Mid Valley Toastmasters Club: Meeting #254: Year of the Goat: Charge Ahead! (Written by Christy Chang; Edited By Timothy Nakayama)

Every 2^nd & 4^th Monday @ Cititel MidValley Level 5, 7pm, no matter rain or shine, we will be there for you.

Mid Valley Toastmasters Club (MV TMC) – We don’t just care about the improvement of your public speaking skills; we care for your stomachs as well! It’s our pleasure to help fill your stomach up before the meeting starts. There will be some refreshments, e.g. fried rice, fried bee hoon, coffee, tea, water, etc.

Mid Valley Toastmasters Club is known to be a fun, energetic, diverse and international club. Tonight, we have a few guests: Sandra from Jakarta, Ravi from India, and two handsome guys from Malaysia (sorry, I didn’t get your names as both of you arrived after the introductions!)

SAA of the evening: our member, Sara Abbasi from Iran.

This is her first time taking up the role of SAA (Sergeant-At-Arms). She mentioned that she was nervous as she had to speak in front of so many people. But she did well for her first time and I

didn’t see any nervousness at all. Well done, Sara!

Our MV TMC Prince Charming President cum Juice Prince: Shim Chee Loon

(Always likes to act cool!)

TME (Toastmaster of the Evening): Oil & Gas Prince, Chong Chee Siong

TME Chee Siong did a good job in bringing the energy of the meeting up, up, up! He invited all the members and guests to shout in unison “The Year of the Goat, Huat ah!” (huat = prosperous)

Table Topic Master – Kow Chee Khon (first timer as well)

Kow Chee Khon stepped out of his comfort zone to take on the Table Topic Master (TTM) role – it was his very first time as TTM!

Grammarian & Speech Evaluator – Timothy Nakayama

While everybody enjoyed their CNY time with friends and family, Timothy worked hard on preparing the meeting agenda and getting members to take up the roles for the meeting. (true or not?)

By hook or by crook, he will come to every meeting. Even though he had a high fever and sore throat, he still came to the meeting. And played two roles! (Maybe he received too many Ang Pows during Chinese New Year. As the Chinese saying goes – “if one has a lot of money, one will tend to get sick” )

Salute to your hard work and commitment to MV TMC!

Timekeeper – Ivan Guan

We had another newbie volunteering himself with a role, this time as the Rolex Timekeeper. It was

also his first time! By taking the role of Timekeeper, he took the first step in the journey of completing his Competent Leadership (CL) Manual.

Table Topic Evaluator – Chong Carmen

You can call her Emcee CaCa or Carmen. She likes Car and Men and this is why her name is Car-Men.

General Evaluator from TARC TMC – Pang Chee Liang, CC, CL

Ah Counter – Christy Chang (me)

(I forgot to take a picture of myself during the evening, as I was busy taking pictures of everybody else and observing the whole meeting in order to write this blog post!)

This is how the meeting environment looks like at one of MV TMC’s meeting.

Although it may look serious or boring, don’t worry. We are all a bunch of crazy yet friendly and passionate people who gather together to improve our public speaking and leadership skills. You will find the truth of this statement if you come and join the meeting!

We had 4 Table Topic speakers who volunteered to take up the challenge.The Table Topic Master, Kow Chee Khon, had prepared a few Ang Pow packets. No, they did not contain money. In each Ang Pow, was the Table Topic question itself, but rather than the standard-type questions, these were all toasts: creative situations that required the Table Topic Speaker to make a toast to someone or something. Time given per toast would be similar to the time given for your standard-type Table Topics: 1-2 minutes.

1^st Table Topic Speaker – Timothy Nakayama

Situation: to make a toast for a relatives who has dropped out of university and is now in the market looking for job opportunities.

Timothy made full use of the stage and turned our Mr. President, Shim Chee Loon, one of his long lost cousins who, as stated, dropped out of university. In Timothy’s interpretation, Chee Loon dropped out of university due to a tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend and various health issues. Timothy went on to praise this long lost cousin, stating how Chee Loon had gone on to forge his dreams of having his own juice business despite all the challenges and obstacles he had faced.

2^nd Table Topic Speaker – Chong Chee Siong

Situation: propose a toast for his brother and sister who are going overseas soon.

Chee Siong also used the same “technique” as Timothy – involving a member of the audience as one of the characters in his toast. This time, it was Ravi (the guest from India) who became Chee Siong’s imaginary brother, while Sandra (the guest from Jakarta) became his sister. He made a rousing toast to wish them well on their leaving to get an overseas education and hoped that both of them would come back with first class honors.

3^rd Table Topic Speaker – Pang Chee Liang

Situation: she had to propose a toast to herself, for getting a promotion that required her to work overseas for 2 years, but where her parents were reluctant to let her go.

Chee Liang started off by letting us know the reason why her parents were reluctant about her going overseas – they were worried that she would be all alone and that she would be apart from them for 2 whole years (she is their only daughter). She convinced her parents that she had all it took to take good care of herself and that her friend Sandra (our guest from Jakarta) would be going along with her as well.

4^th Table Topic Speaker – Wayne Poon

Situation: he had to propose a toast during a family dinner where he, as the eldest sibling, once again did not bring home a partner, whereas his brothers and sisters were all partnered up

Wayne decided to share with us his experience of being asked such question by nosy relatives during festive occasions (like Chinese New Year). He did not take too long to complete his Table Topic!

Prepared Speaker – Shim Chee Loon

CC#7: Why Juices For You

Chee Loon started out by sharing facts and statistics, mainly on why most people don’t take enough fruits and vegetables. He then proceeded informing us on just how veggie and fruit juices can benefit everyone in terms of good health. In the end, he convinced us that juices were both yummy and healthy for us.

We have a different theme every meeting. Tonight’s theme is the Year of the Goat: Charge Ahead!

We had a “Lou Sang” session during the break time. It’s a Chinese New Year special edition celebration!

Refreshment time & Chit-chatting time!

The second half of the meeting is the time for feedback and continuous improvement. Evalutions are the breakfast of champions. All Table Topic and Prepared Speakers were evaluated on their Table Topics/speeches. The evaluators gave honest, encouraging and constructive feedback – they all offered suggestions and tips for improvement.