530th Chapter Meeting

Nothing ever happens if you stay in your room

Nothing ever happens if you leave the party too soon

Never be a winner if you're not in the game

And nothing ever happens if you always play it safe

Make a little space and get out of your own way

Sparkling Changkat Toastmasters started the session with an energetic Mini Zumba.

Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club held its 530^th Sparkling Leadership meeting on 21st July, 2016. This meeting was as usually unusual and was well planned by our VPE, Tia Maria.

The appointment holders for the evening were as follows:

President: Joe Wan

Sergeant-at-Arms: Nur Mhmd

Toastmaster of the Evening: MohanaPriya

Language Evaluator: Hyder Taufik

Table Topic Master: Carl Wong

Ah Counter: Jyoti Soni

Time: You Xiao

The meeting began with highlighting the importance of “Racial Harmony” by Nur. She handed over the mic to TME Priya. Priya kept the energy of the program on and engaged the audience throughout.

Hyder, our Language Evaluator for the day, introduced an unparalleled word of the day with syllable, in his unparalleled style.

The next item of the meeting was the opening speech by President Joe Wan.

He introduced a new segment “The ExCo Speaks”.

Next, the prepared speakers got the ball rolling on the stage. All speeches were truly unparalleled.

Title of the Speeches and the speakers:

Emotional Vs Logic, (Tan Mei Yee)

Why is it hard to make friends as Adults (Ashish Kundra)

This is my Year (Diederik Karssen)

Move Over Kitty, The Monsters Have Landed. (John Lee)

Struggles of a Cat Owner (Amirul Syaffiq)

After the break, started the most important segment of the meeting, The Evaluation Segment.

Evaluators:

1.       Vidhi Sarkar

2.       Ng Cher Khim

3.       Ho Yee Yuen

4.       Shaun Li

5.       Naveena Methani

Next, interesting table topic session was hosted by Table Topic Master was Carl Wong. He declared he got converted to watch Hindi Movies and the theme of the table topics were based on the Hindi Movie “Sultan’s” Plot. He prepared 36 topics for this segment. Truly commendable effort by Carl.

Language Evaluation followed the table topic segment. The good uses and misuses of the language was graciously adorned by Hyder in his usually unusual unparalleled style.

Then comes the entry of the most awaited segment, with the drums rolling, the Awards Announcement Segment.

Winners:

Best Speaker – John Lee

Best Evaluator – Ng Cher Khim

Best Table Topic Speaker – Kelvin Cheng

After the Awards and Announcement, the meeting was officially closed with a beautiful closing address by the president. The day did not end for many toastmasters as we can see many walking towards the coffee shop nearby. There was fragrance of joy lingering in the air.

Do join us for the next National Day Theme chapter meeting; and

Do not forget to join us for the next National Day Theme chapter meeting.

Adorn the meeting with your presence; and

Come dressed for the occasion – National Day Theme Meeting.

Nothing ever happens if you stay in your room

And nothing ever happens if you leave the party too soon

Nothing ever happens if you don't get hurt

And nothing ever happens if you never get dirty

Make a little space and go on, get out, go on get out

You and you only who can make a little space and

And get out of your own way!

And get out of your own way!

Written by MohanaPriya

529th Chapter Meeting or “Carl and the Talking Cockroach”

Note: The “Cockroach” character in this blog post is made up, to facilitate dialogue and not make Carl look like he’s crazy. Pretend that Carl caught a cockroach and kept it in a mobile phone-shaped cage, so no one knows he has a cockroach with him. This cockroach can talk and understands English.

Cockroach : Where are we?

Carl             : We are at the Tampines Changkat Toastmasters meeting. Before you ask, Toastmasters is a public speaking and leadership club.

Cockroach : I wasn’t going to ask that. Everyone knows that the Toastmasters was started by Dr Ralph Smedley in 1924. Even cockroaches.

Carl             : I’m Sergeant-at-arms today. I’m starting the meeting today and conducting the Ice Breaker today. I’m asking the Guests for their Name, Profession and...

Cockroach  : Favourite author! Mine’s George Langelaan, author of “The Fly”

Carl              : OK, mine is Jeff Olson, who wrote “The Slight Edge”.

<Carl gets everyone into the room, starts the meeting and does the Ice Breaker. He then introduces our debonair and dashing TMD, Ashish Kundra.>

Cockroach    : Psst, What’s TMD?

Carl                : Toastmaster of the Day. He’s the emcee for today.

Cockroach    : Nice. He’s really handsome. <swoon>

Carl                :  You’re not his type. Here comes the Club President, Joe Wan, ACS/ALB with his Opening Address.

Cockroach     : What’s that? ACB/ALB?

Carl                : Advanced Communicator Bronze/Advanced Leader Bronze.

Cockroach   : Nicee. He’s reminding us of our “Sparkling Leadership” for this term. And we have to discuss with each other who our favourite leader is, and 3 qualities of that leader.

Carl              : You keep quiet. I’ll discuss with Ashish.

<Carl discusses with Ashish.  They both like Hitler, because of his focus, determination and courage. Members of the audience are asked to share who their leaders are. Priya is a big fan of Nui, our Division S Director, for her presence and stepping up. Ashish tells everyone in the audience that Carl is so nice that he should be hired to fire people. Ironic!>

Cockroach    : Hahaha!

Carl               : Shut up! The only reason I’ve never done that is because I have not considered that career path.

Cockroach   : Ashish is now introducing our Prepared Speech Segment. P2 (Organize your Speech) by You Xiao. Speech Title is “The Best Investment”

Carl               : I’m impressed, Mr Cockroach. You were listening intently and paying attention.

Cockroach    : Shh! You Xiao is speaking. He’s talking about investments that have high returns, yet safe. Invest in yourself. Instead of Toto.

Carl                : Yeah, good point. Bravo!

Cockroach     : I like to invest in my SHELL. I break the old one and grow a new one, haha!

Carl                : Listen! Abigail Lee is doing P6 (Vocal Variety), titled “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” She’s talking about how one Thursday, it rained so heavily and water started coming down through the roof, and the roof collapsed.

Cockroach     : Whoa! And it was an indoor waterfall! She and her colleague were moving buckets around to catch the water. When their supervisor came back, she put all the stock out of the reach of the water and wrapped it in plastic. Nice. I love waterfalls. When the surroundings are damp, we cockroaches reproduce like crazy.

Carl                 : Must be fun for you! MuMing’s next. Doing P3 (Get to the Point), his project speech title is “How to Live your Passion”. There’s a difference between “Wants” and “Needs”. When he worked in retail, his employer asked, “What do you want to do in life?”. Cos to succeed big, you first need to do the small things well. “No mud, no lotus” and “No plank, no sixpacks”

MuMing: “Ultimate business skill is to learn to be human”

Cockroach   : <Shows off segmented body> Hey look Carl! I got sixpacks effortlessly.

Carl               : I’m not an insect.

Cockroach   : Hey! Pijush is speaking. AP1 from the “Humorously Speaking” Manual. Title is “From no time to no time”. Very odd title.

Carl               : Shh. Save your commentary for later. He’s talking about the time his boss was fired, and he was “equally liberated” in between jobs.

Cockroach    : That’s the euphemistic term. Haha, so he was cleaning up photos, and started creating copies of copies of copies of photos on Google Drive, Google Photos, local Windows PC, Ubuntu PC and external hard disk... Wah! He has more photos than I have eggs.

Carl                : Yeah, it’s hilarious because we all do that. But I wouldn’t promise “5 minutes” to my wife.

Cockroach     : You don’t have a wife... yet.

Carl                 : Exactly! Listen. Mohd Sufian is doing his P1 (The Ice Breaker). “Letting you know who I am” What a unique title!

Cockroach      : Yeah, seems like he’s a rebel. “A is not for Apple, it’s for Astronaut”?! Engineer, spent some time working in Bangkok. If you don’t pay taxes, then you don’t exist. Because the Government does not have your records.

Carl            : Yeah he says here in Toastmasters, we don’t have different cultures and religions. We’re just ... Toastmasters. He wants that bright future for his 4 year old son, Raihan.

Cockroach : Now it’s time for our July Babies’ Birthday Celebration.

Carl            : Yeah our new Vice Presidents of Membership Kapil and Naveena are conducting it.

Cockroach  : Birthdays of Cheng Lee, Joel, Chia Choon Kiat, Juanna, Pijush, Sachin and Mohd Sufian.

Carl             : I like this picture of everyone singing!

Cockroach  : Now it’s break time! Yay! Nice cake!

<Everyone goes out for break and returns for the Table Topics and Evaluation Segments>

Carl              : The Evaluators are spot on and offering helpful advice. Project Evaluators offer useful advice and feedback on the Project (Prepared) Speeches we heard earlier, and tell them how to improve, as well as what worked well.

Cockroach   : Yes! Naveena, Andrew, Chia CK, Jaric and Shaun!

Carl              : Next come Table Topics. Impromptu speaking to practice speaking on our toes and think quickly!

Cockroach   : So fun! Chee Wai, Ryan, June, and Erica speak...

  

Carl              : ... about “What’s necessary vs what’s possible”, “Start wherever you are”, “Leadership” and “The beginning is the most important part of the work”

Cockroach  : Yay! We’ve reached the end of another fruitful meeting!

Carl              : See you next meeting. It’s been fun, Mr Cockroach. Here are some awards and announcements.

Club President Joe Wan receiving his Triple Crown Award (for completing 3 educational awards in a single term) from Area Director Ng Kin Foong.

 Naveena gets her ACB and CL pins from Area Director Ng Kin Foong.

MuMing, our Best Prepared Speech for the evening!

Shaun Li, ACG/ALS, our Best Evaluator Winner

Erica, our best Table Topics Speaker, who talked about our initial conception process in a humourous way!

Here are some testimonials from some of our Guests:

"This is my second time joining Tampines Changkat TMC and I'm already looking forward to my next visit! Everyone there is friendly, fun to be with and supportive of one another. Thank you for having me! I'm looking forward to join the family! <3

- Erica Lim

“ I had an fun and informative time at the Tampines-Changkat TMC. The members were v spontaneous and supportive of one another. Great club and keep up the good work!”

- Dazzling

Written by Carl Wong

Tampines-Changkat Toastmasters Club Installation Night 2016, 30th June 2016

 A wonderful evening to cap off a wonderful term! The much anticipated Installation Night 2016 of Tampines-Changkat Toastmasters Club took place on the final day of the term.

Changkat meetings are always filled with much joy and energy but today’s meeting was even more special because we would be witnessing a renewal of leadership. 

A mighty salute goes to our leaders who have served us ever so faithfully in the past year and a big welcome to our incoming exco!

Before we kicked off proceedings, we were treated to a tantalizing array of delicious food that certainly whet our appetites.

  

Also, what is a meeting without some fellowship and fun? 

The theme of the night was “The Olympics” where everyone was encouraged to come dressed in any one of the 5 colors of the Olympic Rings. 

 The theme was chosen because we, in Tampines-Changkat Toastmasters Club, strive to embody the persevering spirit of the Olympic athletes. Also, The Olympic motto is the Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger."

TampinesChangkat will indeed soar to greater heights!

With the swift bang of the gavel, the meeting was called to order by Sergeant -At-Arms, Ho Yee Yuen, and we were good to go. It’s always a pleasure to have our very own magnificent Michael Wee kick start proceedings.

Our now Immediate Past President Gladys Tye delivered a beautiful opening address that touched upon what the past year meant to her as well as thanking everyone who had helped her along the way.

Then, we had our guest of honor Mr Desmond Choo, MP of Tampines GRC, drop by in very modest attire. It was heartwarming to know that we are always in his heart and that he would have made it in time had there not been an accident along the TPE. 

He was only able to take part in our celebrations for a brief period of time before having to leave for other commitments but that was all he needed to leave us with a few great words of wisdom: If we had to pick a best generation, let it always be the next one.

The Executive Committee of 2015-2016 has finally been discharged of all further duties! Thank you for all the hard work, time and love every single one of you have put in for our club! 

Dressing smart is the Changkat way to go! 

The tokens of appreciation for the outgoing Executive Committee, Toastmaster of the Year award and Most Improved Toastmaster award were then given out in recognition of our members’ dedication to our club.

Our Toastmaster of the year, Jia Hong, was deeply grateful for his achievement and was remarkably candid about it when he shared what it meant to win the award. Congratulations Jia Hong! You deserved it!

And who else to win our Most Improved Toastmaster award than our very own trailblazer Naveena! 

  

She’s been on fire over the past term and has been contributing phenomenally to both club and self. Keep your flames of passion burning strong Naveena, we’re right behind you!

Our dear Kin Foong was charming and eloquent as ever as he brought us through his 5 years of experience in Toastmasters and with Tampines-Changkat Toastmasters Club, how we went from strength to strength with each year that passed. He let us realize just how blessed we were to have had strong leaders for the past 24 years of the club’s existence. No matter who’s in charge now, we’ve got to carry our Changkat banner with pride and fervor! Truly, it’s sharings like these that explain why we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on a Thursday evening.

Next up, was the installation of the incoming Executive Committee for 2016-2017!

Citius, Altius, Fortius!

Joe Wan then gave his inaugural address as President of Tampines-Changkat Toastmasters Club on what leadership is and how the new Executive Committee with strive for more than just leadership[ but sparkling leadership.

With that, a toast was made to the new Executive Committee with sparkling Ribena.

  

What kind of initiatives, when revealed, would make members not want to come for future sessions? You won’t get no answer from Joe because you just got to come see the Sparkle for yourself! This evening we welcomed Joe as our new club president and he sure got us real excited with his promises of juicy creativity!

Next, we had Vidhi our Game Master who invited us into her world of feet bondage and whacky races. 

  

During the finals, there was even some entertaining horseplay by our gladiator Diederik to further liven up our evening! 

Who’s a cheeky fellow?

Following that, we were left simply awed by Nathaniel’s educational segment on Leadership. He was a sage, who through amazing use of visage and adage, thoroughly captivated us. 

 We are indeed very fortunate to have heard his valuable insights, each taking home our own lesson(s) for the night. Our words cannot adequately express how wonderful his sharing on Leadership was, so here are his own.

Finally, President Joe wrapped up the meeting marvelously with his final address and a group photo. 

Our wonderful evening would also not have been possible without the hard work of the Organizing chairs as well as all our capable appointment holders.

Kapil Pareek - Organizing Chair

Lau Kheng Soon - Organizing Chair 2

Kelvin Cheng - Audio Visual

Raghin Raghavan - Audio Visual

You Xiao - Sergeant-At-Arms

Ho Yee Yuen - Sergeant-At-Arms

Angela Tan - Registration

Vidhi Sarkar - Games IC

Junic Kee - Photographer

Ashish Kundra - Photographer

Yong Mu Ming - Photographer

Pijush Kanti Mukherjee - Timer

We would also like to thank all those who have helped out in one way or another behind the scenes without any specific appointment role. Thank you all!

Thank you to all the guests who have made the time to come down and show your support in our Installation Night! We hope you had fun as well as gleaned some gems in the midst of it all!

Our pleasant evening had come to an end and we were left with excitement as well as the best kind of regret: Regret that this meeting did not last longer and excitement in knowing that things will only get better henceforth. 

For more pictures and updates, do visit our Facebook page via the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/tampines.changkat.tm/

Cheers to everyone for a great year ahead!

Written by Ho Yee Yuen