Meeting #160 (28/10/08)

I felt a fire of excitement this evening when our precious members walked in one-by-one, as the meeting commenced. Reasons are…
1. the crowd is back after the puasa month,
2. we had a guest, a gwailo from the UK, Duncan (oh-la-la) and
3. we are so famous for our time keeping that as our GE, Rohijas put it, we stuck to the time and everyone enjoyed themselves.

It’s indeed also precious time as our VPE, Siew Yin got to play acting president as our precious President was in Indonesia on a golf tour. Wherever you are, Hj Hashim, I’m sure you’ve telepathy over your blessings for an awesome meeting.

I thoroughly enjoyed Khoshim playing our genial host tonight. Our TME can indeed speak English, just teasing. Thank you for being organized and effective in your role.

Hj Naburi’s message in his invocation…Engage your minds before putting words into your mouth.

Paul Tan’s table topics definitely offered us precious food for thought…
1. the oil of courtesy takes the friction out of our life.
2. wisdom is in knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech.
3. we loose the joy of living in the present if we worry too much of the future.
4. gentle words falls lightly but carries great weight.
5. we commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong.

Kudos to Marcus Chee, Ben Hoe, Duncan, Gean Lau and Hj Naburi for speaking on the topic, around the topic and even out of topic. Actually, simply put, that’s the whole idea of table topics. So, fear not, young/new members, the only way to improve is to get up there and speak.

These days, we get to enjoy more meaty project speeches…speakers being able to share personal stories and audience being able to enjoy… some even make my eye teary.

I’m so honored to have heard Calista Chan speak with passion about her real life Superhero, her grandfather. The crafting of words (eg sunken and lifeless eyes), the edge in her voice, the flow of her story… it’s definitely speech material for International Speech Contest ya?

Sharon Siow spoke in praise of her father. I sat in awe as she spoke with respect and enthusiasm about her dad. Her speech’s precious value tonight for me…
1. stop what’s not working,
2. start what is working and
3. continue what is working
(good to reflect this in reference to becoming better communicators)

Bakar attempted his 5th project speech, the persuasive leader, The Power to Change. Point blank, thank you for sharing. It help me reflect on what’s happening around us and we have a choice not to play victim. Though we can’t change the world, we can change the world around us. So, point blank, your speech has lots of potential to be an even more powerful speech. Do consider doing it again.

It’s good to hear more advance speeches nowadays…our club has definitely matured compared to those days when only KL Loh was pursuing his advance goals. Kudos, Victor Wan, move along, move along to finish your special occasion speeches.

It’s an honor to have Rohijas to be our GE and thank you for your observations and points of how we can improve.

Some dates to take note of…
3rd Nov 2008…AFC TMc’s Speech Marathon meeting. our newly sponsored club, AFC TMC need our help and guidance to grow. Pls volunteer for roles. Actually, the members are very independent, we probably only need to sit next to them mentoring them on how to be more effective in the roles in the meeting.

22nd – 24th Nov 2008….SpeechCraft Program for a corporation in Shah Alam. Pls contact Francis to volunteer your precious time. It’s time to give back, members. (ps. Pls pick up the phone before he calls you himself).

13th Jan 2009… Our very own MMKL TMc’s International Speech and Table Topics Contests 2009. The Money Mastery-KL Challenge trophy is up for grabs and the chance to represent our esteemed club in the Area W1 contests and all the way to the States for the World Championship
(as Calista rightly put it…whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve). Pls contact Siew Yin to register as contestant and/or play roles.

That’s it, guys…till we meet again on 11th Nov 2008, have an awesome rest of the week.

Cheers,
Huey yee