Meeting #387 Change, the Only Constant

The 2nd meeting for the term on 8th Aug 2017 i.e. today, was something different from the ordinary, just as its theme suggested. Change, the only constant, something mankind tends to struggle with, at times yet has brought them this far. Today’s meeting was an extraordinary session because all the project speeches were replaced with a detailed briefing session by Pathways Ambassador and Guide, Mr. Ramdas Nayer, DTM on the new Pathways education programme in Toastmasters. 

We had an array of guests who arrived early and enjoyed the classic Nasi lemak we serve here at MMKL. We’re known for our good food and hospitality. When the clock struck 7:15, our punctual SAA for the evening, Yap Ooi Yee, called the meeting to order introducing the house rules, leading the Toastmasters’ promise and inviting the President on stage to give her opening address. 

Wendy Sim, CC opened the session by addressing the theme as a quote by Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher. She then invited the Grammarian, Joel Silas to introduce the word of the day which was “Inchoate”. He described with a beautiful example that just as how a butterfly is inchoate when it is in its cocoon. Inchoate simply means to be not fully formed or developed. Everyone who attended was given a chance to introduce themselves and share their thoughts about the theme of the day. They were also encouraged to use the word of the day as they speak. A variety of experiences, thoughts and ideas were contributed that night. 

Upon that, the Toastmaster of the Evening took the stage to conduct the meeting proper. CP Lau, ACB, ALB, a skilled and experienced Toastmaster took up this role so willingly after a long time and delivered like a professional Master of Ceremonies. He, first highlighted the great history behind Toastmasters to all, especially for the knowledge of the guests and then called upon each role player to describe their role for the night. 

Joel Silas, oh so willingly offered himself when called upon on the eleventh hour to be our Grammarian. Mary de Silva, our newest member rose to the challenge to take up her first role as the Ah-Counter. Mandy Chan, immediately agreed to be the Timer and Lai Yoong Hean, ACB, ALB also the Area Director for C1 was willing to be an immediate back up and became the General Evaluator for the night as one of the pre-planned GE could not make it. It is this sort of support that we look for and also get in Toastmasters. 

It was 7.50pm and although we cancelled all project speeches for the night, we did not want our members to feel like they attended an unsatisfactory meeting. Therefore, we included a brief Table Topics™ Session under the care of our first time Table Topics™ Master, Shain Anand who came prepared with a variety of topics revolving around the theme. He threw the participants, both members and guests a good challenge with his intricate and mind blowing questions. 

The following were the participants who stepped forward for the 2 minutes challenge:

1. Jason
2. Yap
3. Jia Ming
4. KL Loh
5. Srikanth

All of them had great responses and it was a tough time choosing the best speaker indeed. 

The time arrived for the main and important session that was particularly designed on the agenda that night. It was the detailed Pathways briefing that was conducted by the Pathways Ambassador Mr. Ramdas Nayer, DTM as mentioned above. He did a full pledged presentation for about an hour and above explaining about the new education programme. He enlightened the members and guests on the options and track that we had to choose from and follow. He shared with us about the time frame and how the old education would soon be obsolete and gave us a big picture of the new system which encouraged us to embrace the change that came along with it. Although the process is still inchoate, nevertheless with the right support and positive mindset everyone believes that it can be done. He entertained the very many questions from the floor throughout the session and although it went slightly over time it was indeed a fruitful session. He then moved on to officially pass the Pathways kit to the VPE of the club who is key person in charge of the transition of this new education system for the club. 

After the much positively overwhelming session everyone settled for a short 5 minute break before we moved on to the next session. It was time for the breakfast session in Toastmasters known as the evaluation session. Just as how breakfast is the most nutritional meal of our day, evaluations provide the most constructive feedback for Toastmasters members to improve themselves. 

The session was led by our General Evaluator, Lai Yoong Hean, ACB, ALB, who called upon Manish Jha, CC to begin with the evaluation for the Table Topics™. He gave his quality and detailed evaluation for all the participants to take and work on whilst staying motivated. Then, each role player gave their feedback that was tracked on paper under their best observation. Lastly, the General Evaluator gave his views and opinions about what he felt about the conduct of the meeting at our club for that night. He was pretty much impressed with many initiatives done by the club to have a smooth and pleasurable meeting. 

Lai Yoong Hean, ACB, ALB, then changed his hat from being the General Evaluator back into being the Area Director for C1 and gave his Area Director’s address for having visited our club for the term. It was indeed an honour having him join us for our meeting. The meeting drew closer to its end with the awards presentation and the champion for the Table Topics™ was none other than our veteran member K L Loh, ATMG. He’s truly an example to those who wish to speak off hand like a pro. An appreciation was awarded to both our Area Director and the Pathways Ambassador for having made time to visit our club and enlighten us on the Pathways programme respectively. 

Finally, Wendy Sim, CC, the President made the key announcements and ended the meeting with her simple and sweet closing address. Bright smiles were shown for the camera as we took a group photo and the meeting adjourned officially. 

We then proceeded to cut the cake for our August babies in the club and ended the night with slices of that delicious carrot cake and looked forward to the next meeting where we will proceed with our routine agenda of having project speeches. 

Everyone is looking forward to this new Pathways programme and together are willing to move forward for the change which is the only constant. 

Blog writer: Chitirra

Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest 2017/18

We began our term 2017/18 with “Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests” (HSEC) on the very first day of the term. Our organizing chair of the contest a.k.a Contest Chair, Mandy Chan, did all the preparation beforehand. She was organizing the contests for first time in her Toastmasters journey which began one year ago. Once again MM-KL was ready to bring smiles and laughter to all over the faces.

As the evening was setting down, we were excited to have fun with humorous speeches from veteran speakers. The hall was completely jam packed with the members, guests and friends. The moment was arriving closer and we could see contestants’ face turned green, yellow and red.

We started our contests 10 minutes late at 7:25pm instead of 7:15pm. Assistant Sergeant at Arms EK Yeo, CC CL called the contest Humorous Speech to order. He called the Contest Chair Mandy Chan to give her opening address and open the floor for the contestants. She thanked her team for helping her to organize the contest, acknowledged the VIPs, wished good luck to the contestants and passed the floor to the Humorous Speech Contest Toastmaster Shain Anand.

Shain was also doing his role as contest TM for the first time in his TM short journey of 6 months and he was brilliant in his role. He briefed his team of speakers before the contest on procedures and rules for the contest and checked their eligibility criteria for the contest. Later, in his presentation he mentioned clearly the purpose of the contest, rules and ensured everything was in order to begin the show. Finally he called the first speaker of the Humorous speech contest ‘Kelvin Chong’.

Kelvin Chong with his speech Title- A little bit more. He urged us with his speech to have an attitude doing a bit more to succeed in anything we do in our life. Contest TM called speaker number two Advance Communicator Bronze, Ron Yeap with the speech title Presents for your loved ones. He entertained and brought a lot of laughter to us with his humors. He shared his personal story that how he surprised his wife with surprises. He also shared some spicy conversation between him and his friends and discussing about thought provoking humorous conversation between their wives.

Now it was time to listen another wonderful speaker “Victor Wan” with his speech title One belt one road. He is born to make people laugh with his authentic sense of humor. He shared his life’s recent ups and down very honestly and generously . He also shared how he lost his business of footwear and how he is enjoying his current job as an Uber driver. He also mentioned how he deals the talkative riders and cancels some rides at times, for which in return he gets money from Uber.

Another young talent was lined up with her speech title A roach for a Coach. Her name is Chitirra.  She was participating in her first humorous speech contest. She not only inspired us to learn lesson from cockroaches but also received the 2^nd place in this speech contest. Well done dear Chitirra. Congratulations.

Wow, another veteran speaker Mathew Philippose CC ALB came up with a Saaree with speech title Understanding. We got no clue that what he was going to do with the Saaree. He actually demonstrated a spicy and naughty conversation between him and his wife in the speech. He shared an insight that no matter how much we get irritated at times but there is an understanding that makes our life more beautiful. Later he received the 3^rd place in this contest. Congratulations, Mathew.

The time finally arrived to hear our last, but the best speech of the night from Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) Ken Chan with his speech title Misunderstood. His speech was not only recognized as the best of the evening but also brought a lot of excitement, humor and uplifting words. He mentioned how he was misunderstood by many people but he never gave up in life.

After all the scintillating speeches we got to feed ourselves. Break for 10 minutes. I observed people were  busy in fellowship. Some people were socializing with enthusiasm like they were meeting for the first time.

Time flew so fast that our Sergeant at Arms rang the bell to inform us to get back to our seats. He announced the evaluation contest to order and he called TM Joel who was playing the role for the first time . He was cool in his duty. He explained the procedures, purpose and immediately called the Test Speaker on stage, the jolly and lovely Toastmaster Juliana Teh with speech title The Star of Ipoh. She was from MIEA Toastmasters Club but her origin is from Ipoh which we came to know from her speech. She was confident, stylish and bold to share her life’s story. She shared how she became a Senior Property Dealer from zero. There was a time when she was struggling for finance and in last 20 years she became the star she is now. She was awarded the Million Dollar Roof Top (MDRT) award in 2016. This was possible due to her love and passion in her work. Thank you Juliana, for inspiring us.

Contest TM begin with evaluation contest on the floor. All the evaluators were sent to the holding room except the first evaluator as per drawing lot. It was time to learn how to improve as a speaker from the proficient Evaluators. These evaluations were not just for Juliana, but also for us.  This was the list of contestants for the Evaluation contest- Kelvin Chong ACB, Mathew Philippose CC ALB, Victor Wan, Ken Chan DTM, Dr. Thilla DTM and Hj. Hashim Adnam DTM.

After the Evaluation, all were presented with the certificate of participation. Chief Judge Competent Communicator and Competent Leader Jerry Wong who was from PJ Toastmasters Club, submitted the results to the Contest TM, Joel. Finally, the list of winners who won everyone’s hearts in this contest are as follows.

3^rd place - Mathew Phillippose, CC ALB

2^nd place - Dr. Thilla, DTM

The Champion - DTM, Hj. Hashim Adnan.

Time came to call Contest TM for Humorous Speech Shain Anand to appreciate the Humorous Speech contestants. He first gave the certificates to the participants for the courage they had shown and moved on. He, then called upon Madam President Competent Communicator Wendy Sim on to the stage to present the awards to the winners.

3^rd place -  is Mathew Philippose CC ALB

2^nd place – Chitirra

The whole hall was silent for the moment to know who the Winner was

The Winner - DTM Ken Chan

Contest Chair Mandy Chan was called on to the stage to present the token of appreciation to the role players. She appreciated all the efforts done by ASAA, Timer, CT, Blog writer, photographer and the Chief Judge.

Finally, our Area C1 director, ACB ALB Lai Yoong Hean was called to do the closing remarks. He congratulated all the winners and encouraged all to see us in the area contest.             

Last but not the least, it was time to summarize the entire contest by our club President, Competent Communicator Wendy Sim. She was excited, happy and thankful for everyone who contributed to the success of the contest and adjourned the contests with a very nice group picture. Hope to see you all on 1^st meeting of the August, 8^th of August.

Blog writer : Manish Jha CC

15th Club Anniversary and Installation Ceremony 2017/18 on 22nd July 2017

With the name Jam Factory Restaurant in Puchong set as a destination in my Waze, I started my journey to attend the club’s 15^th anniversary cum club officer installation ceremony.  When I entered the restaurant, I was escorted to the meeting hall by a gracious staff to the room in which ceremony was supposed to take place. There I saw the Immediate Past President Ron Yeap ACB, Past President Serena Kong ACB and Immediate Past VPPR Manish Jha CC setting up the room’s ambience by decorating the room and giving it a charismatic touch.

After signing up in the attendance register, I was presented with a photo album comprising of moments which took me to the past years of Money Mastery KL. The photo album depicted a legacy and a timeline of how this club became such a successful club in the Klang Valley.

Slowly other members and other distinguished guests started arriving.  By 7:30 PM I occupied a chair with other guests.  EK Yeo CC CL, who was the SAA of the evening, called the ceremony to order and handed the control to our charming Toastmaster of the Evening Kevin Khoo CC, who kick started the evening by handing over the stage to the Invocation speaker Ken Chan DTM. When I heard his name first, the first this came to my mind was Acronym. And I was spot on.  He inspired us about the 4Ls – Learn, Lead, Lend & Love. Oh boy! A perfect invocation speech for an inspiring night.

The ambience was set for the evening. I could hear a light background music being played in the restaurant downstairs which had a soothing effect on the atmosphere. Next, Ron Yeap ACB was in front of the audience for the welcome address, a speech which reflected the Immediate Past President’s hospitality for the guests, gratitude to the previous EXCO’s and the greetings to the new EXCO’s. After that, the Area Director Lai Yoong Hean, ACB, ALB was given the stage for his opening address.

Then we moved on to the appreciation session. First, the club expressed its gratitude to the sponsor of the event Circle International Holdings Limited. Then the club officers of the term 2016/17 were appreciated. Finally, the achievers of the previous term were appreciated.

Competent Communicator: Ron Yeap, Wendy Sim, Chang Seng San, Mathew Philippose & Ken Chan

Advanced Leader Bronze: Mathew Philippose

Advanced Communicator Bronze: Ron Yeap, Kelvin Chong

Advanced Leader Silver: Dr. Thilla

Distinguished Toastmaster: Dr. Thilla

Finally, the most awaited moments of the night has arrived, the installation ceremony. Distinguished Toastmaster Lakhmichand was the Installing Officer. He started the ceremony with discharging the previous term officers. Then he called the new officers to the stage and one-by-one they were asked to come to the front to take the oath for their respective positions by holding the gavel in the left hand and putting the right hand up with the palm facing the audience. It was an exhilarating experience for everyone sitting there. After the officer’s oath, the members of the club were asked to take the oath to support the new officers for the new term. Then, the Toastmaster Officer’s pins were given to the new officers.

The session ended with the new President Wendy Sim’s Presidential address in which she highlighted her visions for the club and how she and her team are going to achieve that.

Up next, buffet time. I was literally famished after that session. I turned around and saw an array of delicious looking dishes being put on the table. To be honest, the food was more delicious than it looked.

After the dinner, it was time for the game session “Fun & Joy” hosted by Manish Jha CC. The game was really exciting. We played two games:

Game 1: Taboo- A word guessing game in which a representative of the team has to tell something except that particular word and his/her team will guess the exact word which he was trying to convey.

Game 2: Calling friend- It was designed to make our brain attentive and sharp. In this game we call a friend’s name by looking at them and pointing finger to a different person. The participant was eliminated if they did not call out a name within 2 seconds or pointed and looked at the same person thereby calling their name. Both the games were interesting and educational in their own terms. I was happy was that I was one among the three persons standing until the end of the game.

Next was the entertaining speech session by our entertaining speaker Geoff Andrew DTM, who entertained us by taking us back to the days when Money Mastery KL TM club was being formed. For a newbie like it was exciting to hear the story of my club in such an entertaining manner. Following that, the ex-District Director Thiagarajah Nesan was given the air time in which he appreciated the contributions of the club.

The next session was to appreciate the role players for the event, followed by the Award to Best performers of 2016/17. Chitirra Amirthalingam was awarded the Outstanding Enthusiasm Award for her enthusiastic approach towards the club. Manish Jha CC was presented with the Outstanding Service & Leadership Award for his commitment and service for the club. And finally Ken Chan DTM was awarded the Toastmaster of the Year award.

At the end of this session, I saw a charming lady from the restaurant bringing a delicious looking cake to the stage. Yes, it was the cake which was about to be cut to mark the 15^th anniversary of Money mastery KL Toastmasters club. Everybody posed for a group photo and the finally the cake was cut for my relief.

That was it. That fantastic night had came to an end. The event filled my heart and the dishes filled my stomach, and the last bite of the cake did the finishing touch. Everybody left the venue putting their beliefs in the new club officers, so did the new Excos. I arrived at Jam Factory with empty hands and going back with the responsibility of VPPR on the one hand and penning down this blog on the other and hope in our new team of Excos to take this club to the next .

Like Andy Dufresne said to Red:

"Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

My appreciation to everyone for making this event a grand success. Full photos for the event can be viewed here and here. We will soon see some more thoughts and descriptive writings in the meetings to come for the new term. 

Looking forward for members' writings.

From,

Shain Anand

Role Players

Organizing Chair: Ron Yeap, ACB

Installation Officer: Lakhmichand, DTM

TME: Kevin Khoo, CC

Invocation Speaker: Ken Chan, DTM

“The Entertaining Speaker”: Geoff Andrew, DTM

Game Master: Manish Jha, CC

Sergeant-at-arms:

1) EK Yep, CC, CL

2) Lee Li Eng

3) Joel Silas

Timer: Serena Kong, ACB

Photographer: Chitirra

Blog Writer: Shain Anand

Credits: Reviewer Mather Philippose CC ALB

Special mention to Serena Kong & Ron Yeap for selecting this beautiful venue for the event.

#385 Pathway

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Laozi

Keeping in mind Laozi’s inspiring words, we, Money Mastery KL, started the new term’s first meeting with a bang. As Toastmasters International is on the verge of implementing Pathways, we decided to use Pathway as the Theme of the Day for our 385th meeting. As the new club officers had taken charge for the first time, the electrifying atmosphere was palpable.

The ASAA of the meeting was Mandy Chan. But, due to some work related reasons, she was unable to make it on time. Hence, Manish Kumar Jha, CC took charge of the meeting as acting ASAA and called the meeting to order at 7:15 PM.

As usual, the ASAA narrated the house rules and helped to recite the Toastmaster’s Promise. Thereafter, he invited the new President Wendy Sim CC to the dais to give her first President’s address of the term. Oh boy, everyone present there welcomed her with a thunderous applause!

Initially, she looked a little tensed but she gathered her composure and led like a pro. Then, she Invited the Grammarian, Chitirra, to introduce the Word of the Day, Palpable, which means visible or noticeable. After that, everyone present there were asked to introduce themselves using the word of the day. 

Subsequently, the President handed the meeting over to the Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Mathew Philippose CC, ALB. Like always, he imparted his energy into the meeting and everyone present there. He started with giving a brief introduction about the History of Toastmasters International. After that, he went on to introduce the role players for the meeting

1.  Grammarian: Chitirra
2. "Ah Counter”: Shain Anand
3. Timer: Joel Silas
4. General Evaluator: Lee Meng Tze, DTM

Up next, it was the time where the Invocation Speaker Ron Yeap, ACB, our Immediate Past President, inspired the members for the meeting. 

The clock striked 7:55 PM and it was time for the impromptu session, but in a Toastmaster’s dictionary, it is termed as Table TopicsTM Session. With our Table TopicsTM Master Serena Kong ACB on stage, following guests took up the challenge to speak on the prepared topics about the theme of the day ‘Pathway’.

After that exciting session, the TME took us to the Assigned Speech session. 

Speaker 1: Ken Chan DTM. He was doing his first project from the CC manual. This was the 8th time he was doing his CC manual and we could see that perfection in his speech. He shared stories from his childhood in an inspiring way. He was given a standing ovation for the ice breaker speech as per the club culture.

Speaker 2:  Yap Ooi Yee. She was doing her 7th project from the CC manual. Her speech was all about how Google’s creations have changed the world and made our lives easier. Her research on Google gave everyone a better insight on Google. 

Speaker 3:  Foo Fung Jiun. He has reached the 9th project from the CC Manual. His speech was about handling emotions at work. The points he made during the speech would have definitely persuaded everyone present there to implement the tricks he suggested.

Speaker 4: CP Lau ACB, ALB. He was doing his 2nd speech from the Advanced Communication Manual. His speech was about his travelling buddy who helped him to plan his trip in an effective way. The travelling buddy was none other than Google Maps. He shared about the different options that Google Maps provides.

After the assigned speech session, a short break was taken for everyone to have some refreshments. After ten minutes, ASAA of the meeting, Mandy Chan called the meeting to order and handed over the control to General Evaluator Lee, Meng Tze, DTM. She invited a string of evaluators and role players for the evaluation session.

Ron Yeap, ACB was the first to present his evaluation on the Table TopicsTM speeches. Like his invocation speech, his evaluation was also inspiring to the speakers as he pointed out their strong points and the areas of improvement.

Next, the assigned speech evaluators Manish Jha CC, EK Yeo CC, CL, Hj. Hashim DTM and Tan Ben Hoe CTM, CL were invited to present their evaluation on the assigned speeches. Their constructive evaluations not only motivated the speakers, but also helped other members present there.

Then, the role players of the meeting, i.e. Grammarian, Ah Counter and Timer, presented their respective reports. The General Evaluator then summarized the meeting as a whole and gave her feedback about the meeting. With that, she handed over the control to the TME for the remaining sessions. 

TME invited the President Wendy Sim to give away the awards for the best performers. 

Best Table Topics Speaker: Mary

Best Speaker: Ken Chan, DTM

Best Evaluator: Hj. Hashim, DTM

A token of appreciation for our General Evaluator, Lee Meng Tze, DTM

Finally, the President gave her closing address and the meeting was adjourned.

A group photo to capture the 385th Meeting on frames.

By the way, it was Foo Fung Jiun's Birthday as well.

Important Dates:

New Club Officer’s installation and 15th Club Anniversary: July 22nd 2017

Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests: July 25th 2017

Special Mentions: Chitirra (Reviewer)

Meeting #384 All's Well that Ends Well

Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters has completed 384 meetings since inception. This day 29^th June 2017 is very special to the club because it is the end of term.  As usual members starts streaming into the meeting as early as 6.30pm.  The Assistant Sergeant At Arms(SAA) Chong Ji Sheng struck gavel at 7.15pm and the meeting was called to order.

As usual the SAA spelled out the house rules and led the group to recite the Toastmasters Promise. He then invited the President Ron Yeap for the opening address to the sound of applause.

This was a very emotional and historical meeting not only for our President Ron Yeap but also for our club as give farewell to our 15^th President since inception. The President welcomed our General Evaluator Advance Communicator Silver, Advance Leader Bronze(ACS, ALB) Alan Wong. The President drew the attention of the club of its achievements of the club for the term. He thanked all who contributed to help the term session to end well.  The President announced that the theme of the day was  “All's Well that Ends Well”.  Surely he says the club did well and it will end well.   He said this meeting is going to be the climax of term.  He then invited the Grammarian Shain Anand to introduce the word of the day. As the Grammarian introduced Moxie as the Word of the Day with its meaning energy, courage and determination. The word charged and ignited the club to use the word, Moxie. The President than extended the invitation to all those seated at the meeting to introduce themselves using the theme and the Word of the Day.

Which such a charged atmosphere the President handed the meeting over to the ToastMaster of the Evening (TME) Mathew Philippose who welcomed the club members. Normally in our meetings the TME introduce the history of Toastmasters, however as there was no non-toastmaster guests, he went on straight to introduce the role-players for the meeting. These role-players give an essence to the meeting, the Grammarian, Toastmaster Shain Anand, the Ah Counter, Toastmaster Yap Ooi Yee, The Timer, Competent Communicator Wendy Sim and the General Evaluator Alan Wong ACS, ALB.

The TME took the liberty also to facilitate the role of Humour Master. Distinguished Toastmaster Haji Hashim Adnan volunteered to share some humorous stories that brought the club to laughter.  The TME added a few humorous moments he encountered in the club.

With an uplifting atmosphere, the TME invited the table topics master FooFung Jiun.  The Table topics Master invited members for this impromptu session. There was an overwhelming response with the following members Mathew, Chong Ji Sheng, Ron Yeap and Yap Ooi Yee. Each captured the audience with their unique impromptu speeches. The table topics were related to love experiences blended with the theme of the day.

As the TME took over we saw a string of young buddy speakers take the stage. The first speaker was Mandy Chan, she may be shy, but she captured the audience with description of various types of beauty. Her speech was titled, "Lover of beauty”.

It is her third attempt from the Competent Communication Manual.  Mandy surely had improved much from the first speech she delivered at our club. Her speech began to flow like water from her mouth equipped with quotations, humour and examples with vivid description.

The second Speaker Chittira Amirthalingam well used the stage through her body movements expressing her story she was speaking.  She displayed body movements as she attempted her fifth speech on the topic “Body Speaks”. As she appeared on the stage she echoed the screams and facial expression in her speech titled “Poach the Roach”.

She was talking about cockroaches and her experiences. It was an interesting speech. In fact she had the privilege to have her father who came just before  her speech was due. It is very rare to have a family member to witness our speech.

Our final speaker was toastmaster Joel Silas, who had a captivating title “What the world looks for” I should say he is a fluent speaker. This speech is his sixth speech on the topic, “Vocal Variety”.  Joel Silas has a cheerful countenance as he speaks.

During his speech he caught the attention of the audience by asking some simple questions that can make the audience respond easily. Joel with a glowing smile gave a challenging speech “what the world looks for” as he created awareness through his speech.

The meeting was adjourned for a break. There was an array of food to experience during the break. The meeting was soon convened with the ASAA Ji Sheng calling the meeting to order. Toastmaster Ji Sheng handed over the meeting to the Toastmaster of the Evening Mathew. The TME welcomed everyone back to second part of the meeting. It is time for evaluation and feedback, it is valuable time as we learn how to improve ourselves.  To help in this session we invited our General Evaluator Alan Wong to preside over this session. 

The Table Topics Master Advanced Communicator Bronze Serena Kong was the first to be called to present her evaluation, she gave a very uplifting evaluation for each speaker pointing their strength and areas of improvements.  This evaluation helps us to know how to speak in any situation when we are called upon to say something for a few minutes in any event.

Soon we moved on to our next session in evaluation for prepared speeches. The evaluators Competent Communicator Manish Ja , Distinguished Toastmaster Haji Hashim Adnan and Distinguished Toastmaster Dr Thilla Chelliah came up to give their respective evaluations as they were called upon to the stage.  The general evaluator gave encouraging remarks to add value to the evaluations.

The next phase of the evaluations was to hear how well the club did  in our usage of language and grammar, was there any speech crutches and did we keep up to the time in each section.  In Toastmasters it is not sufficient to do well in activities in our club but we learn how to be a master of time also.  Our role players Grammarian Shain Anand, Ah Counter  Ooi Yee and Timer Wendy Sim all spelled out how well we did.

Finally the General evaluator summed up the meeting giving us valuable thoughts to lead the club to a greater height for the future. Has he handed over the meeting to the TME Mathew the club applauded for invaluable advise by the General Evaluator.

The TME invited  President Ron Yeap to give away the Awards for the best performers. The club voted for each session and now is the time to witness who won the awards. The Best Table Topics performance fell on none other but the President himself. So the TME Mathew presented it to the President. It is such a befitting honour that the President was voted the Best Table topics Award on his last day in office. The Best Speech Evaluator award went to Distinguished Toastmaster Haji Hashim who had been a the best evaluator many times before. The Best Speech Award was given to the smiling face Chittira Amirthalingam.

The awards of the day were given away and the TME handed the meeting over to the President for the closing address.  After the President gave the announcements he gave an excellent outstanding speech. The speech was such a splendour, and all the members stood up to give the President a standing ovation.

In the history of the club each person stands for the president only once in his life time. Thus we have witnessed the 15^th President of the club who led the club to President Distinguished Status.

It is truly glamorous as we seeing him stepping down. Our next meeting on 11^th July will be presided by our President Elect Wendy Sim.  There will be an installation meeting of the new Office bearers 22^nd July 2017.  Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters club has shaped many people to be effective communicators, speakers and leaders. The club is proud to continue its legacy in the years to come as an outstanding club.

Sincerely,

Thanks to the Team,
Manish Jha, CC
Money Mastery –KL Toastmasters Club
Vice President Public Relations 2016/2017

P/S: 

Thank you so much to the whole team including writer -Mathew P. CC ALB, editor, reviewer and critics to provide your timely sincere support and feedback to keep up the good work.