REPORT ON SPEECH CONTESTS

HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST & EVALUATION CONTEST

2 August 2011

Report by Susan Lim, Daphne Au, Tan Lay Theng & Angeline Lee

With almost 40 guests and members in attendance, Organising Chair VPM Alexandra started our annual Humorous Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest by thanking all contestants, role players, Chief Judge Francis Ng and his team of judges.

The audience

Past President Lay Theng who was our Contest Chair, conducted both contests in her usual cool, calm and collected manner. 

Humorous Speech Contest

The first contestant, James stressed on the importance of knowledge. He conveyed it by using a humorous story of how he helped a damsel in distress and gained instant admiration. His body language and message was clear - “If you know something other people do not know, your voice will be louder and you can raise yourself higher”.

Second contestant, Angeline shared how she has conquered her fear and achieved tremendous results. In her early days in Toastmasters, because she did not want to disappoint her club VPE, she joined the table topics contest and accidentally won it. Moving on, she became the Area Governor and then the President of Friendship Toastmasters club. But her most whimsy story was how she conquered her fear of heights and eventually earned kisses from two handsome guys.

Sylvia, who was the third contestant, shared a story on how she reluctantly got herself a disastrous housemate. In a dire situation, she discussed with her friends and came out with 4 simple yet ingenuous steps to get rid of her housemate. It involved the deceitful yet amusing acts of talking to her mum and also her plant. In her finale, she revealed that her former disastrous housemate is now her fiancé.

The final contestant, Sivadas shared his Toastmasters journey and how he completed his 10 speeches. His “never say die” attitude and his stories with the messages of “do not stop learning” and “everything is possible” are not only inspiring, but were entertaining as well.

Contest Results

First place - Angeline Lee

Second place – James Arokiasamy

Angeline receiving her trophy and certificate from Contest Chair PP Lay Theng

PP James, first runner-up in the Humorous Speech Contest

Evaluation Contest

The evaluation contest started with our test speaker Zoe Lo presenting her speech on “The day when everything went wrong”.

First evaluator, Tony Lim, liked Zoe’s energy in delivering her speech. Both Tony and second evaluator Chee Hoe pointed out that Zoe’s speech was well-structured and organized. They both liked the way Zoe started her speech by asking a question which successfully grabbed the attention of the audience. Tony, Chee Hoe, third evaluator Freddie and fifth evaluator Angeline thought that Zoe’s speech was humorous by recapping on “even though she had a bad haircut but at least she still had hair, and also the difference between Starbucks and Setapak that contributed to things that went wrong”.

All the evaluators liked Zoe’s speech with a meaningful take-home message – even if things don’t work out as planned, we should be thankful for the things that went right. Tony, Freddie and Chee Hor commented that Zoe is pretty and has a sweet smile which helped her to connect to the audience effortlessly.

Angeline ended her speech by saying she could not give Zoe a brilliant evaluation, but at least Zoe had a free evaluation. This made the audience laugh out loud. She is quite a talented humorous evaluator!

First place – Freddie Yap

Second place – Angeline Lee

Third place – Tony Lim

Congratulations to PP Freddie Yap, Evaluation Champion!

PP Tony Lim is second runner-up

Note of Appreciation

Friendship would like to record our appreciation to

Organising Chair – VPM Alexandra Lau

Contest Chair – Past President Tan Lay Theng

Chief Judge – Francis Ng, DTM & his team of judges

Timers – Bryan Cheong (HELP) & Lee Han Sen (TTDI)

Ballot counters – Ian Tai, Tan Tze Yi (HELP) & Derek Soo (Mantissa)

SAA – Andy Supramaniam, Daphne Au & Kelly Teng (Mantissa)

Test Speaker – Zoe Lo (HELP)

Contestants – Angeline, Ben, Chee Hoe, Freddie, James, Sivadas, Sylvia & Tony

Contestants Angeline, Ben, Freddie, Chee Hoe, Tony & Sivadass

IPP Jessica (One World), Secretary Han Sen (TTDI), PP Derek (Mantissa),
President Angeline, President Kelly (Mantissa) & President CK (One World)

HELP President Zoe with her members Bryan, VPE Tze Yi & IPP Vincent Liew,
OC Alexandra & President Angeline

Members & guests of Friendship TMC

Thank you to all contestants, role players and members of the audience for helping Friendship TMC to have a successful Humorous Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest !

Report by Susan Lim, Daphne Au, Tan Lay Theng & Angeline Lee

Speech Contest Results @ 02 Aug 2011

Report by Alexandra Lau, Vice President Membership 2011/2012

VPM Alexandra Lau

Dear Friendship members and friends,

Our Club Humorous Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest were held on 02 August 2011.

May I congratulate the winners:

Humorous Speech Contest Winners
1. Angeline Lee
2. James Arokiasamy

Evaluation Contest Winners
1. Freddy Yap
2. Angeline Lee
3. Tony Lim

CONGRATULATIONS!!! All the best at the coming Area contests!

Congratulations to all contestants who had the courage to compete, especially new member Sylvia Tan. Sylvia joined our club only a few months ago and has just started on her CC manual. I really salute her for taking such a giant step in Toastmasters.

Many thanks to President Angeline and PP Lay Theng for guiding me to be an effective Organizing Chair. Angeline has tirelessly reminded me of what and how things need to be done, on top of her role as the Club President and overlook the management of the contest preparation….PLUS, taking part in both of the Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests.Her drive and commitment is… AWESOME!

Also many thanks to the roleplayers too – Daphne, Andy and Ian, as well as helpers from HELP Toastmasters and Mantissa Toastmasters. Without them the contest would not be smoothly run.

Overall, it was a great experience for me and I strongly encourage the rest of our club members who miss the contest this time to take part in our future club contests.

Regards,
Alexandra

Notice_Speech Contests on 02 August 2011

VPM Alexandra Lau

From: Alexandra Lau [mailto:alexandra.lau@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 9:55 AM
Subject: Re: Friendship Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests on 2 August 7PM

Dear Members,

In the midst of your stressful and busy schedule, treat yourself to a break. Join us at our Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests!

Come not only to laugh but also to learn. Do you know that many outstanding public speakers are humorous? Not only can they tickle your funny bones but also speak with substance.

There is more for you if you participate. Why is it important to participate in the contest and experienced it yourself? It is a great opportunity to go beyond your comfort zone and you never know; you might be the next world champion!

If you have thought about it, then just do it. How to do it? Just sign up as a contestant with yours truly, the Organising Chair. Next, prepare and practice your humorous speech. Finally, just do your best in the contest.

Here are our members who have taken the courage to compete in this contest. We are welcoming you to join them .

Humorous Speech Contestants:

1. Angeline 
2. James 
3. Sivadas 
4. Sylvia 

Evaluation Contestants:

1. Angeline 
2. Freddie 
3. Tony 
4. Zaiton 

Your participation, as a contestant, a role player or as a member of the audience, will definitely contribute to the success of the Contests. We look forward to seeing you on 2 August.

All the best to our potential club champions!

Regards,

Alexandra
Organising Chair

Speech Contests_25 Jan 2011

Report by Angeline Lee, VPE

International Speech Contest (Club Level)

Table Topics Speech Contest (Club Level)

Just before Chinese New Year, we held our International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest on 25 January 2011. It was a mixture of first-time contestants and seasoned contestants.

The contestants, members and guests at our Club Contests

After the briefings for contestants and role players had ended at 7.15 pm, we started our Club Contests as scheduled. Andy, the contest SAA, called the meeting to order.


Tan Lay Theng, Contest Chair, International Speech Contest

Contest Chair Lay Theng conducted our International Speech Contest impeccably. Contestant Freddie convinced the audience and judges that it is “Quality, Not Quantity” that matters. After that, Chee Hoe made us sit up and listen in his “Listen, please!” speech. Third contestant Sivadas spoke of being a better speaker since joining Toastmasters in his “Unchangeable Change” speech.

In the Table Topics Contest, Chief Judge Lucky selected the contest topic of “Nothing is Perfect, Nothing is Impossible”. Contestants Freddie, Alexandra, Sivadas, Ben and Vincent spoke on this topic with no hesitation. Among other things we heard about the perfect wife, the perfect job and of meeting one’s dream girl. It might not have been easy task for the judges to decide on the winners, with so many perfectly convincing answers to choose from.

It must have been a nerve-wrecking time for our first-time contestants Chee Hoe, Alexandra and Vincent. However, nervousness was not apparent when they gave their polished performances during the contests.

It was a family night for the Chor family as Chee Hoe and Wai Yee invited their parents to the contests. Although the senior Mr Chor does not speak English, he was seen listening intently to his son’s winning speech. During the contestants' interview session, Chee Hoe enlightened us that his grandfather was also present he mentioned his grandfather in his speech “Listen, please!”


The Chor family.

From left: Mr Chor, Mrs Chor, Chor Wai Yee, Club Treasurer & Chor Chee Hoe, VPM

While waiting for our Chief Judge to tabulate the results, President Zaiton presented certificates of participation to all the contestants. She also presented certificates of appreciation to the following role players:

International Speech Contest Chair – Tan Lay Theng
Table Topics Contest Chair – Angeline Lee
Timers – Chor Wai Yee, Vincent Chow (Speakers Dream TMC)
Ballot-counters – Emily Kok, Ruth Ting (D’Utama TMC)
SAA – Andy Supramaniam, Teoh Chun Ming (D’Utama TMC)
Chief Judge – Lakhmichand aka Lucky (Bangsar TMC)



Lakhmichand aka Lucky, Chief Judge, receiving the certificate of appreciation from President Zaiton


Tan Lay Theng, Contest Chair, International Speech Contest, receiving the certificate of appreciation from President Zaiton

Finally, the moment that we had been waiting for arrived. The Contest Chairs for the two contests announced the happy news that there was no time disqualification for all our contestants. The contest results are as follows:

International Speech Contest
Champion - Freddie Yap
First runner-up - Chor Chee Hoe

International Speech Contest winners

From left: Chor Chee Hoe and Freddie Yap

Table Topics Contest
Champion - Freddie Yap
First runner-up - Vincent Wong
Second runner-up - Ben Fong


Table Topics Contest winners

From left: Vincent Wong, Freddie Yap and Ben Fong

We wish Freddie all the best in the next level competition. He is representing our club at Area W3 International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest that will be held on Thursday 3 March 2011 at Level 8, G Tower, Jalan Ampang. With “Quality” speeches, he will surely win more trophies from the Area Contests.

After the contests, we mingled and chatted with our guests. Joining us in our after-contest chat session was Division B Governor 2009/2010, DTM Leong Oi Wah. She generously provided suggestions for our upcoming Speechcraft program. She also spontaneously offered to attend our next meeting on 8 February with the meeting theme “Dedication to Excellence”. In my opinion, she exemplifies the meeting theme because she walks the talk. While we were discussing VPPR Alexandra's upcoming graduating CC speech on 8 February, DTM Leong Oi Wah offered useful tips to Alexandra. Thank you, Oi Wah!


From left: VPE Angeline, DTM Leong Oi Wah (MAICSA TMC), President Zaiton, VPPR Alexandra

With such a good start, I believe we are destined to have an excellent meeting on 8 February. Join us as we kick-start the Rabbit Year in a RED-dress-code meeting as we continue on our journey towards excellence!

Speech Contests_03 August 2010

Humorous Speech Contest and Evaluation Speech Contest

Report by Angeline Lee

Photos by Wai Yee and Chee Hoe

This year, the brave souls who aspired to be better speakers and evaluators are

Humorous Speech Contestants
Roslyn Tan
Tom Chen
Ben Fong
Kent Ho
Sivadas

Evaluation Contestants
Tom Chen
Ben Fong
Tony Lim

Audience at Friendship’s club contest on 3 August 2010

We will never know what exactly captivated the judges’ hearts. Was it his smile? Was it his singing ? Or was it his song choices? Our Humorous Speech Champion did not just sing one song, he sang several as he narrated his Roller-coaster Ride of Love.

To continue with the Love theme for this evening, our first runner-up for the Humorous Speech Contest spoke about “Relationship”. He shared with us that men are simple creatures. They only converse for 30 seconds and own 1 pair of shoes. Women on the other hand, being more emotional, are allowed to burst into tears for no reason and will be treated to free dinners by men. Since women are delicate, complex creatures his advice to other men is to treasure every moment with your partner and it is not necessary to understand the complex nature of the fairer sex.

Humorous Speech Champion 2010 - Kent Ho
1st Runner Up - Ben Fong
2nd Runner Up - Thomas Chen

Humorous Speech Champion Kent Ho

For the Evaluation Contest, our test speaker gave us several examples of his OMG (Oh My Gosh!) moments. His evaluators loved his smile, his confidence, his body language and animated facial expressions. The suggested areas for improvement would be his speech organization and speech value, and less usage of “you know”. His smile, although charming, was not appropriate for his OMG moment of being stuck in a traffic jam.

It could not have been an easy decision. Did the judges also have their OMG moments? In the end, the judges’ decision as who is worthy of the Evaluation Contest Champion title is

Evaluation Champion 2010 - Thomas Chen
1st Runner Up - Ben Fong


Evaluation Champion Thomas Chen



Contestants Sivadas, Tony Lim, Thomas Chen, Roslyn Tan, Kent Ho & Ben Fong

We had a number of guests for this “Love”ly evening. Among them are 6 members of YSP Club, Division G Governor NJ Singam and TLI Registration Chair Eu Choi San. Thank you everyone, for attending our club contest and helping out in many ways as roleplayers, as well as cheerful and supportive members of the audience.


Ang Boon Keat (YSP), Eu Choi San (TLI Registration Chair), Jess Fong (UNITAR), Ivan Yong (Test Speaker), Teresa Choong (Contest Chair), Wai Yee, Kent Ho, Chee Hoe, Miow Shiow Pyng (YSP), Division G Governor NJ Singan, Angeline

Congratulations to our winners ! The Area W3 Contest on 18 August at Menara ING awaits them. We wish them all the best as they meet up with the other contestants of Area W3. Will it be another evening of Roller-coaster Ride of Love for Kent? Join us at Menara ING and witness first-hand who will emerge as Area W3 Humorous Speech Champion and Evaluation Speech Champion.

Speech Contests_16 March 2010

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International Speech & Table Topics Contest - 16 March 2010

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by Angeline Lee and Elaine Tan

Angeline Lee

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Elaine Tan

The air was cold and slightly more invigorating than usual. It may have turned a few of Friendship Toastmasters Club (FTMC) International Speech & Table Topics (ISTT) contestants’ hands cold. Fortunately, they did not experience cold feet. Some were anxiously doing last minute revisions while the seasoned contestants were exploring the new stage arrangement and happily grabbing a quick bite. A mixture of gamely first-timers and experienced contest speakers had their few minutes of limelight and fame before anonymous judges and a sea of new faces.

Audience at our ISTT Contest on 16 March 2010

Decked in royal blue and silver, elegant Kim Chow charmed the audience and calmed the contestants’ nerves while President-cum-Contest Organising Chair Ben Fong welcomed everyone present. The International Speech Contest saw Tom Chen, Freddie Yap, Sivadass, Khairul Hassan and Elaine Tan attempting to win the hearts of the audience within the allocated time of 5 to 7 minutes for each speaker.

Tom asked why should we have regrets, punish ourselves and lose sleep in “Life Regrets – It’s a Choice”. Even if things don’t work out at times, we have made the best possible decision at that moment in time. We have a choice – either to blame ourselves or move forward.

Storytelling maestro Freddie narrated a few crime scenarios in “Crime? What Crime?” His hilarious solution to reducing crime rate includes behaving like a nerd as criminals would then try to avoid you. He also advocated budgeting for potential losses. A robbery would then be less painful for you as you have budgeted for this event.

Sharing his life story in “Unchangeable Change”, Sivadass said Malaysia has changed since Merdeka and so had he since becoming a Toastmasters member. He had the audience in stitches when he shared an anecdote of the person who introduced him to Toastmasters.

“The Gruelling Desire” had Khairul describing her experience at the Standard Chartered Marathon held in Singapore on 6 Dec 2009. In the beginning, she was surrounded by 30,000 runners at 5 AM in the morning. Towards the end she had to remind herself - Pain is temporary, glory is forever !

In “Heart & Seoul”, Elaine gave an imagery tour of her next holiday destination – Seoul. Her tale encompasses the freezing temperature of winter, staying warm at soothing saunas, savouring authentic and exotic Korean dishes, and witnessing creative masterpieces at the Seoul Design Olympiad.

When it came to the Table Topics Contest, competitors were ushered out of the room and only allowed in one at a time as the same question was read out: “What is the best investment that you have ever made?”

With all the knowledge out there, learning and self-growth were the best investments for Tom as one can lose in the stock market and in relationship.

The topic was delightful for Kent who selected friends as they can enrich the mind, relationship and add value towards a meaningful life.

Going back to his primary school days, Freddie attributed his love for reading to a headmaster who read storybooks to his students. His investment in reading is now reaping benefits at his office and at our Toastmasters meetings.

Gino linked investment to wealth, wisdom, knowledge and health. Health is important as without it, we won’t be able to enjoy all the money that we have.

On the other hand, Toastmasters was at the top of Sivadass’ mind as it propelled him to become a better speaker. He encouraged the audience to continue investing in themselves, by attending Toastmasters meetings.

While waiting for the Chief Judge to tabulate the results, Kim Chow interviewed the speakers on their colourful backgrounds.

With the help of LGM-P DTM Francis Ng, mementos were presented to Chief Judge Hadzrin Shah, while tokens of appreciation were awarded to the panel of role players consisting of Mohd Yusof Ismail Fahmy from Speakers’ Dream Club, Ng Ying Ling and Muhammad Dazlyreza Jamaluddin from Ambank Club, and our very own Chor Wai Yee and Tan Lay Theng.

LGM-P presenting certificate of appreciation to Timer Ismail
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Ballot counter Dazly

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Ballot counter Chor Wai Yee

Timer Ng Ying Ling

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SAA Tan Lay Theng

Chief Judge Hadzrin Shah

Area W7 Governor Tan Lay Theng presenting certificate of appreciation to Contest Chair Kim Chow

And then excitement mounted and all were eagerly awaiting the results. The winners are

Winners of the International Speech Contest
1st: Freddie Yap
2nd: Tom Chen
3rd: Khairul Hassan

International Speech Contest Champion Freddie Yap

International Speech Contest 1st runner up Tom Chen

International Speech Contest 2nd runner up Khairul Hassan

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Winners of the Table Topics Contest
1st: Tom Chen
2nd: Gino Chong
3rd: Freddie Yap

Table Topics Contest Champion Tom Chen

Table Topics Contest 1st runner up Gino Chong

Table Topics Contest 2nd runner up Freddie Yap

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In his closing speech, President Ben Fong gave special thanks to the organising team namely, Angeline Lee, Zaiton Zainal Abidin and Kim Chow.

Both our first place winners who also received a cash prize, will represent FTMC at the Area W7 ISTT Contest on the 8th of April. The detail of this contest is as follow:

Event: Area W7 ISTT Contest
Date: Thursday 8 April 2010
Time: 7.00 PM

Venue: Multipurpose Hall, Tiffani Kiara,
No. 1, Changkat Duta Kiara, Off Jalan Duta Kiara,
Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
(opposite CIMB bank, Solaris Mont Kiara)

Freddie and Tom, we wish you best of luck at the Area W7 Contest !

Fellow Friendship members, it would be a crime if we were not at Tiffani Kiara on 8 April to support our ISTT champions. We promise you it would certainly be one of your best investment of time spent.

See you at Tiffani Kiara on 8 April !

Group photo of our ISTT contestants with Kim Chow, Contest Chair and Ben Fong, Organising Chair

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