There is a
quote by the great man A.P.J Abdul Kalam: “You have to dream before your dreams
can come true.” I agree with that. I personally believe that everyone should have
a dream they can strive toward. Without a dream for the future, life is
meaningless.
“Dream Big” was the theme for Mid Valley Toastmasters Club’s 257th meeting. If your dream is to become a professional public speaker, or if you’re someone who just wants to have a great set of public speaking skills (which always comes in handy in this great adventure we call life!), please, do come and join us every 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month @ 7pm, 5th floor, Mid Valley Cititel Hotel. We will be more than delighted to meet you in person!
The meeting started at 7pm whereupon our Sergeant-At-Arms (SAA) for the
meeting, Phang Chen De, called the
meeting to order and greeted all members and guests warmly. Phang is a new
member of the club and there he was, playing his first role ever. Way to go, Phang!
SAA Phang Chen De
Our Prince Charming Club President, Shim
Chee Loon, then took over the stage, delivering his humorous Presidential
Speech. He was there to ensure that all guests were warmly greeted, enthusiastically
welcomed and cheerfully introduced to other guests and members, before finally
passing control of the stage back to The Master of Funny, Wong Woon Pen, who served as the Toastmaster of the Evening (TME).
As the TME, Wong started things off with a bang by recalling his boyhood dream:
to become a Fighter Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. He then made us laugh by
sharing jokes about Peugeot 405 & 406 (if you missed the meeting, it’s time
you asked him about it!). He followed this with a brief introduction on
Toastmasters International before giving a quick roundup of how the meeting was
going to be structured.
Our President Shim Chee Loon
Funny Master Wong Woon Pen
That was
that. And then the fun really got started. Yes, you guessed right – the Table
Topics session! This session focuses on building up your impromptu speaking
skills as you will be given a topic by a Table Topic Master, followed by
speaking on that topic for up to 2 minutes. Thus, you’ll need to think on your
feet! The charismatic Daniel Lim was the Table Topic Master (TTM) for the night
– and he had prepared a cunning “trap” for everyone by asking a question before
the Table Topic session had even begun. The question he put forth was: “What is
the gap between dream and reality?”
Our Table Topic Master, Daniel Lim
One of the
guests, a brave guy by the name of Evan,
replied correctly. “Action” he offered. “Guess what? You’re the first Table
Topic speaker!” Daniel Lim replied. The “trap” had been set and, true to his
word, Evan took that first step to being a proficient speaker by going up on
stage and gamely requesting for his Table Topic. He received the following: “If
you won the lottery in your dreams, how would you spend that money, also in
your dreams?” Evan took up the challenge: he told us that despite it all being
a dream, he would do the practical thing by putting most of that money into
various investments (to make even more money, of course!). Some of the money he
would donate to the needy and a good chunk of it he would use to travel around
the world as seeing more of the world has always been part of his dream.
The second
Table Topic speaker, Kelvin,
received the question: “What would you do when you wake up and everyone else is
a zombie?” The first thing that came to his mind was a set of actions that he
could take to help him survive as long as he could. His survival instincts
kicked in and he would go looking for resources and communication devices in
order to find out if anyone else had survived the Zombie Apocalypse, especially
his loved ones.
The third
Table Topic speaker was Aaron, and
the topic he received was: “One day, if you dreamt that you changed gender,
what would you do?” Aaron’s reply was pretty straightforward: he would go
shopping for some new clothes (you know it, girlfriend!) and then head on down
to the Malaysian government department in charge of such things to make his new
gender identity legal – you know, to avoid any uncomfortable situations that
might arise.
Then it
was the turn of our last Table Topic speaker, our Past President, Ang Chee Yong, who accepted the Table
Topic Master’s challenge of taking up the hardest Table Topic: “If, in your
dream, you are Malaysia’s Prime Minister, what would you do to improve the
country?” Chee Yong immediately said that he would continue with the
implementation of the GST in order to increase the country’s revenue, and also
to use that GST revenue to build more infrastructure to entice more foreign
direct investment. Chee Yong was very persuasive, managing to win the audience
over to his cause. If he is participating in the next General Election, I think
I will vote for him – because I’m impressed!
The next
session was the Prepared Project Speech session and tonight we had a total of 4
Big Guns delivering their speeches.
Next up
was our Club President again, Shim Chee
Loon. Like Sky, he delivered his CC#8. His speech was all about “The Mask I
Wear for Living”. He shared an experience at his previous job, where he had to
put on a mask (figuratively, of course!) in order to fit in with the company
culture and to assist him in pleasing everyone in that company. His advice was:
life is too short and we should be honest with ourselves and to our loved ones.
“Do not hide behind the social mask and do not bury our personal truths,” he
said. “Be proud of who you are!” I would say that Chee Loon delivered a speech
that required a great deal of bravery and courage to pull off. Kudos to him!
The third
speaker was our club’s Vice-President of Membership, Wong Mi Shan, who delivered her The Roast from her Special Occasion
ACM, titled “A President’s Retirement”. She delivered her speech in a humorous
and yet respectful way to honor our President Shim for his contributions to the
club over the past years. (he’s not really retiring, of course!). After
listening to her speech, I got to know more about our President Shim, something
that I, as a newbie member of the club, am grateful for. It seems that our
President has this gift from God to give advice and solutions to the people who
are suffering from stress in their personal relationships. How cool is that? I
am going to get some advice in the next meeting, that’s for sure!
Last
speaker for the night was our Past President again, Ang Chee Yong, delivering Addressing the Opposition from the
Persuasive Speaking ACM, titled “K.W.S.P”. Chee Yong gave an outstanding performance, successfully
persuading the audience to allow KWSP to hold on to their EPF savings for an
additional 5 years before they fully withdraw it from their accounts (this
being in the news lately, as a proposal by the incumbent government) His facts
and figures were clear and easily understood, as were the benefits those
additional 5 years would bring to their eventual recipients. Many of us had
initially disagreed with the government’s proposal, but Ang Chee Yong managed
to sway us with his focus and clarity! At one point, we were wondering whether
he is secretly a super-agent from Barisan Nasional (the incumbent government).
Chong Chee Siong, giving feedback to each Table Topic Speaker
Timothy Nakayama, ACG, ALB giving feedback to Sky Siew and President Shim Chee Loon on
their CC#8 project speeches.
Past President, Ang Chee Yong, giving feedback to VPM,Wong Mi Shan on
her roast of Shim Chee Loon.
VPM, Wong Mi Shan, giving feedback to Past President, Ang Chee Yong on
his persuasive K.W.S.P speech
This was followed by the Technical reports from our panel of technical
evaluators: Kow Chee Khon as Grammarian;
Quah Shee Jiun as Timekeeper; Siew Lai Yee as Time-Keeper; and last
but never least, Fong Kok Loon, all
the way from DTM Toastmasters Club, as our meeting’s General Evaluator!
Grammarian, Kow Chee Khon
Timekeeper, Quah Shee Jun
General Evaluator, Fong Kok
Loon, ACB (DTM TMC)
Ah-Counter, Siew Lai Yee
After the reports, it was time for Award Presentations:
Past President Ang Chee Yong scored a brace, sweeping the Best Table Topic Speaker and Best Project Speaker awards. Our Vice-President of Education, Timothy Nakayama, won the Best Evaluator award. Congratulations! You guys are amazing!
Finally, we would like to say a big Thank You to the General Evaluator,
Fong Kok Loon, from DTM Toastmasters Club. We are so grateful for the time and
effort you took to share your thoughts and experiences with us. We will always
remember the advice you gave our club and use it to improve further. We hope to
see you again soon!
President Shim presenting the
Certificate of Appreciation to our General Evaluator Fong Kok Loon (DTM TMC).
Before calling the meeting to an end, we had CAKE to celebrate the Birthday of all our April Babies.
Before calling the meeting to an end, we had CAKE to celebrate the Birthday of all our April Babies.
Thank you everyone, for your presence at the meeting. This meeting was
an astounding success only because of your efforts and participation. Thank you
very much! Till we meet again in the next meeting!
By Guan Chin Kuan (Ivan)
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