March Club Meetings

Friendship on Tue 1 March 2011

For our “Trust and Integrity” meeting, Friendship was host to nine guests, thanks to the effort of VPM Chee Hoe, Susan and Past President Kim.

VPPR Alexandra with guests Rosalie, Lana, Daphne, VPE Angeline, Susan & guest Lee Ching

We have three pieces of happy news to share. Firstly, Susan informed us she has just received a promotion, after she joined Friendship. Congratulations to Susan !

Secondly, Susan’s guest, Daphne, announced that she has made the decision to join us, thus becoming the latest addition to Friendship Toastmasters Club.

Thirdly, VPM Chee Hoe unveiled the results of Friendship’s Membership Campaign which started on 19 Aug 2010 and ended on 28 Feb 2011. For her effort in bringing guests to our meetings and effortlessly converting her guests to members, Susan was the clear winner. Once again, congratulations to Susan !

Susan is the winner for Friendship’s Membership Campaign

KPMG KL on Wed 9 March 2011

Toastmaster of the Day Chee Sing has us laughing when he told us he can’t wait to ‘discover’ Joo Lee. We discovered more of Joo Lee when she presented her touching Ice Breaker speech about her difficult decision to move on after being in a relationship for 5 years. With her uplifting message of “keep growing, keep learning and be the best you can be”, she had our hearts and votes to emerge as the Best Project Speaker.

Project Speakers Joo Lee, Patrick and Krystle with their TI ribbons

Not only did President Grace presented project speakers Joo Lee, Patrick and Krystle with TI ribbons for speeches 1, 2 and 8, she had two more to give away. Congratulations to VPE Joanita and VPM Michelle who have completed all their CL manual assignments !

Joanite and Michelle with their CL ribbons

One World on Thur 10 March 2011

We had interesting speeches from our Best Project Speakers. Mei Fen inspired us to say “Yes!” to a new world of possibilities, excitement and adventure. We may even gain new friends just by saying yes to an invitation to a gathering.

Joint Best Project Speakers Meifen and Amenny with President Jessica

From Amenny, her speech on “How to become a property investor with 0 downpayment” held us spellbound for 7 minutes as she told us how she managed to own 5 properties at the age of 30. Last year, she bought 5 units at Berjaya Times Square and subsequently sold it at a profit of 40% ! This successful property investor gave us valuable tips and promised to share more in her future speeches. Interested in joining us at future One World meetings and learning from this enterprising extraordinaire ?


Exact ADC on Tue 15 March 2011
By Caroline, Exact ADC

“Changes” (Theme of the day) were definitely in store, as Brenda took the stand as Toastmaster of the Day. She had lined up a slightly reshuffled agenda, making things a little unexpected for those who were all too familiar with the standard format of our meetings.

Instead of starting off with the Table Topics session, we had assignment speakers presenting their prepared speeches first. Our Area W3 International Speech Contest winner, Loon, on a roll from the recent contest speeches, did his CC speech no. 6 with the title “My Malaysian Christmas”. He spoke of how Santa Claus came about and his version of what a Malaysian Santa Claus would look like.

Our second speaker was TME Brenda, who presented her assignment speech from the Humorously Speaking manual. In her “Anti-gravity” speech, she did not fail to make the audience laugh, with her signature humour-filled delivery on the modern day women’s obsession with youthful beauty and the race to defy age.

The impromptu speech session was up next. Table Topics Master Caroline had prepared some rather tricky topics based on the meeting’s theme. The winning speech was about “If you could change the plot of a movie, which movie would it be and why?” It was clear that Brenda would have liked to be Leonardo’s love interest on Titanic, when she spoke on her topic.

Best Table Topics Speaker Brenda receiving her award from President Andrew

This meeting was indeed a pleasant change from the norm and the general feedback was to see more positive changes in our coming meetings !

Division W ISTT Contests

Area W3 congratulates Soo Loon and Shirley who did not return empty-handed after contesting at Division W International Speech and Table Topics (ISTT) Contests on 12 March 2011.

Congratulations to Shirley & Soo Loon !

We had a number of members from One World, Friendship, Exact ADC and KPMG KL attending this event. They came to witness the 10 winners from 5 Area Contests competing to win the coveted Division W Champion titles and also to support our favourite contestants Soo Loon and Shirley.

Members of One World Toastmasters Club

Shirley & Grace from KPMG KL Toastmasters Club

Exact ADC Yuen Kai & Chern Yi, with Soo Loon & Club Mentor Rengan

Seated two rows in front of Yuen Kai and his 7 year old son Chern Yi, we heard Chern Yi’s exclamation of delight during the winning speech about “Talk Talk Talk”. It proved that age is not a barrier to enjoying an International Speech Champion’s speech. With practiced ease, our Champion told us that babies can’t wait to talk, children can’t stop talking and teenagers talk in their own world. It was a LOL moment when he exclaimed, “OMG ! Look at the time. TTYL!” Although we can’t run away from talking, our Champion suggested that perhaps we should talk less and listen a little bit more.

Our first runner-up in his “The Brave Little Kid” speech vividly told us that each day, we take one small step towards death. It is a destination that we all share. He then had us laughing at his dramatic “die die must do” story where it was either he do or he dies. In the end, he asked us to hold on to the dreams that we had as a little kid because our dreams are not for sale. Instead of saying, “I wish I did”, we would be able to say, “I’m glad I did” if we have the courage to pursue our dreams.

Our second runner-up told us of his ardent desire to lose weight, to exercise more and to earn more than $100,000. However because of his permanent resident status in the most populous nation in the world – Procrastination, he told himself, there’s always tomorrow. Two years ago, for his elder brother Alex, tomorrow never arrived. Shaken by the sudden loss of his brother, he decided to live life as his brother had, to “Fire First, Aim Later”. He concluded by asking us, “Death is certain, but the hour is not. How many hours do you have ? What would you choose to do with it ?”

Division W International Speech Contest
Champion – Kevin Lim (Ireka – Talk, Talk, Talk)
First runner-up – Lee Xi Wen (Metropolitan – The Brave Little Kid)
Second runner-up – Teo Soo Loon (Exact ADC – Fire First, Aim Later)

Division W Governor DTM Vincent with Xi Wen, Kevin, Soo Loon & IS Contest Chair Kang

Our five Table Topics contestants tested their mettle in answering the table topic of “For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.”

Our Table Topics Champion told us of his friend who was unhappy that he has no private jets and buildings named after him. Asking us to pursue our cherished childhood dreams, he said, “Don’t wait to be happy”.

Our first runner-up lived with a woman who was full of anger. That affected her and she also transferred her anger towards her younger sister. However she concluded that this will not lead to happiness and emphatically asked us, “Don’t be angry, be happy!”

Our second runner-up told us that he does not have a lot of anger in him. For example, although he is less than pleased over his International Speech presentation, he has resolved not to let anger get in the way of his happiness.

Division W Table Topics Contest
Champion – Lee Xi Wen (TTDI)
First runner-up – Shirley Cheok (KPMG KL)
Second runner-up – Darcy Steinhart (Speakers Dream)

Division W Governor DTM Vincent with Shirley, Xi Wen, Darcy & TT Contest Chair Angeline

The champions of Division W Contests will be representing Division W at District 51 International Speech and Table Topics Contest on 1 May 2011 at the Penang Annual Convention. We wish them all the best and may our “Talk Talk Talk” Champion talk his way to another trophy while our “Brave Little Kid” with his many dreams achieve his dream to be District 51 Table Topics Champion !

Photos contributed by Yeoh Cheng Lim

Area W3 ISTT Contests 03.03.11

At Exact ADC, host for Area W3 ISTT

At our Area W3 International Speech and Table Topics (ISTT) Contests held on Thursday 3 March 2011 at G Tower, we had 50 members and guests attending this event.

Members and guests attending Area W3 ISTT

Hosted by Exact ADC Toastmasters Club, lead by Organising Chair Andrew Ng, we had guests singing praises about our buffet dinner comprising of
· Baked chicken with coconut sambal
· Roast lamb with black pepper
· Fish fillet with sweet chili sauce
· Baked prawn otak-otak
· Siew pak choy
· Mixed vegetables
· Pineapple & cucumber salad
· Fried rice
· Saute yee mee
· Banana chocolate cake
· Local fruit
· Iced punch

However, we are quite certain our members and guests did not attend solely for the food. It must have been the star power of our 8 Area contestants.

Organising Chair Andrew, Chief Judge Janice, Area Governor W3 Angeline & Contest Chair Vincent

Area W3 International Speech Contest started off with Contest Chair Vincent Soon explaining about the contest rules. Then it was time for our first contestant, Freddie from Friendship, to take centre-stage. Devastated that he was addressed as “uncle” by two young ladies, Freddie reflected on the psychological damage of the inevitable aging process. Looking on the positive side, we are “Like Fine Wine”. We get better with age, as we gain in wisdom, courage and determination.

Suresh of KPMG KL highlighted that we Malaysians could do with more of common sense. After giving us 3 humourous incidents involving “The Not So Common Sense”, he asked us to think, “Do I want someone else to do this to me?” before we act.

Third contestant Soo Loon of Exact ADC, charmed the judges with his “To Do or Not To Do” speech. Despite not feeling well, he gave us a sterling performance, convincing us to “Just do it. Tomorrow may never arrive.” Motivated by his elder brother’s motto of “Fire first, aim later”, this self-confessed procrastinator decided to take part in this year’s International Speech Contest. Procrastination’s loss was Area W3’s gain.

Our final contestant, Gary from One World, presented his life’s learning lessons in “Don’t work. Be hated. Love Someone”. It was Gary’s second speech as a Toastmaster, and Area W3 salute his courage to participate at our Area Contest, being a member of 2 months as One World Club was just chartered in January 2011.

Area W3 International Speech Contest
Champion – Teo Soo Loon (Exact ADC)
First runner-up – Freddie Yap (Friendship)

Exact members with Soo Loon (third from right), Area W3 International Speech Champion

Friendship members with Freddie (third from right), first runner-up for International Speech Contest

In the Table Topics Contest, Chief Judge Janice Lee selected the topic of “If I could travel back in time”. Shirley from KPMG KL told us she would have been less rebellious as a child. As the past cannot be changed, she would now like to help her sister to improve in her communications skills, by introducing her to Toastmasters.

Instead of spending his money on girls, parties and booze, Freddie from Friendship, would have listened to his mother’s advice to invest in property. Yuen Kai from Exact ADC, wished to study medicine and become a doctor. This Toastmaster is always generously sharing health-related information with his family and friends. Our final contestant, Gary from One World, jokingly told us that he wished he had not picked the last speaking order. He has had a nomadic existence in his growing up years, and as he cannot change the past, he chose to reflect on it and make the best of life, now.

Area W3 Table Topics Contest
Champion – Shirley Cheok (KPMG KL)
First runner-up – Gary Lee (One World)

KPMG KL members with Shirley (second from left), Area W3 Table Topics Champion


One World members with Gary (first from left), first-runner up for Table Topics Contest

Area W3 wishes both Soo Loon and Shirley all the best at Division W International Speech and Table Topics Contests to be held on Sat 12 March 2011 1.30 PM at Menara Great Eastern. Do join us and support our Area Champions, potentially the new Champions of Division W !

Area W3 Announcements

At our Area W3 International Speech and Table Topics Contests held on Thursday 3 March 2011 at G Tower, our new Area Champions were crowned.

Here are the results of our Area Contest, hosted by Exact ADC Toastmasters Club.

Area W3 International Speech Contest
Champion – Teo Soo Loon (Exact ADC)
First runner-up – Freddie Yap (Friendship)

International Speech Champion Soo Loon

Freddie is first runner-up

Area W3 Table Topics Contest
Champion – Shirley Cheok (KPMG KL)
First runner-up – Gary Lee (One World)

Contest Chair Vincent Soon with Gary Lee, first runner-up and Shirley Cheok, Table Topics Champion, and Area Governor Angeline

Our Area W3 Champions will proceed to the next level of contest which is Division W International Speech and Table Topics Contests to be held on Sat 12 March 2011 1.30 PM at Menara Great Eastern. Do join us for another exciting contest where the best of the best (contestants who have won at Club and Area level) will be competing to be the new Champions of Division W !



Area Governor Election

Following our Area Contest, Area Council members of Exact ADC, Friendship, KPMG KL and One World met for the Area Governor election for term 2011/2012. Our incoming Area Governor will serve from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012.

Area W3 is pleased to announce that our incoming Area Governor is Kimmy Foo, Past President of University Malaya Toastmasters Club and Division W Public Relations Officer 2010/2011.

Area W3 Council members with Kimmy Foo (fifth from the left)

Area W3 looks forward to working with Kimmy for the coming term and we wish her all the best in her Area Governor leadership journey.

Area W3 Club Contests

Friendship on Tues 25 Jan 2011

Freddie convinced the audience and judges that it is “Quality, not quantity” that matters. After that, Chee Hoe made us sit up and listen in his “Listen, please!” speech. Sivadas spoke of being a better speaker since joining Toastmasters in his “Unchangeable Change” speech.

In the Table Topics Contest, the topic selected by Chief Judge Lakhmichand was “Nothing is perfect, nothing is impossible” from a choice of 3 topics. Contestants Freddie, Alexandra, Sivadas, Ben and Vincent spoke on this topic with no hesitation. Among other things we heard about the perfect wife, the perfect job and of meeting one’s dream girl. It might not have been easy task for the judges to decide on the winners, with so many perfectly convincing answers to choose from.

After careful deliberation, Chief Judge Lakhmichand handed over the results to Contest Chairs Lay Theng and Angeline. Here are the results.

International Speech Contest
Champion - Freddie Yap
First runner-up - Chor Chee Hoe

International Speech Contest winners Chee Hoe and Freddie

Table Topics Contest
Champion - Freddie Yap
First runner-up - Vincent Wong
Second runner-up - Ben Fong

Table Topics winners Vincent, Freddie and Ben

KPMG on Mon 21 Feb 2011
By Grace Loh

Table Topics Champion Shirley and International Speech Champion Suresh

Suresh Ragavan, our International Speech contest champion reminded us to use a scarce commodity, “Common Sense”. He hilariously related various things we often did or encountered when we didn’t engage our brains.

Table Topics Contest Chair Joanita unveiled the topic “Your future depends on your dreams” to our team of brave ladies. It was a parade of 6 beauties taking their turn to share with us their dreams, ambitions and desires as well as how they plan to achieve them.

Table Topics contestants Joo Lee, Diyana, Shirley, Yi Hoong, Michelle and Krystle

Our newest member Joo Lee, shares her experience in taking part in a club contest for the first time. “Most agree that first love is the deepest. I’ll say my first participation in the Table Topics contest was the most exhilarating experience I’ve ever had! It was nerve wrecking at first but I truly enjoyed delivering the table topic. My level of enthusiasm increased when I saw positive responses from the audience. I’ve done it once and am already looking forward to my next speech presentation. Toastmasters can be addictive!”

International Speech Contest
Champion – Suresh Ragavan

Table Topics Contest
Champion – Shirley Cheok
First runner-up – Too Yi Hoong
Second runner-up – Toh Joo Lee


Exact ADC on Tues 22 Feb 2011
By Caroline Yap


Yeow Yuen Kai’s speech “Never give up”, was an emotional tale of his recent encounter with his cousin, who is battling cancer. There are those who are fighting for their lives, yet there are many cases of youths announcing their own “Judgement Day” and committing suicide. His key message was to not give up and life is indeed precious.

Second speaker was Andrew Ng, who firmly sent the message “Make love, not baby” in his speech on pre-marital sex, children borne out of wedlock and the murderous crime of abandoning babies.

Loon was next, with his speech “Just do it”, in which he exemplified his experience of preparing for this contest as a built-up constipation. His delivery brought rounds of laughter as he spoke of the 3 devils, urging him to fear, be unprepared and to procrastinate.

In the Table Topics Contest, the contestants were asked to speak on “Who we were, will not influence who we can be.” Andrew, Loon and Yuen Kai delivered their table topic speeches within the allotted time.

Contest Chair Chee Yoong, contestants Loon, Yuen Kai, Andrew and Organising Chair Caroline

International Speech Contest
Champion – Teo Soo Loon
First runner-up – Yeow Yuen Kai

Table Topics Contest
Champion – Teo Soo Loon
First runner-up – Yeow Yuen Kai


We wish the club contest winners all the best at the upcoming Area W3 International Speech and Table Topics Contest on Thursday 3 March 2011 at Level 8, G Tower, Jalan Tun Razak. Join us and find out who will be the new Area W3 Champion !

A Visit to Shaklee Dynamic Family

Invited by dedicated VPE Gan Ban Heng, I had a wonderful time at my first visit to Shaklee Dynamic Family Toastmasters Club on 13 February 2011. The members of Shaklee had prepared a sumptuous potluck high tea buffet for everyone. Every member brought some food and we had an excellent buffet. I enjoyed the home-cooked food which made me feel that I am part of this dynamic family.

TME Charlene lead us in reciting the Toastmasters oath

President Samuel preparing the grape juice for the toasting ceremony

I was amazed by the special ‘giving a toast’ session which uplifted our emotions. Lead by Division G Governor cum General Evaluator NJ Singam, the ‘toasting’ ceremony gave the highest respect to Toastmasters founder, Dr Ralph C Smedley. The toasting ceremony elevated the meeting.

Giving a toast to our Toastmasters International movement

Although the meeting falls on Sunday, the turn out of members is very encouraging. They are very proactive, not only in taking part in the Table Topics session, but also competing to take part in the impromptu Humour Session.

We were also pleasantly surprised by the unexpected visit of our District Governor Thannimalai and Lieutenant Governor Marketing Ramdas Nayar. Thannimalai told us that he had just finished a Youth Leadership Program in Kuala Lumpur and rushed to attend this meeting.

General Evalutor NJ Singam giving a token of appreciation to District Governor Thannimalai

As the Grammarian for this meeting, I observed that the standard of language is very high. I certainly like Julius Caesar’s quote of ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ used by TM Tee, in his prepared speech.

GE Singam provided the climax in his general evaluation by guiding us on how to benefit from the constructive feedback. I learned a lot from this exhilarating meeting and I would like to thank Mr. Gan for his invitation.

(From left) Area C6 Governor Jamilah, Division G Governor NJ Singam, District Governor Thannimalai, Shaklee President Samuel, Lieutenant Governor Marketing Ramdas Nayar


June, a guest, wins the Best Table Topics Speaker award

My fellow Toastmasters friends, do visit Shaklee on Sunday evenings to boost up your energy level for the week ahead. Even if you are not able to visit Shaklee, have a look at Division W website (http://divisionw.co.cc) to find out the meeting date and time of other clubs. Every club is unique and you will certainly learn new things from each club visit!

Contributed by Chee Hoe

January Club Meetings (Part II)

Friendship on Tues 18 Jan 2011

We were in excellent hands with TME Freddie conducting our “Courage to Conquer” meeting professionally, with well-prepared introductions. “It takes courage”, said our TME, “to say I am sorry, to say I love you, to say I will. It also takes courage to attend club meetings.”

TME Freddie, Evaluator Kim and GE Fong Ming

Our General Evaluator is no ordinary DTM. She is DTM Ho Fong Ming, our District Governor for 2003/2004. The Evaluation Session was conducted flawlessly by our elegant and affable GE.

Using the carefully prepared slides by VPM Chee Hoe, VPPR Alexandra did a marvelous job in creating excitement amongst us when she announced that the front runner for Friendship’s Membership Recruitment Campaign is none other than Past President Tony Lim.


KPMG KL on Sat 22 Jan 2011 By Grace Loh, KPMG KL

Our Saturday meeting was a small group but the response and energy was much higher than the earlier Wednesday meeting with close to 40 people!

Kudos to both Aaron and Suresh for attending the meeting and delivering their speeches despite their hectic audit schedule. They also took up the Ah Counter & Timer roles, a demonstration of their Toastmasters’ team spirit.

Suresh was filled with anger and sadness as he unfolded his past one month’s audit life with us in his project speech #5 Your Body Speaks with the title “Chapter 1”. He was able to arouse our emotion and had the audience sympathizing with him. I agreed with his evaluator, Grace Lee, that we felt Suresh’s pain and tiredness. She then skillfully injected humour in her evaluation to help elevate Suresh’s spirit.

Aaron’s graduating speech #10 with the title “Welcome To The Club”, reminded us of the ups and downs in his Toastmasters’ journey for the past one and a half years. His spirit was dashed to the ground when he received a demoralizing evaluation from an inconsiderate guest evaluator. He was comforted by Joanita’s motherly, loving and encouraging evaluation when he finally picked up his crushed spirit to deliver another speech a few months’ later.

Aaron was lifted up to cloud 9 when he was crowned Champion for Area W3 Humorous Speech Contest 2010. He even shot to fame at KPMG when partners (bosses) recognized him along the hallway, chatted with him at his workstation and fans (KPMG girls) asked him for pictures.

His inspiring speech motivated and moved 2 guests to enquire about Toastmasters membership after the meeting.

Aaron receiving Division W Humorous Speech 1st Runner Up award from Division W Governor DTM Vincent Hor on 18 Sept 2010

Exact ADC on Tues 25 Jan 2011 By Caroline Yap, Exact ADC

During the introduction round, our guest Suzie announced that this will be her last time attending as a guest. She has made the decision to officially join Exact ADC Toastmasters family!


Kacey was our "Formality" Toastmaster of the Day as well as Table Topics Master with topics carefully centered on the "Formality" meeting theme.

For the first speech of the day, Soo Loon reminded us the importance of communication in a relationship in his speech titled “Do we really communicate”. Illustrating marriage as a 4WD going up and down a hill, it is not always smooth sailing.

Soo Loon in his “Do we really communicate” speech

Our second speaker, Andrew presented his Speaking to Inform speech on “Swiftlet Farming”. Sharing some interesting facts on the Aerodramus Fuciphagus species, infamous for the expensive birds’ nests, he imparted facts and figures on the commercial breeding of these birds.

One World on Thurs 27 Jan 2011

The evening started off with President Jessica speaking on being “Proactive”, the meeting theme. She reminded us that business deal does not happen by itself when we take the wait-and-see approach.

Being proactive, TME Alex and Table Topics Master Amenny, in their first attempt at these roles, did a remarkable job in their respective roles.

We had three Ice Breaker speeches from Meifen, Gary and Jessica. Meifen told us of her school days, modeling job and why she ventured into real-estate instead of becoming a chemist. Gary told us of the turning points in his life consisting of his school days in Singapore and the Asian financial crisis. For Jessica, life as the eldest in her family was not always easy as she helped her parents run the family business, took care of her younger siblings and coping with life after her mother’s demise.

Meifen, President Jessica, Gary and TME Alex

In our January meetings, many Area W3 club members had the courage to be proactive in taking up meeting roles, doing table topics and project speeches. Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful Rabbit Lunar Year and many more interesting, entertaining and edifying club meetings ahead of us this year.

Let's Go 'Clubbing'

As a one-year old Toastmaster, I'm addicted to go 'clubbing'. Why? Because of the hot girls in the club? Or free flow of beer? Maybe due to the high-spirited, loud music? Oops... Sorry, the club I mentioned is not any night club but Toastmasters Club. I have been addicted to visiting other Toastmasters Clubs, simply because of one reason: the continuous learning opportunity!

After completing my Project 9 in the Competent Communicator (CC) Manual, many members in my club were asking me when will I be delivering my graduation speech. Graduation? Such a significant word. Am I really competent enough to graduate as a CC? Before doing my tenth speech, I decided to hone my communication skills by doing something else so that I can be an eligible CC. That was when I decided to start with my 'clubbing' activities.

Fun and fabulous Christmas Exact ADC meeting

Exact ADC meeting with the theme of 'Formality'

I have benefited a lot from the club visits. The learning opportunity that was available from the visits has transformed me to a more natural speaker. By visiting different clubs, I had the chance to learn from different Toastmasters. No doubt my club, Friendship Toastmasters Club, has many experienced speakers who guided me with utter professionalism. However, by visiting other clubs, I am able to learn different skills from other experienced Toastmasters in Malaysia.

Best Project Speech Ribbon from generous members of KPMG KL

Visiting other Toastmasters Clubs is indeed an eye-opening experience for me. I enjoyed the different atmosphere of other Toastmasters meetings. Redoing my speeches in other clubs made me a more proficient speaker and I had the privilege to listen to the comments from various excellent evaluators. Visiting other clubs can really boost our communication skills. However you must grab the golden opportunity to speak in every club visit. In my opinion, learning is all about practicing!

Historical first meeting of One World Toastmasters

Besides the learning opportunity in the communication track, 'clubbing' also helps us improve our leadership and management skills. During club visits, I am given the opportunity to try out different meeting roles such as general evaluator, speech evaluator, table topics evaluator, grammarian, ah-counter and humour master. These experiences were very useful for me to complete my Competent Leadership(CL) manuals. I started my CL projects in March 2010 in my club, however my progress was extremely slow before I began my club visits. In only two months of club visiting, I've done 70% of my CL assignments. I also managed to expand my network and made a lot of new friends during club visits. They are all very sincere people and eager to help me to improve.

Warm and friendly welcome by Sunway Toastmasters

Visiting clubs is not only meant for Area Governors. You may use the time constraint reason to tie you to your comfort zone and claim that you have no time for club visits. Time management is one of the leadership values, as practiced in Project 4 of Competent Leadership Manual. By managing your other commitments, you will be able to squeeze out a little spare time for club visits. Believe me: you will benefit significantly! I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the clubs that welcomed my presence. They are KPMG KL, Sunway, Shah Alam, Exact ADC, IME, CIMA, One World, Phoenix, Speakers' Dream, D'Utama, AFC and Kelab Pidato.

Invited by dear Kim Chow(right) to the exhilarating meeting of Kelab Pidato

What are you waiting for? Let's go 'clubbing' together!


Contributed by Chee Hoe

January Club Meetings (Part I)

Friendship on Tues 4 Jan 2011
By Michelle, KPMG KL

Members & guest of Friendship

One thing I like apart from the cozy and friendly atmosphere at Friendship is their delicious food and team of roles players, guest and evaluators.

I presented my second speech from the Storytelling manual. The objective was “Let’s Get Personal” and my speech was about “That Bright Yellow Dress and Its story”. It was a story about a bright yellow dress I bought in Bali and how it made my then-friend on the holiday, fall in love with me during our trip to Bali. I hope I managed to woo the audience with my romantic story.

VPM Chee Hoe presented “Finding New Members” from the Successful Club Series, in a very comfortable and experienced manner.


It was a good meeting and I look forward to attending future Friendship meetings.


Exact ADC on Tues 11 Jan 2011
By Hairani, Exact ADC

Table Topics Master Hoey Teng explaining to Ai Shiang how it works

Hoey Teng introduced a new twist to the Table Topic session by getting volunteers to choose two options instead of one. The first one is the name of a person while the other is a resolution. Imagine Michelle Yeoh having the resolution of acting in romantic movies and Rosmah, the Prime Minister’s wife having a resolution of avoiding taking a bath whenever possible in order to save water !

Caroline presenting her second speech

Next, we had the long awaited speech from Caroline entitled “Resolutions”. She shared her personal experience about resolutions that she made since her younger days. A memorable quote that she shared was, “Procrastination is like a credit card. It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”

Finally, Yuen Kai presented “Live saving proposal”, an eye-opener and interesting speech on alternative treatments for cancer.


KPMG on Wed 12 Jan 2011
By Grace, KPMG KL


Our first meeting in the New Year was at a New Venue. It was indeed a very encouraging beginning for the club to have close to 40 of us attending the first meeting of 2011.

Honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed with the numbers and the size of the room but it was exciting to know that the club has grown. I’m also very happy to report that our young members have progressed satisfactorily and took up the challenge of organizing and hosting this meeting.

Thank you every one, for your great effort and I’m sure you will achieve your goals of becoming competent communicators and leaders by end of 2011.


One World on Thurs 13 Jan 2011

It was not everyday that you have someone who has achieved the DTM award twice to be your GE. DTM Geoff Andrew was very encouraging in his recommendations for Grammarian CK Ho to end on a positive note, by finishing with good examples of English. He also reminded all evaluators it was not necessary to speak on every point of the speech objective, in order to keep within the allocated time.

VPE CK explaning what is his resolution for 2011

We also heard from three brave members on their Ice Breaker speeches. VPM Amenny’s memorable “Love money Chua” phrase will not be soon forgotten. VPE CK Chong explained that his name meant “great, smart and outstanding” and we laughed when he told us that he has the face of a 20 year old, the voice of a 30 year old and the body of a 40 year old. VPPR Ivan went beyond the requirements of the Ice Breaker speech and inspired all of us to strive to be the best Toastmasters club in KL !


Hasil on Fri 14 Jan 2011

Loke, Shash, Joriah, Marsita & Mohd Zakuan

President Piras’ opening speech was inspiring, reminding us that there is always room for improvement and that in our endeavours, we may be a guide or inspiration to others.

Table Topics Master Sotimin gave us challenging questions. Although stumped at first, President Piras and Past President Yoga raised to the occasion and spoke eloquently on their topics. It was not a surprise to us when President Piras was announced as the Best Table Topics Speaker.

Joriah presented her mouth-watering second CC speech about two chicken recipes. We wished that she had bought samples for us to savour!

Compiled by Angeline Lee