TM Awfa Nawawi opened up the meeting as Acting Sergeant At Arms
TM Macalister Mak carries the meeting as Toastmaster of the Evening
Our meeting was nowhere near jejune! Jejune, our word of the day, means dull or without interest. Our Grammarian Rahmat also introduced schesis onomaton to us. It sounds like a Decepticon from Transformers but it’s actually a rhetorical device when we say similiar meaning words in succession to emphasise or persuade. A timer must be concise, to the point, and specific (schesis onomaton) with his tip. Our Timer Faiz was exactly that when he explained his meeting role and certainly when he shared his tip, “when the unexpected happens, go with the flow and enjoy the learning experience!”. Our other role players certainly went with the flow and enjoyed themselves. Heidi enjoyed herself as our perceptive Ah Counter and Who Said What, Amran as our challenging Table Topics Master, Genevieve as our encouraging Table Topics Evaluator, and Awfa as our adorable Sergeant at Arms for the evening!
TM A.Faiz Zailani sharing his tip as Timer & Tip
TM Rahmat Tarsat introducing word of the day as Grammarian
Pooja Shivanand, CC inspiring us with her CC10 speech project
How excited was Pooja?! She was given the opportunity of a lifetime in her company. In a male-dominated business, she could be the one to save a million-dollar project! Her excitement quickly turned into hopelessness when she arrived at a godforsaken factory only to be snubbed by her clients. Should she forget the arrogant clients and leave? Was a million-dollar deal worth being snubbed and looked down upon? It was in this make or break moment that Pooja remembered her mother’s calm and composed approach in facing challenges. Between extreme choices, there is always a balanced decision. As her mother always did, Pooja calmed and composed herself, then turned her dilemma around and made a balanced decision. She saved the million-dollar project, and even turned the arrogant clients around to appreciate her business. In her Competent Communication 10 speech, Pooja inspired us how to turn horrible situations around and succeed moving forward. Stuart as her apt evaluator highlighted how her personal journey in gaining confidence in crucial moments and having relatable lessons for the audience is key to accomplishing our Competent Communicator awards. Congratulations, Competent Communicator Pooja!
Pooja Shivanand, CC receiving her Competent Communicator pin from her mentor Stuart Lee, ACB, CL
TM Gerald Goh delivering his ALB presentation on “Going beyond the club”
Our club meetings are only the beginnings of our limitless learning journey. We learn the tools of the trade in our club meetings. We learn to string our words together persuasively. We learn to use nuances in our voice to inspire listeners. Beyond our club meetings experience, we can certainly perfect our oratory art by enjoying competing in speech contests too! On top of developing our communication skills, we learn to be better leaders by actively taking up our club meeting roles, and by taking up executive committee roles. Beyond this, we can organise speech contests, attend conferences, and take up Division level and District level leadership roles in Toastmasters. Thanks for sharing your special presentation, Gerald. You’ve encouraged us to move beyond our club!
Amran Jamaluddin, CC as Topicmaster
Impromptu speakers for the evening
Our Table Topics session was a showdown between non-engineers and engineers! It was a showdown between Shawn, Hilman, and Rahul, Supatra. Shawn explained clearly that life starts at 40. Just look at his friend, “Stuart”. “Stuart’s” life began at 40 after trading in his immature Toyota 86 for a classy BMW, more reflective of his professional status. Hilman is sure that similarities rather than differences are what bring personalities together. He just couldn’t get along with his ‘macho’ type colleagues who were so different to him. They couldn’t even appreciate his finer tastes in life such as anime! Rahul’s topic was surely challenging. No one would’ve wanted to be in Rahul’s shoes during Table Topics. However, despite how jejune engineers supposedly are, Rahul enthusiastically entertained us by turning his topic, ‘2+2=5’ around and talked about his passion to groove to salsa! Supatra was on a mission to lose a bit of excess holiday weight. It’s much easier said than done, particularly with strong cravings when food is all around! Despite all the urges to fight, Supatra is happiest when she eats her home-cooked dinners.
The evaluation team
Our Table Table Topics evaluator Genevieve highlighted what we could learn from each of our Table Topics speakers. From Shawn, we could follow his statement, story, and statement speech structure. From Hilman, we could emulate his eloquence and use of powerful quotes. From Rahul, despite a challenging topic, enthusiasm helps a lot. Finally from Supatra, a humourous twist in one’s ending will easily wow audiences. Thanks for pinpointing those lessons, Genevieve and thanks, Amran for taking up the Table Topics Master role at such a last minute and carrying a fun-filled Table Topics session! Kudos to our speakers and a round of applause for Supatra for sweeping away our best Table Topics speaker votes!
TM Supatra Lee accepts her “Best Table Topics” ribbon
Remember the lessons from our eloquent Grammarian, folks! Remember to use schesis onomaton to emphasise or persuade. When we do, our words will never be jejune! Our time reminded us how we manage our stage time effectively. Even when our speeches are within time, we should always allocate our feedback evenly in our evaluations. Well done, Timer Faiz. Congratulations, Rahmat for being our best evaluator for the evening! Our smooth meeting ended smoothly with Aziman handling our closing session like a seasoned professional. Aziman demonstrated anyone who’s willing to take up a challenge can certainly rise to the occasion. All we need is to believe in ourselves that we can do it, and we will.
TM Rahmat Tarsat gleefully accepts her “Best Evaluator” Ribbon
Speaking of rising to the occasion, our club will be holding its annual general meeting this coming Tuesday on 3 May 2016. For our members who are eager to push themselves further along their learning journey and to take up the challenge of leading our club, please do attend our general meeting. Come and fight for our coveted executive committee positions for next term. To those who are eager but cannot make it, don’t despair! Let any of our current executive committee members know and you too can be nominated even without being able to attend. If you are not yet ready for the challenge, please come and support our club. Your attendance and votes will decide how successful our club will be in our coming term.
TM Aziman Nasir delivering his closing remark
Thank you for a wonderful evening, fellow members and see you all next week at our general
Written by;
Hazwan Kamarulzaman, ACB, ALB
Photography by;
TM Gerald Goh/TM Aziman Nasir