28 February 2012, this is not a normal day, this is not the last day of February. Today, our beloved club, Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club had our 241st meeting of the club. And, this was not a normal meeting that we had, it was a very special meeting for our members.
It was even before 6:30pm, our heavy weights of the club, our Club Advisor, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), Francis Ng, as well as our Vice President Education (VPE), Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB), Ken Chan were busy making arrangements for the meeting room.
Our Assistant Sergeant-At-Arms, Toastmaster (TM) Kelvin Chong has called for the meeting to order at 7:00pm sharp. Due to work commitment, our Club President, ACB, CL, Victor Wan did not make it for the President's Address; instead, it was taken over by our VPE.
The theme of the day was "Money Mastery". Ken has given us examples and stories on one that can be the mastery of money will not be worrying about their life. Our word of the day was "Mastery". Members understood it very well of the meaning of mastery. Everyone made use of the word "mastery" during our self introductions.
Our Toastmaster of the Evening, Competent Communicator (CC), Serena Kong took over the control of the floor after the acting president's address. We had a guest, Kuah Ken Ning (followed his brother, our new and youngest member). She has briefly introduced the history of Toastmasters International as well as Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club.
It was our CC, Competent Leader (CL), KH Song who presented the invocation of the day. he had told us a story of a millionaire and a monk. He brought up a message to everyone of us that if we change, the world will change accordingly. it was very good invocation presentation indeed and a very good learning session. Thank you KH Song.
Our program moved on to the next section, which was one of the most exciting moment, i.e. Table Topics Session. This is a session for all to practise and improve our impromptu skills. The Table Topics Master, CC, CL, EK Yeo, had explained the rules of the session and prepared with the topics, which were related to the theme of the day, "Money Mastery".
TM, CP Lau was the first volunteer to participate in this session. His topic chosen was "Money is the root of corruption, do you agree?". He has given his opinion and facts to support his stand.
Our guest, Ken Ning was the second participant. His question was "If you have a million Ringgit in your hand, what would you do?". he has given his view. he wanted to tour round the world and get a sport car even though he has no license at the moment. :)
TM, Kelvin Chong came out subsequently. he was asked, "Woman is good in managing money, do you agree?". Kelvin agreed and mentioned that in many of the successful and rich businessmen, they always have capable wives behind them, taking care of their money.
TM, Ken Yee took up the fourth question, "How do you let money work for you?". Ken Yee is still a student at the moment and has not much experience in terms of money. He did not get money to work for him. However, he shared a story of his friend who lost a lot of money in one of the share market investments.
And, the only lady participant of the session, CC, Serena Kong has took up her question, "Do you think you are the master of money?". Humble Serena admitted that she is not good in managing her financial. She always advised by her mother and trust the mother will get her money to work for her wisely.
All participants spoke within the time limit, hence, there was no time disqualification.
There was a 3-minute Humour Session allocated for the meeting. Our General Evaluator, Advanced Communicator Gold (ACG), Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB), also the Area C5 Governor, Sarah Abedi, has shared a story of how her daughter served tea to her husband. Ha ha....
It was time for the Project Speech Session.
Our first speaker, TM, Kelvin Chong, did his 6th project speech on vocal variety. His speech title was "The magic kingdom of 'What If'". he mentioned that there is actually nothing new on earth if we know how to ask the "what if" question. There should be no surprise if we find the answer of "what if". He highlighted that if we know how to ask "what if", we should be able to prepare for it and expect for it. He ended his speech with a song...
The second speaker, TM, CP Lau, did his 9th speech on the Competent Communication manual. He was supposed to "Persuade with Power". His speech title was "Go Learning, Go Internet Learning". CP Lau brought up the issues faced by children and parents today in their studies. Kids today are surrounded by all the high technologies. CP persuaded the audience, whom are the parents to buy an online learning product called Score A Program in order to help their children to excel in their examinations. He highlighted the features of the product as well as the proven records and Government's endorsement. Unfortunately, CP's speech has exceeded the time limit, hence, disqualifies for the "Best Project Speaker" run.
CC, Kok Sook Meng was the 3rd speaker, presenting her Technical Presentation from her Advanced Communication manual. Her speech title was "Palm Oil Processing". Sook Meng showed us he overall processes of palm oil. She also compared the primitive/manual ways from Africa and modern ways in Malaysia to process palm oil. This has shown a clear development of the technology in processing palm oil.
Finally, ACB, Ken Chan did his 2nd Special Occasion Speeches, i.e. Speaking in Praise. His speech title was "Don't Get Teary on Me". It was a speech for his late friend. Ken, during the speech had praised how his late friend take care of his family, friends as well as colleagues. Even though the late friend has passed away, his thoughts, advices and opinions are still alive and will be around to guide them.
After the short break, we had our evaluation session. Our general Evaluator took over the floor and invited the speech evaluators in sequence for them to comment on the respective speakers as well as providing them with some very useful and constructive suggestions for improvements if there were any.
DTM, Francis Ng did the table topic evaluation. He has commented on all 5 table topics speakers. His experience has enabled him to manage to comment on every speaker in terms of their good points and areas for improvements.
CC, KH Song evaluated TM, Kelvin Chong, CL, Eric Low evaluated TM, CP Lau, DTM, Francis Ng evaluated CC, Kok Sook Meng and DTM, Ramdas Nayar evaluated ACB, Ken Chan. All speakers found the evaluation were done very great and it was a very good learning session for everyone of us.
Below are other roles players of the night:-
1. Grammarian - TM, CP Lau
2. Ah-Counter - CC, CL, EK Yeo
3. Time Keeper - CC, Kok Sook Meng
Our president, ACB, CL, Victor Wan managed to come and presented the closing address. And, our awards went to the following:-
1. Best Table Topics Speech - TM, CP Lau
2. Best Project Speech - ACB, Ken Chan
3. Best Project Speech Evaluation - CL, Eric Low
I would like to highlight also that our club received the new Toastmasters banner as the achievement of Passion Drive 1. Congratulations to the club and thanks to all members' effort in working towards the passion drive.
We were honoured that we received the banner from
1. Lieutenant Governor Education & Training, DTM, Ramdas Nayar
2. The International President - Elect 2011/2012. DTM Dr John Lau
Our next meeting will be held on 13 March 2012 and we welcome all members and please bring along your guests.
Cheers!
CP Lau
