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Toastmasters Meeting #272 - 09 April 2013


09th April was a special night. We had our Toastmasters meeting at MM-KL TMC Disneyland waiting for chimera moment to arrive. The meeting began sharp at 7pm, chimerically without the presence of Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Peter Pan, Twinkle-Bell, but was warmly welcomed by Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms, Jennifer Mah, TM. Even tough she is a new member, she demonstrated her leadership by taking up the role. Thumbs up to her! She had reminded my first time, guided by Francis Ng, DTM with the script 


The theme of the day was “Disneyland” and the word of the day was “Chimera”. Chimera means dream or fantasy. The Toastmasters of the evening, Serena Kong, CC, explained that Toastmasters International started like Walt Disney with a modest but noble goal, i.e. to help people improve their speaking skills in a supportive, informal atmosphere. Most people come to the club to overcome their fear of public speaking. In the meeting,
besides, food, speeches and evaluation, what you’ll see is the demonstration of courage.

Our members acquire the habit of courage through encouragement and support. If Disneyland could offer us Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, so did we. We prepared the members, develop their public speaking, listening, planning, time management skills and etc, open up a new horizon in their career and human relationship. We are just like the godmother fairy Cinderella putting her mantra “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” putting all elements to grow a person to become who they want to be. 





Our meeting had divided into 3 main sessions: Table Topics, Assigned Speeches and Evaluations. Our experienced Table Topics Master, Francis Ng, DTM led the session by giving interesting  and chimerical topics to all the volunteers. Some of the members were challenged to speak with imagination. The table topics volunteer speakers were: 

A)   Mathew Philippose, CC
B)   Jennifer Mah, TM
C)   Ben Hoe, CTM, CL
D)   Angel Lau, TM
E)   Ng Ser Kwang (Guest)
F)   Serena Kong, CC

All of the speakers put themselves forward and faced their internal demon –FEAR, spoken on their feet. Recalled on some of their speeches, Mathew told that one of his fantasies was when he had the ability to fly. Jennifer chimerically loved 7 dwarfs and experienced Ben Hoe highlighted that his home was his Disneyland.


At 8:00p.m., we had our assigned speech session.  CP Lau, CC, the speaker of the night shared with us on Cloud Computing. He told us a story about why the word "cloud" was used cloud computing. He told us, the symbol of "cloud" was used because it represents something complex but not important. Well, is this true? You may Google it out. Non technical like most of us, got to learn the types of cloud computing, the 3 important characteristics of cloud; Software as a service, Platform as a service and Infrastructure as a service. Of course, CP also shared with us the benefits of cloud computing. One very important phrase he used, "Green Computing".




Ken Chan, ACG, ALB persuaded and inspired the members to bring guests and share the benefits to others with a short story tale. It was a boy that used to pick up a star fish and threw it back to the sea. His action might seem insensible but his action was an inspiration. The key message was: “He had just made the difference to that particular star fish.”  It was a short and simple story, however, the story was perfectly delivered to meet his speech objectives. Well done! 




Mathew Philippose is the both champions for Area G1 International Speech and Table Topics  

Contests. It was a gift to our club to have such a distinguished member, to represent Area G1, to contest in Division G with other Toastmasters. He would be contesting on 20/04/2013 (Saturday), 8:45 a.m. at Monash University, Sunway.

He practiced his speech and all the members gave their support and gave their opinions in terms of his speech delivery, stage marking and his vocal variety.

Then, we were given a short break of 10 minutes

“Bibbidi bobbidi boo” General Evaluator, Sam Leong, ACB, CL carried out the evaluation session by calling the evaluators to give their reports. His team of evaluators were:

A)   Table Topics Evaluater- EK Yeo, CC, CL
B)   Speech Evaluator for CP Lau, CC- Francis Ng, DTM
C)   Speech Evaluator for Ken Chan, ACG, ALB- Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL
D)   Grammarian- Mathew Philippose, CC
E)   Ah- Counter- Angel Lau, TM
F)   Timer- EK Yeo, CC, CL


In general, for the Table Topics evaluation, Ek Yeo CC, CL touched on the body language, vocal variety, and methods of how to present a 1 to 2-minute speech. 

Francis Ng, DTM, on the other hand, encouraged CP Lau, CC to make his speech to be less technical and improved the power point slide presentation.


Ben Hoe, CTM, CL congratulated Ken Chan, ACG, ALB that he had achieved his speech objectives.

After all the speech evaluations, the control was handed over to the Club President, Ken Chan, ACG, ALB to do the closing. He encouraged the members to attend or play a role in the Division G International Speech and Table Topics Contests. 

He also highlighted that there could be a venue change for the coming meeting due to the national election. Members would be noted by circulated by email. Guests were also encouraged to call us for the meeting location.

The meeting adjourned at 9:40p.m. and the club fellowship began.






Meeting #271 - 26 Mar 2013





Our club meeting #271 was carried out on 26/03/2012. This meeting was excited when our ex-member, Gean Lau, CC (now with OCBC Toastmasters Club) had been invited to be our General Evaluator. We started the meeting at 7:05p.m. with short and simple house rules and the recital of “A Toastmaster’s Promise”.

Then, our club President Ken Chan, ACG, ALB took over the control and introduced the theme and the word of the day to all. The theme is: “I am sorry, Please forgive me, I love you” and the word of the day is Prevail [\pri-ˈvāl\] (verb). The meaning of the word is to be of greater strength or influence; triumph or to be or to become effective, win out. The members and guests introduced themselves to the floor and used both the theme and the word of the day. 
After this, the meeting of the night was led by the Toastmasters of the evening, Serena Kong, CC. she thanked our lovely VPE to suggest a very meaningful theme with 3 powerful magical phrases that can restore our emotion back to zero state in a simple yet surprising way. Serena Kong, CC urged all to say it out, say it loud and say it promptly when it’s needed.
She had also briefed on the history of Toastmasters International. The founder of the organization is Dr. Ralph C. Smedley with the mission “ to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth. “

The club meeting was divided into 3 main sessions, i.e. the table topics, prepared project speeches and speech evaluations. Each of the session helped to sharpen our speaking and communication skills. The session began with table topics session, led by Francis Ng, DTM. We had 5 participants took part and they were:


A)   Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL
B)   Mathew, CC,
C)   Ng Ser Kweng (Guest)
D)   Serena Kong, CC 
E)   Chong Chee Seng (Guest)  
  



We moved on to the next session, the presentation of prepared speeches. Our first speaker of the night was Angel Law, TM and she had started her first project speech, i.e. Ice Breaker with the title of “Charlie’s Angel”. She studies in UTAR, the only princess in the family and had served in the national service after SPM. She is a Charlie’s Angel not because of she knows how to handle M16, but is because she has a strong fighting spirit and being optimistic when she met challenges. We had an enjoyable moment when hearing her speech, speaker born in 90’s, generation Y with her sense of humor and well-written speech and we hoped to hear more speeches from her. Well done, Angel, TM.

Our 2nd speaker, CP Lau, CC presented his advanced speeches from the Technical Presentation manual, project #2- The proposal. His speech title was “ICMS” He proposed ICMS software (Intelligent Customer Management System) to us as we role played as the management staff. He started to diagnose how the inefficiency of customer’s data keeping in the system affected all departments. He utilized his persuasive skill to call for a change, and he presented his points substantially with clear and practical solutions. In his presentation, he was able to draw our attention and we raised him of a few questions.
Our 3rd speaker was none other than Ken Chan, ACG, ALB, our seasoned speaker. He presented his speech from the Management Manual, project speech #2- Appraise with Praise. His speech title was “The Sandwich”. He started his project speech by setting the scenario that he was doing a quarterly appraisal to outlet operation manager (Role player: Mathew Philippose, CC) on these areas: Sales, customer service levels and staff morale. He identified the shortcoming of the staff and able to encouraged the Mathew

After the prepared speeches, we had a short break of 10 minutes before we continued with our last session- Evaluation. The evaluation session was taken control by General Evaluator, Gean Lau, CC with her team of role players.  



She invited the Table Topics Evaluator, EK Yeo, CC, CL to give his evaluation. EK Yeo, CC, CL touched on the areas like the body language, posture, eyes contact of each speaker, one-by-one.  
  



After this, we began to have our prepared speech evaluation. Our first speaker’s speech was evaluated by Francis Ng, DTM. He commented that Angel Law, TM had a proper and organized ice-breaker speech. Her speech was not only allowed us to know her well but also contained positive message for us to bring home. He encouraged her to rehearse her speech more so that she could speak confidently.

Ben Hoe, CTM, CL highlighted that CP Lau, CC, knew the topic well and detailed. He suggested CP Lau to use the inverted pyramid format to highlight the solution much earlier instead of diagnosing the problems. CP was also advised to improve his Q&A session with the audience.  


Our 3rd speech project was evaluated by Francis Ng, DTM. Project Speech Speaker, Ken Chan, ACG, ALB did a very good setting for his speech. He highlighted the operation issues to the outlet manager and listened carefully the “WHY”. He carried the whole session with positive words that encouraged the outlet manager keen to look for improvement.

Next, we had the reports from Grammarian, Ah-Counter and Time Keeper. After the speech evaluation session, we moved to awards presentation. Our club President, Ken Chan, ACG, ALB gave away the certificates to the best speech performance for table topics, prepared speech and speech evaluation. The result was:
A)   Best Table Topics: Mathew Philippose, CC
B)   Best Prepared Speech: CP Lau, CC
C)   Best Evaluation: Francis Ng, DTM
Also, our club President, Ken Chan, ACG, ALB gave away the certificate to General Evaluator, Gean Lau, CC for her hard work of the day. After the awards presentation, it was our club practice to invite the guests to share their thought on our meeting with the purpose to help us to grow better. Guest Ser Kuang was amazed with time management, Chee Seng and Jennifer Mah found that our club would be their platforms to improve their communication skills.

The meeting finally adjourned at 9:30p.m.

Meeting #270 - 12 Mar 2013



12 March 2013 is a day to remember. Why is it so?

Our club members had made us proud, just 3 days ago before our meeting. It was Area G1 International Speech and Table Topics Contests on 9 March 2013. Our member, Mathew Philippose, CC was the double champions! He crowned the International Speech and Table Topics contests! Congratulations to Mathew!

Obviously, this is the day to remember. Our theme as well as the word of the day was thought and aligned with this great victory!

The Theme of the day for our meeting was: "The Day to Remember" and
the Word of the day was: "Victorious".

Our Assistant Sergeant At-Arms, Angel Law, TM called the meeting to order by introducing our house rules and leading the recital of "A Toastmaster's Promise".

Our president Ken Chan, ACG, ALB took over the control subsequently. He introduced the theme of the meeting as well as the word of the day. All members, respective role players and guests had also introduce themselves.

The Toastmaster of the evening, CP Lau, CC briefed on the theme of the day. He then subsequently briefed on the history of Toastmasters International and Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club. The benefits of being Toastmasters was also shared, hopefully the guests realized it and join our club to kick start the Toastmasters journey.

Our meeting moved on to the Table Topics session, which led by Mathew Philippose, CC. he has prepared a few topics for our members and guests to participate. Our members and guests had demonstrated a very good example by participating and improvise their speeches when topics were given to them.

The meeting progressed according to the agenda. It was the project speech presentations. The first speaker was Kyle Kuah, TM delivered his 9th speech of Competent Communication manual, Persuade with Power. His speech title was "Gambling".  In his speech, he persuaded the audience to quit gambling by showing a number of example of how harmful gambling can be to the families and careers. For an 18 year old student, Kyle had demonstrated his power of persuasive!

Our second speaker of the day was our sweet heart of the club, the always smiling Serena Kong, CC. She did not just smile this round, she tried to make us laugh with her humorous speech, from the Advanced Communication Manuals, The Humorously Speaking series, project #1, Warm Up Your Audience. Her speech title was "Are you in the Game?".

The 3rd speaker of the day was our president, Ken Chan, ACG, ALB. He delivered a speech from the Advanced Communication Manual, Speeches by Management Series, speech #1, The Briefing. His speech title was "SEX". Please do not be misled by the title of the speech. SEX means Service Excellence.

We had a short break before we continued with the last session of the meeting, evaluations. To lead the evaluation session was our General Evaluator, Moses Wong, CC, CL. 

EK Yeo, CC, CL was the Table Topics evaluator, Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL evaluated Kyle's speech, Francis Ng, DTM evaluated Serena's speech and Mathew Philippose evaluated Ken's speech. Moses Wong, as the General Evaluator had provided his valuable and constructive comments on each and every session of the meeting, as well as for each and every speaker. Thank you, Moses!
As usual, we had our award presentation session for the best performers of the day before we adjourn the meeting. The winners of the day are as follow:-

1.    Best Table Topics Speech:  Tan Ben Hoe, CTM, CL
2.    Best Project Speech: Ken Chan, ACG, ALB
3.    Best Speech Evaluation: Mathew Philippose, CC

Appreciation to our role players of the meeting:-
·         ASAA -  Angel Law, TM
·         TME - CP Lau, CC
·         Grammarian - Hj. Hashim Adb\nan
·         Ah Counter - Ken Chan, ACG, ALB
·         Time Keeper - Sunny Low, TM

Meeting adjourned at 9:30pm.

International Speech & Table Topics Contests at Money Mastery-Kl Toastmasters Club - 22 Jan 2013



It is the contests season again!

22 Jan 2013 was a very important date marked in the calendar of Money Mastery-KL (MMKL) Toastmasters Club as we had organized our club International Speech and Table Topics Contests!

CP Lau was the organizing chair cum contests chair for both International Speech and Table Topics Contests. His organizing committee members are as follow:-

Chief Judge    -           Eric Low, ACB, ALB and his panel of judges
Ballot Counter -           Alan Wong, TM
                        -           Nehru Nagalingam, TM
                        -           Al Imran Kamarudzaman, TM
Time Keeper   -           Francis Ng, DTM
                        -           Keven Cheang, TM
SAA                 -           Venoshini Sevalimgam, TM
                        -           Angel Law, TM
                        -           Sunny Low, TM

Refreshment was served at 6:00pm to welcome our audience and contestants. The briefing by Chief Judge to the judges and role players started at 6:30pm. The organizing chair had also started the briefing to the contestants (for both contests) at the same time.

At around 7:00pm, our Sergeant At Arms (SAA), Angel Law has called the meeting to order. She had subsequently invited the organizing chair, CP Lau for the opening address. CP Lau had announced to start the International Speech contest first. He had explained the purpose of the contest and well as the rules of the contest.

We had a very good participation rate, which we had 6 contestants took part in the International Speech Contest. They are:-
1.    Kelvin Chong              -           Finding The Perfect Match
2.    Ron Yeap                    -           Lesson From The Mayan Prophecy
3.    Mathew Philippose      -           Nick of time
4.    Serena Kong               -           Fear Must Be Conquered
5.    Kyle Kuah                   -           Tardiness
6.    A. Mahadevan             -           Dispute Resolution By Mediation

Each and every contestant had taken their turn and presented their speech. There was a one-minute of silence in between contestants in order for the judges to mark their ballots. At the end of the contest, the ballot counters had collected the ballots from all judges. While the Chief Judge and te ballot counters were in another room to tabulate the ballots, there was a 15 minutes break before the Table Topics contest.

The excitement of contest continued after the break. It was the Table Topics contest.

We had a overwhelmed of 9 contestants took part in the Table Topics Contest. They are:-
1.    Serena Kong
2.    Ron Yeap
3.    Mathew Philippose
4.    Alwin Chuah
5.    Cindy Foong
6.    A. Mahadevan
7.    Kelvin Chong
8.    Tan Ben Hoe
9.    Kyle Kuah
Except for Serena Kong being the first contestant, all other contestants were led to a room where they were guarded by one of our SAA so that they did ot know about the topic. Their mobile gadgets were also collected and kept by the SAA during the contest.

The table topic for the contest was: "How has Toastmasters changed you?"

All contestants had provided their opinions as well as "feedback" on their journey of Toastmasters and how much they had transformed from a nervous, not able to speak person to a person that took part in the contest. They had expressed their gratitude to Toastmasters for their transformation in one way or another.

There was also a one-minute of silence in between the contestants in order for the judges to mark their ballots.

Time flew and we were done with the last contestant, Kyle Kuah. The Chief Judge led the ballot counters to tabulate the ballots.

The moment, the moment of shower of love, the moment to toast for our champion had arrived! The winners of the International Speech and Table Topics Contests are as follow:-

International Speech Contest
1st Place Winner         -           Mathew Philippose
2nd Place Winner       -           Ron Yeap
3rd Place Winner        -           Serena Kong

Table Topics Contest
1st Place Winner         -           Mathew Philippose
2nd Place Winner       -           Tan Ben Hoe
3rd Place Winner        -           Ron Yeap

Congratulations to our winners!

The first 2 places of winners will represent our club for the Area G1 contests which will be held on 9 March, at our meeting venue. So, awesome members, please come and support our winners!

Once again, congratulations to our winners, congratulations to all participants. You are already winners by participating. We are so proud of you!

Thank you to all role players! Your help and contributions had made the contests very successful!