Despite the chilly air-conditioned room where we had our Toastmasters’ meeting on Monday, 14 June 2010, it certainly felt warm with excitement! For this day, we were honored to have Ng Lay Choo (ACB,CL) grace our meeting as our General Evaluator, as well with Nini from Advanced KL Toastmasters’ Club along with 7 beautiful ladies as our guests. We were also happy when our charming Weng Cheong was back after his long break from Toastmasters’!
The meeting started off with an impact when K. Loghandran got the ball rolling by asking fellow Toastmasters’ and our guests to share among ourselves their victorious moment in their lifetime. In my eyes, I see each and every one of us have once achieved their feats of victory, but only because we were ferociously ambitious and determined to fulfill our ambitions to attain success.
Our humble President, Ismail Fahmy gave a motivational speech on overcoming the fear of speaking, and emphasized that with practice, we become better prepared. Moreover, he added that Toastmasters have helped so many of us not only get through with their nervousness on stage, it also allows us to communicate vividly and confidently with people, thus makes it easier for us to make new friends. Not just that, he said that the confidence to speak in public can transform us holistically and become positive, and these will help us to expand in our careers and open up new paths to opportunities along the way.
Koh Teck Lee, our wonderful TME got us even attached together when he asked us to shake hands with another person beside us and at the same time, we compliment each other. It’s amazing that such a simple gesture can change the way we view ourselves and the people around us, because we feel great by giving sincere compliments.
Of course, we were really excited when K. Loghan comes up on stage and ‘Did His Thing’. He encouraged us that when we, speakers wanted to make a point, it’s best to use stories that come close from our hearts to get the message across. He got us curious when he told us a story on the famous ‘Roti Bom’ in Ampang.
The story goes: “There is a Pakistani gentleman who always makes fresh Roti Bom in his small stall. He would coat it with sugar or with a nice knob of butter, pairing it up with a heart-warming plate of hot curry or tandoori chicken, and a large glass of orange juice the size of a 7-Eleven Big Gulp. However, his stall was torn down four times by the local authorities. He and his Indonesian friends did not give up and brought the matter up to the government. In the end, the government sets up numerous stalls alongside his, however the Pakistani’s stall becomes the biggest! More and more people come to his stall more often, and in one day, he can sell more than 40 chickens in one day!”
Photo Courtesy of ti3n’s blog
How did Loghan know the story? It was the person who sells the 40 chickens a day to the Pakistani who told it, and the legacy of the Pakistani lives on. Loghan made a point that even if the story comes from somewhere else, we can sincerely convince our audience that the story is our own by making it believable. Make a story that is both laughable and that connects!
New Toastmaster, Vincent Chow as our Table Topics Master presented topics on ‘The Best Job in the World’. Our Table Topic Speakers were really marvelous today! Weng Cheong came up first and did his take on ‘CEO’. Our first guest, Audrey aroused us with her take on ‘Sea Diver’ by showing how beautiful it is to dive and see the beautiful underwater sights. Comedian Mun Yuen, as always, made the audience laughed when she got ‘Food Critic’. Our young second guest, Michele tried ‘Travelling Host’ by exclaiming what job could be better than a host of your own travel show, while the next guest, Wei Li did her take on ‘Singer’ by expressing how singing can contribute to society.
Ultimately, Nini was amazing when she did her take on what seems an impossible topic on ‘Gigolo!’ (Courtesy of Vijay for putting in that as a Table Topic). With that, Nini was awarded the Best Table Topics Speaker. Congratulations, Nini!
Here comes the moment we’re all been waiting for: Speeches!
TM Jeremy Phang presented his CC No. 2 speech on his ‘Accidental Career’. He put us on his journey when as a child, his ambition was to become a chauffeur because it looks cool when he wear his black uniform and gets to drive people around. Then he had an inspiration to become a pilot because he could fly people around, and make himself even cooler. However, as time passed by, he found his hidden passion from writing, and with constant ‘encouragement’ from his parents and friends, he became a lawyer. He ended up loving his profession as a lawyer even more than becoming either a pilot or a chauffeur. Jeremy concluded his speech by saying that ‘Everything has a purpose’.
TM Mark Lee delivered his CC No. 5 speech on the ‘Rat Race’ – how to gain financial retreat in times of rushing deadlines. He showed moments when he jogged on stage while speaking at the same time! (Even I could not do it.) He mentioned the concept of ‘Delay Gratification’ – If we want something now, we pay the price now and raised up that the same beliefs that got us into the rat race may even be able to get us out of it. The moral goes: If we plan properly and know our own values, we need not always be rushing like mad in the rat race.
ACG Simon Soh (aka Simple/ Funny/ Sentimental Simon) got us curious on his CC No. 7 speech on ‘Why People Fall In Love?” The reasons why people love, he said, is not because of emotions or fate; it is nature’s way to ensure survival of the human species. He commented that love is the result of concoctions and cocktails of sex hormones! (I think I caught dopamine, adrenaline, serotonin, oxytocin, and vitopresin!) He ended by saying don’t blame ourselves if we love someone – it’s due to chemicals within yourself – that leads to selfless love.
With Simon’s lustful speech on love, he won himself Best Speaker Award! Congratulations, Simple Simon!
Nini also won herself her Best Evaluator Award as well! Congratulations to Nini again for your double awards!
Even Vijay, our Timekeeper couldn’t keep his excitement when he turned on all the lights the moment the winners were announced.
With that ends our Toastmasters’ meeting. A BIG THANK YOU to all our roleplayers, participants and our guests too! Your support, your presence and your contribution made it a WONDERFUL meeting.
To all our fellow guests and members, this Friday and Saturday shall be our very own ‘The Condo Cocoon’ drama starring Mun Yuen, Loretta, Simon Soh, Vijay, K. Loghandran, Larry Hoo and Lay Choo! (Who doesn’t want to see Lawrence in action, eh?)
Ps: Tune in next week for photos on the drama! Not forgetting, catch up with us for our report on next fortnight’s TM meeting at KGPA Golf Course off Bukit Kiara. With then, ciaoz!
Cheers! RAWRR!
Written by: Vincent Chow, TM
Posted by: KC Leong
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