Division W HSC 18.09.10

With “Positive Thinking”, you could be the next Division W Humorous Speech Champion. Here is the story of how it became a reality for one positive thinker.

Our Humorous Speech Champion grew up with the ambition to be a salesman. He realized that salesman, like mahjong players are positive thinkers. Even though fate may not hand you the perfect set of mahjong tiles, “Never mind, play first, maybe can still win” positive thinking means not quitting before the game is over.

Then he joined Toastmasters and he realized that there are many positive thinkers in this organization. He related his experience of not having prepared for his first speech, and slouching back to his seat after delivering it. To his surprise, fellow member Marian commended on his courage for doing his Ice Breaker speech. Another member Charlie shook his hand warmly, saying “Good speech. The next one will be even better”.

Our laughter continued when he told us that even if we were to remain silent for 5 minutes, the encouraging evaluation we will receive would be: “Speaker was courageous to attempt speaking before an audience, has good posture and I look forward to the next speech”.

He started with strumming on his guitar and ended his speech with a song. In between, he told us stories of the salesmen visiting his father’s shop, his goalkeeper days at school and his positive thinking football coach “It doesn’t matter how many goals the other team scored, we just have to score one more than them”. In the end, his “Positive Thinking” speech won the hearts of the judges and the audience.











Chief Judge DTM Ramdas Nayar receiving his certificate of appreciation from Organising Chair Kang, who is also Area W2 Governor


Our first-runner up “The Better Man” is a Superman fan. With his Superman costume change right in front of our eyes, his clever incorporation of the other contestants’ speech titles into his speech, and his hilarious explanation of why Superman is better than Batman, we became fans of Superman as well. Although none of us are Superman, we certainly can be The Better Man or Woman and do our part to help out others.










Members of KPMG who came to support their favourite contestants Aaron and Grace


“Size Does Matter” proclaims our second runner-up. She was surprised when a guy asked for her number. She was again pleasantly surprised when he called her but instead of sending her flowers and chocolate, he sent her slimming products. Her personal stories were immensely entertaining and her message was simply beautiful - yes, size does matter - the size of your heart. Show love and shower kindness on everyone, she says.











The winners !


Division W Humorous Speech Contest
Champion Lee Xi Wen (Positive Thinking)
First runner up Aaron Francis Lee (The Better Man)
Second runner up Nishaline Priya (Size Does Matter)













Aaron receiving his award from Division Governor DTM Vincent Hor











TTDI members with their Humorous Speech and Evaluation Champions


For the Evaluation Contest, test speaker G. Sivalingam’s speech on “Decisions, decisions, decisions” asked us not to sweat over the small stuff. Make the little decisions in your life based on your heart. These small decisions may change your life and the big decisions will take care of themselves.

Our Evaluation Champion quoted from Donald Trumph “A winner is not one who does not fail, but one that does not quit”. His winning recommendation to the test speaker is to use the power of 3 which is triads, to use 2 voices as he narrated one of his stories and to use pauses for his ideas to sink into the audience’s mind.

Our first runner-up praised the test speaker’s dynamic speech but questioned the speech value. The speech started with the test speaker’s decision to quit his job (big decision) and in the conclusion, the speaker asked us to make small decisions based on our heart. This evaluator recommended to link the introduction to the conclusion.

The second runner-up’s evaluation was delivered without using the podium. In his opinion, it was a good speech with a pertinent message which we can relate to. The test speaker has good body movements but perhaps a little too much. He also advocated the power of pauses to add greater emphasis to his points.

Division W Evaluation Contest
Champion Seetho Whye Kit
First runner up Dr. Devi Menon
Second runner up Darcy Steinhart









Members of Speakers Dream who came to support their contestant Darcy Steinhart who took part in both contests












Toastmaster of the Day Stephen Fernando receiving a token of appreciation from OC Kang











Mantissa members Viet Ha & Jia Qi, after their Timer and SAA duties have ended


To enjoy more Humorous Speech Contests, do clear your schedule for these upcoming events:

Division B Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
Date: Sat 25 Sept 2010
Time: 1.30pm - 5.30pm
Venue: Kolej Putra Intelek, Puchong

Division G Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
Date: Sat 25 Sept 2010
Time: 1.30pm - 5.30pm
Venue: PJ Community Centre, PJ

Division P Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
Date: Sat 25 Sept 2010
Time: 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Venue: Menara Exxonmobil, KLCC

Division C Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
Date: Sat 2 Oct 2010
Time: 1.30pm - 6.00pm
Venue: UMW Toyota, Shah Alam

District 51 Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
Date: Sun 31 Oct 2010
Time: 9.00am - 12.00pm
Venue: Legend Hotel, KL Semi-Annual Convention

Month of Contests

Friendship on Tues 03 Aug 2010











Contestants Sivadas, Tony Lim, Thomas Chen, Roslyn Tan,
Kent Ho & Ben Fong

We will never know what exactly captivated the judges’ hearts. Was it
his smile? Was it his singing? Or was it his song choices? Our Humorous
Speech Champion did not just sing one song, he sang several as he
narrated about his Roller-coaster Ride of Love.

Our first runner-up winner spoke about “Relationship”. He shared with
us that men are simple creatures. They only converse for 30 seconds and
own 1 pair of shoes. Women on the other hand, are more complex, are
allowed to burst into tears for no reason and will be treated to free
dinners by men. His advice to other men is to treasure every moment
with your loved one and it is not necessary to understand the complex
nature of the fairer sex.

Humorous Speech Champion - Kent Ho
1st Runner Up - Ben Fong
2nd Runner Up - Thomas Chen

















Humorous Speech Champion Kent Ho

Evaluation Champion - Thomas Chen
1st Runner Up - Ben Fong

















Evaluation Champion Thomas Chen

Exact ADC on Tues 10 Aug 2010

In the winning speech “Life Saving Codes”, we learnt that men are
simple-minded where a Yes means yes, and a No means no. Women, on
the other hand, are harder to decipher, as her answers may not be
so straight-forward. For example, when a woman says “Fine”, do take
note of the pitch. A high pitch “Fine” means it is anything but fine!

We were also entertained by a speech on “Toilet Surviving Tests”. The
inspiration for this speech was the speaker’s 5 year old son who has
a phobia of public toilets. It was a treat listening to this humorous
speech.

Humorous Speech Champion - Brenda Loo
Evaluation Champion - Brenda Loo
First runner up for Evaluation Contest - Chan Hoey Teng














Brenda with Contest Chair Loon













Brenda with Ai Shiang

Humour Workshop on Sat 14 Aug 2010

There could not have been a better time for the Humour Workshop
organized by Division W, as we were in the middle of our Humorous
Speech Contest season. As expected, we had lots of laughter. What I had
not expected though, was an epiphany from DTM Loghandran – in order to
be humorous, you have to be happy first. To be happy, let go of our
emotional baggage, forgive and move on from the past.














At Tiffani Hall

He also informed us to read to get humorous material. Alternatively,
observe the people around us, remember jokes other people have used,
or even attend club level speech contests! His recommendation would be
no intellectual jokes. When we have to think too deep, we would not be
able to laugh.












DTM Loghandran with volunteer from the audience, James

ING on Wed 18 Aug 2010

Thank you to ING Leadership Toastmasters Club for hosting our Area W3
Contest. We were entertained by speeches on being “The Better Man”, how
parenting “Revolution” has evolved, and the enjoyment of “Childlike
Simplicity”. Superman made an appearance in the first speech. In the
second speech, we learnt the humorous aspect of parenting that doesn’t
come with an instruction manual. In the last speech, our take-home
message was – don’t forget the joys of our childlike simplicity days.
We should treasure it.

Area W3 Humorous Speech Contest Champion Aaron Lee (KPMG)
1st. runner up Brenda Loo (Exact ADC)
















Brenda, HSC Contest Chair Yuen Kai & Aaron

Area W3 Evaluation Contest Champion Grace Loh (KPMG)
1st. runner up Ben Fong (Friendship)














Evaluation Contest Chair KC, Grace & Ben

Next, our Area W3 Champions Aaron and Grace will be competing at
Division W Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests on 18 September
2010. Aaron has been preparing by delivering his speech and revising
it based on feedback provided. Grace has been studying the delivery
techniques of past Evaluation champions.

Our best wishes to Aaron and Grace. Join us at Wisma IJM on 18
September, be part of the enthusiastic and supportive audience, and be
part of Division W history.

Contributed by
Angeline Lee

An Evening At Mantissa

At the recent Area W4 Contest on Sat 21 August, we were impressed by
several young Mantissa contestants. They may not have been the most
proficient speakers on that Saturday afternoon, but their courage to
compete against the likes of Lee Xi Wen (Division W Champion) was
commendable. Although slightly nervous, they tried their best, which
was all that anyone could ask for.






Mantissa members at Area W4 Contest





At the end of the Area contest, as we were chatting with this group
of young students, President Ha invited me to their next meeting on
Wed 25 August. It was not a difficult decision. Mantissa members have
been helping us out at Division W events, even at our recent Area W3
Contest, at Menara ING. On my concern about reaching their meeting
venue on time, President Ha assured me the meeting time can be changed
to 7 PM to accommodate external guests.

On Monday, VPE Kelly sent me the program agenda with all the role
players in place. VPM Meng Yet inquired whether I was familiar with
their meeting venue at Bangunan AHP, TTDI.

During the President’s opening speech, the considerate President Ha
requested everyone to introduce themselves, for the benefit of first-
timer guests.






TME Jia Qi





TME Jia Qi then took control of the meeting. He was very smartly
dressed. He later told me that he took the trouble to dress for the
occasion as he was the TME.

Table Topics Master Derek was very encouraging especially when he asked
new member King to practice on his impromptu speaking. He repeated the
question in Mandarin, to be sure that King understood the question.
Six “Horror” (meeting theme) questions were asked and 6 speakers spoke
of their horrible experience, including ghostly ones. King told us that
he would like to befriend a female ghost, as he is a guy. He will ask
her questions such as – Do you have a boyfriend?






The meeting room at Mantissa College





For project speeches, we had an Ice Breaker speech from Amanda. She
delivered a touching story with a meaningful message for all of us:
spend as much time as possible with your loved ones and friends because
each day could be the last time we see them.

From Jen Wei, we had the second Ice Breaker speech. This time, we were
treated to a story of an adventurous boy who is proud to be a King
Scout. His role model is his dad, which is also a Scout. Jen Wei also
incorporated the use of visual aid in his speech, showing us his King
Scout badge.

Attempting speech no. 3 was President Ha. He was never at a lost of
words with his amusing anecdotes of his life experiences (20 years of
it so far).

In the evaluation session, IPP Derek, VPPR Shang Hui and VPE Kelly
delivered their insightful evaluations. Even though two of them have
not completed 6 CC speeches, they had the courage to take on evaluation
roles which many of us would have shirked from. Grammarian Xiao Qi,
Ah-Counter Miki and Timer Fu Ming were equally diligent and delivered
detailed reports.






Best Table Topics Speaker & Best Project Speaker Amanda being congratulated by President Ha






I had attended this meeting expecting it to be fun. Instead it turned
out to be not only fun, I met a group of inspiring young people. This
group of student was trying their best at their respective roles. They
earnestly wanted to improve in their speaking and evaluation skills,
and applied themselves diligently. At the same time, they created a
fun, learning environment for everyone.

After the meeting, IPP Derek insisted on paying for our meal. Although
I was reluctant to have a student pay for my dinner, he was insistent
that this was the least he could do for his guests. When he asked me
whether I was disappointed with the club visit, my immediate response
was “Definitely not!”






With the young, fun and friendly students of Mantissa






Thank you Mantissa, for an inspiring evening, for reminding me that
great things can happen if we just have the courage to try our best at
life’s many challenges.

Contributed by
Angeline Lee

Area W3 Contest 18.08.10

Audience at Menara ING


It takes a team to win a speech contest. This is the story of the winning team of Area W3 Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests held on 18 August 2010.

“The Better Man” winning speech contestant met up with his Immediate Past President (IPP) on a weekend prior to the Area contest. The IPP, himself a former Area Contest Champion, provided valuable advice and mentoring to a relatively new Toastmaster who had only completed 7 CC speeches. On the night of the contest, our contestant was tense. His IPP was by his side, coaching him, motivating him up to the start of the contest.

And what a speech we were treated to. As the contestant explained to us the hilarious facts of why Superman is better than Batman, his IPP must have been proud and happy to hear the sound of laughter from the audience.

Our Evaluation Champion at first had no thoughts of being a contestant at our Area Contest. With the encouragement and support of her IPP, she agreed to take part and took half day leave to be at our Area Contest on time. She rose from her seat as her name was announced and presented her winning speech, with all eyes were on her, listening intently to her analysis and recommendations for our “Mid-life Crisis” test speaker.

Area W3 is proud to announce that our winning team consists of

Evaluation Champion Grace Loh and Humorous Speech Champion Aaron Lee

Area W3 Humorous Speech Contest (HSC) Champion Aaron Lee (KPMG)
1st. runner up Brenda Loo (Exact ADC)

Brenda, HSC Contest Chair Yuen Kai & Aaron

Area W3 Evaluation Contest
Champion Grace Loh (KPMG)
1st. runner up Ben Fong (Friendship)

Evaluation Contest Chair KC, Grace & Ben


It also takes a team to organize and run this contest. Our heartfelt appreciation to the many Toastmasters who helped us in making our Area contests a success. They are

Organising Chair Yoke Wan & SAA Alice, Lionel & Jen
Thank you ING, for hosting this event, and taking care of the logistics
arrangement of this event.














Organising Chair Yoke Wan presenting certificate of appreciation to SAA Alice


Contest Chair Yuen Kai
Thank you for conducting the Humorous Speech Contest with energy and enthusiasm.

Contest Chair KC
Thank you for conducting the Evaluation Contest with flair.

Chief Judge Janice & Team
Thank you for helping us to select our Area W3 winners for Division W Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest on 18 Sept 2010.

Ballot-counters Andrew & Lay Theng
Thank you for assisting Chief Judge Janice.
Andrew, thank you for helping us to prepare the certificate of appreciation & certificate of participation for this contest.
Lay Theng, thank you for providing guidance to our SAAs during the Evaluation Contest.

Timers Ying Ling & Jia Qi
Ying Ling, our contest timing was in safe, capable hands.
Jia Qi, you are always available to help us out. Thank you.

Test Speaker Siok Looi
It was a hilarious speech on mid-life crisis and a timely reminder to us to be happy NOW.

Contestants Aaron, Brenda, Ben, Grace & Kent
Without you there will be no Area Contests !
Thank you for making time to prepare for the contests, and taking time off from work and family commitment, to be with us.

Cameraman Gary
A picture tells a thousand words. Thank you, Gary.

Special mention to Janice, Jia Qi & Meng Yet
Thank you for helping us to arrange the chairs, tables and food before the start of the contest.











KPMG members Suresh, Grace, IPP Muz, Aaron












Exact ADC members Kacey, Andrew, Brenda & Yuen Kai













Friendship members Zaiton, Ben, KC, Angeline and Lay Theng


Join us at Division W Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest on 18 Sept 2010 and find out whether our “Better Man” Aaron will emerge as the “Best Man”, and whether Grace will be crowed as Best Evaluator of Division W !

Month of Installation and Club Meetings

KPMG on Sat 26 June 2010

From left, Grace Loh, Nasruna, Joshua, Muz, Chee Yong, Grace Lee, guest Chin Teck, Joanita, Diyana, Shin Ying

It began like any other Toastmasters meeting, with SAA Nas calling
the meeting to order. However, it was not to be just like any other
Toastmasters meeting.

Not only did KPMG decided to have their Club Officers Installation
ahead of time (before the term officially began on 1 July), it was a
historic meeting with 3 project speeches, and all of them were 10th
speeches.

For her project speech no. 10 Inspire Your Audience. Grace Lee
delivered her thought-provoking "So What?" speech while Chee Yong asked
us "Is now the time to change job?"

Finishing his tenth speech during the last meeting for term 2009/2010,
President Muz delivered an inspiring "If You Build it, They Will Come"
Storytelling speech. Not only did he do well in "Bringing History to
Life", he shared with us a tale of perseverance, of Jules Rimet’s dream
to stage an international football tournament back in 1928. Despite
obstacles, his dream finally materialized when the first FIFA World Cup
match was held in 1930 in Uruguay.

Award winners are (from left)

Grace Lee - CC pin & ribbon and
Best Table Topics Speaker,
Muz - ACB ribbon & Best Project Speaker, Chee Yong - CC pin & ribbon,
Joanita - Joint Best Table Topics Speaker

During the Club Officers Installation, all club officers pledged to
perform their duties to the best of their ability.

Club officers for 2010/2011 are (from left) Treasurer Shin Ying, SAA Nasruna, VPPR Joanita, VPE Joshua, President Grace and Immediate Past President Muz.

Friendship on Tues 6 July 2010

In a departure from our customary practice, this year’s Installation
Night was purely an evening of fun and games. We started off with the
Club Officers Installation.

Zaiton, taking her Presidential oath.
Behind her is VPPR Alex, Secretary Vincent, Treasurer Wai Yee and SAA Sivadas

During the games segment, one of the games was “pass the message”.
Not surprisingly, the final message bears almost no resemblance to
the original message after 5 volunteers tried out their listening and
speaking skills. The audience’s conclusion was that the patient may
not survive the medical procedure being described by the 5 volunteers!

The audience in laughter during the games session

ING on Wed 7 July 2010

Over at Menara ING, ING Leadership members attended their first
anniversary meeting. Yes, it has been one year since this club was
chartered!

Fittingly, President Jimmy delivered speech no. 6 on “Appreciate What
You Have”. He showed us many captivating pictures, reminding us to be
grateful for what we have.

VPPR Gary, guest Anne, Secretary Sook Jen, Ai Hong, President Jimmy, VPE Poh Leng, VPM Yoke Wan, Kwai Lin, SAA Lionel, Johnny

KPMG on Sat 24 July 2010

From left, Grace Lee, Grace Loh, Joshua, Aaron, Farhat, Chee Hoe (Friendship), Chee Yong, Johnny (MIA), Joyce (DU Advanced), Suresh, Chong Ming

On his first visit to KPMG, Assistant Area Governor Marketing Chor Chee
Hoe came bearing gifts. In his role as Table Topics Master, he prepared
5 mystery gift and a magic word to go with each gift. Table Topics
speakers Grace Lee, Aaron, Suresh, Chong Ming and Chee Yong spoke
eloquently about their mystery gifts.

For the project speeches, we travelled to Paris with Farhat, agreed
with Chong Ming’s Live Up to Your Dream, and listened to Aaron’s tale
of a Malaysian Maverick.

Grace with project speakers Farhat, Chong Ming and Aaron, with their TI ribbons

Exact ADC on Mon 26 July 2010

Club Officers for 2009/2010 – VPE Andrew, President Yuen Kai, VPPR Chee Yoong and SAA Emily were discharged from their duties

Club Officers for 2010/2011 are President Andrew, VPM Yuen Kai, Secretary Caroline, VPPR Hairani, VPE Chee Yoong

and Treasurer Kacey

At GTower, we had an evening of Club Officers Installation followed by
dinner and Charade. Everyone took turns trying out their acting skills
to help the audience guessed the correct movie title.

The most challenging scenes and worthy of “Best Actor” nominations
are Chee Yoong who portrayed “Alice in Wonderland”, Rahman dancing
for “From Paris With Love” and Andrew demonstrating his martial arts
skills as a “Shanghai Knight”. Emily was the fastest at correctly
identifying a movie title, within 6 seconds, for “The Lords of the
Ring”.

All in all, it has been a busy July month for everyone, attending Club
Officer Installation events and club meetings.

Contributed by Angeline Lee

Thank You, Toastmasters

Muz, Immediate Past President of KPMG KL Toastmasters Club

For those who still have doubts about the Power of Toastmasters, I hope this story will give you some inspiration.

Recently, I was asked to be the Emcee for an event at Bursa Malaysia, my current employer. I didn’t know the details, but I said “Yes” anyway.

I found out later that the event was to be graced by Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar (Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia), Board of Directors of Bursa Malaysia, Dato’ Yusli Mohamed Yusoff (our CEO), the Heads of Investment Banks (the likes of Tengku Dato’ Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Chief Executive Offcer of Maybank Investment Bank) and delegates from the Thailand Stock Exchange. Previously I had participated as the Emcee for a smaller event at Bursa but I did not realized that this event was going to be so BIG!! I was so terrified !!

BUT, there was no turning back and furthermore, there was no back-up Emcee.

The event took place on 29 July 2010, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and I was the “Master of ceremony”. This role is not just an ordinary Emcee but playing the multi-faceted role of the host, welcoming the crowd, facilitator, handling the Q&A sessions and ensuring the overall smooth running of the event. Imagine doing all this in front of a crowd of 150 people and most of them senior dignitaries. Definitely no mean feat… but I managed to pull it off!

I was extremely nervous and I tried very hard not to show this to the audience. I even managed to crack a few jokes, uttered a few words in Thai to make our Thai delegates feel welcome. I also managed to keep within the time limit.

The event was a SUCCESS. For me, it was a personal achievement !!

All these did not occur from mere sheer luck. I would like to thank Toastmasters for giving me the skills and courage to do ALL this.

Muz winning the Best Project Speaker award at KPMG 26 June 2010 meeting

I cherish all the moments I was the Toastmaster-of-the-Evening at KPMG KL Toastmasters Club. It very well paid off! All the practice that I had, all that Area and Division competitions that I took part in, all the training and coaching I had from my gurus of Toastmasters and from all my Toastmasters friends and members! It has all paid off!

Muz is the first runner-up at the 2009 Division W Evaluation Contest

A sincere and heartfelt “Thank you Toastmasters!”
Without you, NONE of this would be possible.

Contributed by
Muz
Proud Toastmaster 2007-present
President of KPMG KL Toastmasters Club (2009/2010)

A Visit To Austin

By sheer coincidence, on the same fateful evening of 25 May 2010, while Exact ADC VPPR Chee Yoong was visiting Rotterdam Toastmasters Club, I was visiting Austin Toastmasters Club in Texas, USA.

I had written to VPE Kimberly prior to the 25 May date requesting for a meeting role, and this was the response I received.

Hello, Angeline! So good to have you visit! :)

Guess what?! There's ONE spot open and it's for General Evaluator. Wouldn't that be perfect?? Shall I mark you down? Looking forward to seeing you. Best and more, Kimberly

Truth to tell, my heart skipped a beat when I read her reply. How does one prepare for a GE role for a Toastmasters club that I have not set foot upon, in a country that I will be visiting for the first time, and to a group of Toastmasters whom I have never met? The answer – Just do it! After all, I will be in the land that created the global Nike brand with its instantly recognizable logo and slogan.

Austin Toastmasters Club (www.austintoastmasters.org) of District 55 is a community club which meets every Tuesday at 6.15 PM. It is 60 members strong and on 25 May, there were about 40 members and guests attending this meeting. It is a certainly a larger number than what we are accustomed to in our Area W7 club meetings.

Timer Santos, President Chuck, Table Topic Speaker Kelly and guest












Although we are in the same Toastmasters family, we are not exactly alike. Here are some interesting differences
· There is no table topics evaluation
· The Grammarian and Ah-Counter role are combined into one. It certainly is not an easy task to juggle both these roles at the same time
· A Listener role which is something new to us. The Listener’s task is to ask a few questions towards the end of the meeting and members are to answer these questions. The questions are based on what was said during the meeting and if you have not been paying attention, you would not be able to answer these questions
· Any table topic speaker, project speaker or speech evaluator who exceeded their speaking time allocation is not eligible to be voted as best speaker or best evaluator. This helps everyone to be more mindful of the timing requirements
· The project speeches are recorded which is of great help to the speakers as they are able to review their presentation
· GE has the task to select the Most Enthusistic Member for the meeting

Videographer Addison













The meeting was superbly handled by TME Jeff. In the first session, Table Topics Master Tamara invited 5 table topics speakers to answer questions relating to the Memorial Day meeting theme.

TME Jeff and his wife Table Topics Master Tamara















Four project speeches were in stored for us this evening and we were not disappointed by the Teaching & Toastmasters, The Most Engaging Place, Sadiversary and The Hedonist in the Cellar speeches presented by Ian, Charlie, Ann and David.

For the Evaluation Session, I decided to make use of the Word of the Day by stating that speeches and evaluation are concomitant in a Toastmasters meeting. The evaluator team comprising of Tosin, Addison, Trey and Chuck provided precise and helpful evaluation for the four speakers.

All of Listener Ian’s questions were promptly answered by the members, proving that listening skills were not lacking at this meeting.

After a nationwide vote of 40 plus members and guests, here are the award winners. Everyone in the photo is drinking David’s wine, which was the visual aid for his Hedonist in the Cellar speech.

Best Evaluator Chuck, Best Table Topics Speaker Kelly, Most Enthusiastic Member Marc and Best Project Speaker David.












Thank you, Austin Toastmasters Club for having me to as your GE. It was a memorable and fun meeting and I hope to have another opportunity to revisit this Club. I have absolutely no regrets with my decision to Just Do It!

Contributed by Angeline Lee

Thank You

The Toastmasters 2009/2010 term is coming to an end and we will be embarking on a brand new term on 1 July 2010. Before this term ends, I would like to record my sincere thanks and appreciation, in particular, to three hard-working, dedicated and talented Toastmasters of Area W7.


Area W7 Governor Tan Lay Theng


Thank you Lay Theng, for the learning opportunity as your Assistant Area Governor Marketing. With this role, I have progressed from being a Friendship club member to visiting clubs in Area W7 and helping out with Division W events. It has been a life-changing journey and it all started with a question from you whether I would like to consider taking up the Assistant Area Governor post.

The qualities that you have - not just doing a job but doing it well, your humility, your ability to encourage and motivate me to try out new things that I didn’t know I was capable of doing, are qualities that I admire and hope to someday emulate.

Thank you for being our exemplary Area Governor, fellow Friendship member and for being a perfect example of - A friend helping friends to succeed – our Friendship theme.


Assistant Area Governor Training & Education Lee Soo Ling


Thank you Soo Ling, for organizing the impromptu joint meeting between Friendship and Ireka in November last year. It was a good opportunity for both our club members to get to know each other better as fellow Area W7 clubs.

As fellow Assistant Area Governors, we have worked together on Division W Winning Speech Forum, ISTT and Area W7 ISTT. In March we started on our challenging new roles as club mentor and sponsor for Maybank, the newest club in Division W.

I am glad that we will continue to work together in the coming term, moving on from serving Area W7 to serving Division W.



Area Public Relations Officer Lai Chee Yoong


Last but not least, thank you Chee Yoong, the creator of our Area W7 Blog. It is a well-designed blog and has impressed many Toastmasters, inclusive of our Area W7 club members of KPMG and ING. They only require minimal persuasion to do a write-up about their club meetings when I suggested that our Area blog could do with some club updates.

Friendship and Exact ADC had two collaborations for this term. The first one was the enriching interview session with our humorous Immediate Past District Governor Joseph Gomez. We then had our first joint meeting in February of this year. It will not be our last joint meeting as I am sure we can and we will have many more fruitful collaboration in the coming term.

Updates: CL Manual, Member Interest & New Member Surveys

As we move towards the new term, you may find the following guides and documents of great resource to you:

1. CL Manual 
2. New Member Orientation Interview 
3. Member Interest Survey
   

Exact ADC: Visit to Rotterdam Toastmasters

On the fateful evening of Tuesday, 25th May 2010, I went for a visit to Rotterdam Toastmasters on invitation by our very own Caroline de Neef. Caroline offered to drive after office and with bicycle as the only transportation at my disposal, I gladly accepted her generous offer.

Crowd @ the Rotterdam Toastmasters Club

As I walked through the doors of the building hosting the meeting, I could not help but feel a tingle of nostalgia in me. It was like going to school again. Black boards, chalks, wooden stairs greeted me. I paced up the staircase and as I entered the door to the room at the top of the building, I was greeted warmly by Nina, the VP of Membership. After registering myself and saying hi to a few more members, I went back down to wait for Jorn. Very much like myself, Jorn decided to join in as a guest to see Rotterdam Toastmasters in action.

The President, Anastasia handling the AGM

The meeting was kicked off by Anastasia who led the Annual General Meeting. All current officers provided a report of the term. The final report, which was the most comprehensive one came from the current Treasurer Ingeborg, who will also be next term's President. The club also discussed on the probable change of venue and a term-end party.

IPP Pepijn addressing the crowd

The meeting proper started with David Kipping giving his final speech in the CC manual. In that he shared the tips and tricks learnt throughout his Toastmasters journey to inspire other members. This was followed by a CC Project 2 speech by Navin entitled "Driven to Drive" in which he shared his driving experience in the Netherlands.

Caroline giving her speech evaluation

After the speeches, the meeting progressed right away to the evaluation session starting with speech evaluations by Caroline and Nina. Caroline as usual, is composed in her evaluation. She is also going to the the VP of Education for the Rotterdam Toastmasters Club next term.

After the meeting was adjourned, members proceeded to the bar located on the ground floor of the building for some light refreshments cum social meeting.

Our guest, Jorn from Exact UX team.

All in all, I must say that it was a refreshing experience to witness a Toastmasters AGM and meeting abroad.

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To Rotterdam Toastmasters,

Thanks for inviting me. I wish you all the best in the new term and hope that you will soar to new heights.

Contributed by Chee Yoong, Lai, VP PR Exact ADC Toastmasters


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