Where Leaders Make Success Happen!

Our 21st November chapter meeting was kick-started by Sergeant-At-Arms Maria, who invited  everyone to share an embarrassing moment in their lives. Some talked about wardrobe malfunction and a few about how forgetfulness made them call people by the wrong name. Benjamin had everyone in stitches when recounting a performance at a recent Halloween party, where he was dressed as an Egyptian prince. A misstep during his dance performance made his pants split, exposing ugly underwear. Peter topped that by recounting his embarrassing moment in Japan when he went to a mixed bath and accidentally exposed his birthday suit to a passing lady.

Club President shared about her recent involvement at the Semi Annual Convention. She gained valuable insights as one of the committee members helping to organize the convention. She was especially inspired by Stephanie Fam, a 28-year-old lady, who despite her cerebral palsy, went on stage to present a speech that left many teary.  In her own words, "It is great to be where leaders make success happen!" Read her opening address here.

Prepared Speeches

Aarti in her P4 speech “Living with my busier than bee hubby” said she hadn’t realized that when you marry a man, you also marry his job.  Through years of evolution, she came to an understanding of how to live with her husband despite his busyness and commitment to his work.

Shahnawaz, attempting Advanced Project 1 from the Speaking to Inform Manual, presented an informative speech about “Smart Banking”. He recounted his amazement when he witnessed a bank in Shanghai celebrating Halloween by having its officers dress up as ghouls and witches to attract customers.  He also gave an account of how banks are constantly evolving to keep up with the times in order to meet customers’ needs

Peter, from Marine Parade TMC, presented Advanced Project 4 A Fact-Finding Report, also from the Speaking to Inform Manual.  He addressed the problem of aging and posed the question: “People are living longer lives: Is it a blessing or a curse?” He offers suggestions for us to consider how we can age gracefully, by focusing on healthy lifestyle and prudent financial planning. He also fielded a 2-3 minute Question & Answer session to address questions from the audience.

Peter was voted the Best Speaker for his poised and polished presentation.

Congratulations to Best Speaker Peter Lee, from Marine Parade TMC!

Table Topics

Table Topics Master Benjamin gave us an interesting array of aphorisms and instructed the speakers to challenge them and disagree with them.

The topics included: (oops, sorry I forgot the other 2 topics…)

I hear, I forget; I see, I believe; I do, I understand. – Aarti

Dream as if you'll live forever.Live as if you'll die today. – Raj

Time is a great teacher. – Aparna

Guest Aparna rightly pointed out that our parents don’t know everything. If time is a great teacher, shouldn’t those who are older be more intelligent, more knowledgeable and wiser? But experience has shown this is not always true. For her delightful delivery, Aparna was voted the Best Table Topics Speaker. Well done!

  

Guest Aparna, receiving Best Table Topics Speaker Ribbon from Ida. Well done, Aparna!

Project Evaluations

First evaluator Chee Hoo, from NUSS, commended Aarti for her excellent use of vivid words and rhetorical devices. He highlighted her use of similes, e.g. ‘busy as a bee’, ‘happy as a lark’, alliteration, e.g. ‘exasperatedly exhaused’, ‘fun and frolic’ and triads, e.g. ‘depressed, dejected and despondent’.  He encouraged her to observe the more proficient speakers to improve in her delivery.

Second evaluator, Rebecca Chan, from Fort Canning TMC, liked Shahnawaz’s use of anecdotes to illustrate how banks are evolving and how he made the topic comprehensive. She advised him to consider how he can make the topic more relatable to the audience and how it would benefit them in some way.

Final evaluator, Stanley Chen, from NUSS, commended Peter on his presentation that was well-organized and well- delivered.   He recommended quoting the source of his research and ending the Q&A session with a concise and memorable summary.

Rebecca was voted the Best Evaluator for her insightful and incisive evaluation.

Congratulations to Rebecca Chan, from Fort Canning TMC, voted Best Evaluator!

Special Presentation on Meeting Roles & Responsibilities

Visiting toastmaster Ho Yen Yuen, from Ulu Pandan TMC, presented a segment on the CL Program: Meeting Roles & Responsibilities. She explained the various roles involved in a chapter meeting such as the Sergeant-At-Arms, Timer, Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Table Topics Master, Project Evaluator and so on, and how taking on these roles can help members to develop leadership skills, as well as clock credits for the Competent Leadership (CL) award.  She also gave a run-through of the EXCO members’ responsibilities.

Language Evaluation

In-house evaluator Joni Siah highlighted areas that needed improvement as such grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Mispronounced words included ‘evolution’, ‘healthily’ and ‘informative’.  Bouquets were given to speakers who used alliteration, e.g.’murmurs met with monosyllabic answers’, ‘profits plummeted’; metaphors e.g. ‘enjoy the fruit of his labour’,  ‘a team of mountaineers’; contrast, e.g. ‘is it a blessing or a curse?’, ‘the young of today is the old of tomorrow’; and rhyming triads e.g. ‘digitization, urbanization, globalization’, ‘aspire, inspire, perspire’.

Feedback for Revitalized Education Program

Learning Master Stanley Chen posed some questions to garner feedback from the toastmasters for TI to revitalize the current educational program. We shared what we liked about the program – that it was self-paced and provided an excellent platform for self-improvement – and what we disliked.  A few of us felt the lack of a pass/fail system meant speakers who do not prepare can get away with it. How do we ensure speakers who get CC titles are actually competent? Rebecca shared a recent incident where she felt a speaker did not meet the speech objectives and encouraged her to re-do the project but this was not well taken. Benjamin suggested some method of peer review. All of us were keen for TI to make its materials accessible online via smartphones and tablets.

Upcoming event

Our next meeting will be held on 19 December 2013 (3rd Thursday). It will be an exciting joint meeting with Brilliant Advanced Toastmasters Club. There will be a gift exchange so bring along a gift to celebrate Christmas with us!

A big thank you to all the visiting Toastmasters and a big welcome to our guests Alexandra, Aparna & Geoffrey! Special thanks to Chee Hoo for taking photographs of the meeting =)