May Club Meetings Part II


Friendship on Tue 24 May 2011

May 1999, Friendship Toastmasters Club, under the leadership of Kim Chow, started our first meeting. Twelve years later, Vice President of Membership Chee Hoe, took the initiative to organize a birthday celebration meeting.

 
Happy birthday to Friendship Toastmasters Club!

With Facebook invitations sent out and members inviting guests to attend, Organising Chair Chee Hoe was slightly worried that we may not have enough food for our numerous guests. Thanks to his foresight, this disaster was averted. We were exultant (word of the day) to welcome 18 guests to help us celebrate!

 
President Zaiton (right) with our guests

The birthday celebration started with a musical performance by guest guitarist Wei Kai, Chee Hoe and Wai Yee. This was followed by a sensational performance by Grace Tan as she sang “Hey Jude”. With her star power, she had all of us singing along with her. We then had a hilarious Games session conducted by Past President James Arokiasamy. Quick thinking skill was required for this impromptu Q&A session which our guests sportingly took part in, with quick fire questions from the Past Presidents of Friendship. Thank you James, for a very enjoyable Games session !


One World on Thur 26 May 2011

True to the meeting theme of “Effectiveness to Greatness”, all our meeting participants were not timorous (word of the day).

GE Cheong Kuok Sum praised Table Topics Master CK for a fun session. He was impressed that there was no shortage of volunteers. In answering the question - Mercedes or BMW, Kelson chose BMW. He hilariously explained that it was “suitable for young men like us”.

With three thrilling project speeches, we were entertained from start to finish. Kelson told us that “Any business can make money. Decide which one you want to focus on.” SAA Alex enthralled us with his sky-high adventure at Eagle Ranch. Lastly, VPE CK told us that the most common language in the world is body language. It also happens to be the easiest language to learn. With his interesting examples and stories, we agreed with him that we should master our body language to be a great communicator.

 
Members and guests of One World


Exact ADC on Tue 31 May 2011
By Caroline, Exact ADC

Toastmaster of the Day, Yuen Kai, kicked off the meeting by introducing the theme of the day “Best places to live in”. Vancouver was voted the best place to live in, 5 years in a row. During the introduction round, members gave their opinion on where was the best place to live in and the consensus was that Malaysia was still the best. The word of the day, “fascinating”, was introduced by Grammarian Lee Lee.

In line with the meeting theme, Table Topics Master Edward asked speakers to randomly pick postcard pictures of cities around the world and to talk about the city as the best place to live in.

Loon was first up and picked Macau. It was quite his ideal place as he would love to own his own island and make himself President. Chee Yoong picked the picture of the Temple of Heaven, located in Beijing. He was fascinated with Beijing and found that it had evolved significantly over the years since his first visit. Mount Bromo was Vinci’s pick and she would introduce Malaysian culture and humor to the people of East Java.

 
Table Topics Master Edward with guest Vinci

Boby’s picture was of the Greek islands, indeed a scenic and beautiful place to live in. Love was in the air as Ai Shiang spoke about Paris. She would bring her whole family to visit and explore the city of love.

The most fascinating Table Topics speech ? Congratulations to Best Table Topics Speaker Chee Yoong !


Penang Convention 1 May 2011


District 51 International Speech Contest

In the early hours of Sunday 1 May 2011, 3 Friendship members travelled from Ipoh and KL, just to watch the International Speech Contest. The star attraction as far as Friendship members was concerned? Grace Tan competing at the District finals with her “F.O.C” speech!


 
Friendship members with Grace, contestant for the International Speech Contest

Speaking on the serious subject of human rights, the third placed winner spoke with emotion and said, “Our rights have no colour, it is colour-blind.” He urged us to listen to our inner voice and do what is right. He concluded with a quotation from Martin Luther King, “Judge the content of our character, not the colour of our skin.”

Loud applause greeted the second placed winner as he walked up the stage. He told us that he grew up in the village of Selama. In this village, there was a warm, wise and witty barber named Sinbad. His barber knew something about everything and gave good advice from the heart. From his barber he learnt that perseverance stays but education pays. So he decided to move to the big city to pursue his education and the possibilities this provided. When he was contemplating marriage at the age of 40, the sage advice from his barber was, “It is better to get married at 40 than to get married at 50.”

When the International Speech Champion was asked by his rich (has money) and successful (married an air-stewardess) boss, what was the perfect wedding anniversary, it was like a Table Topics question. He suggested buying a diamond ring. To his surprise, his boss decided to make his own card. When he was shown the card, he didn’t know how to tell his boss that the card was horrible! It had a picture of a chicken and a dragon flying in a plane. When his boss explained that his Chinese zodiac is a chicken, his wife is a dragon and the plane was where they first met and he fell in love with her, the card suddenly did not appear ugly after all.

When his daughter gave him a card for Father’s Day that said “I love you bad” he realized two things. First, love comes from the heart. Secondly, his daughter needed spelling lessons, badly.

He then related the story of his grandmother who kept a Thank You card from him. His sister had taken the gold earring that he gave his grandmother, which he gave with the Thank You card. He found out much later, after his grandmother’s death, that she valued the card more than the gold, as she had kept the card all these years. She was his inspiration as he concluded with, “The power to make the little difference is within you. It can put a man on the moon, or the decision to do your next assignment speech.”

 
Elated reaction after the announcement of the first place winner

 
District Governor Thanni, International Speech Contest Chair Valli, Stephen Fernando (2nd place), Muthukumaran (1st place), Marcus Chee (3rd place), First International Vice President John Lau, Past International President Ted Corcoran

Champion: Muthukumaran Kodiappen, Division S, Renesas Semiconductor TMC – That Little Difference
1st Runner Up: Stephen Fernando, Division C, MIHRM TMC – Lessons from my Barber
2nd Runner Up: K Marcus Chee, Division H, Ipoh TMC – The Colour of Rights


District 51 Table Topics Contest


The Table Topics question for the ten contestants was “To err is human, to forgive divine”.

The third placed winner declared, “It was a mistake to take part in this Contest! I am getting the shivers.” Every day, he looks into the mirror and tells himself, “I can make any mistake and I will be forgiven. I will not make the same mistakes again because I will find new mistakes to make!”

The second placed winner came from a dysfunctional family. In his past life, his vices were cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. Despite this, “my wife forgave me and made me the man I am today. She has a heart of gold. If there is any perfection in this world, in this universe, it is my wife!” As he walked off the stage, the audience was clapping loudly for him.

The Table Topics Champion told us, “Please forgive me, it will not be a perfect speech.” He had a stone thrown at him at age 7. At 51, he still remembered that incident but he realized, “If we really want to live, let’s learn to forgive.”

 
Table Topics Contest Chair May Cheah, District Governor Thanni, Selvaraj (3rd place), Philip Wong (1st place), Kishin (2nd place), First International Vice President John Lau, Past International President Ted Corcoran

Champion: Philip Wong Wan Ming, Division G, KL Advanced TMC
1st Runner Up: Kishin Shan Mahtani, Division N, Achievers TMC
2nd Runner Up: Selvaraj KS Maniam, Division H, Ipoh TMC