People grow through experience

KATONG 7^TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING 17 MAY 2012

Katong turns 7 today! We were delighted to have many visiting toastmasters (Navin, Richard, Hairong, Peter, Marco, Saddiqi, James, Michael Rodrigues) and guests (Welly, Emma, Lynn) share this special moment with us.

SAA Joni invited everyone to share a memorable celebration. Some had birthday surprises (Shamala, James, Roann), some had family get-together to celebrate a child/mother’s birthday (Leena, Shahnawaz), and others recall our club gathering during CNY at Joni’s house where no topics were taboo. Choon Liang had the special honour of dressing up as a girl with blond wig to dance to Korean hit song “Nobody” for his company D&D. He was dying to show us his moves.

Ida, in her opening address , shared a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” She commended the exco members for their hard work in helping the club to grow and presented each of us with a beautiful glass momento as tokens of appreciation.

In presenting the anniversary toast, Charter President Benjamin shared about our club history and how we started out as Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) Toastmasters Club. Along the way, through ups and downs, we moved out of SSC and became Katong Toastmasters Club. District Governor, DTM Michael Rodrigues was present to grace the occasion and he encouraged us to go for President's Distinguished Club status in the coming term. He also presented 'Outstanding Member' pins to all the Exco members as encouragement for our commitment to grow Katong TMC.

Prepared speech segment:

Roann, in her P1 speech , gave us an insight into her family background in Philippines and how she came to Singapore to work and had to learn how to cook and live independently. Through the ups and downs in her life, she has learned to pick herself up when she falls.

Shamala, also presenting a P1 speech, shared the story of why she joined Katong Toastmasters Club as a member. A chance encounter with a trainer led to an opportunity to present a speech, which made her realise how much she needed to improve. Now she is looking forward to using the platform in Katong Toastmasters Club to improve her speaking skills.

P2 speaker Shahnawaz reflected on the problem of over-reliance on technological devices, which has made us more connected yet isolated. He urges us to ‘reclaim’ spaces in our home for real conversations.

P2 speaker Raj, in his speech “Feel it and get it”, opined about the law of attraction and how we can use it to get what we want. We need to ask for it, believe in it and receive it. He also shared two personal experiences when this law had worked for him.

Evaluation segment:

Leena commended Roann on her speech content, which was a powerful personal story that showcased her strength of character. She recommended using question, quotes or startling statistics to spice up her opening and to avoid over-reliance on notes.

Saddiqi highlighted Shamala’s eloquence as a speaker and how she spoke from her heart about her personal journey. Her use of pause-fillers, especially ‘you know’ could be improved on through more practice.

Navin enjoyed Shahnawaz’s speech which was interesting and relevant to us. He especially liked the strong opening when Shah likened a text from his daughter to a hug. He suggested giving supporting evidence for a stronger case and using numbers, (firstly, secondly, thirdly) to structure his speech.

Richard found Raj’s speech interesting and informative. He recommended that Raj posed his question directly in the introduction to attract, arrest and arouse the audience’s attention, instead of saying “Before I start, I will pose a question to you”. The conclusion should be succinct and impactful.

Table Topics Segment:

Table Topics Master Benjamin introduced a rhetorical device ‘chiasmus’ where parallel phrases are inverted, for example, “We should eat to live, not live to eat”. He presented chiastic topics that challenged the table topics speakers:

1) You don’t have to be great to start; you have to start to be great. – Peter Lee

2) The person who is too big for a small job, is too small for a big job. - Malcolm

3) Men are kind only to be cruel; women are cruel only to be kind. – James Wang

4) The superior man is easy to serve but difficult to please; the inferior man is difficult to serve but easy to please. - Marco

5) If your religion does not change you, then you should change your religion. - Raj

In tackling Topic 2, Malcolm shared his career experiences how he tried out bartending for 3 months and worked hard at ‘small jobs’ till the chance came for bigger and better jobs. He is currently marketing manager at Singapore Flyer. His heartfelt sharing earned him the Best Table Topics Speaker ribbon! Well done!

Voting results:

Best Speaker: Shamala

Best Evaluator: Richard Sng

Best TTS : Malcolm Chen

View photos for the event here.