Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground (10 Feb 2015)

International Speech and Table Topic Contest (20 Jan 2015)

Be More Awesome Than Last Year (6 Jan 2015)

President’s Message on 21 October 2014 – Where Your Treasure Is?

Fellow Toastmasters and guests, please allow me to share with you a true story about Peter Whatling.

 

A long-time farmer in England, Mr. Peter Whatling lost a hammer in his field. In order to retrieve it, he asked his friend, Eric Lawes, to bring a metal detector and help search for it. While scanning for the tool, the two men discovered the remains of an oak chest. Inside the chest were smaller wooden boxes and fabric bags. As they examined the items more closely, the two men realized that they had just uncovered a bona fide ancient treasure! Buried in Peter’s field were late Roman gold and silver coins and jewelry – nearly 15,000 artifacts in all. The reward for the find, which the two men shared, was more than 1.75 million pounds sterling. Never before had the British government paid so much for a buried treasure!

Please don’t miss the most interesting part of the story: Peter’s life changed not because he acquired something new, but because he discovered something that was already in his possession. More importantly, chances are that we are each in a similar situation. Though it’s unlikely that any of us have a treasure worth millions buried in our backyard, it’s highly likely that we each have intangible treasures buried in our live. Treasures that we can unearth for increased opportunity and greater satisfaction.

I believe that each of us has treasure waiting to be unearthed, for instance the unexploited talents.  And it’s possible for us to find and dig up these treasures in Toastmasters! Many of us don’t make the most of our natural talents. We either fail to notice them because they are inherent, or we discount them because they come so easily to us. Through playing meeting roles and leadership roles in Toastmasters, you will discover some of your unexploited talents. After discovering your talents, Toastmasters also offers you the ground to apply your talent with increasing frequency. The ongoing educational program in Toastmasters allows us to apply our talents and improve our skills.

 “Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield.” Therefore, please take up various meeting roles in our club frequently and prepare yourself for the roles!

Another notable point about Peter Whatling’s story is that: He needed help to locate his treasure. We do too. In Toastmasters, your buddy and your mentor will act as your metal detector! Let your buddy and mentor help you look more closely for talent, unearth them, and share in the results. In Friendship TMC, friends are helping friends to succeed! As mentee, please be proactive and seek guidance from your mentor. Just like any other relationships, a successful mentor-mentee relationship requires effective two-way interaction. 

Our TME this evening is a living treasure of our club. He often offers us valuable feedback on our language usage. He also always entices us with his flawless speeches and insightful evaluation. This evening, he is going to amaze us with his TME role. Ladies & gentlemen, round of applause to our TME, ACG ALB Timothy Nakayama!

President’s Message (September 2014)

 

I hadn’t been cycling for the past few years and I almost forgot how to manoeuvre a bike. My sincere thanks to our Vice President of Membership, Edrea who organized ‘The Cycling Day’ on last Tuesday, which refreshed my motor memory. We enjoyed the cycling experience very much and we were enticed by the beauty of Taman Pertanian Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam. I was also touched by the kindness of our fellow members who helped one another when one of our bikes was having technical problem.

In fact, there were other modes of transportation in Taman Pertanian. Why cycling? Cycling is just good enough to keep us moving and at the same time let us embrace the fascinating nature in Taman Pertanian. We were also traveling in a perfectly eco-friendly manner. The joy of successfully getting to the top of a slope is also indescribable. The excitement of racing down a slope is unimaginable if you have never experienced it. For those who have missed this experience, I can assure you that you will be loving your beating heart, your gasping lungs and your overheated muscles if you were there.

 

 

Life is like a cycling journey. Ups and downs in life are unavoidable, just like the bumpy and sloppy road that we encounter in our cycling journey. Every challenge along the road has made us better cyclists. The potholes, wet tarmac and steep slope are like the obstacles in life; we need to overcome them in order to reach our destination. Similarly, in our Toastmasters’ journey, we may halt when we see the challenging slope or when we reach the first peak. How can we advance and reach our targeted destination?

 
Recently, I had a chat with one member from IBM Toastmasters Club. He felt that his progress is stagnant in Toastmasters’ learning journey. He didn’t see his improvement in this self-development programme. In our conversation, I found out that he has been playing Ah-Counter or Timer role repeatedly in every club meeting. He hasn’t deliver his project speech for months. As a club officer, he arranges speaking slots for his club members, but not for himself. My suggestion to him is to deliver project speeches in our club and try out some other meeting roles to learn different skills.

A straight and easy road will not make us good cyclists. Step out of our comfort zone is the key for our continuous improvement. Fellow members, if you are about to reach the stagnant point, try something new, Toastmasters has a lot to offer! Talk to any of our club officers. Please don’t limit yourself on the smooth road, let’s keep pedaling on the curvy and jerky journey of self-development!

 

 

Chor Chee Hoe, ACB, ALB

President 2014/2015

E-Newsletter (August 2014)

E-Newsletter (July 2014)