What you’ve missed…
10th August marks the inaugural chapter meeting of TPCTMC (Advanced)! This special occasion was graced by our immediate past District Governor – Edward Ma, Division A Governor – DTM Albert Lim, and our area A3 Governor – Kandi Mathi, ACS ALB. The meeting was called to order with the presentation of Toastmasters International certificates to charter members, possibly a once in a lifetime event for most of us.
Special programme (I)
DTM Tay Yiang Ping, a.k.a. MAD mama delivered an inspiring speech on the history of the TPCCC toastmasters clubs and strategies of how the 2 clubs can work together to better meet the needs of its members. She further assuaged members that there is little risk of dilution of the club spirit as we are essentially one club, with separate groups taking care of basic and advance programmes.
The 2nd speaker of the night, DTM Kris, shared with us tips on tackling the storytelling manual in “Truth and stories.” Laden with childhood anecdotes and folk tales that drew bouts of laughter from the audience, it’s not what you say that it’s important, it’s what the audience remembers. As she shared, “no one likes to listen to the naked truth. They’d prefer to listen to hear the truth, clothed in stories.”
Projects and evaluations
We had 2 project speakers for the night. Kelvin attempted project 1 from the storytelling manual. In sync with the first day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, he spooked the room with a recount of his “special” encounter, sharing thoughts on the vanishing traditions/beliefs held by some groups of the Chinese community. The audience will definitely hope that “it’s out of sight, out of mind.”
Despite nursing a sore throat, Florence inspired us with her story of a girl who grew up in an abusive family. Her hoarse voice lent sorrowful feelings to the speech, further evoking sympathy in the audience. As much as we enjoyed the emotional variation of her voice, we hope that Florence will recover from it soon.
The speakers of the night were critically evaluated by Eskay and Kris, both skillfully dissecting each speech to provide insightful suggestions of improvement.
Special programme (II)
DTM Tay Yiang Ping took to the stage once more, to share info on “How to survive the TI Advanced communicator track” with an overview of the various manuals categorized by interest, e.g. sales manuals, specialty speeches, technical/management speeches, entertaining speeches. Do check your mails as Yiang Ping has sent a copy of the slides to your email addresses registered with us. For more info on the leadership track, do visit http://www.toastmasters.org.
Induction of the new committee
The first committee of the advanced club was inducted by our immediate past District Governor, Edward Ma. The committee were read out roles and had to take an oath to fulfill their duties.
President: Yeo Chai Tun, DTM
VPE: Derek Tan, CC
VPM: Jenny Au, ACS, CL
VPPR: Gillian Chiew, CC
Secretary: Kris Tay, DTM
Treasurer: Lim Eng Beng, CC
The eventful and enriching evening ended with the cherry on the cake as our charter president, DTM Yeo Chai Tun shared his plans for the club. The club aims to hone speaking techniques e.g. persuasion, entertainment, technical presentations. The clubs will be managed centrally with a shared website, funds and contests, allowing members to benefit from common resources. Chai Tun also enlisted all members to feedback on what they’d like to have as part of the educational programme for this term. Before ending off, he reiterated that learning goes beyond club meetings with “ask not what the club can do for you, but what you can do for yourself.”
As a toastmaster once said this, you don’t have to be good to start. But to be good, you have to start. Even as the advanced members perfect their skills, the members of the basic club and guests can draw inspiration from these more proficient speakers. Do drop by at our TPCTMC (Advanced) chapter meeting in a combined meeting with TPCTMC on 12 October 2010, or on every 2nd Tuesday and 4th Thursday for TPCTMC chapter meetings.
For any feedback/inquiry, you contact us at vppr-adv@tpctmc.org.
Hope to see you soon!
Hey Gillian, beautiful work.
Keep it up!