President’s Blog 23rd Training Meeting: Vociferous!

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We donned our Bring out the Magic T-shirts and had a vociferous training meeting as we head towards our final leg of the Term 2009 – 2010!

TME Melissa Jilimin, CC began the meeting with a fun warm-up of finding ludicrous things in 1 min – ie. 1 cent coin, something brown, a passport photo etc… and had the usually composed members scrambling for items; just to have the pleasure of winning! Table Topics Master Yee That Hian, DTM did a brilliant job in conducting one of the best sessions of the year in my eyes as a total of 11 topics were asked and answered! Yes, you read it right! A whooping 11 table topics! I think we just made history! So amongst the unusually small turnout of 20 last night – more than 50% members were given the opportunity to answer a table topic! Christine Yap, DTM as TT evaluator also made history of her own, by being able to comment on ALL 11 speakers within the 3mins alotted to her:)

*President’s Note: I think we sometimes gloss over the importance of table topics. At times the warm-ups or club business reports take up so much time that TT session is squeezed into just 3 – 5 questions. Some of us also seem to  ‘hide’ when the TT session is being conducted (ie: looking up, down, under the table… anything to avoid the piercing gaze of the TT master:) and fidget impatiently for the clock to turn 8:30pm before we can sign in relief and look forward to the manual speeches!

Table Topics Sessions is one of the KEY training component of the Toastmasters programme. It is mostly in a TT session that we learn to think and speak on our feet.  A lifelong skill we joined Toastmasters for. Every guest that has entered the meetings have always been impressed by the TT sessions (perhaps not so much with the responses but with the environment we create to learn this skill;) How many people would voluntarily put themselves in these nerve-racking, mind-freezing situations?!). So I would like to encourage the incoming EXCO for 2010 – 2011: Aim to have up to 10 Table Topics a session -and just watch members grow exponentially in speaking and thinking on our feet!

2 speakers:

1) Effy Chung CC4 - Mabuhai! evaluated by Jamie Chieng, CC

Using simple yet vivid words to describe her recent holiday to the Philippines (Such a nice boss to allow staff to go on holiday in their first year of employment, don’t you think?;) I wonder who she is…) Effy impressed us all when she spoke confidently and sweetly about interesting Manila city – from the transport on a tricycle, being cheated by taxi drivers and shopping under tight security! Kudos to the effort she put in letting her English teacher improve her grammar in the speech to meet the objectives of CC4, and internalizing her speech so well! You are well on your way to becoming a Competent Communicator Effy! Well done!

2) Sylvia Maten ACS10 - The Play “Cinderella” (Interpretive Reading manual) evaluated by Richard A. Gontusan, DTM

Our IPP and Area K1 Governor Sylvia then ‘wowed’ us again with her extravagant display of ‘how to prepare for a speech project!’ Again, she transformed into a fairy godmother (complete with a magic wand), and brought her own transistor radio for background music as she narrated and acted out 4 main characters: Narrator, Step Mother, Cinderella and Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella – the Play” for all the 10yr olds at heart in the audience:) For 15mins we were transported into fairytale land as she made one of the most popular Disney fairtales come alive.  TME Melissa had to correct just one minor detail – apparently the fairy godmother didn’t say ‘Abracadabra’… but sang…

“Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put ‘em together and what have you got
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It’ll do magic believe it or not
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!”

With a wave of that magical wand, Sylvia is now just one project away from being awarded her ACS!  She’ll be presenting her ‘Better Speaker’ or Successful Club project at the final meeting of the term… and then Abracadabra! Advanced Communicator Silver Sylvia Maten will appear:) yes, better start practicing that tongue twister of a name now…Silver Sylvia, Sylvia Silver…

So, to sum up the speeches in three words… “Mabuhai!” Said Cinderella...:)

Ah Counter TM Karis Chong was so enthralled by the speakers during the first 30mins of the meeting that she generously forgot to count our many pause fillers:) After being gently proded she went straight to work and still managed to count quite a number of ‘ahs’ and ‘erms’:) Keen listening ears Karis!  New member ASAA/Timer TM Mohd. Hanif did a very commendable job as first time timer and ASAA! We actually finished on time due to his excellent time keeping, even with the technical malfunction at beginning of meeting – our green light broke but thank goodness we had a spare in the cabinet:)

Grammarian TM Johan Lee, also a first timer in the role, commented well on the grammar of the meeting and General Evaluator Dr. Sivakumar Kumaresan, CC as usual was classily composed and encouraging:) He always makes you feel good about yourself and yet manages to pick up on the nuances of the evening – he commented on the double acts /repartaire between speakers – ie. Yee and Christine, Johan and Richard etc. etc..:)

My Take Home Magic?  All 11 table topics! Just having 11 2min impromptu speeches is enough to inspire you! Completing mind stimulating!:)

Only ONE more meeting to go this term!!  Please come on 22nd June 2010 as we celebrate the final meeting of a truly magical year!  We’ll also be officially celebrating KKTMC’s 20th Anniversary so it will be a double celebration! See you there!

Yours in Toastmasters,

Jasmine

President 2009 – 2010

Bring Out The Magic