A Daring Adventure or Nothing

Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 by areaw7

The meeting was like a ladies' night. First, we had two lady guests from Friendship Toastmasters Club, Assistant Area Governor in Marketing Angeline Lee and Area W7 Governor Tan Lay Theng. Second, there were only 3 gentlemen out of our cozy gathering of 13. Third, we indulged in cupcakes, cheesecakes and chocolates, instead of our usual nasi lemak dinner.

Note to self: Should host bona fide ladies' nights (free drinks, ladies?) if gentlemen don’t turn up in generous numbers.

The meeting was kicked off smoothly and promptly by Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Victoria and Vice President of Education and acting President Grace Loh. Then, controls were passed to Vice President of Membership Ivo Ramon. As the Toastmaster of the Evening and Grammarian, Ivo introduced our guests, role players, project speakers and the Word of the Day (“glitch”). Although this was only my 4th Toastmasters Club meeting, I have already heard of and personally witnessed his reputation as the ever calm and smiling speaker. Hence, despite having the guts to forget to introduce Angeline for her Special Session on Area W7 Connect and Table Topics Evaluator’s Report, he was quickly forgiven.

Note to self: Must master Ivo’s charm, so that I may escape scot free too.

TME Ivo who has a running bet that no one has won yet - to pronounce his full name correctly - Ivoramon Van der Kleij

Enjoying Ivo's TME mastery

Angeline’s talk on Area W7 Connect introduced a brilliant website (which is this particular one you are currently visiting) that collects and shares information among different clubs in Area W7, such as meeting details at various Toastmasters clubs and inter-club events. This educational talk was subsequently followed by a stimulating Table Topics Session held by Table Topics Master Andy Khoo. By throwing in surprise words that participants were expected to incorporate into their 2-minute speeches, Andy’s special twist made the speeches highly entertaining and unpredictable.

Note to self: Will try using suspense to prevent my colleagues from becoming bored of my fortnightly attempts at the Competent Communicator (CC) Project Speeches.

Jasmine listening intently to the question from Table Topics Master Andy

Tonight, three heroines delivered Project Speeches: I did my CC Speech 3, my same name friend Grace Lok performed CC Speech 6 and my first mentor (aka Speech 1 evaluator) Nik Joanita presented Advanced Speech 1. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement to talk about how to improve the way we make decisions in life. I spoke on living life like a daring adventure; Grace’s speech urged us to reevaluate ourselves in face of Armageddon; Joanita’s speech illuminated the mind-mapping techniques used to choose a suitable holiday destination.

Note to self: Could our unintended synchronisation support the theory that women have intuitive powers?

Grace Lee delivering her speech on "A Daring Adventure or Nothing"

Grace Lok asking an intense question - will you live your life differently ?

After a 10-minute break, we reconvened for the evaluation session led by Lay Theng, the General Evaluator for tonight. First, Grace Loh, Looi Ee Li and Angeline offered concise and helpful feedback to the Project Speech speakers. Second, Ivo, Tay Shin Ying and I gave our respective reports on English usage, unnecessary utterance and time performance. Third, Lay Theng shared a detailed evaluation on the overall running of tonight’s meeting. One of her many valuable recommendations that particularly impacted me was to create a reaction whenever the “Word of the Day” was used. Thus, I could not resist hitting my Time Keeper’s bell when she shortly mentioned “glitch.” Lastly, Grace Loh presented the Best Table Topic Speaker Award to Ivo, Best Project Speech Speaker Award to me and closing speech to bid everyone a good night and safe journey home.

Note: I was touched by the sincerity and encouragements of my colleagues once again. Thank you for your kind words and gestures. May we carry on the noble mission of our club to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth!