Toastmasters Awareness Month

Word of Appreciation

From a guest writing to Chrissy Steinhardt, VP Membership of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club after attending one of the Club meetings during the Chinese New Year gathering cum Toastmasters meeting on 22/2/2010.

Dear Chrissy and Darcy,
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It's my pleasure to be in a toastmasters meeting. I travelled almost 40km to be there but it's worth the visit. Your club has so many great speakers and I've definitely picked up a couple of communication skills from them. I've been to lots of meetings where the speakers are dull but it's totally different in your club. All the best to both of you wonderful couple. ROAR!!!!!!!(Darcy's trademark).

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Cheers.

Regards,
Dic-Syen

CNY Meeting-cum-celebration

It was roaring hot on 22/2/2010 where we had 26 members and guests attending the Chinese New Year cum Roaring Toastmasters meeting. We were honored to have 2 special guests from District 51 – LGM Francis Ng, DTM and Are W6 Governor, Ng Lay Choo, ACB, CL. In addition to our normal refreshment, we had the special “Yee Sang” sponsored by Ong Siew Chien, DTM.

When I first stepped into the meeting room, I could not believe my eyes. All the 4 walls were decorated with the word – FOOK pasted upside down and red packets. There were pomelos and nien kao beautifully arranged on a red table in the centre front of the meeting room. All of us felt energized, prosperous and VERRY ONNGG indeed!

The Toastmaster of the Evening, Mok Soo Pon, ATMB, CL was not only dress to the occasion but also kept the energy high throughout the meeting.

One of the highlights of the evening is the Chinese Tea session conducted by Alfred Koh, ACS, CL. He demonstrated the process step by step. He brought his personal tea set, the room’s décor and even the red table all the way from Gua Musang. Special thanks to Alfred. We also celebrated Alfred’s birthday with the HAPPY BIRTHDAY song and cake.

Table Topic Master Chrissy Steinhardt packaged the topics perfectly by incorporating the theme of the meeting - Roaring Toastmasters Meeting and the word of the day - Prosperous. 2 of our guests took up the challenge and one of the guests – Cik Faz became the Best Table Topic Speaker.

We were mesmerized by very interesting project speeches. Darcy was fantabuluous with his body movements sharing his helicopter experience. Lawrence was superb in his adaptation of the movie – Lord of the Rings. Mun Yuen was dead serious with her topic – Going with the Flow. Hats off to the project speakers!

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Simon Soh, ACG tickled us with a humorous evaluation of Darcy’s speech using the acronym – V I A G R A. Simon is no more simple Simon but funnyman Simon. The General Evaluator, Grace Tan, CTM, CL was so meticulous in her overall evaluation that even the Table Topic Evaluator, yours truly, was given a written evaluation of my evaluation.

As the Organizing Chairman for this Roaring Toastmasters meeting, I take this opportunity to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the role players, sponsors and participants. Your support, your presence and your contribution made it a WONDERFUL meeting.

Cheers!

Koh Teck Lee
Vice President of Public Relations

Posted by KC Leong

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Toastmaster Awareness Month

Toastmaster Awareness Month with Speakers' Dream Toastmaster Club

Theme of the evening: Your 8th World Wonder

Come and join us!!

All, including non-toastmaster club members are welcome.

Date: Monday 8 March 2010

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Venue: Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam, KGPA, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur

Direction: Opposite Eastin Hotel. If you are coming from Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam or Klang, after Shell and Petronas stations, turn left at the traffic light (below the ramp of the Sprint Highway).

Call Lawrence Hoo: 012-2999425

or email: lawrencehoo76@yahoo.com

for more information.


Posted by KC Leong
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Congratulations!

What an amazing Monday night (11 January 2010) ! We had 4 contestants for the International Speech Contest and 7 contestants for the Table Topics Contest. All of them did their best in entertaining the audience with their creative and inspiring speeches.

May I present you the results for both the Contests :-

International Speech Contest
Champion : Lawrence Hoo, CC
1st Runner-up : Simon Soh. ACG
2nd Runner-up : Koh Teck Lee, ACB, ALS

Table Topics Contest
Champion : Simon Soh, ACG
1st Runner-up : Chrissy Steinhardt
2nd Runner-up: Darcy Steinhardt

The champion and 1st runner-up for both the Contests will represent Speakers Dream Toastmasters Club to the Area W6 International Speech and Table Topics Contest hosted by SAI Masters Toastmasters Club.

Details as follows :-

When : Sunday, 24/1/2010 from 4.00 pm to 6.30 pm

Where : 24, Jalan Abdullah, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur

Cheers!

Koh Teck Lee
Vice President of Public Relations

Joint Meeting with Mid-Valley Toastmasters Club

On 28 December 2009, a joint meeting was conducted between Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club and Mid-Valley Toastmasters Club.

The meeting was formally opened with the presidential address delivered by Ismail Fahmi, the President of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club.

It was indeed a great evening with entertaining speeches.

World-renowned distinguished speaker, K. Loghandran, Runner-up at the World International Speech Contest 2008, presented a humor session. He has the audience in stitches: they laughed and laughed...

Lawrence Ho won the Prepared Speeches Category with his topic "So What's Next".

Click here to read full texts written by Mid-Valley Toastmasters Club.

President of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club, Ismail Fahmi

Posted by KC Leong,
Webmaster.

Tall Tale Contest (24 Nov 2009)

Dear All,

I take this opportunity to announce the much awaited “Tall Tale” Contest to be organized by Speakers’ Dream Toastmasters Club.

Date : 24 November 2009, Tuesday
Venue : Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam, 1st Floor Bukit Kiara, Off Jalan Damansara,
Kuala Lumpur
Time : 7:00 pm
Ticket : RM10-00

We are targeting for 12 contestants. The contest is open to all Toastmasters in good standing. This will be on a first come first serve basis.

A tall tale is a fictional story with exaggerated details. We all crave for a good “yarn” every once in a while. The best and the funniest liars will be there. They know that you will be able to suspend your disbelief and allow the speakers to entertain you with their creative skills of yarn spinning. The speech duration is 3 to 5 minutes long.

The contest Chairman is none other than our DTM K. Loghandran. He is the 1st runner-up of Toastmasters International Speech Contest 2008-2009.

We need to tell a white lie sometimes and here is the chance for you to pick up some tips in doing so. Share this great news with all those that you know and let us have a fun and enjoyable evening together. I had attached herewith the poster for your circulation purpose.

Please call Teck Lee at 019-315 8082 or

Siew Chien at 012-311 3026 for further details.



Visit us at http://sdtmc.blogspot.com/

Cheers!

Koh Teck Lee
Vice President Public Relations 2009/2010
Speakers’ Dream Toastmasters Club

Gita Bayu Outdoor Meeting

Dear Esteemed Members,

The outdoor meeting on Sunday 25 Oct was fantastic! There were 22 of us,which include 3 new members and 8 guests. Everybody loves Gita Bayu withits picturesque green lake and surroundings. The meeting was held on theFloating Pavilion of "The Enchanted Garden". The calm surroundings of thelake with occasional splashes of water by fish jumping out of the lakeprovided just the right ambience for Speakers Dream's outdoor meeting.Residents live amongst nature, where we were told some customised housesthere had won awards.

See attachment.

E - Floating Pavilion

Website: http://bukitgitabayu.com/


It was against this setting that saw the meeting in full swing. Theopening speech by President Ismail was very apt with this message onenvironmental preservation.

Our 1st runner up World Speech Championship, DTM K.Loghandran inspiredmembers and guests with humor and this talk on persuasion, citingSylvester Stallone.

The table topic session was conducted wonderfully by Chrissy Steinhardtwith impromptu speakers speaking from the perspective of objects thatthey are suppose to be. The session was superbly evaluated by ACS ChongSek Lee, our new member. The best table topic speaker went to Daniel whospoke as a 'handbag'.

The assignment speakers were just as captivating. We have 2 ice breakerspeeches from our new members, Paul Chan and Mark Lee who gave ussplendid details about themselves; "The Power of the Spoken Word" byDarcy Steinhardt and "Unforgettable Trip" by Tang Weng Cheong. Darcy, thebest assignment speaker, was vivid and entertaining in his presentation.
Weng Cheong aroused our interest to visit the UK with his non-manualspeech about his rotary trip there.

Finally, our invited GE from Ireland, ACB CL Michelle Coffey with her teamof evaluators sparked members on with their valuable feedback.

At the end of the meeting, surprise.surprise.3 of our non-toastmasterguests join the club without hesitation! The meeting ended with membersand guests proceeding to the Dining Pavilion to enjoy a sumptuous meal.

To members who did not manage to attend the outdoor meeting this time, ournext outdoor meeting will be at Kampar, the hometown of our lovely VPE, CCTan Mee Yee.

Best regard,

Chow Mun Yuen

Immediate Past PresidentOrganising Chair

W6 Humorous Speech & Speech Evaluation Contest

Dear Fellow Members,

There were so many twists and turns days before the Area W6 Humorous Speech & Speech Evaluation Contest. First of all, there was this possibility of Lim Hin Chong not able to contest in the Humorous Speech Contest. He was under quarantine due to his colleagues confirmed down with H1N1. Things seemed to settle down on Friday morning as he completed his 7 days of quarantine.

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Something happened again! At the eleventh hour that is on Friday evening, Simon Soh was unable to participate because he lost his voice. Poor Mun Yuen, she was caught in the cross fire since she was the 2nd Runner Up for the Humorous Speech Contest. For your information, Area W6 consists of only 4 clubs this term. Hence, the Champion and 1st Runner Up of each club will contest at the Area level.

I take this opportunity to salute Mun Yuen for taking up the challenge and did fantastically well to entertain the audience with her creative humour. Soo Pon, being the 2nd Runner Up for the Evaluation Contest also came in at the eleventh hour to stand in for myself as I had to stand in for Simon in the Evaluation Contest.

I am proud to announce the winners for the Area Contests as follows:

Humorous Speech Contest
Champion : Suresh Mohan [SAI Masters TMC]
1st runner-up : Suthaharan [SAI Masters TMC]
2nd runner-up : Lim Hin Chong

Evaluation Speech Contest
Champion : Mok Soo Pon
1st runner-up : Dr Devi Menon [SAI Masters TMC]
2nd runner-up : Suresh Mohan {SAI Masters TMC]

Congratulations to Hin Chong and Soo Pon for their success in the respective Contests.

Soo Pon will represent Area W6 to Divison W Speech Evaluation Contest to be held on 12th September 2009 at WIM, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail.

Registration starts at 1.00pm and lunch will be served at 1.30pm. Past District Champion, Stephen Fernando is the Emcee. He will deliver a 30 minute Humorous workshop after the Contest. The tickets are sold at RM15-00 until 24/08/09 for early birds. After 24/08/09, it will be sold at RM20-00.

Please support our Champion and get your tickets tomorrow at the club’s meeting. Should you be unable to attend tomorrow’s club meeting and wish to purchase the tickets at RM15-00, please call me at 019-315 8082 to purchase it on your behalf.

Cheers!

Koh Teck Lee,
Vice President of Public Relations

Club Officer Installation 2009

Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club -- The new Club Exco 2009/2010
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PRES: Ismail Fahmy, CTM (Right 2)

VPE: Tan Mee Yee, CC (Right 3)

VPM: Jerold Yap

VPPR: Koh Teck Lee, ALS (Left 4)

SEC: Ong Siew Chien, DTM (Left 3)

TRS: Darick Wong (Left 2)

SAA: Lawrence Hoo, CC (Left 1)

IPP: Chow Mun Yuen, CTM CL
The committee members are:

Jebbie Kaur, TM (Right 1)

Darcy Steinhardt, TM
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Click here to view photos taken by KC Leong.
(when in photo album, click Slideshow and hit F11 key)
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Dear Fellow Members,

It was truly an outstanding night where we witnessed the installation of our Club's Exco for the term 2009/2010 by our Area W6 Governor ACB, CL Ng Lay Choo.

Thereafter President CC, CL Ismail Fahmy gave an inspiring Presidential speech.

Theme for the evening - "Tribute to Michael Jackson" was the brainchild of our CC Lawrence Hoo. Almost all of our members came wearing a white glove on their left or right hand. The MC for the night, DTM K.Loghandran was dressed to the theme of the night and led the session to a great finish. Not forgetting our home grown Game Master CC Lawrence Hoo who spice up the night by requesting the participants to do the moon walk when they go up to guess the Michael Jackson's song.
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Ismail Fahmy, in-coming Club President and Chow Mun Yuen, out-going Club President

The dinner was sumptuous that we cannot help but to take extra helping. To top it up we had so many prizes and lucky draws for the night that was generously donated by our members.

After the dinner, Celine informed me that we had 11 Past Presidents in sequence - DTM Celine Teh, DTM K. Loghandran, DTM Ong Siew Chien, ALS Koh Teck Lee, ALS Lim Hin Chong, ATMS Hor Kam Peng, CL Leong Kwan Chong, ATMB Kanniaseelan, CL Gwendoline Gwee, CL Robert Hue and CL Chow Mun Yuen at the Installation. The only one that is missing is Vijay. This is what we call support with action and the new EXCO is looking up to all our Past Presidents to give their support and guidance during our club meetings.
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Koh Teck Lee and Lawrance Hoo

One of the highlight of the night is the Toastmaster of the Year Award. The person that received this award contributed significantly to the club in terms of attendance, educational awards, conducted workshop and represented our club in various contests. This person is none other than ACG Simon Soh.

We also had a "Tall Tale Contest" for the participants to tell a convincing lie. All together we had six contestants namely Simon Soh, Loretta Chin, Lim Hin Chong, Ng Lay Choo, Kanniaseelan and Mok Soo Pon. All of them did a very good job. They all look like they are professional liars in the making. "Mother of all liars is none other than Mok Soo Pon!
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I enjoyed every bit of the programme for the night and a round of applause to the Organising Chairman CTM, CL Chow Mun Yuen and her team for a successful event.

Cheers!

Koh Teck Lee

Vice President of Public Relations

Club Meeting

Experience an Evening of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem!


Date: 23rd March 2009 (Monday)

Time: 7.15pm – 10.00pm

Venue: Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur

Cost: FOC if a Speakers Dream Toastmaster Member brings you!


Theme/dress: Detective garb- magnifying glass, trench coat, smoking pipe, cap, toy gun, handcuffs.. whatever!! Or come as you are! Make it fun!!!

All that at Speakers Dream Murder Mystery Night!






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International Speech Contest Results

Event: Speakers' Dream Toastmaster International Speech Contest
Date: Monday 12 January 2009

Results of International Speech Contest:

Winner : Simon Soh
1st Runner-up: Chow Mun Yuen
2nd Runner-Up: Alfred Koh

Results of Table Topic Contest:

Winner: Alfred Koh
1st Runner-Up: Simon Soh
2nd Runner-Up: Koh Teck Lee

Congratulations to all the winners!

The Champions will represent the our club in the Area Contest on Sunday 22 Feb 2009 as follows:

Venue: Sai Master TMS
Address : 24, Jln Abdullah (Bungalow house behind Bangsar LRT)
Time: 4-7 pm
Briefing time : 3.30 pm

Please come and support Simon and Alfred!

Best regards

Lawrence Hoo
Vice President Public Relations

Joint Meeting

Speakers' Dream Joint Meeting

With : MII Toastmaster Club

Where: Level 2, Malaysian Insurance Institute, Jalan Sri Semantan Satu, Damansara Heights, 50490 KL

When: December 23, 2008 (Tuesday) Starting 6.45pm

There are two spots for Assignment speech and 1 for evaluator.

Other tasks allocated for Speakers' Dream are Table Topic Master, Grammarian, Ah Counter and General Evaluator.

Please contact Lawrence or Ismail for booking. Refer contacts at right sidebar.

More information about MII Toastmaster, please visit http://toastmii.blogspot.com


Posted by KC Leong

Breakthrough to World Class

Dear Esteemed Members,

A workshop coming your way this 15 Dec 2008! It is conducted by our First-runner-up in the World Speech Championship in Calgary, DTM Loghandran. Don't waste this opportunity to hear from the expert himself in our homeground. You will get to watch 3 videos of Loghandran in the International competitions!

From Chow Mun Yuen

Club President

Speaker's Dream Toastmasters Club

Those with world class mentality talk about ideas. They are always looking for ways to grow, increase, become better, build, influence more,impact more, do more, be more. They associate with positive, excited people and avoid negative, limiting people.

Watch and examine for yourself three winning videos on how you can engage an audience by touching on the nine emotions. Learn about the VIAGRA formula as the speaker used on NTV7 and how a winning speech contestant used it in Bali recently.

Spend an evening with us to take your Profession or vocation to worldclass

Achieve your targets and attain best performance by using *Public speaking*

*Learn the tips from our World Award Winning Speaker

*Learn to trail blaze in areas never attempted before.*

*Analyse world class behaviour and match them.*

*Special techniques to energise your thoughts *

Conducted by DTM K. Loghandran:

**World Taped Speech Champion 1993

**1st Runners up World Championship of Public Speaking (2008)

**International Training consultant, Keynote Speaker, Coach in Public Speaking, sales, project management, teambuilding and customer service

**A Producer, Director, Actor and Playwright in English Comedy Theatre *

Date : 15 Dec 2008 (Monday)

Time : 7.15 pm to 9.30 pm

Venue: Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA)Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur

*Your Investment*: RM20 per pax OR RM50 for a group of 3 pax*(inclusive of refreshments and workshop materials)*

*Who must attend this workshop :-*
Contestants for Speech Contests and Debate
Individuals who wants to make an impact in their presentations

Sales teams, Project Leaders & Managers

For reservations and enquiries, please call or sms :-*

Sew Chen: 012-311-3026 / Mun Yuen: 016 – 218-7876 *

Organised by : Speakers Dream Toastmasters Club
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Posted by KC Leong

A Toast to Public Speaking

ASIA's TOP: Loghandran's achievement is the highest in the international speech contest ever to be achieved by any toastmaster at the Asian level.

WINNERS: Logandran with WCPS champion La Shunda Rundles of Texas (centre) and second runner-up, Katherine Morrison of Florida.

By Marilyn Ten
Sarawak Post (The Sunday Post on 26 Oct 2008)

The number one fear of most people is speaking in public.

But for financial training consultant, Loghandran Krishnasamy, talking in front of an audience is simply a joy and this talent of his has done the country proud when he took the first runner-up spot at the 2OO8 World Championship of Public Speaking (WCPS) in Canada this year.

About 25,000 toastmasters from 92 countries spoke at the championship, organised by Toastmasters International. Overall, more than 230,000 members from 11,000 clubs of the participating countries joined the contest.

Competitors were required to deliver a seven-minute speech and judged on core message, speech development, language and delivery techniques.

The KL-born Loghandran wowed an audience of more than. 1,500 at the contest in Calgary, Alberta, on August 26 with a seven-and-a-half minute captivating speech on "Finding the Rhythm" based on his observations of people who have everything but are not happy.

He even received a letter from the Prime .Minister's Office, congratulating him on the achievement, and attributed his success to his 15 years in Toastmasters … and that through the WCPS, had finally achieved world-class standard in public speaking.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation which teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Toastmasters Malaysia began in 1976 in Kuaala Lumpur and currently has 321 active Toastmasters Clubs, with 19 in Kuching.

Loghandran's achievement is the highest in the international speech contest ever achieved by any toastmaster at the Asian level.

The 54-year-old, in Kuching recently for the Connections Toast masters Club & Installation Night and Five Years Anniversary, shared his thoughts on public speaking with TheSundayPost.

Q: What is public speaking?
A: People are not born to be public speakers. Some are just private speakers who would rather talk among themselves. So public speaking is a skill you must develop.

Public speaking is a leadership skill. If you're good, in public speaking, people tend to think you are good in other leadership skills and you'll end up getting promoted for the wrong reasons (laughs}. That's why politicians can go up very fast and public speaking is one skill, a leader must have.
Some people may have other leadership skills but if you don't have public speaking, if you can't tell it, you can't sell it. So whatever ideas you have, you want to promote and present them ... if you can't sell the ideas, you lose out. So we must be articulate and able to sell the ideas and present them in such a way that people accept our ideas.

Q: Why did you join Toastmasters?
A: Some people join Toastmasters to face their fear of public speaking. I joined for the joy of public speaking. I was still in the banking industry then and we once had a contest just to encourage people to speak. We were each required to deliver a three-minute speech and I ended up winning and getting RM 300 for it. I remember thinking "wow, one minute for RM 100. That's not bad.”

Then I heard that Toastmasters International is a public speaking body where you deliver speeches in the club. So I joined the Penang Toastmasters Club In 1992 – I was working
there then – and when I first started, I was very raw with no structure.

But as time went by, I worked my way up and have been with Toastmasters ever since.
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Q: How does Toastmasters work?
A: When you come to a toastmasters club, we have courses where you take assignments, each for around seven minutes. If you have finished 10 speeches, you will be known as a competent communicator. After that, you complete another 1O and you'll be recognized as an advance communicator. The member will be promoted from bronze to gold after completion of every 10 speeches.

Then you have another leadership track where you'll become president, area governor and all. Once you've finished that, you will achieve the highest award – the Distinguished
Toastmaster (DTM) – usually after about 40 speeches.

In my experience when a person is new to Toastmasters he or she is quite raw and a bit nervous. But by the eighth speech, you can see a transformation taking place. The person has changed and is visibly not as nervous any longer.
The basic thing to remember here is communication. There's one restaurant my wife and I frequent and one day I went there alone. The waiter asked me "where's auntie?' So I told him my wife was working. He said to me "tell auntie, I tell, where auntie?"

So I went home and told my wife the waiter asked about her. My wife knew the waiter could not speak good English. So she asked me what did he say? So I conveyed the exact message "Tell auntie, I tell, where auntie?"

Though it was not proper English, the waiter conveyed from his heart what he felt. Now that's communication.

But in Toastmasters of course, we expect you to speak at a higher level, especially if you're a university graduate ... and if want to present yourself, your level of English must be higher.

Communication can be at the lowest or the highest level. But we try to take you one level higher and there is no failing in Toastmasters. For every assignment, there is no failure. It's the people who give you feedback who are the most valuable.

There is a difference between judgement and feedback. Judgement is what you said was wrong while feedback is "this is how. I felt about your speech." This enables people to find out which area they can improve.

At Toastmasters, we use the American style of giving feedback. We tell it to your face like in American Idol. This is, of course, confined to Toastmasters members. So it's up to you to take it, and improve yourself from there.

Q: What can a member gain from Toastmasters?
A: Here's an example – a member reads a book about the Blue Ocean Strategy while the other members have not read it yet. For the next seven minutes, I get the gist of what is in the book. Therefore the knowledge is there and shared very well. Some will share their culture and that's the wonderful learning experience you get from Toastmasters apart from the fellowship. There are, of course, those who join just for the fellowship. They don't do any assignments but see it as an opportunity to meet friends.

At Toastmasters, we work as a team but at the same time, we develop you. So you have a great opportunity to improve your communication and leadership skills. On the other hand, you'll get to hold positions and learn more about responsibilities. All these are leadership skills and if you go for trainings it can be very expensive.

You can have the most timid person who, after joining Toastmasters and climbing up the leadership track, may one day become president of the club ... even the person himself can't believe that he has achieved that position.

What's certain is that those who join Toastmasters come out more confident. You will always be better than when you first joined.

Q: How do you come up with ideas for your speeches?
A: Everybody has his or her own way of doing it. For me, I would spend the whole day thinking about it. But before I retire for the night, I would just drop it. The idea itself will come to you naturally – either from yourself, the radio, the TV or maybe somebody said something interesting in passing. I don't know how it works for other people but it works for me.

For eight months I was focused on this. In 1998, I was still working full-time as a banker. I couldn't really focus on my speech preparations then. But now, I'm doing my own business and don't have to stretch myself as much – so I have more time to spend on public speaking.
I always believe there is a coincidence. The more coincidence you get, the more you are in touch with the source.

My own belief is if you judge people in anything at all, you'll destroy the silence. Silence is the language of the soul. If you always complain, you are forming judgement and you'll disconnect from the source.

The source could be talking to you all the time. It may not be verbally but if you observe or listen hard enough, the idea will come to you.

In fact, for the regional level, I delivered a speech called "Silence of the Awkward Pause" and the message from this speech came from my son who loves walnut carrot cake. I told him to do what his mum always does ... taking one slice to his grandmother resting in her room. I cut one slice, gave it to him and watched him from the corner. Halfway, I saw my son pinching a tiny bit of the cake and putting it hi his mouth.

I said to him "you greedy boy. There are 11 more slices in the box and you chose to eat this particular piece. My son stopped, all the while chewing the cake, and replied "this is what mummy does. Mummy always tastes the food before she gives it to me. If it's spoilt, she would throw it away. Mummy said spoilt food is bad for your stomach. "We can't give spoilt food to grandma."

Here I was shocked in silence ... hence the title. You just don't know what to say. In that silence, I learned what is more important: a full slice of cake for grandma or a bitten off piece, approved with love and care by quality control.

Lessons are being taught in my own house and I didn't know it. So that's a strong message to my audience. There are times we assume we know everything and sometimes when people give you an answer – for instance, the Americans would call it the great comeback – especially children, you just don't know what to say in return. That silence is a reality check.

So you don't have to go far to find a message for your speech.

Q: What is your advice to those who like to face their fears in public speaking?
A: The only answer is to face them. If you have the fear of public speaking, go and deliver, especially when you are young.

Mohammad All once said "if I win, people would only remember for two weeks." So if you come to a Toastmasters club and said something stupid in your speech, people would only remember for two weeks. The next session, which is usually two weeks later, you'll be delivering a new speech … so by then, people would have already forgotten what you said a fortnight ago.
So if you think you're going to make a fool of yourself, go ahead and do it before you are 40. After 40, you are expected to be a leader, so make all the mistakes before 40.

Public speaking is something you have to practise many times and they say Toastmasters is the place to make mistakes. Any speech you deliver, there will be some glitches here and there. I had even done training where the youngest participant was a four-year-old boy ... I told him to come up and deliver a speech ... he came up and said "I want to tell you a story about the papa bear, the mama bear and the baby bear" with his chin resting on his hand. He could speak but all he had to do was take his hand and put it down.

Likewise, everybody can speak but it's the mistakes he or she should avoid. Structure the speech in such a way people can understand.

If a speech is all over the place, people won't know where your story is going and they can't get your message – so structuring is also a way to design your speech into an understandable format.

We all have different levels of anxiety nervousness. It's still there to a certain degree. It just needs to be polished.

Posted by KC Leong, SDTMC Webmaster

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I Ching Your Roadmap to Success

Have you ever come to a crossroad in your life and did not know which way to go? Every incident that we encounter in our lives happens for a reason.

Come and spend an afternoon at this hands-on workshop and discover how I Ching can help you make good decisions to strategize and harmonize your life.

The entire purpose of I Ching is to equip you with powerful self-insight and transformation of the psyche that is simple and fast to fulfill your vision and goals. The sound advice from I Ching have certainly amaze people who are new to I Ching.
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In this EXCLUSIVE (3 hours) workshop, the speaker will share with you :-
1) What is I Ching?
2) How I Ching can enhance your personal life, business, career, relationships plus experience think "out of the box" that could help you move on with your life.
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“The I Ching is an ancient book of wisdom, and the origin is shrouded in mystery. The I Ching has been used for more than 5000 years as an aid to making decisions, predicting the future, etc. It is a long-standing and popular source of wisdom and inspiration, and is also gaining popularity in the Western world.”

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The speaker, ACG Simon Soh has studied I Ching from Master Koh I Tze since 1988 and has been a practitioner for more than 10 years. He is currently pursuing a doctorate by applying the I Ching as a basis of his research. He holds a Master in Business Administration from the prestigious Cranfield School of Management UK, and is a Certified Knowledge Manager by the International Knowledge Management Institute USA.

Special goodie bags for first 50 participants who sign up…..by 10 Nov 2008

Details of the workshop:

Date : 6th December 2008 (Saturday)
Time : 2.30pm – 5.30pm
Venue : Malaysian Association for The Blind
Kompleks MAB, Jalan TebingOff Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4,50470 Kuala Lumpur.
Website for map : http://mab.org.my/images/mabmap.jpg

Your investment : RM70 per pax (50% discount given to first 50 participants who sign up by 10 Nov 2008) (inclusive of refreshments and workshop materials)

Reservations/Enquiries : Mee Yee 016-5558203 or email fin_myeetan@tanlan.com

Organizing Club : Speakers Dream Toastmasters Club

Posted by KC Leong, SDTMC Webmaster

Forum - District 51 Toastmasters

This message is sent to all club officers for the term 2008/2009
By Clement Pang, DTMDistrict Public Relations Officer (DPRO) 2008-2009

Dear club officers,

*Do you want to promote your Toastmasters event to all Toastmasters in District 51?*
*Do you have question(s) about Toastmasters that you want to ask?*
*Do you want opinion on topics regarding Toastmasters from Toastmasters members in District 51?*
*Do you have information on Toastmasters or public speaking that you want to share to all Toastmasters in District 51?*

Introducing District 51 Toastmasters Discussion Forum at

http://www.tmdistrict51.org/forum

your one stop portal for Toastmasters discussion.

No more email chain jamming your inbox. All you need to do is just registeras a member of the forum in order to obtain your login. Once you haveregistered, all you need to do is just to login to post your message or toread what other people have posted.

*SPECIAL OFFERS FOR OCTOBER (until Oct 31)

*To commemorate the launch of District 51 Forum, the District Public Relations team have some special offers for our District 51 members.

*Offer 1:*
For the first 50 Toastmasters members (*) who register as a member of theDistrict 51 Forum starting from Oct 6, he/she will receive the exclusiveDistrict 51 pin. When registering, please specify your active emailaddress.I will communicate with you using this email address for arrangement topassthe district pin.

*Offer 2:*
For the top 3 forum members (*) (based on the number of relevant postings(**)), he/she will receive the following prizes:
#1 - A competent leadership manual
#2 - A new member orientation kit for clubs
#3 - A Toastmasters publicity pack

All prizes are purchased from Toastmasters International

(*) - The following people are exempted from these offers: District 51senior district officers and also District 51 public relations committeeteam members
(**) - Relevant posting is defined as message that is not out of topic.

*WHAT DISCUSSION FORUMS WE HAVE FOR YOU?*

*1. Events*A forum to discuss all the latest Toastmasters happenings and events indistrict, division, area and club in District 51
*2. Education/Training*A forum to discuss topics regarding Toastmasters education program, thevarious training programs in District such as TLI/DOT and also speechcontests details.
*3. Club/Membership Building*A forum to discuss on club chartering/club rescuing/club mentoring andalsomembership matters.
*4. General Discussion*A forum where topics of discussion are not listed under any of thepreceeding forums

*****STEPS TO REGISTER AS A MEMBER*

1. Visit http://www.tmdistrict51.org/forum/

2. Click "Register"

3. Agree with the terms and conditions.

4. Fill in your particulars. Remember to enter your active email address.(*IMPORTANT*)

5. Wait for the email notification to confirm your registration issuccessful. Email notification title will be Welcome to District 51Toastmasters Forum"

Warmest regards,

Clement Pang, DTM

District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) 2008-2009

Email: d51pro0809@gmail.com

District Website: http://www.tmdistrict51.org/

District Theme "The Courage To Conquer"
.

Posted by KC Leong, SDTMC Webmaster
.

Humorous and Evaluation Speech Contests 2008

The above contests at Club level just concluded the day before, Monday 25 August 2008. The contests were good and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

My congratulations to the winners:

Humor Contest:
Champion: Simon Soh
1st runner-up: Elizabeth Chan
2nd runner-up: Kalyani Sankaranarayanan

Evaluation Contest
Champion: Simon Soh
1st runner-up: Alfred Koh
2nd runner-up: Koh Teck Lee

Congratulations to other contestants for your great spirit andparticipation.

Also, appreciation to our:
(1) Organising Chair, Ismail Fahmy;
(2) Humor Contest Chair, Darick Wong;
(3) Evaluation Contest Chair, Loghan;
(4) Advisors, Ong Siew Chien & Mok Soo Pon; and
(5) Role players, Tan Mee Yee, Seelan & Mok Soo Pon.

Simon Soh will represent the club in the Area W3 contest on 9 Sept 2008 at:

The Malaysian Insurance Institute
c/o MII - Toastmasters Club
Level 2 , Jalan Sri Semantan Satu,
Damansara Heights, 50490 Kuala Lumpur

Time: 6.45pm

Please come and support him there!

Regards,

Chow Mun Yuen
Club President

Posted by KC Leong, Webmaster

Humourous and Evaluation Contest

Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club Humourous and Evaluation Contest
Date: August 25, 2008 Monday
Time: 7.00am
Venue: Kelab Gold Perkhidmatan Awam, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (Opposite Eastin Hotel)

WATCH SPEAKERS' DREAM TOASTMASTER CONTESTANTS LOCK HORNS CONJURING THE FUNNIEST PUNCH LINES FOR YOUR DIAPHRAGM EXERCISE. LEAVE YOUR TIES BEHIND, THROW YOUR JACKET AT YOUR OFFICE CHAIR. THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE JEST AND JAPE ARE THE ORDER OF THE NIGHT.

EVERYBODY ARE INVITED!!. EVEN YOU.. YES YOU.. YOU WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT TOASTMASTER IS ALL ABOUT. COME OVER AND DISCOVER US. :)

For more information take the liberty to SPAM US, just as long as you call us and ask us about this contest.

LAWRENCE HOO 012-2999425

CHOW MUN YUEN 016-2187876

Location map to Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club:
Click here for Map 1

Click here for Map 2

or click at the right sidebar of this website.

Lawerence Hoo
VPPR

Posted by KC Leong, SDTMC Webmaster

Club Officers Installation Nite

Dear Esteemed Member,

I am pleased to invite each one of you together with your family members/friends to attend this major joint event of Speakers' Dream TMC and Spot-On Theatre.

Details of the event are as follows:-

Date : 24 AUG, 2008 (Sunday)
Time : 7 p.m.
Venue : KPGA Golf Club (Restaurant on the ground floor)

Cost : RM30.00 pax

To make this event more interesting, each one of you are request to wear a HAT for the function.

Highlights of the event are as follows:-

a) Our famous and talented, K Loghandran is expected to provide fantastic entertainment for the nite.

b) Our popular actress, Loretta and the famous "loan shark"/"Charlie", Lim Hin Chong will sing for us. I guarantee that the songs will be so good that oil will come out from your ears.

c) Presentation of Toastmasters of the Year Award for 2007/2008.

d) Installation of the new Exco for Speakers Dream TMC.

e) Appreciation of the Actors/Actress of "I Will Survive" - Another successful comedy production by Spot-on Thretre.

f) Sumptuous Chinese Dinner will be served in the Club House environment in KPGA. Manu will be advised later.

g) LUCKY DRAWS. Contributions from members for the lucky draws are welcomed.
At this moment, we already have 21 confirmed bookings.

Pls call me at H/P 013-3901055 for booking.

Thank you.

Best Regards

Robert Hue

Organizing Chair

Immediate Past President

Posted by KC Leong, SDTMC Webmaster