469th Meeting Recap 16/1/2014 or “The Emperor, The Stewardess and The Bohliao Times”

Best Prepared Speech: Coen Tan, ACS, ALB

Best Evaluator: Chia Choon Kiat, ACB, CL

Best Table Topics: Gladys Tye, CC and Pak Wing (tied)

Word of the Day: PARAGON

“What's the most memorable thing you've done in 2013?” asked the Sergeant-at-arms, Nui Thantong Bang-on, CC. I didn't have to answer verbally because we were focusing on our guests. In my mind, I thought of last year's Speechcraft, which I helped organize, and as Club Secretary Gladys Tye, CC, mentioned, I had the most able people help me and advise me. It seemed one of those challenges, in which you wonder “What have I gotten myself into? I don't know how to do this” but we pulled it off, as a team.

Michael Wee, DTM, gave us “PARAGON” as Word of the Day. It means a perfect example of something, eg “Carl is the paragon of narcissism”

Club President, Gurmit Singh, CC, talked about “self-doubt” in his Opening Address. He gave the example of insurance agents who had to set their annual goals, and had to balance their yearly targets: set it too low, they're not ambitious enough; set it too high, and gasps of disbelief are heard.

In this particular meeting, we tried a revolutionary reshuffle of the programme: to have Table Topics first, before the Prepared Speech segment. Some of the questions were: “What is your favourite family tradition?”, “Is it harder for you to eat healthy or exercise?”, “Is it better to be a kid or a parent, and why?” and “What age would you like to be, and why?”

Toastmaster Matthew Er, spoke eloquently about the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, how he united the warring states and built the Great Wall of China.

Linda Huang, CC, shared many job search tips and statistics, eg the number of passive job seekers are on the rise (passive job seekers are job seekers who are not actively looking, and are not really motivated to change jobs). One important tip was to have a Linked In account and update it regularly.

Coen Tan, ACS, ALB, did an Advanced Project called “The Press Conference”. The background is that a female flight attendant was caught in a compromising situation with a male passenger, and Coen has to defuse the situation and turn it into an advantage. The Q and A session with journalists from “Bedok Baozhi”, “Punjab Times” and “Bohliao Times” turned out to be more interesting, but Coen kept a straight face and ended the press conference just before time was up.

Shaun Li, ACS, ALB, gave a hilarious speech about finding spouses from Toastmasters. He had seen some successful couples in our club, and thought he could perhaps do likewise. Unfortunately for Shaun, our club was attracting more guys than girls...

Below are the photos of the Best Speaker, Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics.

Till next meeting, learn, implement and prosper!

Carl Wong

Vice President of Public Relations

Best Table Topic: Pak Wing

Best Table Topic: Gladys Tye, CC

Best Prepared Speech: Coen Tan, ACS, ALB

Best Evaluator: Chia Choon Kiat, ACB, CL