President's Inaugural Speech 2007/2008

Many years ago, when I started Secondary One, I didn’t know which Extra Curricular Activity to choose, not because I had no idea of what they were, but everyone of them seemed nice. Why? Well, because there were girls, pretty girls and lots of them in most ECAs! What did I choose in the end? Guess? … Boy Scouts! Yes, an ECA with only boys!

Why did I choose Boy Scouts? I don’t know. But my choice stuck, even if I had to eat ants, jump into fish ponds and crawl into dirty drains and slaughter chickens and snakes. And till today I’m a Scout.

Through these years, I’ve grown up with a bunch of friends who went through some of the toughest trainings in our young lives. Today, even though we meet only 2 – 3 times a year and usually when attending one another’s wedding and baby showers of their new born sons and daughters, we’re still close.

I strongly believe that there is only one reason that we are able to remain close together all these years – Friendship. Yes, this fuzzy word that encompasses many qualities of a person, but whatever qualities they are, friendship is that warm feeling you get when you are with these people you call friends.

I was introduced to Toastmasters 4 years ago. Initially, I thought “What’s this funny bunch of people doing, laughing and coming out for food in the middle of the meeting? Seems like monkey behaviour to me!” But I decided to sit in one of the meetings and found it rather interesting. However, it took me one whole year to join and that was the Mandarin Club! It took me another year to join another funnier bunch of people – our club! I decided to join and become one of you fun and friendly people.

Yes, it is this friendly quality, this comfortable atmosphere and this motivating environment that made me join this club. Over these 2 years, I realized that these are exactly the qualities that the members of our club and other clubs have come to associate us with. These are the qualities that will continue to attract more and more new and returning members to our club.

How do we have these qualities that our club is well known for? Us! Yes, from the charter members of our club (please stand up and be recognized) – Michael, Edward and Cheng Lee, to the early members Andrew, Kersi, Chee Mun, Thomas, Robert, Virginia, Jin Hwui, Emmanuel, Judy, Micky, Susan, Helen and Simon, to our newer members, Nathaniel, Bao Lun, Raymond, Foong Yin, Kervin, Odilia, Kelly, Vijaya, Jake, Ahmad, Magdelene, Seymour, Hudson, Darren, Arman and our latest members Anne, Luan Eng and Sham.

Members of our beloved club, I’d just like to say this to you. Thank you! Thank you for being our member and for just being here with us.

But friendship doesn’t end here at our club. Toastmasters is a big movement, a family which all members of Toastmasters International belong to. While we may be brothers and sisters with members of other clubs, friendship still needs to be built up over time. And this friendship with other Toastmasters have been slowly developed and maintained and strengthened over these 14 years.

We are therefore glad to have friends who are distinguished in their own achievements and in Toastmasters. Friends who have given our club their support, their advice and their time and commitment without which we couldn’t be the strong club we are now.

So please allow me to take this chance to thank our friends from our sister clubs (please stand up and be recognized) – DTM Richard Sng, DTM Michael Rodrigues, members of Changi Simei Toastmasters, Lifestyle Toastmasters, Temasek Polytechnic Toastmasters, Tampines Regional Library Toastmasters, Tampines West Toastmasters, Singapore Polytechnic Toastmasters, AIA Changi Toastmasters, etc etc. Did I miss out anyone or any club?

Members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters, these are the friends who have helped us through the years. Will you stand out and help them when they need us just as they did when we needed them? [Yes!] I’m glad to hear that. Let us continue this tradition of friendship and support, not just this year but many years into the future. Take this opportunity tonight to network with one another, get to know one another better and just be a friend to one another. Shall we do that?

The second part of my speech tonight is about Learning and Service, which is exactly what Toastmasters stands for. Through TI’s excellent Communication and Leadership programmes, they have helped thousands of individuals in the world communicate better and take on leadership roles in their personal lives.

But what does Toastmasters mean to you as an individual? Over the past 3 years, many Toastmasters from this club and others have asked me this question, “What is Toastmasters exactly? What does it mean to be a Toastmaster?”

Over these 3 years, I’ve given this same reply consistently, simply because I believe it. And that’s “What do you want out of your own Toastmasters journey?” “What do you want out of your own Toastmasters journey?”

Have you ever asked yourself this very important question? If you haven’t, it’s time now. Yes, tonight, not tomorrow, not next week, next month or next year.

This question is not about the reason you are in Toastmasters now. Rather, it is a question of how you will travel your journey in Toastmasters. Some of us choose to take the more difficult paths. Some take shortcuts. Some just follow others along the way. That’s all fine.

Because remember, whatever paths you take, you’re still shaping out a path. A path that you can call your own. The worst is that you choose to not even walk this path and end up an observer, a passive onlooker. Which do you choose – an active participant or a general on paper?

Toastmasters offer a myriad educational material and opportunities for the Toastmaster who wants to be active and be involved. From the Basic manual to the new Competent Leader manual, to the Advanced Communication and Leadership manuals, they all offer valuable learning and practice to any Toastmaster at his or her own pace. And not only these, Toastmasters holds workshops, contests and conventions to further our education in public speaking.

Over the course of this year, I urge you, members of Tampines Changkat to attend all workshops and conventions and take part in contests not only to learn but also to take these events as a pause-check on your progress in your own journey. I am very sure what you’ll gain will be 10 times more beneficial to what you normally do in club chapter meetings.

Therefore, if you have not bought tickets to the semi-annual and annual convention, it’s time to do so tonight. You can check with Michael on this. If you would also like to learn from the best speakers in our Division, in the Humourous Speech, Evaluation, International Speech and Table Topics contests, tonight is the time to do so and you can speak to me on this later.

But Toastmasters offers much more! Toastmasters is also about service – service in the form of leadership at the club EXCO level, the Area, the Division and the District! Over the years, many individuals have come forward to serve the movement at all levels. They are individuals who are self-less, who willingly give up their time without getting a single cent of monetary reward, and who provide much needed leadership and management to the movement. I salute these people and I’d like all of you present here to recognize the sacrifice and contribution they have made to us. Please stand up and be recognized. District Governor DTM Michael Wee. Past Division S Governor DTM Nathaniel Koh, Past Area S4 Governor Chong Cheng Lee, Area S1 Governor K Raj, Area S5 Governor Edmund Yu, Area S7 Governor James Keok, Past Presidents Virginia, Judy, Thomas, etc etc.

Thank you to all these leaders within our movement. With this recognition, I am now proud to say I belong to the same club as the District Governor (and his wife!). Do you feel proud too, members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters?

Service manifests in still more forms in Toastmasters. There are speech crafts and contests to be organized every year. They can’t be executed properly without a group of dedicated people who work behind and in front of the scene to ensure that these events run smoothly. Members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters, will you stand out to take up such roles when you are called upon to do so? Wonderful! Again, these are great opportunities to test the Toastmasters skills you’ve learnt.

District Officers, fellow Toastmasters and yes, friends, as we are gathered here to celebrate the renewal of leadership at our club, I do not feel elated or excited. Nor do I feel a sense of achievement and accomplishment. Rather, I just feel… contented. Yes! Content to know that I have a great team to assist me as President over this term. Content to know that our club has the support of our friends, YOU, from other clubs whom we can depend on for help when we need you and vice versa from us. And finally, I am just contented to be a Toastmaster!

Enjoy yourselves tonight!

Toastmaster of the Evening!

Contributed by
President of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters