The meeting was called to order by the efficient SAA Shain
Anand who punctually commenced the meeting. It was another interesting evening and
this, I keep saying after every meeting I have attended. The coming together of all members with an
array of backgrounds, and age differences gives me the feeling of being in a
work environment where we know everyone by name. The bonus is being greeted with
their broad smiles and warm hospitality which are some of the things I look forward
at each bi-monthly meeting.
He first to speak was President Chittira, who in her
opening address shared about her fear of cockroaches! What an unusual sharing, I thought to
myself. Then the episode of her waking
up one very early morning at 4 am to kill the cockroach made us all feel uncomfortable. She had to commit this unavoidable action waking
the household and the neighbourhood. That would be tough, I thought to
myself. Well Chittira did it! She killed this awful, creepy yet helpless creature
and then I realized her story was in connection with the theme “Just Do
It”. Really, I didn’t see that coming at
all. Well done Chittira!
Following this, the President invited the Grammarian,
Shain Anand to introduce the word of the day and invited all members and guests
for a round of introduction and encouraged everyone to use the theme and the
word of the day. The word of the day Sedulous
was used by all, as well as the theme of the day, Just Do It.
With that the meeting proceeded with the Toastmaster of the
Evening, Cetani ACB ALB, who led the meeting with the Toastmasters’ Promise, a
reminder of what we are to do for Toastmasters Club, and the oath was taken.
The mood was set, the floor was passed on to the General
Evaluator, Teoh Chun Ming ACB ALB, who invited the Table Topics Master Wendy
Sim CC to take over this interesting session where volunteers come up to speak
for 2 minutes without any preparation.
This Past President was amazing as she coined various titles that
startled the audience such as What is
Stopping You, Can You Accept Failure, Action Changes Things, Be a Giver Not a
Beggar and a few others. These
titles were either questions or statements and the volunteers EK Yeoh, Paul Tan,
Zi You, Dato Dr Mary, Edwin and Mike Chin, gave their best shot at speaking on
their feet. The challenge in this section
was getting the first person on to the stage.
After getting a clue on the first title, everyone else decides for themselves,
whether they can do it. This meeting had time for six volunteers.
It must be acknowledged that the various role players contributed
to the successful meeting and were, Olivia Chen PM1 as the Ah-Counter, Chew Yee
CC as Timer and General Evaluator, Teoh Chun Ming ACB ALB. Everyone was
enthusiastic about their roles, and paid attention to the goings-on during the
meeting to ensure that they could give a good report.
Subsequently the assigned speech session began
with three capable speakers giving an awesome show this meeting. President Chittira LD1, presented Project 9:
Persuade with Power titled Reach Out to
Read Loud. This was an amazing
speech where she shared her admiration for our nation’s 93 year old premier as
an indestructible, cynical, sarcastic and eminent leader who didn’t mince his
words about the literacy of some of his leaders. Here Chittira once again shared her personal
experience of being a volunteer in a school teaching children improve their
literacy skills. Her joy at this task was seen in her eyes as she widened them
to make a point. While she ended the project with a powerful yet familiar line saying
“Let’s make Malaysia great again” she cleverly then invited everyone in the
audience to offer their time to teach such children. I just really like the way she thinks
about and appreciates life, and love her style for making that sales pitch for
a call to action.
The next speech was by CP Lau ACG ALB who has taken the leap and moved into Pathways having chosen the path, Visionary
Communication and was ready to present his Level 1 Project 1, the Icebreaker
Speech titled 50. Before commencing his speech, he captivated us
with some delightful news of how he had submitted his Advance Communication
project and will be DTM by the next meeting. This was great news for having another
DTM in Money Mastery KL and there was nothing short of congratulations from
everyone for another feather in his cap!
Referring to his title, I wondered what the 50 meant, and in a matter of time it
dawned on me that it might be his age. I
was right. This very accomplished past
president successfully shared stories and reflections as a near
perfect introduction of himself, very apt for an ice-breaker. As I was not a member of the club when he
first gave his ice-breaker speech under the CC manual, I realized that I now knew
him more after being in the club for a year. He smartly broke his speech into
the five stages of his life separating them according to each decade of his
life. He ended the speech with a cliché Live
the moment, Seize the moment!
The final assigned speech was delivered by the Vice
President of Membership, who as always, was dressed in crisp white shirt and
black slacks. He presented the Level 3
Project 2 on Using Presentation Software titled The Quest from Unconscious to Conscious to Unconscious. Once again, the plot was killing! What
could KT Chok speak about in this very catchy and mind-boggling title. He
revolved his speech around a movie and engaged the audience with questions as
he used his skills in making the presentation using Power Point. He ended his
speech with yet another cliché A Quitter Never
Wins. A Winner Never Quits! He gave an awesome delivery and was rewarded by
an applause from everyone.
Immediately after the speakers’ slot, there as the
installation of two new members Chew Yee and Mike Chin whose mentors assigned
were namely Manish Jha IP1 and Wendy Sim CC.
When the meeting moved to this scheduled break, I would regard this as a favorite time for
everyone as it is spending time around the table with good people and good food. If you were not present this is where members grabbed up the remaining nasi lemak,
curry puffs and bananas having only 5 minutes to do all this, you must attend
the next meeting. Soon after a bell rand
everyone was ushered back into the hall by the efficient SAA and the session
resumed with the evaluations’ sessions. Time keeping has always been given importance
in our toastmasters’ meetings.
Starting with the statement Feedback is the Breakfast for Champions the evaluation reports began. 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, Teoh Chun Ming, ACB
ALB inviting guest Clarence to give the evaluation on the Table Topics ™
speakers. His observations were sharp as he spoke with confidence and highlighted
the little things that make a big difference when delivering a speech. Following this, we had in order, the evaluators,
EK Yeo CC CL, Hj. Hashim, DTM, and KL Loh ATMG who all evaluated the speakers
respectively. I observed Chittira listening attentively to EK Yeo as he praised
her for point on persuasion as needed by her speech objectives. Hj Hashim recalled how he heard CP Lau’s
ice-breaker speech seven years ago and now under Pathways, complemented the many
strengths in his delivery and progress in his life. KL Loh’s feedback on KT Chok was also very
thorough, and as I listened to the comments given, I felt that anyone getting
this feedback, would be able to improve in their next delivery.
After the role players gave their brief reports the
session commenced with our General Evaluator giving his extensive feedback on
the overall proceedings of our meeting. There are always praises for Money
Mastery KL Toastmasters but as a club we look forward for criticism too as we know where to make the necessary
improvements.
President Chitirra, then proceeded to give
out the awards to the best speakers for the night. Note was made that there were
no time disqualifications. The best part
of the evening was about to being. The drum rolls are what creates
excitement in the room. The louder the drum roll, the suspense
heightens. Then the announcements were made as winners came forward.
- · Best Table Topics ™ speaker went to guest Zi You!
- · Best assigned speech was CP Lau!
- · Best evaluator was Hj Hashim DTM!
Congratulations! Congratulations!
Open feedback was welcome from the guests,
and the one comment I keep hearing is about our meal at the fellowship and
especially about the nasi lemak! Well,
if that is what brings the guests in, let it be!
Announcements were made, appreciations done, and the
meeting drew to its close with everyone giving their best pose in the group
photo.
If any of
you are on the prowl for an event where you can learn and meet wonderful people,
then make time for the next meeting in two weeks’ time on 9 October 2018.
Sincerely by your blog writer,
Dato Dr
Mary de Silva, PM3
Money
Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club
VPPR
(Vice President of Public Relation 2018/2019)
