A Blast Into The Past

 Meeting No: 12/2011-2012

Theme: A Blast Into the Past

 Some of the young guests.

 Pre- meeting chit-chatting 1.

 Pre-meeting chit-chatting 2.

 On behalf of the President, VPM Cutbert Lo chaired the meeting.

 One of the guests, Mr. George introducing himself.

 TM Francis Liaw was the TOE.  (First time as the TOE.... Well Done Francis! )

 Our new member, TM Daniel Wong attempting his CC1 Icebreaking Speech.  Speech title was “Growing Up With Scars”.  He said, “As we grow in life, we start to collect scars...”

 Speaker No. 2 TM Dr Chieng Siik Kwong (CC6 How to speak to doctors)

“Before we approach the doctor, we must analyse the situation....”

 Guess Who? Too much Rogaine?

 Speaker No. 3 TM Thow Soon Pheng (CC9 When the beating stops)

“Heart disease is the top killer in Malaysia....”

 Speaker No. 4 CC Marlene Sim (ACB2 Wonders of Diaries)

“It is a fertile ground for you to write down anything that you want....”

 Guess who? part 2

 Riddle Master CTM Margaret Loh.... “What is something light yet you cannot hold it for too long?”

 Table Topic Speaker No 2  Campbell Apau talking about how the Beatles’ songs are a cultural imprint in the English speaking world....

 Our Guest (who is now our member J ), Mr. George attempting a table topic, “The size of your dream is the size of your future....

 Pui Chai Fung attempting the topic “One decision you made that changed the course of your life....

 Our Guest (who is now our member J), Dr. Phyllis Ho on “How you are different compared to when you were 18 years old.”

 Mike Lim saying “After every hill there is a mountain.....”

 Eric on “Describe a perfect date/ moment that you had experienced a year ago...”

 Shirlene Yeo on “One thing that you regretted not doing...”

 Winners of Best Dressed award.

 Best Table Topic speaker.... you know who .. J

 Breaking the Ice! Congrats TM Daniel and welcome to KTMC.

At the end of the day, it was indeed a BLAST!!!!!! J

Kuching Toastmasters Club installs New Excos for the term 2011/2012

Kuching-  It was a night filled with fun and joy as Kuching Toastmasters Club held its 24^th Installation Night recently at the Sarawak Club.  The theme for this year’s installation event and also for the club during the new term is “Creating Opportunities”.

The club’s new president, ACB Clement Langet Sabang said the theme “Creating Opportunities” was chosen because the new committee aims at providing members the opportunities to improve their public speaking and leadership skills.

“We will be creating more opportunities for members to make more speeches and take up more leadership roles.  This will make them better speakers and leaders later on.”

“We will also provide members of the public who are interested in improving their communication and leadership skills such opportunities through our guest nights and training meetings”, he said after being installed as the President on that night.

The club’s patron, Datu Dr. Haji Yusoff Hanifah and his wife Datin Zaleha Abdullah were the guests of honour for the night.  After performing the installation ceremony, Datu Dr. Haji Yusoff Hanifah in his speech urged the club’s members to keep an eye for the opportunity that could be hidden inside any problem.

“According to an old English proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  By the same token I would argue that problems are the motivating factors that lead to the creation of opportunities. Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem.  But there are a few occasions in our life when a great opportunity knocks on our door in disguise, in a less obvious form or in different shades of light,” he said.

“All of us do not have equal talent, that’s the fact of life. But all of us could have an equal chance to take a careful look around us for the second or third time more thoroughly so that we could create an opportunity for the betterment of ourselves and the society we live in,” he added.

The Exco for the term 2011/2012 comprises of Clement Langet Sabang (President), Iris Cheng (Immediate Past President), Ivy Puah (Vice President Education), Cuthbert Lo (Vice President Membership), Bernard Yong (Vice President Public Relations), Shirlene Yeo (Secretary), Ang She Hua (Treasurer), Marlene Sim (Sergeant At Arms), Thow Soon Peng and Ivan Cheng (Committee Members).

Eye Power

The second training meeting for the term 2011-2012 was held on 17th July 2011 at our usual meeting place in Harbour View Hotel.

The theme for the night was "EYE POWER".

Toastmaster of the Evening (TOE) was Advanced Communicator Silver Campbell Apau, a.k.a. the Bright One in our club. He is a man well known for his eloquence and witty remarks. With the Bright One in charge of the training meeting, we were treated to a night of great fun and learning.

The first speaker for the night was Toastmaster Adrien Ting. A new member to the club, he was attempting the speech project from the Competent Communicator manual, a.k.a the CC manual. The CC manual contains 10 speech projects that highlights the fundamental skills of a public speaker.

His speech was about the Most Beautiful Lights in the World and he shared with the audience the beauty of the aurora and the rainbow.

The next speaker was Toastmaster Melvyn Ting. He spoke about how Apple was a successful brand due to Steve Jobs' ability to charm the users into buying Apple products. His speech drew great response and approval from the many Apple die-hard fans among the audience.

The third speaker for the night was Toastmaster Dominic Ting. He spoke about the importance of drinking the correct amount of water. As a result of his speech, everyone seemed to be drinking more water that night.

The fourth speaker for the night was Toastmaster Thow Soon Pheng. For his speech project, a.k.a Your Body Speaks, he needs to use his body language to enhance his speech delivery. His speech was entitled "Is Talk Really Cheap?". He delivered the speech in a humorous way and had the whole audience in stitches. Kudos to you TM Thow!

The training meeting was a blast and a total of 26 members and 10 guests attended the meeting. We even managed to recruit 3 new members on the same night!

With such an enjoyable experience, everyone is looking forward to our next training meeting which will be held on the 7th of August 2011.

It will be a special meeting because it is our "Guests Night". Everyone is welcome!

I will provide more info about the Guests Night in the next post. Stay Tuned! :)

Your VPPR,

Bernard Yong