SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER MEETING ON 16 JUNE 2011

Guests and visiting toastmasters graced the club’s Chapter Meeting on 16 June 2011. Johnny and An Lian were guests visiting a toastmaster’s club for the first time. Visiting toastmasters were Carin, Shuzhen, Goo Yin from AIA TMC, Daniel and Abraham from Vietnam TMC, Robert from NUSS TMC, John from NUS TMC and James from NUS Alumni TMC.

SAA Joni Siah welcomed everyone to the enchanting evening, and requested the audience to share something that had brightened up their day.

Thereafter, our Club President Ida Lee gave us the opening speech. “Do you ever feel you live life the fullest?” she asked. Ida highlighted the story of Mark Hunter (World Champion of Public Speaking 2009) during the District 18 Conference. Mark became paralysed during a car crash and could never walk again. He tried to fit into the new world but was faced with devastation.

One day, he was attracted by the wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen. It was grandma preparing the meal. Grandma requested Mark to look into the sink, and asked him what he could see. There is a cooking pot filled with water, while there are tomatoes and apples floating in the pot. The apples stick out like a sore thumb. Am I the apple?

After staring at the pot for some time, he realised that he is not the apple. He is the water that embraces everyone and makes everyone float. This thought led him to his status today and not someone who will easily give up.

Goo Yin, our language evaluator surprised everyone with the word of the day, “Fire”. The word could be used as a noun or verb and could be expressed easily. This led to the use of the word of the day by almost every speaker.

The next segment was the prepared speeches. Merry presented her P2 speech, “The Travel Gem”. She shared with us the 3Cs of Padang, the sCenery, Cuisine and Culture. The beautiful Padang beach that stretches 10km accompanied by the mesmerising sunset, the origins of Nasi Padang and the unique horn roof buildings.

Choon Liang presented his P4 speech, “The Magical Cs”. He shared with us the criteria in looking for a diamond, which are the Cut, Clarity, Colour, Carat and Certificate. He also advised that there are many rings to be bought, like the proposal ring, wedding ring, "suffering" and "enduring".

The last speaker Daniel delivered his AP5 speech, “Ghost of Christmas Past”. He brought us back to 1972, where the bombing campaign took place in Hanoi. He narrated the real life experiences of Nam, whereby Nam experienced the tragedies of losing his family and town.

The next segment of the program was the project evaluations. Robert praised Merry’s speech for being well-structured, and there was proper transition for her 3Cs. It achieved the objectives of the project and there was even the use of sun glasses as props.

However, she should ask more questions to allow more communication with the audience. A short pause would also help her in the transition.

Shuzhen commended that Choon Liang’s speech captivated the audience’s attention, was organised and jargons were well explained. She also advised that a visual image needs to be painted, and Choon Liang should slow down while speaking. He should also not pass notes to the audience during his speech as this would divert attention from his audience.

Ben, our next evaluator mentioned that Daniel’s speech was very heart warming, and it was a personal topic as he is from Vietnam. Daniel managed to arouse the imagination of the audience. He could improve by emphasising more on the sounds and movements during his speech, and at some parts of the speech, he was speaking too soft.

Next, we moved on to our table topics segment. As Father’s Day is round the corner, Table Topics Master of the day Carin Soh introduced topics with men-related themes.

Malcom, our timer for the day gallantly volunteered himself to be the first to speak. His question was “If diamond is a woman’s best friend, who is man's best companion?” He grumbled on what men can do after spending a fortune on diamonds. Life is full of suffering and men will be drinking in the pubs.

The next question was “Men makes better leader”. A leader provides for the community, James answered. He also mentions that female performs a better job at leading, citing his mum as an example. The mum cared for his education, and made him a better man.

“A good husband equals a good father”. Joni opined that the two just doesn’t add up and it is not mathematically possible! The definition of a good husband is someone who dotes on you when you are feeling down whereas the skills and needs of a good father is entirely different. Men are not good with babies and do not know what to do with them.

Our next contestant, John was poised with the question, “Every successful man has a woman behind”. In his family, his mum stayed at home while his dad was the bread winner. He wittingly ends this speech by stating that is true that every successful man has women behind, while every unsuccessful man has 2 or more women.

An Lian took up the challenge and tackled the question, “Taking care of the family is a men’s duty”. She disagrees with the statement and says that is should be a shared responsibility. The leadership should be shared among the men and women, Dad taking care of the financial needs while the mum looks after the children.

Johnny answered the last topic, “Men should be the main breadwinner”. There is a shared responsibility in bringing in the dough, but the question arises when who should be the one spending it.

Language Evaluator Goo Yin, our language evaluator started off correcting some basic errors. In a greeting speech, are there guest (a person) or guests (a group)? We’re in a toastmasters club not a toastmaster club. A toastmaster club would consist of a person. He also indicates that toastmasters should stop using words like actually, basically. These are words that are overuse and keep toastmasters at a basic level.

Next, he introduced two categories, Bees Sharing Songs and Bees Stinging Sounds. Good usage of English are listed under Bees sharing songs while the areas for improvement are listed under Bees Stinging sounds.

Bee Stinging Sounds

· Padang, the Travel Gem – NOT Padang, the Travel Germ

· Delivering, attempting his project 4 – NOT Doing his project 4

· Families started gathering together again – Redundancy as gathering means together

· Swept away everything in his path – NOT Swept everything on his path

· Next segment of the session – NOT Next segment of the program

· Dad having his own business – Incorrect sentence

Bee Sharing Songs

· Heart to heart chat

· I did something right but it was not intended

· Gained soulful insight from influential speaker

· Cut, clarity, color, carat and certificate

· Fire in the heart

· A splendid evening

· Fire topics with your thought

· Diamond is a woman’s best friend; wine/beer is man’s best reason.

· Not mathematically possible

Best Speaker: Daniel Tran

Best Evaluator: Benjamin Gan

Best Topic Topics Speaker: Joni Siah

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