Humourous Speech and Evaluation Contests

It is a Toastmasters Club activity that each year we organise the above Contests to select one or two to represent our club at Area Level. This year, I am proud to say that we have a total of 7 members contesting for the two Contests. They are:

Humour Speech
1. Ho Fook Chuan
2. Leong Kok Wah
3. Dr Gan Eng Meng
4. Adam Fung

Evaluation
1. Leong Kok Wah
2. Anna Hue
3. Monsiuer Tilaka
4. Adam Fung
5. Jeffrey Lee
6. Phillip wong
7. Dr Gan Eng Meng

We had three Guests brought in by Betty, one each from Adam, Ho, Jeffrey. It was a little internatioal with two Australians and one from Korea. Visiting Toastmasters who came and supported us were:

1. Lim Heng Chong our Area Governor cum Chief Judge
2. Dr Sharon Tong
3. Mr & Mrs Koh Teck Lee
4. Chow Mun Yean (our Timer)
5. A gentleman from UK Toastmaster. (will get his name soon)
6. James Arokiasamy
7. Ahmad Zakie - Test Speaker

Members who attended besides those Contestants were:

1. Mike Teng - Contest Chair for Humour Speech
2. Masdiana Ooi - Contest Chair for Evaluation
3. Betty Toh - SAA, Ballot Counter and bringing the most Guests
4. Levine Lee - SAA (she came though just for while to fly to China)
5. Mohamad Abdullah - the OC

Hope I have not missed out any names, if not please give me a call.

Who wins? I guess everybody. The spirit of participation was there and I was surprised at some of the speakers with their brand of humour - something we do not see at regular meetings. Jeffrey was the target of most speakers with his impending wedding.

For the evaluation, we had a record number of contestants. Magnificent Seven took part and they all find it difficult to evaluate an experienced and romantic speaker like Ahmad Zakie. Luckily I was not there as I too would be stumped by his delivery and carried away with his vocubalary. Certainly he brought in sweet memories for all of us; yes our memories of our 1st Love.

To all our Guests, I like to say Welcome, do come back. Remind your host to bring you back on 28 August 2007. To our visiting Toastmasters who came to help us, 1M Thank you. You too are always welcome to our club. To all of you on behalf of the club I must apologise for the shortage of food - we did not anticipate the number. Good problems but I am sure the guests had enough as our members sacrificed their share.

Oh, yes I forgot to announce the winners - guess who? Patient lah I am trying to figure it out and even had to call the Contest Chair Masdiana to confirm it and they are.....drum roll please;;;;;;;;

Humour Speech - Champion is Leong Kok Wah (you do not want to know his speech title)
- The runner up is his Introducer, Driver and Matchmaker Adam Fung

Evaluation - Champion goes to veteran Anna Hue with her Mama style
- 1st Runner up is Adam Fung
- 2nd Runner up is Jeffrey Lee

Hope I have listed it correctly but if not please don't sue me.

COTS Report from DVG

For the benefit of members I am pleased to attachd the report from the DVG Azmi Shahrin which was despatched to our President almost instantly after the Session.

This message is sent to all Club Presidents in Division W

Dear Club President,

Toastmasters Leadership Institute Club Officers Training Round 1 Attendance

I am pleased to report that the Toastmasters Leadership Institute Club Officers Training Round 1 held on 28/07/07 was a great success with 23/29 clubs meeting the minimum 4 club officers target. I would like to congratulate these clubs for achieving the ½ DCP goal for Club Officer Training – SYABAS! I would be very grateful if you could please verify the accuracy of the attendance report.

Club Name Pres VPE VPM VPPR Sec Treas SAA Total
W1 Kuala Lumpur Advanced Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W1 MIA Toastmasters Club x x x x x x 6
W1 Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club x x x x x 5
W1 Bangsar Club x x x x 4
W1 KPMG -KL x x x x x 5
W2 Ernst & Young's Toastmasters Club x x x x x x 6
W2 UEM Academy Club x x x x 4
W2 HELP University College Club x x x x x 5
W2 Hasil Toastmasters Club x x x 3
W2 EXACT ADC 1 Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W3 K L Sentral Club x x x 3
W3 Speakers' Dream Toastmasters x x x x x 5
W3 UEM Group Club x x 2
W3 Malaysian Insurance Institute Club x x x x x x x 7
W3 Sai Masters Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W4 Speecom Toastmasters Club x x x 3
W4 Money & You-Kuala Lumpur TMC x x x x x 5
W4 TTDI Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W4 WIM Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W5 Maicsa Toastmasters Club x x x x x x x 7
W5 Mid Valley Club x x x x 4
W5 Securities Commission Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W5 DHL KL Toastmasters Club 0
W5 Tm Int Club of University Malaya x x x x 4
W6 Kelab Pidato Perdana Toastmasters Club x x x x x 5
W6 Friendship Club x x x x x x 6
W6 Great Eastern Toastmasters Club x x x x 4
W6 HP Malaysia Toastmasters Club x x x x x 5
W6 HSBC KL Toastmasters Club x 1

I would also like to record that MAICSA and MII had all 7 Club Officers trained. This is an exemplary conduct of leadership demonstrated by their Presidents Alice Liu (MAICSA) and Sherine Lim (MII) – Well Done!

The Division may conduct another TLI Club Officers Training in August for the benefit of club officers who were unable to attend the earlier training. We will announce the details once confirmed.

Thank you for your attendance and I hope that you are now ready to lead your club to minimum Distinguished Club status by 1 April 2008.

Warm Regards,
Azmi Shahrin, DTM
Division W Governor 2007/2008
Member of Kelab Pidato Perdana (654898) and Extol (4934)
azmishahrin@gmail.com / 012-9198557

2007/2008 COTs Round #1

The Club Officers Training Round #1 for Division P and W was held on Saturday 28 July 2007 at the Help Institute at Jalan Dungun, KL. More than 200 Toastmasters were there and I was glad that MII and Maisca was highlighted as the clubs with 100% of its Club Officers present. Thank you Sherine, Leong, Joyce, Ho, Levine, Monsiuer and Mohamad. With this perfect attendance our Club was Awarded a Manual from TI. Check it out with President Sherine. In addition to this we have also ou PP Mike Teng there as one of the organiser. FYI he is now the Assistant Division Governor for Division P. Congratulation Mike.

For the benefit of the members, it is a requirement for Club Officers to attend two trainings and in our District the training must be conducted by the Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) from the District. With a minimum of 4 Club Officers attending the COTS the club will earn half a point.

The format of the Session is the same as last year when it first started with some basic common talk by some prominent Toastmasters and some mandatory talk for the Club officers. Actually, members of the club can also attend such session but I understand you may have to pay to attend. The training starts t 2pm and ends about 6.30 pm with a lucky draw where the winners have to pay RM100 to get the benefit.

If I may offer my view of the TLI, I must say that the concept is excellent but having two Divisions have defeated the purpose of the training. Here TI wants every member to be trained not only as participant but also as trainers. I am sure there are many capable trainers in the respective Division that provide the training. There is no necessity to borrow from other Divisions or combine the Divisions for economy of scale. TLI should also train more trainers so that the pool of trainers will multiply and Toastmasters will grow.

The second issue is about the quality of the training. I have observed that the contents are so basic that some trainers decided to put them aside and share their experience. To me we go there to learn how to be effective Club Officers but I felt cheated that we got more confused than learn new things.

Anyway, it is the learning process for the organisers and I hope they will learn and make some progress for the next training. Don't just organise it for club to earn the half point but seriously to impart to the club officers the skills and knowledge to carry out their job more FREE (Fun, Relevant, Efficient and Effective).

I guess, MII Exco need to really sit down and find ways to make our Exco FREE otherwise people get burnt out and disappointed with the organisation.

Members if you are reading this please understand that the Exco is there to serve and they too need to be served. You have to help them in order for them to help you so in the end all of us will have fun in the club and cherish this time we are together in Toastmasters.

If you have comments please share it.

Mohamad Abdullah

Installation NIght Meeting 24 July 2007

The photographs has not come in yet but I guess it will be soon. Thanks in advance goes to Ho for taking the photos.

The Installation night went as planned with Installing Officer coming from the District our Past District Governor Low Yat Seow, DTM and currently the Parliamentarian of the District. He conducted the Installation with perfection and all our Exco members were present, though Monsiuer came in just in time to be installed.

The new Exco installed were: President - Sherine Lime, VPE - Leong Kok Wah, VPM - Joyce Chung, VPPR - Ho, Treasurer - Levine Lee, SAA - Monsiuer Tilaka and yours truly as Secretary. President will find her lap very heavy this time with me on it.

The Meeting starts differently this time with the SAA handing the control to the TME who starts the evening with precision. IPP or Outgoing Presient makes his speech and also gave all the outgoing officers a gift. He even gave the two Founders who did nothing something to remember him by. You know who they are right?

The ASAA for the night was Yip Sau, the TME specially selected by the President is PP Anna Hue, Games Master goes to the ever young PP Mike Teng, TTM to the humourous guy Adam Fung, Grammarian to our Globe Trotter Philip Wong and Closing Ode doen by PP Masdiana. The other roles were assigned to our visitors and they were Mok Soo Pon ATMB, CL as General Evaluator, Meyya ACS as TTE, Tony Lin as Ah Counter. We have also another visiting TM our Past Area Governor Koh Teck Lee giving support to our GE.

During the night there was prize galore with almost everyone taking home something. Sorry for the few who misses out. The Exco got a T shirt and they must put them on at the COTs on Saturday, the Roles players were recognised and given a gift too and so is our IO.

Food was extra special and so difficult to get people to come back to their seat as they all trying to do justice to the food and caterer.

The theme for the evening was Changing of guards and our Table Topic Master did conduct the TT Session around the theme - whilst the word of the day appropriately worded REVITALIZE.

The winners for the night were: Best Role Play goes to Anna without the King, Most Friendly goes to our young man who never grow up Mike Teng and the Best Table Topic Speaker goes to Azmi Sharin our Division Governor. Hope I got it all correct. Oops Toastmaster cannot apologise mah.

Got to go back for dinner and hope to catch up with the rest of the Exco at the Club Officers traing at the Help Institute - Division double U Cots at Help!

District 51 became Top 6 in the World

Dear Club and District Officers,

"Our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to purse them." - Walt Disney

YES. Last night I received a call from our International President, DTM Johnny Uy, informing us that our District achieved President's Distinguished District status (accorded to the top 6 Districts in the world).

This morning, it is official. This achievement is not only for the District but for each and everyone of you!
Every drop of sweat has created an ocean of success.
It's Simply Amazing! ... so are YOU!

Much of the effort to necessary to turn our dreams into reality lies within us as individuals. Our dreams won't come true without our personal commitment and dedication to excellence. However turning our dreams into reality requires the assistance of others.

The District's success begins at the club level, followed by the Areas and Divisions.
And this is possible b'cos all of you have given your best in serving as either our Club President or being part of the club Executive Committee, Area Governor, Division and respective councils, appointed and elected District Officers. And of course our Past District Governors for lighting the path ahead.

For the record, we achieved :

CLUBS : 46- Distinguished Status, 38- Select Distinguished Status and 71- President's Distinguished Status.
AREAS : 17- Distinguished Status, 10 - Select Distinguished Status and 24 - President's Distinguished Status.
DIVISIONS : 12 - President's Distinguished Status.

... what an Amazing feat ... we cannot ask for more!

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU for your remarkable performance.

As we SOAR to a new beginning, let's continue to give our best in Shaping Our Aspirations and Results to ensure that every club is Distinguished or better ... IT'S POSSIBLE because we are TOASTMASTERS:SIMPLY AMAZING!

With gratitude from all of us,

Message from our Immediate Past District Governor Siva

Message from PP Philip from Kuching

President Sherine, DTM Bro. Mohd and all,
Greetings!
Thank you for the update. I am deeply impressed and inspired by the toastmii.blogspot.com. Bro. you really did wonder for the club and I salute you for it. I came back last night from my trip to Tawau and KK and also Kuching. If any of you have not been to KK(Kota Kinabalu), plse do so. It is a fantastic city and it is not that expensive esp. if you fly airasia and do not stay in 4 or 5 stars hotel. Looking forward to see all at the next meeting. All the best Philip Wong p/s:For Kaki who have not visited our blog(toastmii.blogspot.com), plse do so. You will be in for a BIG BIG surprise.
p.p/s: Mdm President, plse advice how if I want to reply or comment on the blog.thks

Philip Wong



For the information of our members PP Philip Wong is a regular writer to Newspapers and magazines for his articles on Travels. He travels the world over and publish good reports. Recently, I also notice that this PP also writes in the Star giving his comments on social issues. Well done Bro, please share some of your thoughts with us in this Blog. Mohamad

1,000 Aplogies to Adam

It has been pointed out by Sherine and Leong that the Best Assignment Speaker for the meeting on 10 July is Adam and not Leong. 1k apologies to Adam.

If there is anyone out there who likes to make the report of future meetings or any event or to post anything in our Blog, please do not be shy. Just send them to me and I will post it provided it meets with the Rules set out by the blogger, that is me. I promise you that the rule is very simple, 'don't hurt anyone'.

Please, oh please help me and lighten my burden and get your name and even your pictue published for the world to see.

Meeting Report #1 Yr 07/08 - 10 July 2007

I am happy to report that the meeting yesterday went better than I expected. We had 1 guest (Danny) 1 visiting member (Past DVG Lee Swee Seng) and 11 members present and the meeting went well and I thank all present for making it an evening well spent.

Top the list was our Brand New President Sherine Lim with her first Presidential Address that surprised even me. Never in my 27 years in Toasmasters have I heard a President that addressed the meeting with so much commitment and enthusiasm. On top of it all I was also pleasantly surprised with her speech that touches on the theme of the meeting "ALTRUISM". I really salute her for her research on this word. It brought a new meaning to this word - passion to see the club succeed. I should not also forget to mention that President Sherine was fair in complimenting FC Ho our VPPR for his master piece, the Voting Slips, the only one in the world, with water mark and perforation, very user friendly. It is copy righted by MII and we can supply you at a price to be agreed.

Yours truly is the TME and so, you will not expect me to write anything bad about myself so I shall not say anything at all except that I want to thank the VPE Leong for inviting him to be one.

Another surprise which attracted the GE Lee Swee Seng was our Invocation Presenter Masdiana Ooi. She took pain to research on the theme and ensure that the Incovation was just perfect. Hope future IP can emulate her example but if not able to, just ask her to help.

Next came PAG Mike Teng conducting the Table Topis session. He too did his home work and work along the theme. Most surprisingly was he kept to his time and got lots of participants. Great work MT. His team member is the Foo Chow President from France Monsiuer Tilaka. He almost instantly came up after Mike Session to give his Evaluation with accuracy and clarity.

Humour came from our Foo Chow President from Germany S Tilman. He left us with the women of the 21 century. As usual after Humour Session we break for Dinner which was fantastic - much to the satisfaction of everyone even the most critical one.

Two Knights in shining armour came to deliver their speeches but our Raja T just could not be present due to some urgent business. We miss you Raja. Don't worry, we understand.

First to speak was Leong on the 3 Wise Toastmasters. Never knew that he really did lots of homework and memory work to come out with such an inspiring speech. He can recall what a member spoke a year ago and relate it to us. He gave a tribute to our Imm Past VPE Sherine for keeping the fort firm last year and our PAG Mike Teng our PP for his leadership and guidance. Syabas you guys.

The second speaker is a candid person so humourous and made us learn the simple thing about making conversation with strangers. Adam prefers the same kind, especially those from Korea. He told us that he took his official Airline, Air Asia and go for 1st class by paying a little more but given a lead time to find his seat before 150 others chase him. You should be there to enjoy his brand of humour.

The meeting was then handed to the General Evaluator our Past DVG. He is a great guy, good voice, very careful with his words (well he is a lawyer), good observation and had all praises for the club. He kept repeating that he likes our two additional awards, the Best Role Player and Most Friendly Person. Well too much of good things may make our head swell and so I limit it ok?

The Evaluator for Leong Speech was PP Masdiana and Adam was Tilman, whilst IPP Jeffrey handles the Grammarian role with lots of members using the words Altruism, Altruistic. FC Ho handles the Aah Countant and Mike our time machine whilst Jeffrey double up as the PP who handles the Closing Ode.

The Winners for the evening went to 5 Super Achievers;
.Best Table Topics Speaker - Past DVG Lee Swee Seng ATMS, CL
.Best Assignment Speaker - Leong Kok Wah, our new CC
.Best Speech Evaluator - Tilman Shroedder, CTM
.Best Role Player - PAG Mike Teng, ATMS, CL
.Most Friendly Person - President Sherine Lim, CTM

Those Present were:

Danny (Guest of HO), Past DVG Lee Swee Seng (club guest), Betty, Leong, Sherine, Masdiana, Mike, Monsieur, Tilman, Adam, Ho, Jeffrey and Mohamad (members).

Sorry guys, I was so fascinated by the presentation of the various members that I forgot that I have charged my battery to snap pictures of the meeting for this report. I took a few but somehow deleted all my other shorts only one left. Sorry folks only one photo of President and Mike Teng. The rest cheer up and see your photos later.

Meeting Report For 24th April 2007

Our club has been moving forward at an encouraging pace and it is time that we " Look Back " and reflect on our progress before we make the next push forward.

Therefore, " Looking Back " was the theme of the evening chosen by one of the founder's of our illustrious club - Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL.

President Jeffrey Lee, CTM started the meeting with a call for members to express what are some of the things that members wanted to change about their past.

TME Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL proceeded with the meeting by urging members to sit and think about our past and ponder what are the improvements that we can do to further improve our club and ourselves.

Dr Gan Eng Meng, TM gave a detailed motivational invocation session on what we must do to advance ourselves with whatever remaining time we have left.

The Table Topics Session was conducted by Ho Fook Chuan, TM who also donated a set of very well designed Table Topics cue cards for our club and this was followed by Monsieur Tilaka, CC who during the Table Topics Evaluation session touched on each
members speech characteristics. Jeffrey Lee, Mr. Muaz, Dr Gan Eng Meng, Adam Fung, Tilman Schroeder and Sium Keow were the Table Topics Session participants.

Rajasingam, TM gave us his personal body language interpretation of kungfu master Jacky Chan during his Humor session and most members felt he did a great job at all the kung-fu movements.

The Assignment speakers for the evening were :-

1) Mohamad Abdullah, DTM who touched on his opinion of the state of our country
right now.

2) Sam Wei Yeow, CTM , CL , from MIM-TMC was the guest speaker in our club and his
speech project required him to present a confrontational speech which he duly
delivered and received a fiery Q & A session from all members.

3) This was followed by our Area Governor, Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL who enlightened us
with his side of the interviewer/interviewee equation.


We were glad to be able to invite the incoming Area Governor for Area W3 – Mr Lim Hin Chong, ATM-S of Spaekers Dream TMC to be our General Evaluator for the evening and he was assisted by the following role players :-

a) Grammarian - Levine Lee, TM
b) Timer - Betty Toh, CTM , CL
c) Ah Counter - Sherine Lim, CTM

The awards for the evening goes to :-

a) Best Table Topics Speaker – Muaz ( Guest )
b) Best Assignment Speaker - Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL
c) Most Friendly Person - Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL
d) Best Evaluator - Anna Hue , ATM-S, CL
e) Best Role Player - Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL

The meeting ended on a high note with the incoming Area W3 Governor – Mr Lim Hin Chong, ATM-S, sharing with us some of the incoming developments in Area W3.

And this evening, we have three guests who were Ms Karen & Mr Muaz, invited by Monsieur Tilaka, CC and Ms Sium Keow, guest of Mas Diana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL.

Meeting Report - 22nd May 2007

The theme for the meeting was " UNITED ".
President Jeffrey Lee, CTM started the meeting by requesting all those present at the meeting to introduce themselves and also to urge all present to invoke the spirit of unity in MII-TMC.

The TME for the evening was Levine Lee, TM and although this was the first time she was the TME, Levine Lee, TM conducted the meeting like a seasoned Toastmaster which just goes to prove that practice makes perfect.

The Invocation presenter was Leong Kok Wah, TM who shared with us his very inspirational feelings of his first "anniversary" in this club. For members information, Adam Fung, CTM, CL brought Leong Kok Wah, TM to this club as a guest for the first time on 23/5/2006.

The Table-Topics Master was Dr Gan Eng Meng, TM who was also conducting this Table Topics Session for the first time and she conducted the session smoothly. The members who supported the Table Topics Session were : -

1. Jeffrey Lee, CTM
2. Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM , CL
3. Danniel Lim, CC
4. Philip Wong, CTM, CL
5. Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL

Monsieur Tilaka, CC followed up with a brief Evaluation of the Table Topics speakers.

PP Philip Wong, CTM, CL followed up by tickling all of us during the Humor session especially his joke about the ex-hearse driver.

The assignment speakers for the evening were :-

1) Jeffrey Lee, CTM who opened his speech with humor and then proceeded to give us
his views on why relationships are important in our daily lives.

2) PP and Area Governor Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL followed up with his very challenging
speech of the other side of " midnight ". He was preparing himself for life
after Area Governor by "moonlighting" as a Male Escort and why society should
portray them in a better light.

3) The G.E. Danniel Lim, CC also came up with a witty speech on why we all need a
shoulder to cry on.

The General Evaluator for the evening was Danniel Lim, CC from Money & You Toastmasters Club and the other role players for the evening were as follows :-

a) Evaluator No:1 - Janice Ooi CTM, CL
b) Evaluator No:2 - Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL
c) Evaluator No:3 - Larry Toh, CTM, CL
d) Grammarian - Monsieur Tilaka, CC
e) Timer - Leong Kok Wah, TM
f) Ah Counter - Sherine Lim, CTM
g) ASAA - Leong Kok Wah, TM

Awards for the evening were :-

1) Best Table Topics Speaker - Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL
2) Best Role Player - Levine Lee, TM
3) Best Assignment Speaker - Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL
4) Best Evaluator - Masdiana Ooi Abdullah, CTM, CL
5) Most Friendly Person - Mike Teng, ATM-S, CL

PP Philip Wong, CTM, CL sponsored 5 gifts from Spain & Portugal for the above 5 awards winners and he closed the meeting on a high by highlighting the 5 critical success factors which we should all observe in life :-

1) To be kind to people
2) To be honest with ourselves
3) Do not live beyond our means
4) Have faith in ourselves
5) Always remember that learning is a continuous process.


Thank you.

The Ten Cannots

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
3. You cannot help small men up by tearing down big men.
4. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
5. You cannot life the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
6. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8. You cannot establish sound social secrutity on borrowed money.
9. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independnce.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do thr themselves.

by William J H Boetcke, "The Industrial Decalogue"

A True Friend

A true friend never walks away
A true friend will always stay
A true friend looks out for you
A true friend will always be true.

A true friend will guard your secrets
Like a precious gift
A true friend is there for you
To give you a helpful lift.

A true friend tries to make you smile
Tries to replace that frown
They may not always succeed
But they rarely let you down.

These arms for you are open
this heart for you does care
And when I think you need me
I'll try to always be there

I'll listen to your fears
I promise not to laugh
Comfort your falling tears
I'll make this friendship last.

I'll keep you near to my heart
I'll always hold you dear
Even when we're miles apart
Even when you're here.

I hope I am to you
Everything you are to me too
For the frindship we have
Is a special one indeed.

By Ashley Montgomery

Invocation

What is really the meaning of Invocation? The dictionary merely say it is an 'appeal to the higher power for assistance'. This is done usually at the opening of a religious service. However, in Toastmaster we use the Invocation as a session to inspire and motivate our members whilst at the same time give a small role to our newer members to go out and deliver.

I notice lately that most Invocation Presenter (IP) did not prepare their message and go up to depress the members rather than to inspire them. To assist our member to prepare for future IP role I would suggest that the VPE ask them to visit the blog and download some of the poems that I have prepared to be used as a invocation.

For a new member who is still learning the rope, I would suggest that they just read the message with little introduction and a brief closing. Dont take too much time as you are given not more than 2 minues.

If the IP can blend it with the Theme of the meeting, I believe it would further enhance the quality of the meeting.

People, please do not deviate from our main objective of having the Invocation. Let us stick to this. Just read a motivational poem and don't try to tell us somelthing which I am sorry to say you cannot do effectively in two minutes.

Meeting 26 June 2007

This is the last meeting for the Toastmasters year 2006/07 and we had a jolly good meeting.

The meeting started with Shirene handling the President's role and got everyone to introduce themselves and this time she ask us to tell us of our Commitment. The theme for the evening was Commitment to Excellence and the word of the day was AWAKE.

The Invocation Presenter was Monsieur who gave us his experience of reducing his weight and Philip conducted the Table Topics Session with the theme "If you were..." I felt the hardest was given to Monsiuer telling us What is he is a Durian, what he would tell his other fruit friends? The session went on well with 7 partipants. The TTE was Thilo and he gave some good comments and some sound recommendations. The Best TT speaker was Mohamad speaking if he was the PM.

Humour master for the evning was Levine. She tried but I guess, she needs a little more exposure to be a better HM.

During dinner, it was the first time I notice that the food almost cleaned up as it was delicious and well blanded. Thanks to Leong for making the arrangement.

There were three Assignment Speakers, Dr Gan on "Understanding the Big C", Leong on a controversial subject lke "War + Democracy" whilst Adam gave us is "Business Plan" as his Keynote Address. Respectively their evaluators were, Tillman, Monsieur and Masdiana. Tillman was voted the best Evaluator whilst Dr Gan got the Best Speaker Award.

The GE for the night is Freddy the President of Friendship. He gave a good impactful evaluation and a round of commendations for the club. The closing Ode was done by Thilo giving a tribute to the Outgoing EXco.

The Best Role player went to Raja the TME and the most Friendly goes to Shirene. Immediately after the meeting we have a birthday celebration for Shirene and Monsieur. Good cake supplied by someone who did not identify himself.

Attendance for the evening:
1. Shirene as Ag President
2. Rajasingam as TME
3. Anna Hue as ASAA and Timer
4. Philip as TTM
5. Thilo as TTE and closing Ode
6. Freddy as GE
7. Mohamad as Grammarian
8. Dr Gan as Aahcountant & Speaker
9. Leong as Speaker
10. Adam as Speaker
11. Tilman as Evaluator
12. Monsieur as Invo Presenter and Evaluator
13. Levine as HM
14. Masdiana as Evaluator
15. Meera as Guest
16. Anna's Guest * 2
17. Shirene Guest

Retreat

From a recent survey of the members in MII TMC I notice that only two persons who regularly reads the blog whilst the rest seemed not really have the time to make the visit or just do not know how. Poor thing. What have been written did not reach it intended audience. Nevertheless, I shall pursue and continue to write as I see it and Hopefully one day, more will visit this site and read and someone will volunteer to write their thoughts in too.

Yes 23 of us, members, family and guests went to Titi Eco farm in Negri Sembilan on 2 and 3 of June this year. Thank must go to Shirene, Leong, Ho, Joyce and Levine for their dedication and commitment to te club.

We had a unique experience of a 'holiday' and also a retreat for our members. Those who could not come gave gifts and supported in spirit.

As for me it was an experience as members of MII TMC gathers and talk and discuss club affairs and at the same time building better rapport with one another.

The food given was healthy food but being Malaysians we are not happy with healthy food we want junk food. We were given some advice on healthy eating habits and am glad my children learn something from someone who are not their parents.

My conclusion is that we shoul have such outings regularly to build our relationship to be a more cohesive and bonded.

Future to Future

In the future moments will come when one person says to another, "That was great!"

We never know what the future holds in store for us in it's infinite wisdom - but surely you and I know of it's impending arrival.

Some believe the future holds great times ahead, some believe in a bleak fate and still others believe unborn moments hold a catastrophic end.

Me, like to think that maybe, just maybe, it will all happen at the same instance - I mean some things will be great, some bleak some beginnings and some endings.

"Great" things will only happen in the future, because of now, and that's tough enough to decipher - so I will plead, now, and leave the future to the future.

Stan Pelfrey

Meeting on 8 May 2007

Our meeting has been constantly been at a high gear now that I believe people are taking it for granted that it is should be that way. I like to thank our TME Mike Teng who inspite of his heavy duties got everything done before the meeting. One thing I like about this AG of ours is that he sends SMS just before the meeting to remind us to pack up and prepare our journey for the meeting. I salute you AG Mike Teng.

As usual we started on time and we ended up on time. First timer ASAA Dr Gan starts the meeting and surrendered the rostrum to our President Jeff who starts the session with announcement and introduction. Promptly he passed the control of the meeting to our TME who within time managed to do all he had to do and call on the Invo Presenter Mohamad. A copy of the Invocation will be published for those who are interested in such things.

The theme for the meeting was "Looking Ahead" after we look back at the last meeting; and the word for the day is PONDER. All the role players listed in the program were present but Betty.

PP Masdiana starts the Table topics session based on the theme and easily got 8 speakers participated with the best Speaker Awarded to President Jeff. The Evaluator was another PP Philip Wong a Globe Trotter who finds time to be with us. As usual he and his friendly style gave some suggestions to the participants. Our Humour master was Raja who related his personal humourous encounter and also another dedicated member who always prepare for his session.

The assignment speakers were Leong Kok Wah on "Beware The Interviewer", Dr Gan on "The End is Just the Beginning" and Mohamad on "XpectZero". Briefly, Leong trying to warn the ladies to be careful of the Interviewer, whilst Dr Gan is singing Frank Sinatra song I did it my way based on her impending retirement and of her new venture. Mohamad told us Expect the unexpected and be happy. The Best Speaker award goes to Mohamad.

Our imported GE is from Friendship James Arokiasamy ATMS CL and the speech evaluators were Adam for Leong, PP Thilo for Dr Gan and Pres Jeff for Mohamad. The Best Evaluator goes to Pres Jeff.

The other Awards went to Mike for Most Friendly and Best Role Player. He has been getting too much of this and we should not bore him with more next time. PP Thilo did the Closing Ode and Ho who appeared during the break but disappeared during the meeting was supposed to brief us on the Installation Night.

Issues seriously discussed during the meeting was about our Installation Night. After a few suggestions it was agreed that we will have a unique Installation on 2 and 3 June 2007 to be held at an Organic Farm in Negri 9, sorry I did not get the full name of the place. The program laid out was great and the Committee will look into the program for Children and other non TM who are attending the outing.

I think it is a wonderful idea generated by the Committee and we all should support it. Our contribution as a member is not more than RM150 per pax and a beautiful T Shirt will be given to each member present. Great fun and fellowship will be organised and I am sure looking forward to have a good weekend with our friends from MII and lots of prizes too. For more info call HSL - Ho Sherine Leong.

That is all folks and our next meeting will be on 22 May 2007, same time and place. Get involved it is Simply Amazing.

Meeting Report 24 April 2007

This report is under construction. Still locating my notes.

Meeting Report - 10 April 2007

To all those who religiously come and visit this blog I must apologise for the delay in producing this report. A billion apologies as time is not with me and I was under the weather for a while.

Briefly, the meeting was well conducted with the President doing his routine. He then pass the control of the meeting to our PP Philip Wong who conducted the meeting like a professional. The Invocation Presenter was Raja, and yours truly was the Table Topics Master. I worked on the theme for the meeting "Change". The Evaluator for this session was PAG Janice. To Humour us for the evening was everready Richard.

The Assingment speakers were Dr Gan Eng Meng #1 (C&L)and Levine #8 (C&L). Dr Gan tell us about herself and I am still waiting for her biodata to be posted on the net. Levine on the other hand told us about Radio frequency Identification (RFID) a new defice to tag items.

Masdiana was invited to give a talk to the members and she was focusing only on the Invocation and Table Topics. Basically she told us the history and recommends that future Invocation Presenter just read a motivational poem or quotation and not to give their own views on things as this amy be controversial and become negative. She even suggested that such Poem be printed on the Certificate of Awards to give value to it.

On the Table topics Master, she suggested the following:

1. Invite the non-role player
2. Prepare 10 Questions and depending on the time allow at least 8 topics.
3. Speakers can be at their seat to save time so that more members and guests will be given a chance to speak.
4. Brief the audience on the purpose and timing before commencing with the session.
5. Topics must be "crisp", "short" and "specific". Don't throw closed question
6. Be sensitive to guests need. Get them to speak if possible but check with them first.

The other role players for the meeting were: SAA: the backroom lady Sherine, the Evaluators for the speeches were: Guest Daniel Teh, Guest Charlie Foong, GrandMa, is Leong Kok Wah, Rolex Watch, Ho Fook Chuan, Ahcountant Monsieur and our General Evaluator was imported from Extol DTM Patricia Tan. The closing Ode was done by me.

Awards for the night went to:

Best Table Topics Speaker: Daniel Teh
Best Role Player: Leong Kok Wah as Grammarian who also gave away some prizes to Daniel Teh, Dr Gan and DTM Mohamad
Most Friendly Person : Adam Fung

Report on the Passionate Meeting 27 Mar 2007

I hope those present at the meeting would agree with me that we managed to have another great meeting on 27 Mar 2007. 17 regular members and 7 guests (including one potential member) attended the meeting and went home happy.

President Jeffrey was there to start the meeting with a round of introduction and the TME was another J; Joyce Chung. She prepared herself well and made sure that she got all the sequences perfect. I commend her for her dedication to duties. The word of the day was, "EXUBERENT".

For invocation we got a visiting TM Hanson Lye and he told us about another angle of the "Hare and Tortoise" fable. He said "don't compete with someone who is of no match to you."

Next came the Table Topic Session conducted by the ever popular AG Mike Teng and he focused on "Passion". He gave us challenging topics on the subject and surprisingly even our guest Siew Foong could respond well. Table topics speakers were Tillman, Masdiana, Hanson, Jeffrey, Siew Foong, Roger McGowan and Sam Wei Yeow. The audience gave the Award for the Best TTS to Roger McGowan. The Evaluator for this meeting was our ever hardworking SAA Leong Kok Wah.

The Humour Master for the evening was our new cub at the block another Leong. With his powerful voice he told us of South Africa joke and end up with the members guesssing what happened.

Dinner was as usual, though our guests felt it was great. I guess the members took it for granted. Even those who goes to KLGCC for their meeting don't get our kind of food huh?

There were four Assignment speakers with Levine Lee taking the lead speaking to us about "Plastic Surgery is Increasing". She said, "Even men are now concerned about their looks and goes for plastic surgery." TheN Mohamad tells us to saves lives by giving some statistics as to how many lives were lost. He suggested, "If there is no enforcement, let's scrap the law." Third speaker was J OO1, James Bond sister, Janice Ooi and he report on the High Performance Project. To end the sussion, DTM Tang Sum Chee gave us a briefing on "A Guide to the new Competent Leader".

The Evaluation session was led by the GE imported from Maisa, another J, Jessica Liew. The Evaluators for the Assignment Speakers were Sam Wei Yeow (Visiting TM) evaluating Levine and our PP Anna Hue for Mohamad. DTM Tang gave his evaluation of J 001 privately as it may be 'explosive'. The Grammarian was Roger McGowan, the Aah Counter went to Tillman and the Timer or the Rolex man Rich ard Tan. All of them gave their best and the crowd voted for Roger McGowan to be the Best Role Player for the evening.

Evaluation of the GE were very encouraging. She seemed surprise that our TTE is able to deliver the Evaluation immediately after the TTS. Food and room arrangements with the clock, whyte board, "Word of the Day", Guests names, Next Meeting Role display she gave us a good rating. She was even happy to copy our special awards, Best Role Player and also the Most Friendly Person. One of the positive comments she made was MII starts on time and ends on time. Keep it up MII TMC!

The other Award winners were Best Assignment Speaker to Mohamad, Most Friendly person goes to the ever smiling AG Mike Teng and the Best Evaluator Award was not given as there were only two Evaluators.

This meeting it was a special meeting as we introduce the "Closing Ode" done by Masdiana. She got the guests to share their views and also gave Siew Foong some assurances after our DTM Tang scares them about the heavy list of Assignments to be done. At the same time she also took the opportunity to remind the members that they ought to understand their own objectives of joining the organisation. "Just pursue what you want from TM" she said.

Our guest Rohijas from Pidato Perdana also made some commercial about his club and spoke in English as well as in Malay to get members to join them at at the same time help him conduct a survey.

The meeting ended well with every one had their share of speaking except our VPE She rine, Ho, Betty and Monsieur.

Look forward to the next meeting on 10 April 2007 where our GE will be DTM Patricia Tan from Extol TMC.