Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club has a very bad track record. The club always makes normal people and diffident speakers develop tremendous speaking skills and often turns them into professional orators. Therefore you can imagine the effect the club had on Toastmaster Joe Wan who was already a good speaker when he joined the club. As soon as he completed his Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals, Joe started to concentrate on the aspect of oratory that he loves most: Master of Ceremonies. What started as a hobby - visiting clubs and taking on the role of Toastmaster of the Evening - soon turned serious as he started getting invited to conduct programs on bigger stages - Area, Division and District levels. Ultimately Joe embarked upon the path that he was destined for: Professional Emceeing! Toastmaster Joe Wan is now a professional Master of Ceremonies. He now conducts corporate programs in Singapore. However, he is equally dedicated to the toastmasters community because he helps out as emcee in several toastmaster functions, be it club anniversaries or even the recently concluded World Speech Day!
Toastmasters all over Singapore are always keen to learn new things. So it comes as no surprise that people wanted to see how Joe managed the jump from amateur to professional emcee while serving Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club as Vice-President Education, maintaining his day-job in the insurance industry and maintaining his roles of devoted husband and loving father. In addition, there was severe interest in learning the tricks of the trade from the horse's mouth! Due to popular demand, Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club, in collaboration with Tampines Changkat CC, organized a workshop titled "THE ART OF EMCEEING LIKE" by Toastmaster Joe Wan on 10th March, 2016. The workshop was free-of-charge because Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club and Tampines Changkat CC are keen to help the general public for their development. Residents from Tampines were also welcome to walk-in and attend the session.
The session was attended by both club members as well as guests. As expected, Toastmaster Joe was at his best because a motley crew is all he needs to get his positive energy flowing. The session was interactive, engaging and extremely hands-on. The trainer divided the audience into two groups and took ideas from each group as to their expectation of a good master of ceremonies. This was noted down on the board for all to see and keep in mind as the session progressed. He himself then gave his ideas and inputs on the methods necessary to keep the audience on the edge of their seats while keeping the session meaningful, ethical, interesting and under control.
Once the basics were understood by the audience, trainer Joe made the audience carry out roleplay activities. The participants like Ms Mei Yee, Vincent Chen and the Chairperson of the Tampines Changkat RC Zone 3, Ms. Jolyn all received feedback not only from the trainer himself but from the audience as well. In addition, the groups were made to discuss among themselves whatever inputs were shared by their complementary group. Most importantly, however, the group had fun and that, as we all know, is the most crucial component of any learning exercise.
Dear readers, Toastmaster Joe, through this session, taught the audience how to be a good comperer. Many people attended the session and many regretted missing it due to other commitments. We caught up with Vice-President Public Relations of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club, Toastmaster Arjun Chakrabarti, who had the following comments about Toastmaster Joe Wan: "Joe is a trainer who walks the talk. He is believable because he is one of the best emcees in the circuit today. I had to miss the session because I had a prior commitment as emcee at the AIA Toastmasters Club contest that night. However, as an emcee myself, I know for sure that attending that session would have helped me improve my capability of controlling the crowd when hosting a program. Surely, getting to learn from such a talented yet humble person as Joe is indeed a pleasure."
Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club is a potboiling mixture of talent. Each and every member is special. The training that is conducted by these members is of a professional level and it is highly recommended that people keen to learn the art of oratory attend these sessions. Therefore, dear readers, keep watching this space for more news on upcoming workshops as well as fun events of the club.
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