Photos @ 18 May 2010

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Report by Angeline Lee

Club Secretary

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 78–80

“To thine own self be true” is Polonius's advice to his son Laertes. Take care of yourself first, he counsels, and that way you'll be in a position to take care of others.

Our 18 May meeting with the To thine own self be true theme and the carefully selected Sincere Word of the Day, saw a few first-time achievements at our club meeting.

It was the first time that The Panel Moderator project from the Facilitating Discussion manual was presented at our club meeting. Our Past President KC Lim set out to achieve these project objectives
• select a topic for a panel discussion
• identify differing view-points to be addressed by panelists
• organise and moderate a panel discussion

KC Lim in his role as Facilitator during the panel discussion

With the panelists consisting of Freddie Yap, Ben Fong and Angeline Lee, the view-points presented on the To Thine Own Self Be True topic were
• Be true to your potential
• You are responsible for who you are
• Be true to your dreams

In the Q&A session, we had questions from Grace Tan, Tony Lim and Kim Chow, directed at the panelists. As the moderator, KC kept the discussion focused within the allocated time. He then summarized the points discussed and the conclusions drawn.

Next, we had our Table Topics session, led by Table Topics Master Chor Chee Hoe. This was Chee Hoe’s first attempt at this meeting role and he sincerely wanted to do his best. Our volunteers Tony Lim, Ben Fong, Grace Tan, Sivadas and Fong Sook Ling answered questions on Barack Obama, lying to your self, superhuman power, travelling back in time and sticking to your decision.

Grace Tan is our Best Table Topics Speaker and Humour Master for the evening

In the evaluation session, we had the honour of welcoming two guests from D’Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club. Our General Evaluator is none other than District Governor 2005/2006 Low Yat Seow, DTM. He informed us that Kim Chow herself was a charter member of D’Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club. It is certainly a first that our evaluator team consisted entirely of past and present members of DU Advanced.

Distinguished guest DTM Low Yat Seow is our General Evaluator

Kim Chow delivering her Table Topics evaluation

Tham Chee Wah, DTM, Past President of DU Advanced, was impressed with the table setting for the panelists complete with name cards. In his opinion, KC Lim handled the Q&A session well, with his confidence, stature and power dressing.

Tham Chee Wah, DTM, on The Panel Moderator evaluation

We then had reports from our Grammarian Fong Sook Ling, Ah Counter Sivadas and Timer Chor Wai Yee.

Chor Wai Yee (Timer), Chor Chee Hoe (Table Topics Master) and Fong Sook Ling delivering her Grammarian report

At the end of the meeting, our guest Alireza delivered an impromptu Ice Breaker speech when he explained why he wanted to attend our Toastmasters meeting. Thank you to Tony Lim, for inviting our Iranian guest to this meeting.

Alireza, our guest at the meeting

Our next meeting is on 1 June with the meeting theme Beyond Right and Wrong. As pointed out by our Immediate Past President Tan Lay Theng, it will be another first for Friendship - we will have the incoming and outgoing Club Presidents, Area Governors and Division Governors in this meeting. Join us in our 1 June meeting and be part of this historic evening!

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