20 October 2016 Meeting Synopsis

PROJECT SPEECHES

Our August meeting saw a line-up of 5 speakers, 3 projects from the basic manual and 2 advanced projects.

First speaker Tracey Yuen presented his P2 speech with the intriguing title You are code. He told us to imagine writing our signature. It seems so automatic yet involves many different steps, from holding the pen just right to making the ink impressions on paper. When signing a document, we may need to repeat our signature, and sign at the right place. In the same way, we can break down codes into chunks, repeat commands and ensure certain actions happen only when a prior action takes place. In this sense, we humans are like computer codes. This analogy helps to demystify technology.

Second speaker Swapna Menon, also presenting her P2 speech, shared about The Essence of Indian Festivals. Indians used to celebrate festivals everyday to bring life and exuberance. However, poverty came and only 30-40 festivals were celebrated. Now only a handful of festivals are celebrated and even then, for many, festivals only mean public holidays. Diwali, the most well-known Indian festival in Singapore, is the festival of lights and lamps are lit everywhere. It signifies that we bring the light with us wherever we go.

Third speaker Rosean Neilsen convinces us that Books are Better in her P4 speech.
Books are better than pets as you can bring them with you anywhere and they don't die. Although books are expensive and take up space, and get old and mouldy, Rosean loves books as they have given her a wonderful world of magic.We must treasure and cherish books. There is magic in words. Words win wars. Words give pleasure. Words are powerful.

With books, you can go anywhere, learn anything.

In his AP3 The Roast from the Special Occasion Speeches manual, Malcolm Chen entertained the audience with his speech about My mentor J.O.N.I. . He was given the choice to either join Katong Toastmasters or Katong running club so knowing he couldn't outrun Joni, he had no choice but to join Katong Toastmasters Club. Joni also turned out to be his Opponent in speech contests after she has urged him to take part in the contests. Malcolm would Never Say No to Joni's baking since he is obliged to eat them and give compliments. Finally, he ended by saying I love you... and presenting a beautiful bouquet to Joni.

Malcolm presents a beautiful bouquet to his mentor Joni

Geri Kan attempted a challenging project AP5 Delivering Bad News from the Speeches by Management manual. It was a role-play with Leanne, where she as the manager, had to inform the staff about a company layoff. She explained the rationale for the layoff. The company is going through a re sizing exercise. Some units have to shut down. She mentioned possible positions in other departments and promised to help the staff link up with HR partners from other companies.

TABLE TOPICS
Our Table Topics Master Charles came up with topics based on the theme of Halloween.
Guest Corrine spoke about the scariest movie she has ever watched... The Ring.

Geri was asked what she would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. She would join right in, just like the current Pokemon craze.

Leanne convinced us that she would be the killer in a horror movie. She is not afraid of anything, not even creepy crawlies and is usually the first one to advance an attack on any roach threatening the sanity of her timid family members.

Roann was asked to pick her favourite villain. It turned out to be Lord Voldermort from Harry Potter.

Do you believe in ghosts? That was Defriceni's topic. She grew up not believing in ghosts, but after an incident where she witnessed spirits possessing some Muslim students, she now does.

PROJECT EVALUATIONS

Area Director Chen Huangzhi used the acronym CODE for his evaluation. C for Comparison - he commended Tracey's use of an analogy to help us understand how codes work. O for opening - he felt Tracey's speech opening was able to capture our attention. D for Delivery and development - Huangzhi suggested using visual aids to enhance his delivery and finally

E for Ending - Tracey could create greater impact in the ending of his speech by reiterating the main points.

Second evaluator Ida Lee commended Swapna on her magical vitality and clear diction. The speech was well structured and easy to follow. She suggested moving the table away to create a barrier-free speaking platform. Rehearse for timing to ensure the speech does not go overtime. Swapna has a booming voice and needs to exercise control of her volume to match the content of her speech.

Third evaluator Joseph Soh, from Bishan TMC, commended Rosean on the wealth of rhetorical devices in her speech. She also used simple words and sentences, which made for easy understanding. He recommended the use of pauses to enhance transitions and to move the audience with a personal story or anecdote about how a book had touched her life.

Fourth evaluator Robert Chen, from NUSS TMC, recalled how Malcolm's speech appealed to our five sense. His humorous descriptions made us laugh out loud and he used props to appeal to our sight. We could almost taste the baked goods made by Joni and definitely smelt the roses presented in the bouquet. It was an excellent presentation that entertained the audience and gave credit to his mentor.

Final evaluator Rajendra Tiwari used the acronym GERI for his evaluation. He felt Geri was able to give a commendable enactment as she was Grounded while delivering the bad news, Enabling in her positive comments, Realistic about the kind of help she could offer, and continued to show Interest even when the other party was angry. The enactment could be improved by expressing more empathy and giving the other party more time to vent her unhappiness.

LANGUAGE EVALUATION
Langauge evaluator Joni highlighted brickbats such as incorrect use of vocabulary. "I hope I justify" should be "I hope I do justice to the topics." and "Keep us all in suspension." should be "Keep us all in suspense."

There were also beautiful bouquets to share such as alliteration (e.g. "words win wars") and rhymes (e.g. "melodic and poetic"). For the full report, please click here