting, the meeting was adjourned and we all posed for a fabulous group photo.

Back to my question in the beginning of this post as to whether this meeting gave me an epiphany as to who I was? Well, the discovery never stops. That’s for sure! For tonight however, I am a Toastmaster and damn proud I am to be one! Now go discover yourself, your epiphany is sure to come. Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Thanks to Shain Anand contributors, writers and reviewers.

Sincerely

Dato Dr Mary de Silva, PM2

Money Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club

VPPR (Vice President of Public Relation 2018/2019)