Youth Leadership Programme with Rumah Hope

We recently, successfully concluded the Youth Leadership Programme for Rumah Hope. And I think I speak for all who attended when I say that it was an immensely fulfilling experience.

Three days of learning for all of us. Being taught as we teach.

As chief coordinator, I was prepared or even anticipated hiccups and other forms of challenges. But thankfully it was not to be and the programme went along quite smoothly indeed.

I'd like to put on record my thanks to each and every single person who made this happen. You can see them in action below.


This photo was taken on Day 1.
The participants had no idea what they were in for.








These trophies were for the speech contest on the final day - Day 3.
They were on display on the front desk as a means of motivation for the participants. If you think they're really nice, tell Meng Rae. He chose them.







Here you see Lorna Fisher and Chia Hur at a break-away session.
Chia Hur is the chief mentor for this particular group.







Another mentor, Meng Rae at work. Presenting a topic on how a speech is to be organised.






Here you have Jacob Mathew representing Rumah Hope having a chat with Ramdas Nayar and Geoff Andrew. Geoff and Ramdas, both exceptional presenters had earlier presented a session each with the children.




Here you have Bill Sim in action. Bill presented two sessions. One on Gestures and another on Listening. If he looks animated here, imagine him live.






My pillars of strength. Mellaine, Su Jane and Chee Yong.
These are half of them. the other half being Poh Leong and Meng Rae. These bunch of the Mid Valley Toastmasters Club EXCO fully supported this initiative and were a totally dedicated team.







Two of our five contest Judges in open chambers, Huang Qinmei and Shaik Dawood.
Presumably having a pointed discussion on the merits of the participants.
(If you want better photos of the last day's happenings, Shaik would be the man to see)




Getting down to the root of the problem , Lorna dedicatedly explains a point to a participant, Aiswariya.







The ultimate expression of gratitude.
Kogilavani demonstrating the general sentiment of that memorable final evening. Mellaine on the receiving end.









Group photograph
Day 2











Senior Group GM of Internal Audit, Christine Ong peruses the work of a paticipant and gives him pointers. Glad it wasn't my work she was perusing.







Area Governor W3, Loh Chia Hur taking time of from his governing responsiblities to coach kids.







Bill again animatedly conducts an exercise on Listening










Our kind hearted sponsor Mr Antony P. Barragry, CEO Mid Valley City, Gardens having a lunch-time chat with Chia Hur, Christine Ong and Lorna Fisher. In the background, standing is Shahrin Chin Abdullah, Senior Group GM, Group Human Resource Division, IGB Corporation Berhad. who played an instrumental role in having the programme venued at the Gardens Hotel.

MID VALLEY TOASTMASTERS CLUB
YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME
4 – 6 December 2009
RUMAH HOPE
45 JALAN 20/2, Paramount Garden

any volunteers???

26 October meeting-Haloween

Happy Birthday!

October 22 was the 85th Anniversary of Toastmasters International. In 85 years the club grew from one club in 1924 (as seen on the picture at the top right) to 12,000 clubs around the world. That's indeed a lot of expansion in a relatively short space of time.

That fact alone speaks volumes the organisation. Nothing else needs said. The virtues that the organisation promotes are values universal to any society. And those of us who are already in the organisation can be proud of belonging to probably the biggest organisation in the world which advances our competitive edge without leading us into a competition. Well at least that was the spirit by which Toastmasters was conceived.

Let's always be appreciative of this spirit!

Closer to home though, we had another birthday to celebrate. And it was that of Christine Ong.

Mid Valley Club has come a long way from where it started. And if there was one person who should take credit for moulding the club into becoming what it is today, it should be Christine Ong. I, not unlike many of the others who have known Christine, have nothing but great respect and admiration for her. Her dedication and commitment for anything that she sets her focus on is most admirable and sadly often borders on a fair degree of self-sacrifice. Christine celebrated her birthday on the 25th of October. We wish her all the best

Congratulations to the well deserving team responsible for the Mid Valley club's achievement of the Distinguished Club status.

The club was presented the award at the Semi-Annual Convention held recently at Genting Highlands. It was received there by Chia Hur representing the club. Chia Hur acting in his capacity as Area Governor, in turn re-presented it to the VPE of the Mid Valley Toastmasters Club of the 2008/2009 term, Lee Su Jane. (Anand, the President of the 2008/2009 term couldn't be present to receive this award)

What Luck!

Not only had we Lucky for an evaluator but we were also treated with his mesmerizing speech at table topics. Lachmichand seen here charming the crowd and especially the ladies with his much honed speaking skills, leaving the table topics evaluator awed and lost for words in his evaluation of him.

Our most charming VPPR and lead vampires, Lee Su Jane, see here reaching out to the vampires.

Su Jane seemed to relish this particular topic, describing in minute details her conquests as a vampire. In particular, she was determined to share her delight at acquiring the taste for the blood of a certain gender. You can choose to assume which. And from the response of the audience, one would think that some here actually looked forward to the prospect of being bitten by this vampires.

Su Jane had just returned from the Semi-Annual Convention at Genting Highlands and seemed super charged-up to share her freshly minted knowledge and experiences with the group.

28 September Meeting- Confronting your Fear

"Confronting your fear" was the theme of yesterday's meeting. Our TME, VPE and extremely suave Tan Poh Leong reminded toastmasters that they were there to confront and conquer their fear of public speaking. Poh Leong who claims to have once feared public speaking, admitted under his breath that he no longer faced such fears. He had confronted and conquered them(at the club level at least). Congratulations Poh Leong! It is hard to imagine that this chap in the picture above actually feared public speaking.

Jonathan(left) a first-timer at toastmasters and guest of Meng Rae(right) from the IGB group paying rapt attention to the speech at hand.

A planned speech of a "no-plan plan" by Nur Hidayah. The titles of the speech in themselves stir one's curiosity.

The distinguished looking General Evaluator playing close attention to the antics of the club.

Our club's treasurer Meng Rae advising the club as to how to not to be millionaire.

The confused computer geniuses Seng Yaw and Leung wondering whether or not to want be a millionaire after-all. Hmmm

Our GE demonstrating the proper way to confront one's fear : with open arms

14 September Meeting - Hari Raya Aidilfitri

The theme of our meeting yesterday evening was Hari Raya Aidilfitri. And who better to explain the significance of this theme than the one who selected it, our TME, Noorhashima. It was Ema's (her shortened and preferred name) maiden role as a TME and I thought she was just great. She took her role seriously and gathered all essential facts before the meeting. Her due diligence and resolute command of the meeting resulted in a meeting almost as smooth as the silk of the baju kurung she wore. Ema seen above making final adjustments on her TME script.

We also had a guest yesterday, Edwin Wong. It was his first time at a TM meeting. And our VPM Rafeeqa, left no question in Edwin's mind as to the benefits of "toastmastering". (Rafeeqa seen in photograph pointing out the finer points to Edwin).

Edwin later took the bull by its horns by trying out at table topics.

We were fortunate to have also yesterday a committed GE, Kuok Sum who shared with us interesting insights as to how we can better our meetings. What I particularly found enlightening was his insight on the different stances for women and men and how to make shorter yet substantive reports on timekeeping.

Thank you Kuok Sum. (seen above receiving a token of appreciation from the president of the club and yours truly.)

We had our welcomed regular evaluator and friend, Hadzrin at his usual wit delivering his wining table topic.

And our poise VPE, Poh Leong delivering his wining evaluation, choosing his voice unplugged over the microphone.

Rafeeqa having had personal training sessions from the master himself and W3 Area Governor Chia Hur, won for the prepared speeches.

Humor and Evaluation Contest

What a Contest. Ask those who attended and find out why "Walla-Walla" needs to be the word to add in one's vocabulary. Almost every other speech borrowed this word. The word or rather phrase was the thrust of the humor winning speech.

Christine Ong, represented our club and the Area W3 for the evaluation contest. She was the first to evaluate followed by 7 others. Just being there and having the courage to face some fifty odd clubs is a humble lesson in conquering fear in itself. In my book that alone makes each area representative a winner in his or her own right. (insert photograph from left, Christine, Leung's guest, Leung, Poh Leong and myself)

Dont Forget!

Division W Humourous Speech and Evaluation Contest

1pm, Saturday, 12 September

At WIM, TTDI.

Support our own Christine Ong, representing our club and area W3.

Get your tickets from Chia Hur or me.

Our Mc Dees Venue

We had a rather interesting meeting at Mc Donalds, Bangsar yesterday. I think our GE, Hadzrin was the earliest to arrive. Anyway our meeting began later than expected because of a few reasons. One of which being that we hadn't looked into the fact that it would be jammed on that day. The second was that neither Poh Leong nor I who had gone on an earlier recce of the premises was there beforehand to direct and to organise the seating arrangement as we had planned. For this I apologise. But thanks to Hadzrin, Rae, his lovely wife and other helpful early bird toastmasters, this was promptly taken care of. (unfortunetely Mrs Hong Meng Rae didn't stay long enough to be thanked for her efforts. Rae, please don't keep her a secret and do convey our gratitude.)

The jams, a usual occurrence during the berbuka puasa period witnessed almost everyone rushing somewhere to berbuka puasa with their loved ones. Mid Valley toastmasters too knew who their loved ones were, and accordingly spent the berbuka puasa moment with them. The love we shared amongst ourselves spread quickly and the rest of the meeting went on rather smoothly.
I don't know if everbody felt this way but pictures they say speak a thousand words. These are posted, so you be the judge.

Hadzrin, if you are reading this, thank you for the great GE-ing and for your patience.
And to Misal our TME again I say, a job well done.


cheers,
gerard

Area W3 Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest 2009

Area W3 Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest was successfully organised at 5th Floor, Cititel Hotel, Mid Valley on Tuesday, 18 August 2009.

The contest began at 7.30pm with Mohd Hazrin Shah, ACB, CL as the Contest Chair for Humorous Speech. We had our good laughs with 5 contestants:
1. Chan Chee Hong
2. Moi Kok Lum, Jason
3. Tah Poh Leong
4. Poh Ban Chung
5. Lee Su Jane

Gerald Wee is our Evaluation Contest Chair. The test speaker for the evening was Sam Thong with his Speech title; "How to Operate a SLR Camera". The contestants who evaluated Sam are:
1. Tah Poh Leong
2. Ernest Wong
3. Christine Ong
4. Jacylyn Wee
5. Moi Kok Lum, Jason

The results for the Speech Evaluation Contest are as followed:
1. Champion: Christine Ong
2. 1st-Runner Up: Jason Moi
3. 2nd-Runner Up: Ernest Wong

The results for the Humorous Speech Contest are as followed:
1. Champion: Poh Ban Chung
2. 1st-Runner Up: Jason Moi
3. 2nd-Runner Up: Chan Chee Hong

Congratulations to our winners as they made us proud tonight and the champion will be contesting in Division W Contest. Details are as followed;

Date/Day: 12th September 2009/Saturday
Venue: WISMA WIM, TTDI
Time: 1.30pm till further notice
Fee: RM15 (before 24th August) and RM20 (after 24th August) ; Lunch is included