Monday, November 24, 2014

Meeting #248: Monsters (Written by Sky Siew; Edited by Timothy Nakayama)

By Sky Siew Voon Fei


10th November 2014  was our Mid Valley Toastmaster meeting #248, with the theme of the night being Monsters. Our meeting started with the introduction of the guests and members. Our President Shim Chee Loon started the meeting by asking guests and members to share with everyone about who or what they saw as a monster. Some of them said their bosses, some of the intern students said their supervisors were their monsters.



After the introduction session was over, Chee Loon passed the floor to our Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Christy Chang. Christy took over the floor and begun by introducing the Toastmaster organization’s history. The meeting continued with the Project Speeches first as our “ever ready” Table Topics Master. ACG, ALB Timothy Nakayama was caught  in some emergency and would arrive late for the meeting.

Our first speaker of today was Becky Benjamin, who did her CC#1 Ice Breaking speech “The Journey of Becky”. She shared with us that she likes to dance and has been dancing since childhood and that she has a sister called Jessica who also attended this meeting. She dreamed of making big money and having her own business. However, during the year of 2009 when she came to KL to further her studies, she  faced a shortage of money. She started her very own business during her time in univer. When she graduated she joined IGB group. One thing she would like us to bring home was the message that we should never give up on our dreams. We should believe in the Law of Attraction. Becky’s speech gave us a better understanding about both her and her dream. She achieved the CC#1 objectives with awesome content.



Our second project speaker, Vivien Lim delivered her CC#9: “Time Management”. Vivien started her speech with a little bit of nervousness as she was informed at the last minute that the projector could not being used during her speech. However, she was still able to finish her speech within the time given. She started her speech by saying she was not happy with her 2014 resolutions as she had no time to complete them. She cannot take leave for her personal life and resolutions. After that, she shared with us how we can all have more efficient time management. Please note it down for your own good:
Step 1: Recording (record what are you going to do every morning)
Step 2: Analysing (analyse which one is urgent and important and give it first priority)
Step 3: Change it (work smarter, organize your work, schedule your work)


The meeting continued with Carmen Chong who delivered her CC#10: “Take for Granted”. She started her speech by breaking a hard boiled egg which caught the audience’s attention. She delivered her speech in a humorous way. She shared with us the fact that she was once pampered like a princess and that all her dreams were fulfilled by her queen. She also mentioned she was reluctant to call her grandma as grandma. She used to take things for granted and never felt grateful for what her grandma did for her. Furthermore, she shared with us that she has no regrets about what she has done in the past – her regrets are only for those things that she never did at all. She shared her story with us as she  did not want us to repeat her mistake. She won herself the Best Project Speaker of the Night with her touching experience. Congratulations to her! 



Our Table Topic Master arrived and the meeting continued with the Table Topics session, with the Table Topics cleverly tailored for the night’s Monster theme.


His Table Topic sessions are always so creative. He used a board and pasted a few monster cut-outs there and let the Table Topic participants choose which monster they wanted, and the Table Topic would be closely tailored around that monster.


Our first Table Topic participant was Wai Hong and he chose Werewolf: if he was bitten by an animal, which animal he would like to be bitten by. He shared with us that he wished to be bitten by a cheetah as the cheetah is well known to be the fastest animal. He wanted to get the super power of the cheetah and then he would be able to complete his task as soon as possible. Then he would have more time for his personal life!



The second Table Topic participant was the Toastmaster from Singapore, Anthony. He chose the Ghost cutout and his Table Topic was: if he had a third eye, what would he like to see with it. He wanted to see beyond just surface level, to look deeper into the truths underneath. He wanted to know the truth of everything. He also wanted to know the future and invent something which can benefit mankind.



Our third participant was  Chris Chooi,who is Mid Valley Toastmaster Club member. He chose the Lochness Monster and his Table Topic is: Being famous, would you want it? He started by saying that  everyone wants to be famous but famous for what? He wanted to be famous for something great which can benefit to mankind. Our world would be more beautiful if we had more people like Anthony and Chris Chooi.



Our forth speaker is a student intern who is doing her internship in one of our member’s company. Shirly Chan’s Table Topic: the biggest fear in her life. She shared her biggest fear: animals, because of their fur. Whenever she touches their bodies, she feels uncomfortable. She delivered her the speech with a bit of nervousness as this is the first time she attended a Toastmasters meeting.


The last Table Topic speaker was Yoong Hean who is from Sunway University Toastmasters’ club. His title was: would he accept the power of immortality? He said to us that he did not wish to accept this power as he did not wish to see all his friends die over and over again. His life would be getting boring (maybe like Wolverine). He would like to live his life to the fullest as he would treat everyday as the last day of his life. His interesting content won him the Best Table Topic speaker of the night.



There was a short break after listening to all the good speeches and Table Topics and the meeting resumed after a 15 minutes break, continuing with the Evaluation session, where all the speakers would be evaluated.



Cheky Ng evaluated the Table Topic participants. He commented that the participants were very good in trying out the Table Topics. He advised participants to be more humorous when delivering Table Topics. He also commented that participants could do with more hand gestures, eye contact, and reduced repeating words.



Next will be our project speaker evaluator Woo Li Ping. She evaluated Becky Benjamin. She commented that Becky had good body gesture and a good introduction to her speech. She commented that maybe Becky could have interacted more with the audience.

Ang Chee Yong is the evaluator for Vivien Lim’s speech. He pointed out some improvement point for her so that she could better organize her next speech. Her nervousness can be reduced with more practice. He also mentioned that timing is very crucial when delivering a project speech. For her next speech, she may use her emotion to inspire the audience.


Our last evaluator is Wong Woon Pen (who used to be our Humour Master). He evaluated Chong Carmen. He mentioned Carmen could have done better in her speech. He also said that Carmen should have tried to inspire the audience by using her emotions. She could have used a catchphrase that could be remembered by the audience. Her body language was good but she can definitely still be improved in order to move herself to a higher level. His interesting evaluation successfully won him the best Evaluator of the night. Congratulations to him!



Our General Evaluator (GE) of the night, Lim Thian Seng, ACG, ALB from Taman Indrahana Toastmasters club then came up to give his comments: that our club had  a good setup, good role players who explained their roles well, and that the members of our club were full of energy that night.

After the speech from the GE, Christy Chang presented  the details for Mid Valley Toastmaster Club’s next outing event: Christmas gathering pot-luck party! 
Details as below and feel free to register with her as seats are limited!

Event: Christmas Gift Exchange
Date: 20/12/2014
Time: 6pm-10pm
No of Pax: 20 pax
Cost: RM20 and above
Venue: Sri Camellia Apartment ( her house~~~)

Our meeting ended with our Vice-President of Education, Timothy Nakayama urging the club’s members to join the club’s current Slogan contest, run by EXCO Committee member, Ryan Ting.
See you guys at the next meeting which is on the 24th of November 2014.

No comments: