Area S4 International Speech and Table Topics Contest

Area S4 held its International Speech and Table Topics Contest on 26th March, 2016. There were several clubs that participated in the contest and as usual, Tampines Changkat sent its Club Contest winners to represent the club in the Area Contest. The representatives from our club were:

International Speech Contest: Hyder Muhammad Taufik

Table Topics Contest: Arjun Chakrabarti

The battle was gruesome and veteran speaker Michael Wee commented that even at the area level, the quality of speeches was fantastic and the competition was fierce. People were excited to see their club representatives go for gold. All clubs sent members to support their representatives. Once again, as usual, Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club turned out to be the most enthusiastic of the lot by sending an entourage of screaming and excited supporters. In addition, members like Toastmasters Joe, Michael and Murali had taken up the roles of Contest Chair, SAA and Tally Counter respectively.

Contest Chair Joe Wan kept the audience entertained and on the edge of their seats with his flair, flamboyance and natural sense of humour.

When time came for the International Speech Contest, people were mesmerized by Toastmaster Hyder's speech titled "The Natural". Hyder had poise, style and used excellent vocabulary. He mesmerized judges and audience alike with his story of becoming a confident speaker. It seemed that he was definitely one of the contenders of the first prize. Of course, his competitors Michelle and Harsh were very good as well.

The next part of the contest was Table Topics. The topic was: "Leadership is born and not bred". Toastmaster Arjun did a fantastic job entertaining the audience while delivering a clear message. As any member of Tampines Changkat would know, Arjun specializes in using props on stage and this contest was no different. The other contestants were also extremely competitive and provided him with a good challenge.

The program went well and now it was time for the results. Both members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club did win medals but only one came first and got his chance to move to the next level. The results were as follows:

International Speech Contest -

Champion: Harsh

Runner-Up: Hyder Taufik Mohammed (Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club)

Table Topics Contest -

Champion: Arjun Chakrabarti (Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club)

Runner-Up: Michelle Lobia

The club members were extremely happy with the results and are looking forward to the Division Contest. Make sure you are present to support Arjun on 7th May, 2016.

Public Speaking for Beginners Workshop

Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club, in collaboration with Tampines Changkat CC, undertook an initiative to help the general population in the art of public speaking. As a result, we had the workshop titled "Public Speaking For Beginners" on 28th January, 2016. The workshop was conducted by master trainer Toastmaster Ng Kin Foong. However, before we get into the details, I believe that it is my duty to inform the reader of the credentials of the trainer.

Toastmaster Ng Kin Foong runs a training company titled Radiant Owl Consultancy Services where he trains people on different aspects of communication and interaction. Having several years of this experience under his belt, he is extremely popular in the toastmasters circuit as a mentor, speaker and evaluator. He has achieved the titles of Advanced Leader (Bronze) and Advanced Communicator (Bronze) in the toastmasters circuit and has also been awarded the Triple Crown award last year. In addition, Toastmaster Kin Foong manages a make-up training company, thus proving that he can manage his time extremely well.

Let us now jump into the main course of tonight's meal: the training. The training was free of charge since Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club and Tampines Changkat CC were aiming to help the public. It was a general walk-in event. Naturally, the attendees ranged from seasoned toastmasters to residents of the Tampines area walking in to see if they could learn how to interact with large crowds. Needless to mention, there were a lot of people and, knowing Toastmaster Kin Foong's reputation, this was not unexpected.

The evening started with Organizing Chair Toastmaster Zhuo Shuzhen introducing trainer Ng Kin Foong, followed by Kin Foong's famous "Chickie Introduction". For those not familiar with this introduction method, Toastmaster Kin Foong specializes in helping the audience break the ice by making them use a prop to introduce themselves. This method has always proven highly effective in helping the audience quell their nervousness when speaking before a crowd for the first time. 

The introduction session was followed by the theoretical session where Toastmaster Kin Foong spoke about how to go about the art of public speaking with special emphasis on the different methods of speech organization. One of the main attractions of the workshop was the promise that the audience would learn how to craft a speech in fifteen minutes. Trainer Kin Foong shared the tips and tricks of the trade and provided handouts to help the audience generate ideas to speak. This was followed by a very interesting exercise. The audience was made to write a speech in about ten minutes. Then, they were divided into two groups and made to deliver the speeches to each other in the presence of the trainer and other experienced toastmasters. This exercise proved to be a great success and quite popular with the audience. The final portion of the training involved some guidelines on body language and vocal variety since these are essential tools for a public speaker. In addition, trainer Kin Foong shared further follow-up material with the audience via email.

The workshop in itself was a great success. However, what was more successful to watch was the growth in confidence of the attendees, especially the first-time speakers who never thought that they could craft and deliver a speech. This is the kind of confidence that trainers yearn to build and that Kin Foong has helped build time and again. Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club and Tampines Changkat CC have been extremely successful with the workshop.

In case you feel that you need improvement with your public speaking skills, please feel free to drop in to our club. We meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm. Keep watching this space for more news, views and opinions on Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club.

521st Chapter Meeting and Chilli Crab Party

17^th March, 2016 was a special day to members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club for several reasons. Firstly it was the third Thursday of the month and that could mean only one thing: Chapter Meeting! This one was the 521^st Chapter Meeting of the club. In addition, this meeting was indeed special because it was the time of the month when the Birthday Celebration segment of the month was planned. However, that was not the only reason that over fifty people joined the club meeting that night. Five members of the club were celebrating their recent achievement of the Competent Communicator title by treating the rest of the members to a Chilli Crab session! For the uninitiated, this club has a tradition of members celebrating their coming of age – read Competent Communicator Certificate – by having a get-together at the nearby coffee shop with a humungous dinner comprising Chilli Crabs and beer! The members throwing the party that night were Toastmasters Pijush Mukherjee, Jaric Ng, Kapil Pareek, Naveena Methani and Vidhi Sarkar.

The meeting that night started with Club President, Toastmaster Gladys Tye setting theme of the meeting – Kindness- in her opening address. She spoke about several act of kindness and kept the speakers mesmerized with her oratorical ability.

The next segment of the meeting was, of course, the prepared speeches. Toastmaster of the Evening, Joe Wan, made sure that the introduction of the speakers was energetic, engaging and hilarious. The first two speeches were quite serious because Toastmasters Pijush Mukherjee and Vidhi Sarkar delivered their P-10 Speeches of the Competent Communication Manual. This was followed by one of the most hilarious speeches in the history of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club. The speaker was none other than Toastmaster Tia Maria. The final speaker of the night was Toastmaster Ashish Kundra who delivered his Ice Breaker speech in an extremely out-of-the-box fashion involving crowd interaction, humour and absolute lack of notes. This was extremely commendable because it was the first time that he as delivering a prepared speech. Needless to say, each and every speech was followed by a standing ovation.

Tampines Changkat meetings move in a wavy fashion. Just like a wave has crests and troughs, this club makes sure that its meeting has alternating educational and fun activities. The second activity of the night was the Birthday Celebration segment organized by the Vice Presidents (Membership), Toastmasters Zhuo Shuzhen and Jaric Ng. The birthday babies present that night were Toastmasters Joe, Joshua, Abigail, Christina and Linda. Toastmaster Shuzhen first rendered a solo performance of the Happy Birthday song. This was followed by Toastmaster Jaric’s guitar which accompanied the crowd as they sang the Happy Birthday song for the birthday babies. This was followed by a special performance by Toastmasters Arjun Chakrabarti and Ng Kin Foong who used the Happy Birthday tune to sing a song that was tailor-made for the Birthday Babies present that night. The lyrics, written by Arjun, are as follows:

“Tis a day of Sunshine

My mama said make hay

But here we all are present

On this blessed meeting day!

She sells you reading glasses

Soon westward she’ll set sail

Tonight we’re going to wish her

Our darling Abigail!

Now to our VPE

Always driving in the sun

To buy nice gifts for Vera

Handsome emcee Joe Wan!

Someone I’ve never met here

But one I vouch for sua

I tell you that he’s too cool

Calm and sexy Joshua!

With her love for language

This LE I can’t miss

She is so hot and stylish

Yet sweet, little Chris!

Looking into her eyes

The boys now forget Tinda

Don’t you dare to woo her

She’s taken, lovely Linda!

To all the little sweethearts

Changkat can only say

May God bless you always.

Happy Awesome Birthday!

The post-break segment of Speech Evaluations was fated to be a difficult one because the birthday cake had made driven speeches and evaluations out of the members’ minds. However, the presence of master evaluators like Toastmasters Haresh, Kin Foong, Christina  and Ted immediately brought everyone’s attention back to the meeting. Each of these evaluators is extremely competent and naturally, just listening to them translates into a growth in the learning curve of the audience.

The final segment of the night was the Table Topics Segment. This is the section where the participants have to think on their feet and speak impromptu. Table Topics Master Raj set the topics in line with the theme of the meeting: Kindness. He decided to conduct things differently and instead of reading out topics, he showed pictures and made the participants speak on the topic. Members Amirul, Nicole and Arjun as well as a visiting toastmaster participated in the session.

We all know that club meetings end with ribbons recognizing the best performers in each segment. This is done with the sole purpose of encouraging speakers to perform better and keep improving. The winners of the ribbons in this meeting were:

Best Prepared Speech – Pijush Mukherjee

Best Evaluation – Ted Chong

Best Table Topic – Arjun Chakrabarti.

A formal end to the meeting did not mean that the night was over. It was now time for the Chilli Crab Session. The members moved out of the Community Centre and met at the coffee shop close by. The menu comprised Rice, Omelette, Fried Tofu Sauce, Chilli Crab, Buns, Mixed Veg Sauce and lots of Beer! If you have never attended a Chilli Crab session organized by our club, make sure that you join and attend this. The sounds of laughter and jokes can be heard from few hundred meters and it is a known fact that we end up being the loudest bunch in the coffee shop. The session is a hub of positive energy and people enjoy to the utmost. People ate and chatted till 11.30 pm and then left for home. However, four members decided to extend the night further. Toastmasters Kapil Pareek, Vidhi Sarkar, Arjun Chakrabarti and Ashish Kundra showed that they can party harder than most and stayed back till 2am and chatted away to glory. They had nothing to gain from this chat session but it just shows the level of camaraderie and bonding that is formed when one joins Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club. The night finally ended but was born was a fresh batch of toastmasters looking to earn their Advanced Communicator Bronze titles. Once again, Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club wishes Competent Communicators Jaric Ng, Kapil Pareek, Vidhi Sarkar, Pijush Mukherjee and Naveena Methani all the best in their further oratorical adventures!