24.09.2019 Meeting #445- Facing Our Challenges

It was a hazy evening. I came to the club around 6:25pm with handful of club signature food–Nasi Lemak, fried chickens, omelette eggs, bundle of bananas, curry puffs and fried spring rolls. Thanks to Chitirra, LD1 for her thoughtful food ordering arrangement from the nearby store. Upon arrival, the meeting room was ready set up by Rey Thean, Mathew, EC1 and Ron Yeap, ACS, CL. Kudos for their initiative and commitment to come early to prepare the meeting setup before the arrival of members and guests.

A minute later, the members and guests came in. The guests were greeted with warmest welcome by all the members and compliment with light refreshment before the meeting.

At 7:15 pm, the Assistant Sergeant-At Arms (ASAA), Rey Thean called the meeting to order. She reminded members and guests of the meeting house rules before inviting members of the Toastmasters to recite Toastmasters’ promise.

Next, Rey Thean, passed her control to Club President KL Loh, ATMG for his president’s address.  He welcomed our members, guests and General Evaluator Seki Ng, DTM. He gave a motivated and inspired speech revolving “Facing our challenges”. Grammarian Abdulrahman, PM2 was invited to share with us about the word of the day “Courage”. Immediately, KL Loh, ATMG, invited members and guests to have a short 45-second self-introduction and encouraged them to use theme of the day and word of the day within the time limitation.

After that, Manish Jha, IP1, the Toastmaster of the Evening (TME) took over the control from the President. He shared with us the history of Toastmasters as well as our club history. He introduced the role players and invited them to share with us their roles for the meeting in the following sequence:

    

A) Ah-Counter – CS Ong

B) Grammarian – Abdulrahman, PM2

C) Timer – Wendy Sim, CC

D) General Evaluator (GE) – Seki Ng, DTM

1. Humor Master cum Ah-counter: CS Ong 
2. Table Topics™Evaluator:KT Chok, PM4
3. Timer: Wendy Sim, CC 
4. Toastmaster of the evening: Manish Jha, IP1
5. Grammarian: Abdulrahman, PM2, 
6. Table Topics™Master: EK Yeo, CC, CL
7. General Evaluator: Seki Ng, DTM

CS Ong was invited and took over the control from the TME and share with us his stories. A man, at the age of middle like him would look at the mirror more often to count how many wrinkles in his face and applied skin care products to look young. He twisted the story and told us one day he met a pretty blonde who look exactly like his secondary school mate who he admired secretly. To his surprised there was no signed of aging on her. Thinking of the lady luck was on him, he exchanged his conversation with her in cheerful and joyful manner. He was so delighted both of them were studied in the same school. Then she gave him the punch line “Which subject you teach?”.

Although CS Ong claimed that he was not a humorous person, but his humor speech had caught the heart of the audience, filled with laughter in the room. Well done, CS! It had completely taken off the serious image of you!

Your truly was the Table Topics Master™ in the meeting. Table Topics™ is an impromptu speech, which you can speak within the topic or out of the topic as long as your speech contains the opening, body and conclusion. Each participant will be given a topic to speak within a time limit , with the minimum of 1 minute and not more than 2 minutes 30 seconds. At 1 minute the green light will be on and stay for 30 seconds. 

The table topics for the participants were:-

1) Rey Thean – Do you believe that your dreams can come true, if you have the courage to pursue them?

2) Hai Liang – Do you think challenges are an opportunity to test yourself for you rise to next level?

3) Undaleeb – What are the new things you want to learn to challenge yourself?

4) Alex Chong – Courage is doing what you are afraid to do, do you agree?

All the Table Topics™ speakers came to the stage with confidence and delivered their speeches fluently without any hesitation.

For the assigned speeches, here is my summary:

Speaker 1: CP Lau, DTM Title: Golden Questions	His delivered the speech with the punch lines: Opening -“What is your problems” Closing- “What went well”, “How can we do better”
Speaker 2: Mathew Phillippose, EC1 Title: Moving The Steering Wheel	He shared with us how he applied his supportive style of communication, delegated the work to subordinates, complete his mission in peace of mind.
Speaker 3: Ron Yeap, ACS, CL Title: Health Benefits of Vinegar	His shared with us the benefits of drinking vinegar will reduce the blood sugar, cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Speaker 4: Julia Leong, ACS, ALB Title: A Change in Time Saves Lives	She talked about 2 frogs were being cooked in 2 different pots. The first frog was put in a cool water pot. It would be boiled gradually. The 2second frog was put in half boiled water pot. The moral of her story was that the first frog was at the comfort zone failed to jump up from the pot once the water was boiled.  The second frog sense the danger once it legs touched on the boiled water, it quickly jumped out from the pot. Life will be saved with quick decision at the time change of environment.

Meeting 445 was a special meeting. We hold an extra business meeting to elect Wendy Sim, CC to take up the SAA role for the term 2019/2020. Circular of members voted via WhatApps to nominate Wendy Sim, CC to take up the role as SAA due to the resignation of Phang Chew Yee, CC. Since there was no other nominee proposed, the Acting Secretary, our Club Advisor, CP Lau, DTM cast one vote and confirmed Wendy Sim, CC was appointed as SAA for the term 2019/2020.

The meeting had a break of 5 minutes and then call to order by ASAA Rey Thean. She passed her control to TME Manish Jha, IP1. TME invited GE Seki Ng, DTM to chair the meeting. Seki Ng, DTM explained the session and without further delay, he invited his panel of role players to have their report.

KT Chok, PM4, was impressed by all the Table Topics™ speakers, who had the courage to speak in front of the audience and delivered their speeches with full confidence. Although the Table Topics™ was a bit lengthy, there were no hiccups for them to take up the challenges.

After that, we listened to the speech evaluators to give feedback to the speakers.

The GE called the Ah-counter, Grammarian and Timer to give their reports. Finally, the GE gave his opinions on the club meeting performance. GE was impressed with the displayed ribbons of the club, the energetic of the members and guests especially during the Table Topics™ Session.

He recommended the Table Topics™ question wording should be limited to 7 words. Due to time limitation, he also suggested that Table Topics™ Evaluator to summarize each speaker based on :  

      ** One point what they did well, 

      ** One point for the improvement, 

      ** One point for encouragement.

Lastly, he also suggested if possible to add a standing fan, he felt hot as well as for those people sat near to the door entrance.

Now, the meeting reached its climax. TME invited the President to give away the certificates the winners as below:-

Best Table Topics™ Speaker – Hai Liang

Best Project Speech Evaluator – KL Loh, ATMG

Best Project Speech – Mathew Philippose, EC1

Before the closing of the curtain, the Club President KL Loh, ATMG presented token of appreciation to GE Seki Ng, DTM who spent his valuable time to help the club by giving his feedback and constructive recommendation.

The Club President appreciated our members for the 1st time to take up the role who was CS Ong as Ah- Counter & Humor Master, Abdulrahman as Grammarian and Rey Thean as ASAA. He also gave a special thanks to our guests Hai Liang, Alex Chong and Undaleed for their feedback.

The meeting adjourn at 10:00pm with Group photo taken.

Just a reminder to all before signing off, come to attend our next meeting, where we will have our 2019/2020 Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests on 08.10.2019. Stay tune with our announcement in WhatsApp, Facebook.

Blog Writer: EK Yeo, CC, CL

Regards,

MM-KL EXCO

2019/2020

10.09.2019 Meeting #444- Practicing of Mutual Respect

WORD OF THE DAY : HARMONY

Upon arrival, I was happily greeted by the President KL Loh, ATMG, Club Advisor CP Lau, DTM & VPPR, Ron Yeap, ACS, CL, all looking very sweaty but happy. They have just set up the meeting and clean up the place half an hour before meeting commence. A job well done true to the Toastmasters spirit.

The meeting was set up in accordance to TI guidelines with Toastmasters logo found in agenda, banners and awards ribbons neatly displayed in front of the meeting room.  Very Impressive.  Well done EXCO!

Meeting room is brightly lit up and cheerfully decorated, a most welcoming sight for members and guests.  Members, our general evaluator (GE), Samuel Selvaraju, DTM and guests, started drifting in around 6.45 pm and were all warmly greeted by our EXCO, who immediately invite them to have our famous nasi lemak, specially selected healthy bananas, fried chicken, omelette and tit bits.  I could see all guests smiling and happily mixing in with members.

Members are all very positive, friendly and helpful in helping all guests to sit down next to a senior member for the meeting. Great camaraderie and mutual support were displayed throughout the meeting.

The meeting started on time with the ASAA Abdulrahman, PM2, calling the meeting to order with a loud and clear voice, with a most charming smile. He reminded all present of our house rules and led the members to recite the Toastmaster’s Promise earnestly.

President KL Loh, ATMG, took over the meeting with amazing energy. He welcomed all guests warmly. He reminded all members present to uphold the Toastmasters values of Respect, Integrity, Service & Excellence and the importance of practicing mutual respect, which is the theme of the night.

The grammarian, Oliver Ng, IP1, introduced the word of the day, “Harmony” which aptly describes the ambience of the meeting.

All members and guests present then introduced themselves and readily shared their thoughts on the theme and word of the day setting the happy and harmonious mood for the meeting.

1. Humor Master: Rey Thean   2. Grammarian: Oliver Ng, IP1 
3. Timer: EK Yeo, CC, CL   4. Ah Counter: Manish Jha, IP1 
5. General Evaluator: Samuel Selvaraju, DTM 
6. Toastmaster of the Evening: Ron Yeap, ACS, CL

Toastmaster of the evening (TME) Ron Yeap, ACS, CL, then, took control and brief the meeting on the history of the Toastmaster International and the heritage and strength of MMKL. Our club’s strength lies in the strength and support of its senior members who are truly committed and dedicated in ensuring that the club and its members will succeed in their respective Toastmaster journey. He then invited the role players in the meeting, the Ah-Counter, Grammarian, Timer and General Evaluator to explain their role for the benefit of our guests.

Next session was our first time Humour Master, Rey Thean, who have us all in stitches over episodes from her childhood adventures. She has everyone in the meeting laughing heartily, a much-needed remedy for tiredness and moodiness after a long day.

Up next is another first time Table Topics™ master, C.S. Ong. This interesting session requires impromptu speaking. Getting guests and members to speak off the cuff in front of a crowd is like a breeze. Four brave souls took up the challenge and did quite well indeed speaking on topics in harmony to the theme.

Table Topics™ master: CS Ong
Speakers [from left]: JC Ong, Tracy, Abdulrahman, PM2, KT Chok, PM4

Finally, we moved to the prepared speeches session, the platform where toastmasters learn to speak effectively and professionally from all aspects and leaders are groomed.

First speaker, Jocelyn delivered her Level 1, Project 2 speech, Evaluation and Feedback from Pathway: Team Collaboration. She was required to use the feedback she had received from her first speech to deliver the same speech. She delivered her second speech with great improvement, filled with poise and confidence. She was able to engage very well with the audience. She has the potential to be a great speaker.

Second Speaker, Ken Chan, DTM, delivered his level 2, project 2, Understanding Your Communication Style Pathway: Dynamic Leadership. He is really dynamic and full of charisma in his delivery.  He had the audience laughing at his light humour throughout his delivery.

Third Speaker, Cetani Chen, ACS, ALB, delivered her level 2 Project 1, Understanding your leadership style under Pathway: Effective Coaching. As she is doing her pathway in Mandarin, it was very brave and courageous of her to deliver this speech in English. Although it was very challenging for her, she was able to complete the speech and convey her message about her dream of being a coach. She has the attitude of a good leader. Leadership by example.

Fourth speaker is yours truly who delivered her final speech, Project 5, speaking after Dinner from The Entertaining Speaker. I delivered a true story about unconditional love and loyalty, the foundation and cornerstone of a happy relationship through the adventures with my pet dog, Money Come. The audience were entertained as I could see smiles and laughter from their twinkling eyes.

Speakers [from upper left]: Cetani Chen, ACS, ALB, Jocelyn,
Julia Leong, ACS, ALB, Ken Chan, DTM

I have always enjoyed the prepared speeches session because there is always something to learn and grow.

The meeting was adjourned for a 5-minute break. SAA called the meeting to order right on time.

GE, Samuel Selvaraju, DTM took over the Evaluation Session and explained the purpose and guidelines of this session to all present punched with humour and jokes.

Table Topics Evaluator, Wendy, CC, was very thorough and sincere in her evaluation and gave valuable feed-back to all the four brave table topics speakers for improvement.

Our very experienced and season Speech evaluators, Matthew, EC1, Hj Hashim, DTM, KT Chok, PM4 and CP Lau, DTM took turns to evaluate Jocelyn, Ken Chan, DTM, Cetani, ACS, ALB, and Julia, ACS, ALB respectively; highlighting their strengths and weaknesses followed with very good heartfelt suggestions for improvement in a really diplomatic manner accompanied with a dash of humour. It was like a series of mini speeches which I enjoyed listening.

GE, Samuel Selvaraju, DTM was very impressed with our team work and enjoyed himself thoroughly at our meeting. He felt that our meeting was truly harmonious! However, he commented that to come to our meeting one has to be very fit as ours is the only meeting place where one has to climb three flights of steps. We are all practicing health and harmony thanks to our EXCO!

Drum roll please, ta ta to rum rum….and these are the winners of the night.

Best Table Topics™ Speaker     : KT Chok, PM4

Best Assigned Speech               : Julia Leong, ACS, ALB
Best Speech Evaluator              : Hj. Hashim Adnan, DTM (unbeatable to date)

The President also rewarded members that achieved their education goals in Pathways and conventional tracks. Among the recipients are KT Chok, PM4; Julia Leong, ACS, ALB; Ken Chan, DTM; Abdulrahman, PM2; Olivia Chen, PM2; and Ron Yeap, ACS, CL.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to all role players especially the General Evaluator, Samuel Selvaraju, DTM. It was followed by a group photo session and a cake cutting session for the September babies.

27.08.2019 Meeting # 443- Pursuit of Excellence

Theme: Pursuit of Excellence
Word of The Day: Passion

I was joyous when received the agenda of the meeting, on top right of the corner, I noticed a ribbon beside the DCP achievement which stated that the club has achieved Distinguished status with 5 points in the pocket. Well done Money Mastery-KL! I think this could be a record achievement for the club to be on the fastest track to achieve Distinguished Club’s status within 2 months in the term.

The climax of the meeting started building up as early as 6.45pm, when members and guests started to fill up the meeting hall. Our Guest of Honour would be non-other than the General Evaluator, Lee Yau Sin, DTM from Super Speakers Toastmasters Club.

The meeting started on time by the Assistant Sergeant At Arm, Rajendra, who led us through the Toastmasters Promise as well as the house rules.

KL Loh, ATMG, our president took over the stage with a triumphant mood, excitedly explained our theme of the meeting “Pursuit of Excellence”. It is an easy theme to relate to our personal goals and career objectives, therefore, the members and guests spoke their heart out about the view on the theme when they were asked to introduce themselves.

The stage was handed over to the all-suit-up handsome Toastmaster of the Evening (our version of an emcee), Abdulrahman, PM2. Our TME detailed out the history of Toastmasters International, and the history of our club. Before the real deal of the meeting started, he also invited the role players in the meeting, the Ah-Counter, Grammarian, Timer and General Evaluator to explain their role. This instantly gave a better understanding to the guests what they could expect in the meeting later.

The first speaker invited to the stage, was our Humour Master, KT Chok, PM4. In conjunction of the upcoming Humorous Speech Contest, KT tickled our funny bones with humour stories drawing from our stigma about prospective jobs. Thank you KT, for showing us humour element can be easily found in our daily lives.

Another chapter of the meeting follow suit, it was the Table Topics^TM session. Our Table Topics^TM Master came ready with 5 questions to challenge the members and guests. Our season Table Topics challenger, CS Ong kick-started the ball. Then the guests Hai Liang, Sharn Lee, Solmaz and Lina took up the challenge as well. They did well as a first-timer to speak impromptu.

Table Topics™ Master: Wendy Sim, CC

The meeting will not be exciting without members delivering their prepared speeches or project speeches. So we had four of them. Among them are our VPE – Rey Thean; senior member Mathew Philippose, EC1; our Area Director Julia Leong, ACS, ALB; and yours truly, Ron Yeap, ACB, CL.

Listening to prepared speeches were one of the most entertaining moment, as we were able to listen to the speakers with their life stories, various perspective on certain subjects and so on. We learned some real estate insight with Rey’s personal sharing as a property agent; Mathew led us through his leadership experience towards the Sales Managers in the pharmaceutical company he works in; Julia entertained us with a dramatic speech that created suspense but was a happy ending eventually. Yours truly delivered a speech about a drug addict that was saved by his father’s unconditional love. The rest of the speakers were doing very well, making my wish to earn the Best Speaker at stake.

The meeting was adjourned for a short break after this two-third of the meeting has been conducted. When we return on the final session, it was called the Evaluation Session. 

Our General Evaluator, Lee Yau Sin, DTM led the whole evaluation session. This session is often called the breakfast for champions, as through the feedback given by the evaluators, we knew where we still able to improve ourselves.

EK Yeo, CC, CL, kick-started the first evaluation by giving his feedback to the Table Topics speakers. The evaluation flow continued with CS Ong gave his evaluation to Rey Thean; Chitirra, LD1 for her evaluation towards Mathew; Hj Hashim gave his evaluation on me; and lastly, our President double his role as the Evaluator to Julia Leong. On top of that, Vijaykumar, CC also delivered his evaluation on CS Ong’s Pathways evaluation speech

Unfortunately, there’s 2 evaluators that spoke out of timing and we did not proceed to vote for the Best Speech Evaluator. Nonetheless, this did not deprive us to celebrate the Best Table Topics Speaker and Best Project Speaker.

Our guest, Lina, won the Best Table Topics Speaker, while our first Speaker, Rey, won the Best Project Speaker. This was her first winning as a Best Project Speaker, congratulations on her achievement.

UP:Standing Ovation to Ron Yeap, ACB, CL as he completed his ACS goal.

Down (from left): 1. Table Topics™ winner: Lina, 

Down (from left):2. Best Project Speech Winner: Rey Thean

Down (from left): 3. Area President Distinguished Award: Manish Jha, IP1

Down (from left): 4. GE Token Appreciation: Lee Yau Sin, DTM

Our meeting ended with President Loh reignited our emotion again by thanking the guest for gracing our meeting and role players for giving their best performance to make this meeting run successfully. President did not forget to call for standing ovation to me, for completing Advanced Communicator Silver goal. I gracefully thank all of my club members for their support.

As a routine, we should not leave the meeting without a group photo. I definitely looking forward for another exciting meeting with the members and guest on September 10!!

Role Player List:

1. TME: Abdulrahman, PM2

2. Humor Master: KT Chok, PM4

3. ASAA & Ah- counter: Rajendra

4. GE: Lee Yau Sin, DTM

5. Table Topics™ Evaluator: EK Yeo, CC, CL

Blog Writer: Ron Yeap, ACS, CL

Regards,

MM-KL EXCO

2019/2020

13.08.2019 Meeting # 442- Having Personal Integrity Accountability

Meeting Theme: Having Personal Integrity
Word of the day: Accountability

13^th August 2019, my day wasn’t really started well. My emotion energy level was flat. I was contemplating the whole day if I could skip attending the Toastmaster meeting tonight. However, I can’t because I have promised to be the Grammarian for the day.

Dragging my feet to the club’s meeting room, I could hear everyone was chatting and enjoying the heart-warming Nasi Lemak with fried chicken and omelette inside the meeting hall. What a great meal to have before the meeting start! Thank you to our dear Treasurer, EK Yeo, CC, CL for always taking care of our breadbasket at each and every meeting.

As I entered the hall, the energy was superb. The smile and greeting by everyone was definitely an uplifting one. Without realizing it, my energy bar raised by 20%. 

Just few minutes before the meeting start, our General Evaluator, S.K. Walia, DTM, or fondly known to Toastmasters as Mama Walia, came in with our Immediate Past President, Chittra, LD1. Everyone was so happy to see Mama Walia and all the senior members hugged and greeted her in a very warm and motherly manner. Being a new member to the club, I greeted Mama Walia and introduced myself. Her smile and tender hand shake warmed my heart and lifted my energy bar to 40%! Amazing!

Without further ado, our meeting 442 started. Theme of the day was “Having Personal Integrity” and word of the day was “Accountability”.

We started with the Assistant Sergeant At Arm (SAA) greeted everyone with her warm and lovely smile. After a quick reminder of the house rule and recital of the Toastmaster’s promise, the floor was handed over to the club’s President, Mr KL Loh, ATMG for the opening address.

This is the session where the theme and word of the day were used the most; from the opening address by Mr President to the round of introduction where all members and guests were invited to introduce themselves and shared thought about “Having Personal Integrity” and “Accountability”. In summary, I interpreted integrity as honesty to oneself and accountability is act upon the honesty. This reminds me of the famous quote by Sir William Wallace, “Every man dies. Not every man really lives”. To live your life to the fullest, ones must have integrity and accountability as both are the core values of a person must have in carrying out everything he/she does in life.

Everyone was given a chance to speak from the beginning of the meeting :)

Here came our Humour Master – Mr Matthew Philippose, CC, ALB! I used to have fear towards Mr Matthew, CC, ALB as he looked like my strict primary school English teacher who hardly smile and always commented on my poor grammar and vocabulary. (Until now, I still can’t believe that I was the Grammarian in this meeting!) However, today, he presented a totally different side of him! Started with a funny and hilarious laughter; he ended his speech with a humble smile. Bravo Mr Matthew, CC, ALB! You have lifted our meeting atmosphere to the top and my energy level was accelerated immediately to 80%!

Wow… Upcoming is another interesting session – the Table TopicsTM, the impromptu speech challenge!  This is always my favourite session because this is the session where you’ll find how every one of us dealing with uncertainty in just 20 minutes. For those who volunteered, their courage were definitely commendable. A big round of applause to our past President and birthday boy, Mr Ben Hoe, CTM, CL and our fearless guests Roger, Winnie and Amri! All your sharing today would definitely be our learning tomorrow.   

Speaker 1: Ben Hoe, Speaker 2: Amrik, Speaker 3: Roger Oh, Speaker 4: Winnie

Next, this was what I called the Toastmasters moulding platform – the Assigned Speech, a platform that mould the members of Toastmasters from Zero to Hero; from a local listener to a world's top leader. Started with our new member Mr CS Ong who was doing his Project 2 that required him to learn about giving, receiving and applying feedback. Using feedback received during his first speech, CS Ong successfully delivered his second speech with tremendous improvement and full of confidence.

Pathway or Highway – this was the second assigned speech delivered by Ken Chan, DTM. Thank you Ken Chan, DTM for the brief explanation about the Toastmasters' new learning path – Pathways. I found the 10-12 minutes briefing beneficial for new members like me. After listening to him, I had a better understanding about the Pathways and looking forward to see more and more seniors to join us in our journey to Pathways!

"Is it true? Is it good? Is it useful?" This is the Triple Filter Test presented by our Area Director, Julia Leong, ACS, ALB. It was fun and entertaining to listen to her well-crafted story where she used the name “Ken Chan” in her story and we learned about technique to differentiate between rumours and facts by applying the triple filter test.

Drum rolling please! Here comes the highlight of the meeting - The evaluation and report session – a session that gave meaningful closure to the meeting. To all the speakers including Table TopicsTM,  not only that you will be told about your strength and weaknesses, but you would also receive constructive feedback/suggestion for future improvement.

This session started with Ms Chittira, LD1, evaluator for Table TopicsTM. Well Done Chittira, LD1. You were such an observant and sincere evaluator. All the guests were impressed with her truthful feedback and advice. Next, we have our senior evaluators CP Lau, DTM,  Tn Hj. Hashim, DTM, Mr Matthew Philippose, CC, ALB, who evaluated the speakers of assigned speeches and Ron Yeap , ACB, CL, who evaluated the evaluation report done by CP Lau, DTM. Listening to their evaluation reports, I believe not only the speakers, but everyone in the meeting has in fact benefited and took away a lot of useful skills and techniques of public speaking including the body language, eye contacts, facial expression, hand gesture, stance and vocal variety. A big thank to all.

Finally, Mama Walia, the General Evaluator took the stage! Mama Walia applied a PIE technique. Seven (7) Praise and one (1) Improvement. Where is the E? I remembered Mama Walia said, “Please invite me again even as a Table TopicsTM Evaluator.” Thank you Mama Walia, your simple acknowledgement is a great Encouragement to all of us. Please join us anytime either at Pathway or Highway!

Before the end of the meeting, the President presented awards to:

Best Table Topic Speaker      : Mr Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL

Best Assigned Speech           : Ms Julia Leong, ACS, ALB

Best Evaluator                        : The unbeatable Tn Hj. Hashim Adnan, DTM

Our meeting adjourned with a group photo session.

Looking at the screen showing our Theme of the day, “Having Personal Integrity” and Word of the day “Accountability, I took a moment to reflect what I did today. Because of accountability, I decided to attend the meeting and withhold my integrity toward my promise to my camaraderie as the Grammarian of the day. I have no regret and proud to be part of MMKL-Toastmaster Club. Guess what? My emotion energy level has surpassed 100% without me realizing it! Thank you everyone to be part of my fabulous day!

Blog Writer: Jocelyn Chew

Regards,

MM-KL EXCO

2019/2020

30.07.2019 Meeting # 441- Speech Evaluation Workshop

To benefit the members and Toastmasters community with the skill of giving speech evaluations, Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club (MMKL) had organized an Evaluation Workshop on 30^th July 2019.

The Evaluation workshop started with our Sergeant At Arm, Rajendra, calling the meeting to order. The stage was taken over by President KL Loh, ATMG. Before delivering his uplifting opening speech, he gave a heartwarming welcome to each of our guest. Our Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Ron Yeap, ACB,CL, took over the stage next, and shared with us the importance of giving a quality evaluation as it can make or break a speaker. He then introduced the panel evaluators, from CP Lau, DTM, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB, Hj, Hashim, DTM; last but not least, our Workshop Moderator, Ken Chan, DTM. He shared the outstanding past achievements and awards the panelists had collected from club, area and district level. 

Next up, Ron introduced our Test Speaker, Chitirra, LD1 on stage to deliver her final speech in the Competent Communicator manual.

Our Test Speaker, Chitirra, LD1 simply put the audience in aw with her heavenly beautiful voice as she sang, “When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, What will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here’s what she said to me”….a song named, “Que Sera Sera” by Doris Day, as the opening of her speech. Well done Chitirra, on the awesome attempt to catch the audience’s attention! As she brought us through a roller coaster ride from her least pleasant impression of Toastmasters to how she was inspired by her late mentor to be part of the Money Mastery-KL Toastmaster family. Laughter, silence and respect filled the room!

After the speech had ended, our guest and members were served with our MMKL’s signature nasi lemak, bananas and some local snack food; and mingled around to bond with one another.

The highlight of the day came when our moderator, Ken Chan, DTM, shared how the skills of evaluation will help an individual in their professions and also developing their leadership skills. He then invited our first evaluator, CP Lau, DTM on stage to present his evaluation. CP Lau, DTM gave his genuinely structured evaluation to our test speaker. He used the sandwich method to delivery his evaluation by first commending on what the speaker had done well in the speech, followed by what points she can improve on, and ended with what he loved about the speech and a touch on how the speaker can deliver a better speech in the near future.

Ken Chan, DTM took over and detailed some techniques used in CP Lau’s evaluation for the benefit of the audiences.

He then invited our second evaluator, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB. Mathew applied a different delivery method in his evaluation. He structured the speech into the introduction, body and conclusion and state what was done well by the speaker. He then shared his opinion on what the speakers can improve on for her to move on to greater height.

To put things into perspective, moderator Ken Chan, DTM dissected Mathew Philippose’s evaluation which gave the audience a clearer picture on how evaluations can be done in various styles.

Ken Chan, DTM then invited our third evaluator, Hj. Hashim, DTM on stage. Hj. Hashim, DTM, danced through the stage with his rhythmic evaluation that keep the audience sitting straight! He started by commenting on what he liked about the speech, and followed by his opinion on how the speech could be delivered better and gave an inspiring ending remark to the speaker.

Ken Chan, again took over and gave the insight of Hj. Hashim’s delivery style, and also a summation of what attributed to the success factor of effective evaluations

The next part of the evaluation workshop was the Question & Answer (Q&A) session between the audience and the panelists. It was a fruitful session where the audience were given opportunity to speak out their perspective about evaluations and clarified their doubts during the 30 min Q&A session.

The conversation went on and became meaningful when audiences and panelists exchanged their thoughts on how to help a speaker through evaluation speech during the club meetings; how to win in the contest during evaluations; and how to use evaluation to empower subordinates, co-workers on daily basis. The conversation left many valuable key messages for us to digest.

Many thanks to CP Lau, DTM, Mathew Philippose, CC, ALB, Hj. Hashim, DTM, and Ken Chan, DTM once again for sharing with us the experiences you all have gathered over the years and the secrets to becoming an outstanding evaluator!

Blog Writer: Rey Thean 

Regards,

MM-KL EXCO

2019/2020