8th June 2015 was another fine
day for a great meeting with my fellow Toastmasters. The theme for the night’s
meeting was “Smell the Roses”. I googled “Smell the Roses” and found that it
means “to enjoy or appreciate what is often ignored”.
http://www.socialtikmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/smell-the-roses.jpg
We started our meeting on time. The first
rose among roses, TM Evelyn Chong, who was playing the role of Sergeant-at-Arms
for the night, took to the stage with grace and confidence, welcoming all members
and guests who were with us that night.
The audience comprised many of our new
members as well as a handful of external Toastmasters. The Toastmasters that
were visiting our club were CC Ricky Soo, from M.A.D (Make A Difference)
Toastmasters Club, and CC CL May Ong from OUM (Open University Malaysia)
Toastmasters Club. We were definitely very happy they had decided to join us for
the night!
Even our President, TM Shim Chee Loon, was
surprised with the good turnout. Such was the size of the audience that there
were times during his introduction and ice-breaking session that he lost count
of just who were the members and who the guests! He praised the club’s EXCO
team, especially our Vice-President of Membership, CC Wong Mi Shan, for a job
well done; his praise also extended to the club members, for creating a fun and
energetic environment where everyone could learn and grow.
TM Daniel Lim then stepped onto the stage
for his maiden attempt at being the Toastmaster of the Evening (TME),
essentially the all-important host for the night’s meeting. He gave a brief
introduction of himself and quickly ran us through the history behind Toastmasters
International.
Up next was the Table Topics session,
hosted by Table Topic Master TM Siew Lai Yee. Three brave volunteers stepped up
to the plate to try their hand at Lai Yee’s Table Topics – TM Hamza, TM Quah,
and our guest, Dorris. They took the opportunity to test their skills in
impromptu speaking. The end result was an exciting trail of off-the-cuff
stories that delighted the audience for a whole two minutes each.
What followed next was the prepared
speeches session, where we had four speakers in total. We had two speakers
delivering CC#9 and CC#10 respectively, and another two speakers delivering
their Advanced speeches. One of these advanced speakers would also go on to
deliver a presentation from one of the Better Speaker Series’ modules.
TM Christy Chang was the first speaker,
presenting us with “Passive or Active?”. Although she had a somewhat nervous
start, she came through in the end and presented us with a call-to-action: each
of us has the power to decide whether we take an active approach to life, or a
passive one.
Our President, CC Shim Chee Loon,
definitely earned his standing ovation for the night. Not only did he complete
his Competent Communication manual by delivering CC#10 (which deserves a
standing ovation in itself), but he was all suave, charm, and persuasion as he
delivered his final CC speech, “Never Give Up”. He encouraged everyone to start
writing down their goals and desire, and to start planning our strategy to
achieve those goals and desires, and to do it all with passion and a
never-give-up attitude.
Past President, ACB ALB Ang Chee Yong, was
up next, with his Advanced Speech from the Speeches by Management Advanced
Communication Manual, titled “Communicating Change”. He played the role of the
CEO of Toastmasters International. As CEO, he shared with us (the employees)
the company’s performance, and then followed up by using his powerful
persuasive skills to implore us to take the necessary steps required to
implement his new vision for the company.
Our outgoing Vice-President of Education,
ACG ALB Timothy Nakayama, completed his Public Relations Advanced Communication
Manual by delivering his final speech, for both manual and our club. It was
irreverently titled “The Kung Fu Chicken (KFC) Fiasco”. Tim played the role of
CEO of Kung Fu Chicken (KFC), and delivered a press release in front of the
press members (played by the audience), apologizing for the recent “incident”
which involved an employee of Kung-Fu Chicken insulting a customer and then
engaging the same customer in a bout of fisticuffs. Tim delivered the press
release with a properly sombre and business-like mien. However, the seriousness
in the room quickly unravelled when the press (us, the audience) started playing
the part of journalists and proceeded to hit Tim with a lot of “challenging”
questions. Tim was unable to contain his laughter as questions were posed to
him by club members posing as journalists from “Kung Pow Press” (acted by Chong
Chee Siong), “The Mahathir Daily” (acted by Ang Chee Yong), and “The Rocket”
(acted by Wong Woon Pen). Despite the
ridiculous questions and names, Tim kept his cool and answered all questions
suitably well.
Right after that, Ang Chee Yong stepped up
onto the stage again, this time to deliver his presentation from the Impromptu
Speaking module, just one of the many interesting modules from the Better
Speaker Series. He shared some tips and suggestions on how we could improve in
our Impromptu Speaking skills.
After the break, our General Evaluator, May
Ong, took control of the meeting’s Evaluation session. She kick-started the
session by welcoming Table Topic Evaluator TM Yeap Wei Leeng up onto the stage
to deliver his evaluation for the 3 Table Topic speakers. Wei Leeng gave our
trio of Table Topic speakers a brief run-down of their strong speaking traits,
as well as several points of improvements they could take on in order to become
better at impromptu speaking.
Up next was our first Speech Evaluator, TM
Mak Kum Shi, who provided feedback for TM Christy Chang’s “Passive or Active?”
speech. This was Mak’s first time giving a speech evaluation after his long
hiatus from Toastmasters. He delivered an insightful evaluation, highlighting
key points based on the objectives outlined for CC#9 within the Competent
Communication Manual.
Our guest from M.A.D Toastmasters club, CC Ricky Soo, then stepped onto the
stage to evaluate our President Shim Chee Loon’s “Never Give Up” speech. He
gave four spot-on suggestions to Chee Loon, suggesting that our President make
use of acronyms, mention specific role models during the telling of his
anecdotes, improve eye-contact, and try using the flip chart more effectively.
The Speech Evaluator for Ang Chee Yong was
none other than our experienced evaluator Timothy Nakayama. He praised Chee Yong’s
choice of words, which were both simple and easy to understand. He suggested a
few ways Chee Yong could improve on speech content – by sharing in specific
detail on the steps necessary to implement his new vision for the company,
rather than just pointing out the improvements in a broad, general, and ambiguous
sense. In this way, Chee Yong could perhaps get better buy-in from the
employees (us, the audience).
Then we had ACB CL Wong Woon Pen, another
experienced evaluator. Mr. Wong tickled our funny bones with the mischievous
expressions and witty one-liners peppered throughout his evaluation of Timothy
Nakayama’s “The Kung-Fu Chicken (KFC) Fiasco”. He pointed out (rightly) that
Tim was unprepared to handle the strange questions thrown at him by the even
stranger “journalists”. Mr. Wong suggested that Tim could have added more
gravitas to his speech by offering a public apology with more emotional punch
to it, which could have given a better impression to the public.
After the evaluations for each of the prepared speeches, our Grammarian for the
evening, TM Christopher Chooi, shared with us the good sentences, grammar, and
words he had noted down throughout the meeting, as well as offering
alternatives to the few grammatical mistakes that had been made.
Up next was our Timekeeper, TM William Cheong. He shared with us the timing on
each of the meeting’s sessions, as well as the time taken by each of the
speakers, evaluators, and role-players. We found out that we were slightly
behind time – it came as a surprise to us, as we usually end very much on time!
Our General Evaluator, May Ong, was up
next, with her General Evaluator report. She detailed the small little ways the
club could take to improve our meetings, and she also gave feedback on the
performance of both the TME, Daniel Lim, and the Table Topic Master, Siew Lai
Yee. May ended her report by saying that she enjoyed the meeting immensely, and
that she is looking forward to coming back to Mid Valley Toastmasters Club for
another visit in the near future!
The final technical evaluator, Ah Counter
TM Chong Chee Siong, gave his report, detailing the number of speech crutches
all of us made throughout the meeting.
Finally, we arrived at the award
presentation session! The Best Table Topic Speaker went to Dorris, who was
actually attending her first-ever Toastmasters meeting. Congratulations to
Dorris! Not yet a Toastmaster but so courageous in coming up onto the stage – a
splendid attempt!
The Best Project Speaker Award went to
Timothy Nakayama. Congratulations to Tim, who triumphed over all... to win this
award again!
The Best Evaluator Award went to Wong Woon
Pen. His evaluation for Tim was top-notch – it was a great evaluation for sure
and an example of how exciting, informative, and humorous an evaluation can be.
Definitely a lesson for us all.
Overall, the meeting went smoothly. It was
certainly a memorable night for everyone. The laughter, good cheer, and
camaraderie flowed through the air like a warm, silky breeze – this was yet
another you-can’t-miss-this-event by Mid Valley Toastmasters Club. To tell you
the truth, I am already looking forward to the next meeting!
Written by,
Chee Siong
21 June 2015
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