Area W3 Contest 25 Feb 2012

On a bright Saturday afternoon, club members of Area W3 gathered at IBM office to support our club champions contesting at our Area contest. Thank you to IBM Malaysia Toastmasters Club for providing a world-class contest venue.

(L-R) W3 Contestants Freddie (Friendship), Amanda (KPMG KL), Area W3 Governor Kimmy Foo, Soo Loon & Lee Lee (Exact ADC), Aaron (KPMG KL)

As joint hosts, KPMG KL and IBM Malaysia Toastmasters Club did an excellent job in preparing the contest venue. Special thanks to Grace Loh for her fabulous potato salad which was an instant hit with the health-conscious members of Area W3. We also had sandwiches, kuih, muffins and doughnuts provided KPMG KL, Exact ADC and Friendship Toastmasters Club.

Attendees enjoying the generous spread prepared by Area W3 Clubs

Organising Chair Chee Hoe was not able to attend the contest due to his outstation work assignment at Kota Kinabalu. Area Govenor Kimmy read out his welcome message:

I'm so sorry that I couldn't make it to this contest and welcome you in person. Due to work, I have to miss this GREAT and LOVELY contest. Honestly, I'm currently bored at work because nothing will be more interesting than spending my time at the Area Contest now.

Toastmasters from Area W3 Clubs contribute to this massive event today. Because of them, I realized the true meaning of TEAMWORK.

A big THANK YOU to another group of Toastmasters - the contestants.
All of you are Champions! Your voice can make a difference!

We started with the International Speech Contest where we were amused and entertained by four talented speakers. When Aaron asked, “Who killed chivalry?”, several female members of the audience answered, “Men!”. Aaron spent the next 6 minutes hilariously explaining that it was women who killed chivalry. In his opinion the garbage man with the heart of gold should not be tossed aside as sincerity, compassion and kindness matters more than material wealth.

In “Education”, Kenny spoke seriously about the subject of public education. We may complain about the shortfalls of public education but as masters of our destiny, our success is determined by the effort we put in, not just on the textbooks and teachers we have had.

We agreed that we should “Smell the roses” after listening to Soo Loon’s speech. For years he slogged at work, always the last to leave the office. Then he began to wonder what was it all for? He decided to spend more time with his family, reading bedtime stories every night to his children. At times, he woke up earlier just to prepare his daughter’s favourite pancake breakfast. Life may be a path full of thorns, it is also a path paved with roses when we choose to make a difference to the people who matters to us.

For Freddie’s “Face-hooked” speech, it set us thinking – are we spending too much time on Facebook? Although a wonderful invention, he cautioned us not to neglect the people in our lives while we constantly check on the updates of our cyber friends.

International Speech Contest Results
Champion – Teo Soo Loon (Exact ADC)
1st runner up - Freddie Yap (Friendship)

Area W3 International Speech Champion Soo Loon

For the Table Topics Contest, the topic posed was, “Experience teaches us more than books”. In Kenny’s opinion, experience is the best teacher because when you get burnt, you will remember it for life!

As chances come and chances go, Amanda urged us to grab the opportunity to experience something new that may change your life forever. For Freddie, he recommended to read more to tap on the experiences of others. Instead of finding our way thru the jungle on our own, why not read to find out the path to take?

For Lee Lee, she started dramatically with a scene where her 6 year old daughter insisted on going out to play and she ended up getting hurt. Lee Lee had relented and allowed her daughter to go out despite the risk of getting hurt because she believed that we may read tons of books and surf the net but without experience, we have nothing.

Table Topics Contest Results
Champion – Guok Lee Lee (Exact ADC)
1st runner up - Freddie Yap (Friendship)

Area W3 Table Topic Champion Lee Lee

Our Area W3 Champions will represent W3 at Division W International Speech and Table Topics Contest on Sat 17 March 2012 at Goldhill Club, Kepong. We wish them all the best on their next destination, as they continue on their path to be a better speaker.

Here’s hoping that everyone will remember to smell the roses and enjoy life while gaining new experiences and new-found wisdom in our quests to be better than what we were yesterday.


Thank you IBM Malaysia, for an excellent contest venue.
Thank you IBM Malaysia and KPMG KL, for co-hosting this wonderful event !

Photos contributed by President Eric Low, TARC Toastmasters Club