Katong Toastmasters Club

SYNOPSIS FOR 9 DEC 2010 Once again, our annual joint meeting with Brilliant Advanced Toastmasters Club has come to fruition to mark our last meeting for the year 2010. Cynthia Koh opened the meeting with an ice-breaker activity that got everyone into a frenzy to find fellow toastmasters to sign on their friendship list with items such as 'has a pet', 'has been in Toastmasters for more than 3 years' and so on. VP Membership from Brilliant Advanced Nishant Kasibhatla gave the opening address and thanked Katong TMC for initiating the joint meeting. He looks forward to more of such collaborations in future. LE Joni Siah gave the word of the day 'ebullient' which means 'high-spirited or overflowing with enthusiasm and excitement', as in The audience was in an ebullient mood tonight. 1st speaker Yeo Choon Liang from Katong, presenting P2 Organise Your Speech, shared with us the benefits of swimming, using the abbreviation PSP, which stands for the physical, ...

Dear Katong members Breaking news... After four rounds of keen competition, Joni has emerged as the CHAMPION for the District 80 Evaluation Contest for 2010 . That is to say, she is the BEST Evaluator for the whole of District 80 which covers a total of more than 200 clubs in Singapore and Thailand. It is a beautiful dream come true for Joni. To win the championship for the district contest is indeed the dream of many toastmasters. Joni has not just brought the dream home to Katong and more importantly, she has demonstrated that with practice, perseverence, and passion, we too can achieve our dreams. Joni, once again, on behalf of Katong members, I congratulate you for winning the CHAMPIONSHIP and inspiring us in our toastmaster journey. Nik

“The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views a mistake” I remember when I was in my primary school, making mistakes was a very embarrassing thing, to me. My classmates would laugh at my mistakes, and worse, my teachers would like to pick on me more in order to ensure I learn. Back then, my belief was making mistake was bad and had to be avoided at all cost. The result was that I stopped trying new things and stopped growing my potentials. Too often, we choose to settle for status quo because our fear of making mistakes and that has prevented us from venturing outside our comfort zone. But we failed to realize that not making mistakes is also a mistake. A person who has never made a mistake has probably never tried anything new. Yes it is safer to stay within our comfort zone and not to make any mistakes. But that would also mean we have to live uninteresting and unrewarding lives. We need to know that we are here to grow our potent...

We meet every 3rd Thursday of the month, unless it falls on a public holiday. These are our meeting dates for Jan - Jun 2011: Chapter meeting 20 January 2011 Chapter meeting 17 February 2011 Speech Contest 17 March 2011 Chapter meeting 21 April 2011 Chapter meeting 19 May 2011 Chapter meeting 16 June 2011

Last week, I came across a news article of a South Korean grandmother who took 960 attempts before she passed her driving test. This evening, I would like to share with you the inspiring story of her “never give up” attitude in helping her achieve her goal. Her name is Grandma Cha Sa-soon, age 69. She had wanted to get a driver’s licence so she could drive her grandchildren to the zoo. But the problem was that she was illiterate and she had to pass a written test. For three years beginning in April 2005, she took her driving test once a day, five days a week. Unfortunately, each time she took the test, she failed. After 3 years, her pace slowed to around twice a week, but she did not give up. Finally, after 5 years and 960 attempts, she passed both the written and the practical phases of the exam and got her license. When she finally got her licence, everyone in the driving school went out to cheer and hug her, and give her flowers. She even appeared in a TV advertisement for...

Did you watch the World Cup? Who was your favorite team? Your favorite player? What was your favorite moment? Do you still remember Octopus Paul, the animal oracle that correctly predicted the result of every Germany game at the World Cup? He signed off with a perfect eight out of eight record by picking Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final. One bookmaker in London claimed the octopus's forecasts cost them £500,000 as punters flocked to follow his advice. After seeing how accurate Paul’s prediction can be, I have decided that the next President will be chosen by Paul, the Octopus. I do not watch football regularly, but once every four year, I will look forward to the World Cup and follow it diligently because it is a “beautiful” game. To me, World Cup also stands for something else: “ W hole-hearted C ommitment”. To be there to compete at the World Cup, all the players and teams need to have the highest level of commitment for excellence in order to win. Which accomplished ar...

Tonight there was a turnout of 12 members, 2 visiting toastmasters (Cynthia Koh from Tampines West and Victor Ng from IFPAS) and a guest Choon Liang, who had visited last month. Our club Treasurer Elaine Tan kick-started the meeting by getting us to share what we would have done, had we not been at the meeting tonight. Most mothers would be at home with their kids, singles would be exercising or sleeping or even working OT. Everyone was glad to be away from those duties to be at the Toastmaster meeting. Club President Nik Chua shared an inspiring story about a Korean grandmother who finally passed her driving test after 960 attempts in 5 years!! She was motivated to learn how to drive to fetch her grandchildren to the zoo. Her never-give-up attitude is an inspiration for all of us to keep reaching for our goals. VP Membership Bruce Pei officially welcomed our two new members Leena and Shailaja during the New Members Induction. They were presented with a welcome gift of the book ...

The air was abuzz with excitement and the room was crowded with toastmasters busy networking. It was the night of our club's annual Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests. NUS Alumni has graciously agreed to organise the contests for us this year, following our collaboration which started two years ago. There were 3 contestants for the Humorous Speech Contest. First speaker Chew Teck Siong continued his life story which he began in his previous humorous speech in last year's contest with the speech "My Life Part II". He shared snippets of his life in the army and how his recruits feared him as he was the PTI - Physical Test Instructor. Second speaker Nik Chua, with his speech "Garden of Dreams", shared stories about the pursuit of his dreams and how when a dream dies, another is budding. He inspired us to pursue our dreams with zest and passion. Third speaker Joni Siah, in her speech "Are You Ready?", shared about the sacrifices and challeng...

Our June chapter meeting featured a special segment: Club Officers Installation. Division Z Governor Lum Sau Ying did the honours of discharging the present EXCO members and officially installing the incoming EXCO members. The incoming EXCO members present that evening included President Nik Chua, VPE Chew Teck Siong, Asst VPM Ben Xu, Asst VPPR Malcolm Chen and Asst SAA Jesslin Ong. They took turns to solemnly affirm their commitment and dedication to fulfil their duties in their respective roles. Club members, in return, pledged to support the EXCO members and work as a team to help the club grow and flourish. Club President Nik Chua presented his debut Opening Address. He shared an inspiring story about physically disabled contestants at a Special Olympics who turned around to help one boy who had stumbled and was crying. In the end, they all linked arms and walked back to the finishing line. In the same way, we at Katong Toastmasters will give each other mutual support and walk to t...

EXCO Installation Night – 17 Jun 2010 First of all, I would like to thank our Katong members for choosing me as President of the Club for the new term. It is indeed an honour. Thank you once again. I joined the club about four years ago, and I watched it grow from a toddler then to a mature adult now. I remembered in its infancy, we barely had more than 10 active members. However, a team of dedicated founding members trotted on, keeping the club alive for those few struggling years. We would have suffered a premature death had there not been the dedication of this group of individuals to see the club through. Since then, the club has progressed well under the leadership of the past few presidents with the support of new members, and we are now a club to be contended with when it comes to speech competitions. However, what I am most proud of are the camaraderie and the mutual encouragement we have shown each other. Talking about mutual support and spirit of giving, I would like to share...

Katong Toastmasters Club has achieved the Distinguished Club Award for the term 2009-2010! Under the Distinguished Club Program (DCP), clubs are given awards as follows: Achieve any five of 10 goals Distinguished Club Achieve any seven of 10 goals Select Distinguished Club Achieve any nine of 10 goals President's Distinguished Club These are the goals we achieved for the term 2009-2010: Membership Base: 17 Membership to Date: 20 GOALS ACHIEVED [1] 2 Competent Communicators - George Goh, Kenneth Tian [2] 1 Advanced Communicator (Silver) - Joni Siah [3] 5 new members - Jesslin Ong, Stephen Lim, Grace Tan, Malcolm Chen, Mantosh Bhasin (reinstated member) [4] Club Officers Training Attendance: June-August 5 officers Dec-Feb 4 officers [5] Club dues submitted on time both in October and April and Officer List submitted on time Keep up the good work, Katong TMC! Let's continue to grow from strength to strength.

Katong Toastmasters Club celebrated its 5th Anniversary during its chapter meeting on 20 May 2010. A total of 12 members, 4 visiting toastmasters and 2 walk-in guests attended the meeting. SAA Jesslin called the meeting to a start at 7.40 pm. She asked members to introduce themselves and to describe how they felt that day. TME Tarwin addressed the meeting by highlighting the evening’s programme changes. The club president, Joni Siah, then gave the opening address. She used an alphabet game to get the audience to unscramble given words. The final key phrases had a key message: “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is more important than the outcome”. The special highlight for the 5th Anniversary celebration was a mini-workshop conducted by Wekie Tay (DTM, Telok Blangah), entitled “Lets Groove”. He spoke about the differences and preferences between men and women. He ended by using the acronym ACTS to encourage us to Acknowledge the differences between the two genders, Crea...

President Nik Chua, CC VP Education Chew Teck Siong VP Membership Bruce Pei Asst VPM Ben Xu VP Public Relations Stephen Lim Asst VPPR Malcolm Chen Secretary Ida Lee Treasurer Elaine Tan, CC Sergeant-At Arms Tarwin Lim Asst SAA Jesslin Ong