2010/2011 Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club President's Inauguration Speech

2010/2011 Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club President, Coen Tan's Inauguration Speech

Tampines Changkat Installation Night 2009-2010 - President's Inaugural Address

President's Opening Address by Foong Yin, VPM

2008. A new year. Our club has just celebrated our 15th birthday. We celebrated simply. Yes, simply by having great fun at Robert's place with a number of members and their families.

Yes, family, our families. Even a few members who had just hurt themselves came for the celebration. And all of us made that choice to be with us - members of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters.

What is it that binds us together?I believe it all started with a choice we all made...

In my absence, Foong Yin as acting President, delivered the meeting's opening address on my behalf. She spoke about choices. It was easily one of the best opening addresses I had heard in the Toastmasters circle. I encourage you to read her speech below and remember the choice we had all made before.

More importantly, I encourage you to ask yourselves how strongly that choice you made has improved your lives and the people around you. Look deep inside and discover the answer for yourselves.

With permission from Foong Yin.

Good evening, District Governor, fellow Toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen.

I am Foong Yin, Vice President Membership of Tampines Changkat Toastmasters. I am here this evening to deliver the opening address for our 323rd chapter meeting on behalf of our President.

Tonight, I would like to share an interesting topic with you – “Choices in life”.

Before I begin, I would like to make two announcements. First, our member, Joshua Ng has replaced Baolun as our Vice President Public Relations. Due to personal commitment, Baolun has requested to take a break from Toastmasters. We wish him all the best. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Joshua to our EXCO.

Next, this new year, 2008, we have a new member. She is Veena! She was introduced to our club by our Treasurer, Vijaya. In this new year, I sincerely hope that our members will continue to actively introduce their colleagues, friends and loved ones to our big family. By doing that, not only are you doing your part for the club, you are also giving them one of the greatest gifts for the new year.

Tonight I want to share with you about the choices we make in our lives. When did you start making choices? Most of us had our parents decide which school we go to when we were younger. They even interfered our choice of CCA, then known as ECA (Extra Curriculum Activity). As we grew older, we began to tell our parents, “Mum, can you stop nagging? I want to take charge of my life and I want to make my own choice!”

We then start to make choices. We choose the career that we want to embark on. Some of you may need to try a few jobs before you find the right one that you can call a career, while others are luckier to “marry their first love”, which means they start and retire in the same job with the same level of passion and enthusiasm.

At the same time, we start looking out for our partner in life. Yes! We want to choose a life partner who is willing to share our joy as well as our grief. Finally, we will then be ready to say “I do”, facing the person we choose in the presence of the Justice of Peace.

Once the two important aspects in our lives, a career and a partner, have been chosen, what’s next? Is it a fulfilling career? Or it is something that can last for a life time like a life partner? So what it is exactly?

Ask yourself, have you already made such a choice or have you yet to decide or even find it? For me, I made this choice 2 years ago by joining Tampines Changkat Toastmasters. Since then, my confidence level has been raised greatly and my public speaking skills have improved gradually. Most importantly, I got to know a group of friends who made the same choice as I did.

I cannot illustrate fully how beneficial Toastmasters have been for me. Not unless you join us to have this exhilarating experience! Until the end of my journey, I know that this choice I made is for life. Therefore I urge you, my fellow Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters, to make joining Tampines Changkat Toastmasters your choice not for a year, 10 years or 20 years, but for a lifetime. Do enjoy the rest of the evening!

Toastmaster of the evening.

318th Chapter Meeting President's Opening Address and Launch of the Inspirational Speeches Series

Every once in a while, everyone of us will come across an inspirational speech, a speech that might just change our lives.

When I was young, I knew who Martin Luther King Jr. was – the civil rights leader of America who was gunned down in 1968. I knew he delivered one of the greatest speech ever delivered in public – “I have a Dream”. It was a speech so moving and so motivating that it brought a country once divided by colour, unity.

But it was only 3 days ago when I finally saw Reverend King spoke, on the ever popular YouTube, an archive of his speech that day on 28 August 1963. And when I heard and when I saw, I wept. Yes, I cried. I cried because never did I know the power of people. Never did I understand the strength of us humans. Never did I once realise the priceless quality called freedom, that I possess, that so many of us in the world still do not have. I finally felt it.

What I also felt was that indeed the pen, or in this case, the voice, is more powerful than the sword. Without a single shred of doubt. That a single person, out of passion for his fellow people and the rights of others, could change the world. I bow to this man and would have gladly fight for his cause alongside him.

There was also another man who made me cry, someone from Toastmasters. It was May 2006 and the World Champion of Public Speaking, Jim Key, re-presented his winning speech to us delegates at the District 80 Annual Convention in Singapore. He spoke about how “It is never too late” to achieve what you want to achieve. I thought of myself and the little achievements that I had – and started crying. This man touched my heart too.

Being in Toastmasters and benefiting from the Toastmasters Program is one of the best things in life. While it never ceases to amaze me how powerful and motivating some of the speakers in our district and elsewhere can be, what is more satisfying, just like a parent looking at his/her child, is to watch how an awfully awkward speaker metamorphosed into the polished presenter he or she is now.

As President of the club, I have often encouraged you to learn and continue your journey of learning from the better speakers and from the Toastmasters Educational Program. It is with this education goal in mind for each of you that I’ve decided to launch a new series of educational resources to encourage, motivate and inspire you – the Inspirational Speeches Series.

This is a series of yes, inspirational speeches, found on the web and/or recorded by our club and others, complete with video/audio and text. Amongst them will be some of the greatest speeches made by Reverend Martin Luther King Junior, President Abraham Lincoln, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Malcolm X, Senator Barack Obama and many many more great speakers of our time. You, as members of our club and of Toastmasters, now have a valuable tool and resource to learn not just from our fellowship in Toastmasters, but from the best the world has to offer. Right at home.

As the saying goes, while we might not become giants, but if we stand on the shoulders of giants, we can see as far as they do. It is now your duty and mission to learn from these giants what you have always wanted to achieve. And we will always be beside you in this journey.

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

Opening Address, chapter meeting 5th Oct 2005

- Nathaniel Koh, ATM-S, CL, (then) Vice-President Education

"Toastmasters is a learning experience. Every person, from the new, nervous member to the World Champion of Public Speaking, from the Sergeant-at-arms of a club executive committee to the International President of Toastmasters International, every person is learning.

Toastmasters is not an exclusive organisation. It is an inclusive one. We did not join Toastmasters because we were already excellent and well-known for our public speaking skills. No. We joined because we were afraid of public speaking and we wanted to conquer that fear and improve ourselves.

We pay fees to join and maintain our membership. It is like school. We pay school fees, we study, we learn, we sit for exams, and in the end, we get a certificate, diploma, or degree out of it.

Yes, in Toastmasters, we have our various awards – Competent Toastmaster, Advanced Toastmaster Bronze, Silver, Gold, Distinguished Toastmaster. But these are not the “be all, end all” of our learning experience.

These awards are motivators. They are there for us to aspire towards, for us to have an aim. They are there to recognise our efforts in improving ourselves.

So while chasing for those awards, while wanting to get those certificates, let us strive to make our experience in Toastmasters more worthwhile.

Every chapter meeting is an enjoyable learning experience, whether or not we are holding an appointment.

While our project speeches and presentations are essential to building our public speaking skills, let us also keep in mind that appointments like Timer, Ah Counter, Sergeant-at-arms, Evaluator, Table Topics Master and Toastmaster-of-the-evening, they are all equally important in developing a more holistic and effective skill-set in public speaking.

Even if we are not an appointment holder in a chapter meeting, we are also able to improve ourselves when we listen to the speeches and evaluations. In doing so, we are consciously or subconsciously improving upon the mistakes of other speakers, and we may use some of skills we observe.

To conclude, any person can be called a Toastmaster by just paying the membership fees to any club. But we do not automatically become effective public speakers simply by paying membership fees. It is what we do with the title of a Toastmaster that makes us effective public speakers."