04 August 2015 – Wunderbar!

The BSC meeting on 4^th August 2015 lived true to the opening expression – ‘wunderbar’ (meaning wonderful) used by our enthusiastic Toastmaster of the evening, TM Rano Iskandar. The meeting scored high on audience capacity with members and guests from different of walks life visiting the club. The evening was a fond reunion to one of our guests from Singapore, Mr. Ganesan, who was a former Toastmaster of BSC. Another esteemed guest was Denny Joseph, ACB, ALB, from the Changi Simei TMC, Singapore.

TM Rano Iskandar infused jubilant energy in the expectant audience and shared his thought of the day – ‘Be the message!’ from the book, Speaker’s brief, by accredited speaker, Gerald Green. Living out your words takes your message across to the audience more credibly.

Our Grammarian for the night was the charismatic TM Supatra Lee, who introduced the word of the day ‘Tenacity’, a noun – which describes the quality or fact of being determined.

Our ardent Timer, TM Theressa Chong, advised speakers to pay attention to the timing device provided and wrap up the speech when signaled.  A practical tip to stay on time.

In the prepared speech segment, TM Aziman Nasir attempted his CC4 project – How you say it – with his speech ‘Habit creep’. In his introduction, Aziman told us that this concept was put forth by entrepreneur and writer, James Clear. In order to achieve a goal, Aziman said, the first approach is to cultivate a new habit progressively until it becomes a norm. The second approach is to alter the environment and to overcome any distractions in the process. He shared a personal experience of how he has started implementing habit creep to keep his weight in check since he read the article three weeks ago. He has started eating a portion less of the junk food he loves to binge on and has also taken up Tabata workout routine to burn fat. Aziman humorously noted that although no noticeable changes were to be seen yet, he is hopeful that the progressive habit creep will reap benefits eventually. Congratulations Aziman on successfully completing the CC4 speech project.

In the next segment, the TME hosted the monthly educational workshop – Brunei Educational Speakers for Toastmasters (BEST). Our invited speaker from Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club (BASC), Rozana Yunos, ACG, CL, delivered an insightful talk on vocal variety titled, ‘Captivate with your voice’. We learnt that how we speak contributes highly in making an impression on the audience. Rozana tenaciously explained the 5 Ps of developing excellent vocal variety: Projection – how proper breathing enhances volume and quality of voice; Pace – how pacing influences clarity and emotion in the message we convey; Pitch – how the tone of speech reinforces one’s message to the audience; Pauses – how the right pauses can be used to separate ideas and hold people’s attention; Practice – ultimately, the more you practice the better you progress. Rozana urged her audience to effectively utilize the valuable tool in public speaking – the voice! This interactive session was both entertaining and educational. Thank you Rozana for the highly beneficial session.

In the second half of the meeting session, the TME passed control to our fervent Table Topic Master, TM Saifulizam Zamhor, who assigned specific roles to the speakers on the theme ‘Road safety’.

Our first speaker, Ganesan, was given the role of Traffic Policeman. Ganesan took this opportunity to request the audience to be respectful of the traffic light system and avoid honking unnecessarily. He humorously warned everyone to watch out for chickens as they cross the road. He emphasized that it is important to be considerate of other drivers on the road.

Our second speaker, Denny, honed the role of a Bicycle Rider. He said although bike riders seem insignificant on the road, they deserve equal rights of safety. They need to be aware of other reckless drivers. In his opinion, motor vehicle drivers should follow the road rules and watch out for bicycle riders on the road.

Our third speaker, Fiza, was offered the role of Burger King Manager. She duly asked everybody to respect the food chain deliverers. She said it is important to have patience whenever such riders are in sight, as these riders are in a hurry to deliver food to their hungry customers. She urged the audience to be considerate drivers if they wish more home deliveries from Burger King.

The table topics speakers entertained the audience and also shared important messages on road safety. Congratulations to Ganesan for winning the best table topic ribbon. The meeting’s success wouldn’t be possible without the infectious energy and valuable feedback of the other office bearers – TM Rahul Breh, as Ah Counter and ‘Who said what?’ and Hazwan Kamarulzaman, ACB, ALB, as General Evaluator.

In the guest comments section, Denny Joseph, ACB, ALB, expressed that he was indeed very delighted to be a part of the Tuesday night’s meeting. He said though he is acquainted with numerous Toastmaster clubs in Singapore, he saw a high level of excellence in the BSC meeting. Many thanks to Denny for the kind feedback.

In his closing remarks, our President, Chris woo, CC, applauded the first time Timer, TM Theressa Chong, on her brilliant execution of the role. In his message to the audience he stressed the importance of stage presence – how importance it is to cut back on unnecessary movements and any movement on stage should come with purpose. The meeting ended with a thunderous applause and we look forward to our future club meetings.

Written by:
TM Pooja Shivanand Breh

Photography & Caption by:
TM Gerald Goh

Video by:
TM Rano Iskandar