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.