23rd July Meeting - Stop Blaming, Start Forgiving

The 23rd of July meeting was our 199th meeting - so that's one more to the big 200! For a pre-biggie meeting, this one did not disappoint. In fact, it felt like it was the big one itself! Even before the meeting proper started, there was a palpable buzz in the air, as if the few hours that followed would be an electrifying experience.

Well, it was. And the main reason for that, the big reason behind that addictive buss and the feeling of excitement in the room - were the people at the meeting themselves! 44 people turned up to bring good cheer and passionate enthusiasm to a meeting that well and truly rocked. 44 people ~ 18 of them our own Mid Valley members and the other 26 our guests, from other Toastmasters clubs and non-Toastmasters guests alike, who honored us with their presence and involvement. Just a quick roll-call when it comes to the various clubs that were in attendance: Sunway University, Indrahana, Money & You, HELP University, Friendship, Faith, Scope, MIA, Ipoh TMC and Taylor's University.

To quote our previous Area Governor, the ever charming Victor Ong ~ "What an evening!"

And what better way to start off our second meeting of the 2012/2013 term than by restoring one of the traditions that was due for a Karate-Kid-like comeback - New Member Induction?

The tradition fell along the wayside during the past term, but it was brought back in style by having a massive one: by inducting SIX members at once. It would have been more except some were late and others could not make it to the meeting. It should be noted that all these members had joined much earlier than July, but we were going for inducting EVERY member who has never been inducted officially.

Here's the picture for the six-member induction (photo courtesy of Shin Li);

President Travis Lai inducting 6 members.

From Left to Right: Ted Saraki, Lisa Khoo, Vivien Lim, Mr. Wong, Winson Tan, Timothy Nakayama

And then, our Elect-Toastmaster-of-the-Evening, Immediate Past President Ang Chee Yong, took over, adding some pep and zest to get that buzz flowing to each and every person in the room. He got us all in the right mood by introducing the Table Topic Master of the day, the young and affable Lee Jun Han from Money & You Toastmasters Club.

Jun Han brought us a new take on Table Topics by doing it Charades-style. Two people come up ~ one person will Mime, while the other will Speak. The Mime gets to read a short story from a piece of paper, and then, they have to mime the actions in the story for the Speaker. The Speaker has to guess what the silent actor is trying to tell them.

As you would expect, the results were fun, entertaining, and yes, we can admit it - hilarious (photos courtesy of Victor Ong):

Sharif and Ashwinni from Sunway University TMC

Shariff makes the rookie mistake of assuming a girl is pregnant because of her body gestures.

Bryan (from HELP Uni TMC) and Cris (from Taylor's Uni TMC)

What's the time, morning glory?

Mr. Ninja and Ms. Satomi:

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.

It should be noted that Victor Ong and Keith Ho (a Mid Valley TMC member!) also took part, and their story was that of lovers... one who is outraged that the other had an affair.... Somehow, all incriminating evidence has disappeared, for we have no photos of the couple acting out their tearful story...

It is at this point that the Toastmaster of the Evening arrived - the bubblelicious Sheryl Chieng. And her arrival was greeted by cheers of approval, for our Vice President of Education has always been a crowd favorite, especially when she starts the session off with her favourite quote: "Speeches should be like skirts. Low enough to cover the vitals. Short enough to keep things interesting". Victor Ong replied with a crowd-favorite as well: "Your skirt?" Zing!!!

(Photo below courtesy of Winson Tan):

An unusually fierce Sheryl Chieng

And then we got to the main showcase of any Toastmasters meeting: Prepare Speeches. And as you've come to expect from a Mid Valley Toastmasters meeting, we had 5 brave souls stepping up to deliver their prepared speeches (photos courtesy of Victor Ong):

Winson Tan educating us (humorously) on the cultural differences between India and Malaysia

Ong Koh Him telling us a story about a train and what happened on one fateful day...

Ted Saraki showing us just how big an Ox can get in his first Advanced Speech

Travis Lai tries to sell RM90 eyedrops to an unsuspecting Ang Chee Yong.

Timothy Nakayama ~ a 58-year old politician speaking to the masses in 2050. 'Nuff said.

After the speeches, it was time for our eating-and-chit-chatting session and as usual, we did that in style, swerving and dancing around like ballet dancers as we try to update each other on the latest news going on at each others' clubs ~ Networking like a boss.

And, after the break, it was time for first-time General Evaluator to play her role. And, as always the case with How Yee, from Money & You Toastmasters Club (just down the road at 3rd Mile Square, on Old Klang Road), she does everything with stylish pizazz and chutzpah (Photo courtesy of Victor Ong):

Poised, Elegant, our General Evaluator, How Yee

And then we come to everyone's favourite session: Evaluation time! As the Humor Speech and Evaluation season comes closer and closer, this was the perfect time for everyone to learn how to do great evaluations, and boy, did we have a group of experienced evaluators at the meeting:

Yeow Honn, having the unenviable task of evaluating the Charades-like Table Topic Session...

... which was not bad, considering that his initial reaction went something like this.

Ian Tai (from Friendship TMC) giving some points of improvement for Winson Tan

Immediate Past President Ang Chee Yong evaluating Ong Koh Him's train story.

Our Area Governor, Chan Siew Peng, letting us know whether funny-man Ted Saraki succeeded!

Bryan Cheong (from HELP Uni TMC) sharing his opinion on Travis' Advanced Speech.

Victor Ong sharing some insights into how Timothy Nakayama's speech fared with the audience.

The evaluations were top-notch and the meeting flowed smoothly to the next phase, where How Yee called upon her team of evaluators to deliver their reports. She called upon Jee Aik (Grammarian), Priscilla (Ah Counter) and Lisa Khoo (Timekeeper) before delivering her short and sweet General Evaluator Report (Photo courtesy of Winson Tan):

Priscilla Parissa (Faith TMC) giving her Ah Counter report while Lisa Khoo looks on

And then President Travis Lai returned to the stage to give his President Closing Address and present the Awards to the winners.

The Awards for this meeting were given out to (photos courtesy of Winson Tan):

Estranged Couple Victor Ong and Keith Ho - Best Table Topic Pair

Timothy Nakayama - Best Project Speech Speaker

Victor Ong - Best Evaluator

And of course, Mid Valley Toastmasters Club gives a certificate of appreciation to our awesome General Evaluator, Ms. How Yee. It may be her first time, but this lady has got verve and moxie. (Photo courtesy of Winson Tan):

How Yee - first time General Evaluator - but oh so good!

Of course, here at Mid Valley Toastmasters, just because the meeting is over doesn't mean we can't take more pictures (Photo courtesy of Shin Li):

Our frequent guest, Shin Li (Ipoh TMC) with the ever affable Victor Ong

With such an epic meeting, it is only proper for one last photo ~ The Group Shot! (Photo courtesy of Winson Tan):

Everyone do the Asian Cheesy Group Shot thing!

It was a meeting where records were broken, blues were banished, hungry stomachs were filled-up, spirits lifted to the skies, and where the passion for Toastmasters was as clear as a cloudless summer sky.

The 200th meeting beckons.

NOTE
Our Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest will take place on 13th August.
Our next meeting, the 200th meeting, will be on 27th August. It will be a BIG one. So come ~ you can't afford not to!