Mid Valley Toastmasters Wonderland Event

"At Christmas play and make good cheer,

for Christmas comes but once a year."

The festival of Christmas is the time to have a lot of fun with the near and dear. This Monday (27th December 2010) is the time for us to spread good cheers with members and guests. We will conduct our last meeting for Year 2010 at RedBox, The Gardens. We will reunions and gatherings with long lost members and friends so that the festive spirit is conveyed to everyone in their acquaintance.

Please join us as we commemorate the start of the holiday season with an informative and joyful session.

Meeting details:

Themes: Christmas & New Year

Dress: Christmas themed attire (Red/ Green/ White)

Others: Gift exchange session & games

It would be our pleasure to invite you and whoever you would like to bring along to our Christmas and New Year meeting. Let your words and speech brighten up someone else and your presence will be their Christmas present this year!

May joy and happiness snow on you, may the bells jingle for you and may Santa be extra good to you!Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Learning to speak confidently!

Are you interested in learning how to speak confidently in public? Many of us with such intention will get to the nearby book store and purchase a book on "Public Speaking". After a few rounds of reading, you may purchase a few more books on public speaking and continue reading, in hope that your public speaking skills will eventually improve.

While you may learn concepts and tips on public speaking through reading, you will NOT improve, unless you practise! Practice makes perfect!

Public speaking is all about practise, practise, practise. The more you practise, the better you become. You may read hundreds of books on public speaking, but if you do not practise, you will never improve. This is how Toastmasters can help you. We provide you with the necessary platform for you to practise your public speaking skills, while giving you useful feedback on how to improve further.

If you are interested in improving, feel free to drop by at our meeting. We meet at 7pm, every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month at 5th Floor, Cititel Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur. See you there!

Dreaming Big

Some of us dream big. There is nothing wrong with dreaming, because after all, the world that we are in today is built from dreams that many had in the past. Without the many great men who dreamt and dared to pursue their dreams, we would not have the world that we live in today.

While dreaming big is not wrong, at times we would be laughed at for having big dreams. Some call our dreams silly, some call us too ambitious, and some would even start labeling us crazy. However, if we listen to our inner selves, have faith in ourselves, and work hard towards achieving our dreams, no one can possibly stop us. As the wise one once said, "What your mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve".

At Mid Valley Toastmasters Club, we believe in dreaming, and working towards achieving your dreams. On 11th October 2010, we met with the theme of "Dreaming Big". We shared our dreams when we introduced ourselves and proceeded with a unique table topics session where we built a story together on how dreaming big led to a boy's adventure to space. We ended the meeting with all of us closing our eyes and going deep into ourselves to reinforce our dreams, and to strive towards achieving those dreams.

Congratulations to the winners for the night:
1) Best Speaker: Loh Chia Hur

2) Best Evaluator: Tan Poh Leong

3) Best Table Topics Speaker: Jocelyn

Special thanks to our General Evaluator Alan Tan for attending the meeting.

A Meeting Full of Fire

(General Evaluator ACB ALB Hadzrin Shah)

The meeting on 27th September 2010 was a meeting full of fire. The fire was started by the fiery General Evaluator ACB ALB Hadzrin Shah who powered all the role players to speak with fire. The unique approach during evaluation session created much excitement and energy. It was a memorable meeting.

Earlier during the meeting, we held an award presentation session for our members who achieved educational awards during the 2009/2010 term. Thanks to these members, we achieved the perfect 10 out of 10 possible points in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) during the 2009/2010 term:

1. Rafeeqa (CC)
2. Hong Meng Rae (CC)
3. Mellaine (CC)
4. Tan Poh Leong (CC)
5. Lee Su Jane (CL)
6. Loh Chia Hur (ALB)
7. Christine Ong (ACS)
8. Gerard Peter (ACB)

Hari Raya Aidilfitri

This year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri was not only celebrate by our Muslim friends, but also all of us at Mid Valley Toastmasters Club. On 13 September 2010, we held a special meeting for the celebration with our members dressed for the occasion.

The men came in their Baju Melayu while the ladies came in their Kebaya and Baju Kurung. Besides the fun and laughters, the best dressed members were also rewarded with special gifts, courtesy of our General Evaluator, Robert Ram ACS ALB. The best-dressed titles went to the following members:

Best-dressed Men Category
1) Robert Ram ACS ALB (from IEM Toastmasters Club)
2) Ang Chee Yong TM

Best-dressed Ladies Category
1) Endree Lim TM
2) Jane Lee TM

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri everyone!

Congratulations to Calvin Chai and Loh Chia Hur!

Are you still single and looking to strike your first perfect date? If you are, you should consult Calvin Chai for tips! Calvin Chai from Mid Valley Toastmasters Club tickled our funny bones at Area G3 Humorous Speech Contest with his speech on how to make your first date a successful one. The hall was filled with laughters as Calvin Chai related to us how to maneuver our first date from the point when you pick up your date to the point when you are finally alone with your date at home. He left the latter part short, as he left the audience to imagine how the date could have ended. The judges were so impressed with the loudest cheers and laughters from the audience that they crowned him the Area Champion for Humorous Speech Contest. Congratulations to Calvin Chai!


Loh Chia Hur from Mid Valley Toastmasters Club did equally well as he emerged as the 1st runner-up for the Humorous Speech Contest. Loh Chia Hur spoke about his “water” experiences during his childhood days (which included an incident when he was having fun playing with water from a toilet bowl). He also related how as a toddler he was pushed into the swimming pool to learn swimming. While trying not to drown, he kicked his feet so hard that his dad thought he was a swimmer with natural talent. Most importantly, Loh Chia Hur imparted an important life lesson to the audience. In life, you may be pushed to the water and left alone to survive. But if you treat the experience as a learning experience and push yourself hard enough to swim faster, you will eventually survive and be a tougher man.

Loh Chia Hur did not only excel in the Humorous Speech Contest, he also excelled in the Evaluation Contest and emerged as the 2nd runner-up. Congratulations to Loh Chia Hur.

The full results are as follows:

Humorous Speech Contest:
Champion: Calvin Chai (Mid Valley Toastmasters Club)
1st runner-up: Loh Chia Hur (Mid Valley Toastmasters Club)
2nd runner-up: Jason Moi (Help Toastmasters Club)

Evaluation Contest:
Champion: Jason Moi (Help Toastmasters Club)
1st runner-up: Meyyappa Manickam (YSP Sah Toastmasters Club)
2nd runner-up: Loh Chia Hur (Mid Valley Toastmasters Club)

Congratulations again to Calvin Chai and Loh Chia Hur! Both of them will be representing Area G3 for the Division Level Humorous Speech Contest on 25 September 2010. We wish them the best for the Division Level Contest!

P.S.- If you would like to see them perform, drop by at our next meeting on 13 September 2010, 7pm at 5th Floor, Cititel Hotel, Mid Valley City.

Going the extra mile

We believe in going the extra mile to achieve improvement. Recently on 30 August 2010, we conducted an additional meeting to provide more opportunities for our members to attempt their project speeches. Special thanks to Ang Chee Yong (Vice President Education) for organising and securing the meeting venue.

Mid Valley Toastmasters Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests

If you would like to achieve significant improvement, you have to push yourself to the limit. In Toastmasters, we participate in contests to test our limit, and to see how far we can go. By being competitive, you will force yourself to perfect your public speaking skills to perform at your best. Ultimately, you will find yourself to be a much improved speaker after participating in the contests.

We organized our Club level Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests on 23 August 2010. We had record breaking number of participants with 8 contestants for Humorous Speech Contest and 7 contestants for Evaluation Contest.

The Humorous Speech Contest went on smoothly with laughters bursting out as we listened to speeches peppered with jokes. The Evaluation Contest was equally good with our evaluators providing analysis and recommendations for improvement to the test speaker (Priya from Sai Masters) who delivered a speech entitled "Positive Beliefs Produce Positive Results".

Congratulations to our winners!

Winners of Humorous Speech Contest
Champion: Loh Chia Hur
1st runner-up: Calvin Chai
2nd runner-up: Sky Chan

Winners of Evaluation Contest
Champion: Loh Chia Hur
1st runner-up: Keith Ho
2nd runner-up: Moses Wong

SkyTrex Adventure

Do you feel butterflies in your stomach when you speak in public? It is a normal reaction of your body to have butterflies in your stomach when you are nervous or anxious. However, with practice, you will be able to control the butterflies and let them fly the way you want them to. As Toastmasters, we are trained to do exactly that- to control the butterflies. By controlling the butterflies, we can then focus on our speeches and deliver the speeches with confidence and conviction.

On 21 August 2010, a bunch of us from Mid Valley Toastmasters Club had a different set of butterflies to control. We challenged ourselves to the extreme by embarking on a scary journey at SkyTrex Adventure Park, Shah Alam. We climbed up trees, swung ourselves from one tree to another, walked on ropes high up in the sky, and tried flying fox. This was an experience of a different kind that we have not been trained to do, but we took up the challenge nevertheless, and successfully completed the challenge with smiles. The girls did it well, looking like Lara Croft in training. The guys did it well too, with some looking like Tarzans.

As a reward for all of us, our Club treated us to good food in Klang.

We learnt one important lesson from the SkyTrex Adventure challenge:

“If you are faced with challenges in life, stop concentrating on how daunting the challenges are, and how impossible it is to overcome them. Instead, focus your energy and mind on the immediate challenge facing you, and walk through the challenges one by one. Before long, you will realize that you have reached the finishing line.”

P.S.- Special thanks to Loo Cheaw Lee for organizing the event. For more photos, join our Facebook group (search for "Mid Valley Toastmasters Club").

Welcome to the new members!

We conducted the induction ceremony for our new members recently on 9 August 2010. The ceremony was conducted by our Vice President Membership, Travis Lai. Welcome to all new members!

Laugh It Out!

Toastmasters provides a platform for its members to make mistakes and learn from the mistakes for self improvement. It is the safest platform where you can make mistakes while laughing at your own mistakes without having any adverse consequences. In line with this, the meeting held on 12 July 2010 was set with the theme of “Laugh It Out”.

The meeting was led by our very own Vice President Membership, Travis Lai, who was the Toastmaster of the Evening.

Everyone had good laughter during the meeting which started with a jovial table topics session conducted by Wattson Lai with questions revolving around “Laughter”.

The meeting continued with the first prepared speech by Leong Phaik Shan. Phaik Shan did her ice breaker speech and told us more about herself, including her passion for diving. A remarkable moment of the speech was when she shared with us the fact that “Diving is safer than driving”. Is that true? So she claimed.

Next, Loo Cheaw Lee took the stage and spoke about her experience of having to wear teeth braces. She ended the presentation by imparting the importance of a beautiful smile and encouraged everyone to consider visiting their orthodontist!

Our immediate past Area Governor, Loh Chia Hur, continued the session with his advanced speech where he was asked to speak "off the cuff" about his experience as a sales representative. He shared with us his experience as a sales representative and revealed the surprising fact that sales representatives are generally lonely people who have to travel and work on their own most of the time.

The last speech for the day was presented by our immediate past president, Gerard Peter, who spoke about Hofstede’s Dimensions. He shared with us Malaysia’s ranking on each of the 5 Hofstede’s Dimensions, including the fact that Malaysia scored the highest in the Power Distance dimension, which indicates that Malaysians generally accept that power is distributed unequally.

DTM Tang Sum Chee was the General Evaluator for the meeting and joyfully guided us through the evaluation sections.

At the end of the meeting, a special session was held where our immediate past president, Gerard Peter, accepted an award for leading our club in achieving the perfect 10 out of 10 DCP goals for the term 2009/2010. Congratulations to Mid Valley Toastmasters Club, and special thanks to the EXCO members of the last term!!!

Christmas Meeting with Speakers' Dream Toastmasters

On the 28th of December our Club had a joint meeting with Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club. We chose to have a joint meeting because we calculated that being the holiday season, attendance might be low. And the reason the joint meeting with specifically Speaker's Dream was because their meeting days coincide with the same Mondays as ours. It was done in a small part also in support of the 1 Malaysia vision of our PM, translated in our style as 1 Christmas in Malaysia with 2 Clubs. So there you go, we welcomed the Joint Christmas meeting with Speakers' Dream Toastmasters with open arms.

There are really 2 persons who need to take credit for this and that would be, Mun Yuen, IPP of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club and our very own Poh Leong, VPE of Mid Valley Toastmasters Club. I personally witnessed the preparation and organisation, which was planned to the tee. Thankfully the GE also noticed that the meeting had proceeded without a hitch and made special mention of the diligence of Poh Leong.



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

Pictured here is a president who takes his addresses seriously.





Rafeeqa, our TME for the evening was well prepared for the task. Although a relative newcomer to the scene, she executed her tasks with finesse and poise. She might have been the only one who colour-coded here attire in line with the theme for the evening.






World-renowned K. Loghandran, runner up at the World International Speech Contest 2008, presented a humor session. He had the audience in stitches. They laughed and laughed...










and laughed.









The macho ones tried to conceal their laughter.








Others couldn't hold it in.

Ang Chee Yong continued where K. Loghandran left off and seems to have mastered the skill of crafting an entertaining speech. I can only assume that Loghandran had a field time picking nuggets of resources from Chee Yong's topic that exposes the peculiarities that distinguish between the boys and the girls.




Choose carefully whom you trust your personal information with. Information can be use in many ways to cause distress to you. Hong Meng Rae, Mid Valley Toastmasters Club's treasurer gives an insight on Identity Theft




Lawrence Ho of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club wins the "prepared speeches" category with his topic "So What's Next". Seen here on the right of photograph receiving his certificate and a Christmas token from the President of Speaker's Dream Toastmasters Club, Ismail Fahmi.


GE for the meeting, NJ Singam is presented a token of appreciation by the President of Speakers' Dream Toastmasters Club, Ismail Fahmi.


In all it was as usual an enjoyable evening.