1st Mid Valley
Toastmasters Tall Tales Contest (The Biggest Liar Contest)
Mid Valley
Toastmasters Club organised our maiden Tall Tales Contest on 12th
January 2015. Under the leadership of Organizing Chairperson (OC) and past
President Ang Chee Yong as well as
Contest Chair Wong Mi Shan, it was
decided that this contest would uncover the club’s “Biggest Liar”!
With a tagline
like that, is it any wonder that guests and members were showing up in numbers?
Tall tales already come in the form of stories with unbelievable elements
presented as if they were true and factual – but throw in finding out who the
“Biggest Liar” in the club is? The one who came up on top would certainly get
bragging rights in a club like ours!
Crafting a
winning speech is never easy but 10 brave contestants took up the challenge.
The contestants’
names and speech titles were:
1)
Carmen
Chong (“The Black Man”)
2)
Chris
Chooi (“Second Chance”)
3)
Chee
Siong (“The Secret Agent”)
4)
Daniel
Lim (“Know the Door”)
5)
Kow
Chee Khon (“KL Time Machine”)
6)
Wayne
Poon (“The Chinese Vampire”)
7)
Shim
Chee Loon (“The Orange Farmer”)
8)
Yeap
Wei Leeng (“Far Far Away”)
9)
Wong
Woon Pen (“One Day When I Meet The President”)
10)
Timothy
Nakayama (“Project Firestone”)
Our usual
meeting venue was all ready to go – chairs were arranged facing the front, the
“stage boundary” was marked with tape to identify the contest area, etc. OC Ang
Chee Yong’s preparations were top-notch.
And of course,
let’s not forget the overwhelming support and love from fellow members, external
Toastmasters and honoured guests – despite the heavy traffic, everyone came
early to show their support. There was the usual networking and social chatter
as everyone enjoyed the refreshments prepared by Mid Valley Cititel Hotel.
Of course,
during all the light banter and refreshments, Contest Chair Wong Mi Shan
briefed the contestants on the rules and regulations while Chief Judge Lucky,
DTM, was seen briefing his fellow judges and contest role-players about the
same things from a judge’s point of view.
The Tall Tales
contest started on time, with our Contest Chair introducing the contestants and
explaining the rules to fellow Toastmasters and guests. The contest started
under the watchful eye of our Chief Judge, Lucky, with his fellow judges seated
all around the hall. Our twin Rolex Time-keeper,s Christy Chang and Eve Chong
were ready to keep a watchful eye on the duration of the contestants’ speeches,
making sure that they were all within the allocated 3-5 minutes each. Vivien Lim and Rebekah Benjamin (aka Becky) were the Sergeants-At-Arms (SAAs)
for the night, ready to assist the speakers and to ensure the crowd moved in
and out of the contest hall at the appropriate times.
The contest started
with a spooky yet funny story by Wayne
Poon, as he regaled us with the tale of “The Chinese Vampire”. He shared
with us the differences between “Chinese” and “European” vampires and even had
a volunteer play the part of the hopping “Chinese” vampire, which needless to
say, made everyone laugh out loud!
Chris Chooi delivered “Second
Chance”, a poignant reminder that we should not waste second chances because we
never known when (or if) we might be getting a third. He shared a personal
story about an experience that changed him. It touched our hearts. Thanks, Chris,
for sharing with us.
Kow Chee Khon took us back through time with “KL Time Machine”. He
brought us back to the establishment of Kuala Lumpur by the first Chinese
settlers back in the early days. Kow claims he was the “4th
Godfather”（四爷） of a Chinese clan, who went on to establish many buildings and
places around Kuala Lumpur which have now become notable landmarks in the Kuala
Lumpur of today. His stories of the origins of famous places like Kuala Lumpur (from muddy ground) and Brickfields (from the construction of brick buildings)
were beautifully crafted, such that it all sounded real and plausible.
The beautiful (and only) flower among the
thorns, Carmen Chong, presented “The
Black Man”. The club’s so-called drama queen, Carmen made good use of her
expressive body language and vocal variety to create an atmosphere of suspense
– which was the exact thing her tale needed! It was a story about how she met
the most handsome man she had ever seen during one of her nights out about
town. As she went deeper into the tale, she kept the tempo high and created
wave after wave of dramatic expressions which kept us all at the edge of our
seats – we had to know who this “lucky” man was. It turned out to be... well,
let’s just say you can ask her all about it the next time you see her!
Top Left to Right: Chee Loon, Wayne Poon, Kow Chee
Khon
Middle Left to Right : Chee Siong, Wei Leeng &
Daniel Lim
Bottom Left to Right: Carmen Chong, Chris Chooi and
Timothy Nakayama
Daniel Lim shared with us
his spooky encounter with a lonely ghost in “Know the Door”. He started off
with the story of how he met this ghost in a toilet of some less-crowded hotel
and how he then made it through the night despite having to answer the call of
nature several times. Daniel tickled our funny bones with his funny facial
expressions and smartly selected the right words to describe his actions. As an
ending, he reminded us to try and follow the Chinese custom of knocking at the
door before entering a room. “You never know what you might see!” he said,
laughing.
Yeap
Wei Leeng took us back through time and memory with
his tale, “Far Far Away”. He started off by telling us about his grandfather,
who once had Shrek for a neighbour. Wei Leeng gave numerous examples of the
superheroic things one can do in Far, Far Away Land, where the sky is the
limit. With his smiles and confidence, Wei Leeng made it easy for us to
understand the world in his tale. It was an exciting journey, and we were left
wondering “Can we move to Far, Far Away Land?”
Chee Siong’s “The Secret
Agent” brought us the story of the legendary JJ, a super agent in the employ of
the “Mid Valley Secret Service”, a man who was renowned for his strength,
bravery and sharpshooting abilities. All these traits made JJ the perfect agent
to foil both an assassination on our club President Shim Chee Loon and the
follow-up plan to steal President Shim’s super-secret Juiceee Juice formula.
Chee Siong role-played different characters and presented his speech in a
humorous way and from an every-day man perspective, which made for a very
interesting tall tale.
Next was a man
who is a bit of a legend unto himself – our President, Shim Chee Loon. In Chee Loon’s “The Orange Farmer”, oranges and
farmers were once great friends but their relationship eventually turned sour,
which in turn caused oranges the world over to turn sour. Our President used
his unique sense of humor to twist and sway our conventional thinking,
presenting us with new concepts – like the idea of square oranges. I don’t know
whether there are indeed square oranges out there in the world, but I do know
that there are square watermelons. Chee Loon, let’s venture together in square
orange farming!
Our “youngest” member, Wong Woon Pen, delivered “One Day When
I Met the President”. With his great acting skills and ability to change his
voice, Woon Pen portrayed himself in a handful of different roles, from
journeyman to Feng Shui Master to finally, the President of the United States
of America – President Obama. His performance was akin to an Oscar nomination
for Best Actor. A stellar performance indeed!
Timothy
Nakayama, aka Timothy Nakapapa, stepped onto the
stage with “Project Firestone”. He regaled us on how he and his brother joined
the titular scientific experiment and subsequently gained super abilities.
Timothy spoke of the super ability he gained and on how both he and his brother
were parted by an explosion. Years later, he found his long lost brother – who now
went by the name of “Shim Chee Loon” but whose real name was Sebastian
Nakayama. Timothy’s ability to control the stage with ease and his natural
story-telling abilities made us a little in awe of his performance.
After all ten
contestants were done, the judges took several minutes to fill in the Judge’s
Score Sheet. Then, ballot counters Sky
Siew and Siew Lai Yee went to
another room to tabulate the judges’ score. Meanwhile, certificates of
appreciation were given to all role players, judges and contestants.
Top Left to Right: Ang Chee Yong, Lucky, Mi Shan
& Sky Siew
Middle Left to Right : Christy Chang, Eve Chong
& Siew Lai Yee
Bottom Left to Right: Becky Benjamin, Christy Chang &
Eve Chong & Vivien Lim
Finally, the
moment we were all waiting for came, and the award of the “Biggest Liars” went
to... *cue drumroll!:
The winners
were:
Champion : Timothy Nakayama (our Super
Agent)
1st
Runner up : Wong Woon Pen (our
Master Sifu)
2nd
Runner up : Kow Chee Khon (our
4th God Father)
Timothy
Nakayama took home the
title “The Biggest Liar”, which suits him very well as he bragged his way to
the top of Mid Valley Toastmasters Club’s 1st Tall Tales Contest.
Congratulations
to all the winners! Thank you to all the contestants, role players and our Chief
Judge and his group of judges (who until today, remain anonymous)! Thank you to
our fellow Toastmasters and guests for the support and love you gave to us here
at Mid Valley Toastmasters Club! Lastly, a big round of applause to OC Ang Chee
Yong and Contest Chair Wong Mi Shan for organising the contest team and for
making our first ever Tall Tales Contest a resounding success!
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