January 2016 Meeting Synopsis
Our first chapter meeting of 2016 held wonderful surprises. We had a surprise visit from Parul who brought her sweet little baby Saavi to say hello and goodbye. They will be relocating to Houston in February 2016. We wish them all the best for their exciting adventure there!!
Our Sergeant-At-Arms Ida kickstarted the meeting with her infectious smile and got everyone to share a word that they associate with their happiness index. We had varied answers, a few centered on food. Jeffrey chose life experiences, Yue self-fulfilment, Eliz - nature, Joni - running and for Leena, it's ice-cream while Geri swears by chocolates!
In her Opening Address, Aarti made us think about the WHY behind our goals. For example, why did we join Toastmasters? Whether it's because of the food and fellowship, or for career advancement, to boost self-esteem, or to meet new friends, to ensure success in our meeting our goals, we must rely on the two Is... Intention + Initiative.
Prepared Speech Segment
In her P5 speech (Your Body Speaks), Yuefang spoke about Embracing the Spirit of Traveling. She enjoys her annual overseas trips that never fail to give her fresh outlook to different aspects of her life. She shares with us three tips to embrace the spirit of traveling:
(1) Plan well but be prepared to get lost(2) When it comes to $, budget for experiences
3) Keep a journal
She reflected on how getting lost in Venice helped her to thoroughly immerse in culture there. To budget for experiences, she hired a cottage in Sydney through Airbnb and signed up for free walking tours. Her favourite way to journal her trips is to use flow charts with speech bubbles. She advised us to reflect on each day's happenings when memory is still fresh and to use whatever media we like best to capture the moments.
In the second speech P6 (Vocal Variety) by Jeffrey Lam, he revealed that he's A Crazy Daddy. Relating an anecdote where he challenged his 9-year-old daughter Denise to go up to a stranger ad ask for the time, she burst into tears and he got weird looks from the people around him. Having been brought up not to speak to strangers, he was shy and reticent. But once he started working and realised how important it is to speak up and communicate well, he decided that he wanted to teach his children to be assertive and confident. He shared another anecdote where his son wanted to quit learning a third language Malay but he advised him to at least try for a year before giving up. His words of wisdom: Quitters never win and winners never quit.
In his AP1 The Entertaining Speech from The Entertaining Manual, Raj regaled us with a story about being All messed up. He shared a cozy relationship with God and asked how it was that after 4 years in Toastmasters, he was still far from getting his DTM. God retaliated by telling him about his financial mess (All his money evaporated like morning dew when invested in Chinese equities),
IT mess (system crash... and Bill Gates refused to help unless offered $600m for his Windows system) and logistics mess. On a positive note, determination and hope will help us clean up our mess.
The last speech for the evening was from the Storytelling Manual, AP4 Let's Get Personal, where Leena Santore shared a moving story about Perfect Strangers. During college days, about to embark on a job search and to pad up her measly resume, Leena was told to do volunteer work. She volunteered at a paediatric hospital, which required her to play with terminally ill children. She met Anna, who was 5, on her first day of duty and she wanted to play with a doll house. After several weeks, a bond had formed. One day, Leena entered the play room to find it empty. She was shocked to learn that Anna had passed away. She recalled how Anna had said she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. In fact, Anna had already taught her that volunteering was about forming a bond with people and making a positive difference in their lives...and that perfect strangers can become cherished friends.
Table Topics Session
Led by Malcolm, four of our members and guests opined on topics related to the New Year.
Aarti declared that she loves New Year and all kinds of celebrations... her current challenge being planning her 6-year-old son's upcoming birthday celebration.
Visiting guest Leanne shared about three things she will stop doing this year. They include drinking, making excuses, and forgetting her friends' birthday.
Another visiting guest Emilie regaled us with an anecdote about an unforgettable New Year's celebration - the year she was asked to be the New Year's girl (that is, to shout Happy New Year at the stroke of midnight) at the Eurasian Association Annual Dinner & Dance.
Geri does not believe in making New Year's Resolutions as they don't work. However, she has set positive goals for herself and one of them is to be kinder.
Speech EvaluationsAccording to Ratna, Yue's speech was well-crafted, well-structured and well-delivered. Suggestions for improvement include making full use of the space, and better eye contact by not referring to notes when speaking.
In Geri's evaluation, she commended Jeffrey for having a clear structure and strong message. He has a great voice for radio as well as great pace and modulation in his vocal variety. To improve his delivery, he could move the table out of the way, dramatize the stories more, and work on his enunciation.
Colin described Raj's entertaining speech as Superb, for its catchy title, enigmatic opening, and injection of humour. Suggestions include improving on the dramatization, ensuring the speech is within time and bringing a resolution to the mess.
A good storyteller captivates the audience but a great storyteller stirs the audience. With this opening, Peter commended Leena's storytelling skills which included three main characters, using dialogue to display emotions of grief and sadness, and positive lessons we could learn through Anna's life and death. The only flaw was not highlighting Anna's illness, which left the audience guessing.
Language Evaluation
Yan Jiejun from Bishan TMC shared the Word of the Day "mesmerised" (verb) which means to fascinate or completely capture one's attention. She commended all who used the WOTD accurately. She highlighted beautiful use of the language such as metaphors e.g. "Happiness is found along the path, and not at the end of the road" and triads e.g. "princesses, gallant knights and fiery dragons". Instead of using common adjectives like "interesting", speakers used colourful adjectives as in "gripping story", "lacklustre resume".
Mispronunced words included "anecdotes", "dilemma" and "fell prey".
Upcoming events:
(1) NUS Alumni TMC will be having their International Speech & Table Topics Contests on Friday 12 Feb 2016 @ SMU.
(2) Katong TMC will be conducting International Speech & Table Topics Contests on Thursday 18 Feb 2016 @ Katong CC.
Congratulations to all the ribbon winners tonight!
Best speaker Leena Santore
Best Evaluator Peter Lee
Best Table Topics Speakers Emilie and Geri (tie)
Our Sergeant-At-Arms Ida kickstarted the meeting with her infectious smile and got everyone to share a word that they associate with their happiness index. We had varied answers, a few centered on food. Jeffrey chose life experiences, Yue self-fulfilment, Eliz - nature, Joni - running and for Leena, it's ice-cream while Geri swears by chocolates!
In her Opening Address, Aarti made us think about the WHY behind our goals. For example, why did we join Toastmasters? Whether it's because of the food and fellowship, or for career advancement, to boost self-esteem, or to meet new friends, to ensure success in our meeting our goals, we must rely on the two Is... Intention + Initiative.
Prepared Speech Segment
In her P5 speech (Your Body Speaks), Yuefang spoke about Embracing the Spirit of Traveling. She enjoys her annual overseas trips that never fail to give her fresh outlook to different aspects of her life. She shares with us three tips to embrace the spirit of traveling:
(1) Plan well but be prepared to get lost(2) When it comes to $, budget for experiences
3) Keep a journal
She reflected on how getting lost in Venice helped her to thoroughly immerse in culture there. To budget for experiences, she hired a cottage in Sydney through Airbnb and signed up for free walking tours. Her favourite way to journal her trips is to use flow charts with speech bubbles. She advised us to reflect on each day's happenings when memory is still fresh and to use whatever media we like best to capture the moments.
In the second speech P6 (Vocal Variety) by Jeffrey Lam, he revealed that he's A Crazy Daddy. Relating an anecdote where he challenged his 9-year-old daughter Denise to go up to a stranger ad ask for the time, she burst into tears and he got weird looks from the people around him. Having been brought up not to speak to strangers, he was shy and reticent. But once he started working and realised how important it is to speak up and communicate well, he decided that he wanted to teach his children to be assertive and confident. He shared another anecdote where his son wanted to quit learning a third language Malay but he advised him to at least try for a year before giving up. His words of wisdom: Quitters never win and winners never quit.
In his AP1 The Entertaining Speech from The Entertaining Manual, Raj regaled us with a story about being All messed up. He shared a cozy relationship with God and asked how it was that after 4 years in Toastmasters, he was still far from getting his DTM. God retaliated by telling him about his financial mess (All his money evaporated like morning dew when invested in Chinese equities),
IT mess (system crash... and Bill Gates refused to help unless offered $600m for his Windows system) and logistics mess. On a positive note, determination and hope will help us clean up our mess.
The last speech for the evening was from the Storytelling Manual, AP4 Let's Get Personal, where Leena Santore shared a moving story about Perfect Strangers. During college days, about to embark on a job search and to pad up her measly resume, Leena was told to do volunteer work. She volunteered at a paediatric hospital, which required her to play with terminally ill children. She met Anna, who was 5, on her first day of duty and she wanted to play with a doll house. After several weeks, a bond had formed. One day, Leena entered the play room to find it empty. She was shocked to learn that Anna had passed away. She recalled how Anna had said she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. In fact, Anna had already taught her that volunteering was about forming a bond with people and making a positive difference in their lives...and that perfect strangers can become cherished friends.
Table Topics Session
Led by Malcolm, four of our members and guests opined on topics related to the New Year.
Aarti declared that she loves New Year and all kinds of celebrations... her current challenge being planning her 6-year-old son's upcoming birthday celebration.
Visiting guest Leanne shared about three things she will stop doing this year. They include drinking, making excuses, and forgetting her friends' birthday.
Another visiting guest Emilie regaled us with an anecdote about an unforgettable New Year's celebration - the year she was asked to be the New Year's girl (that is, to shout Happy New Year at the stroke of midnight) at the Eurasian Association Annual Dinner & Dance.
Geri does not believe in making New Year's Resolutions as they don't work. However, she has set positive goals for herself and one of them is to be kinder.
Speech EvaluationsAccording to Ratna, Yue's speech was well-crafted, well-structured and well-delivered. Suggestions for improvement include making full use of the space, and better eye contact by not referring to notes when speaking.
In Geri's evaluation, she commended Jeffrey for having a clear structure and strong message. He has a great voice for radio as well as great pace and modulation in his vocal variety. To improve his delivery, he could move the table out of the way, dramatize the stories more, and work on his enunciation.
Colin described Raj's entertaining speech as Superb, for its catchy title, enigmatic opening, and injection of humour. Suggestions include improving on the dramatization, ensuring the speech is within time and bringing a resolution to the mess.
A good storyteller captivates the audience but a great storyteller stirs the audience. With this opening, Peter commended Leena's storytelling skills which included three main characters, using dialogue to display emotions of grief and sadness, and positive lessons we could learn through Anna's life and death. The only flaw was not highlighting Anna's illness, which left the audience guessing.
Language Evaluation
Yan Jiejun from Bishan TMC shared the Word of the Day "mesmerised" (verb) which means to fascinate or completely capture one's attention. She commended all who used the WOTD accurately. She highlighted beautiful use of the language such as metaphors e.g. "Happiness is found along the path, and not at the end of the road" and triads e.g. "princesses, gallant knights and fiery dragons". Instead of using common adjectives like "interesting", speakers used colourful adjectives as in "gripping story", "lacklustre resume".
Mispronunced words included "anecdotes", "dilemma" and "fell prey".
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| Language Ealuator Yan Jiejun from Bishan TMC |
Upcoming events:
(1) NUS Alumni TMC will be having their International Speech & Table Topics Contests on Friday 12 Feb 2016 @ SMU.
(2) Katong TMC will be conducting International Speech & Table Topics Contests on Thursday 18 Feb 2016 @ Katong CC.
Congratulations to all the ribbon winners tonight!
Best speaker Leena Santore
Best Evaluator Peter Lee
Best Table Topics Speakers Emilie and Geri (tie)
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| Best Speaker Leena Santore |
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| Best Evaluator Peter Lee |
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| Best Table Topics Speaker Emilie and Geri (tie) |
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| Raj receiving his ACB pin from mentor Joni Siah |
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| Yue, with mentor Geri, receiving her P5 ribbon for getting halfway through her CC |
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| A big thank you to all the visiting Toastmasters (Peter, Ratna, Jiejun, Colin & Jeffrey) for adding value to our meeting! |
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Katong TMC rocks! |
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