Photos @ 02 Feb 2010

Resolutely Ushering in the Lunar New Year with Courageous Red

By Angeline Lee and Elaine Tan

Angeline Lee

Elaine Tan

With the Lunar New Year approaching, Friendship Toastmasters Club (FTMC) took the opportunity to encourage members and guests to come dressed in all shades of red or a Chinese New Year outfit. Even the jugs of water were dressed in a deep shade of pink to fit the colour theme of the evening.

Section of the audience dressed in red

According to President Ben Fong, the theme “Grow Your Courage” meant participating in the Table Topics sessions and taking up the prepared speeches challenges. Speakers would either risk embarrassment (which would soon be forgotten as this is a journey of learning) or gain more confidence and communications skills as they pursued their Competent Communicator and Leadership tracks.

Adding to that, Toastmaster of the Evening Freddie Yap said that we were being courageous by attending and taking part in the meeting. Freddie was resolute (word of the day) that the meeting would be an explosive affair and it was indeed packed with powerful voices and thunderous clapping.

Alexandra Lau inspired the audience during her invocation by saying: “The first and perhaps most important kind of courage is the courage to begin, to launch, to step out in faith, with no guarantee of success”.

Guests Wong Wei Kai, Jason Wong, Invocation speaker Alexandra Lau and guest Khairil

Bravely taking on the role as Table Topics Master, Zaiton Zainal Abidin had five feverish fans - Khairul Hassan, Kent Ho (our newest member), Khairil, Gino Chong and Owen Seow – practising their impromptu speaking skills by answering a range of auspicious colour-related questions.

Courageous table topics attempt by guest Owen Seow. Enjoying Owen's speech of "Does red make your heart beat faster?" is our TME Freddie Yap and project speaker Chor Chee Hoe.

The room’s thermostat rose as Chor Wai Yee attempted to break the ice. She shared anecdotes of her loving family during her maiden speech from the Competent Communicator Manual titled “Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Be Wai Yee”. In return, she received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Her brother Chor Chee Hoe conducted his second project from the same manual with much gusto. Titled “Copenhagen Summit – Chaos or Saviour?” his passion in environmental issues particularly global warming shone through.

For the eight Competent Communicator Manual project, Khairul Bariah Hassan and Elaine Tan both brought the audience to different destinations by experimenting with PowerPoint presentations as their choice of visual aids.

Khairul shared her pulsating experience of racing up Mount Kinabalu in Sabah and looking at the bright side despite not completing the tough mountain race in her speech titled “I Wish I Could Fly”. This included breathtaking scenery and making new friends.

Khairul delivering her "I Wish I Could Fly" speech

On the other hand, Elaine led everyone through a tour of the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel from stepping off the plane, admiring the Renaissance paintings, walking through a casino to shopping in “Asia’s Venice”.

During the Happy Break, twenty roaring attendees joined the reunion of tossing the yee sang as high as they could, to herald liveliness, prosperity and longevity for the coming Year of the Tiger.

Yee Sang !

We could feel the ambience blossoming as Humour Master Kim Chow took the lead during the “lite and easy” session and indirectly shared with us tips on speaking and presenting.

Under the guidance of General Evaluator Gan Ban Heng, his team of role players generously dished out generous helping of feedback to participating speakers. They included Evaluators KC Lim, Ben Fong, Angeline Lee and Kim Chow, together with Grammarian Angeline Lee, Ah Counter Gino Chong and Timer Sivadas.

KC Lim delivering his Table Topics Evaluation

Ban Heng was delighted with the evening’s progress and he gave us the following feedback:
- The attendance was good and the meeting friendly
- The room was professionally set up
- The Toastmaster of the Evening was resolute in bringing enthusiasm into the meeting
- He enjoyed the Invocation speech. It was indeed a courageous attempt by Alexandra Lau
- The Table Topics session and project speakers were interesting
- It’s a good sign that there are many younger participants
- Perhaps, we could be a bit more environmental friendly by projecting the agenda instead of printing it

Thank you to our GE, Area C6 Governor Gan Ban Heng

Thunderous applause greeted the winners of the following awards:
- Best Table Topics Speaker: Gino Chong, who also received a special prize sponsored by KC Lim
- Best Prepared Speech: Chor Wai Yee, who also received a book written by Alicia Loh which was sponsored by Grace Tan
- Best Evaluator: Kim Chow
- Best Dressed Idol (according to CNY theme): Elaine Tan who received a hamper sponsored by President Ben Fong

VPM Gino Chong is our Best Table Topics Speaker

Chor Wai Yee is Best Project Speaker with her Icebreaker speech, replicating her brother's feat of being the Best Project Speaker on Jan 5

Elaine wins the Best Dressed Award with her prize sponsored by President Ben

Guest Wong Wei Kai who informed us that he is resolute to attend our future meetings!

Guest Mable Teh who enjoyed our meeting. Looking on is Chor Chee Hoe, Chor Wai Yee, Ah-Counter Gino Chong, Table Topics Evaluator KC Lim and Table Topics Master Zaiton

Our next meeting will be a joint meeting with Exact ADC Toastmasters Club at G Tower, Jalan Ampang on 9 February. Our next regular meeting after that will be on 2 March. All are welcome to join us in resolutely and courageously moving forward in our journey of personal growth in the areas of communication and leadership.

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