As the Toastmaster of the Evening (TME) for our Take Calculated Risks meeting, Grace took the liberty (word of the day) to entertain, educate and elevate us with her lively conduct of the meeting.
Our vibrant, beautiful and talented TME
It was a pleasant surprise to find out that we had 6 guests for this meeting thanks to the effort of TME Grace and Past President Lay Theng.
President Angeline with guests Su Ling and Nancy
In the words of our TME, it takes commitment, conviction and courage to take calculated risks to overcome our fears of public speaking. Two of our guests took courage to speak in front of us for the first time in the Table Topics session chaired by VPM Alexandra.
Club Secretary Daphne, PP Freddie, Moses, guests Jean & Nancy, Treasurer Ian enjoying the Table Topics session
Past President Ben confessed that he is a risk taker but only takes calculated risks as risks and rewards go hand-in-hand. Treasurer Ian recounted a calculated risk he had taken at age 7 when he started to learn to swim. DTM Siva asked us to be at liberty to take risks as it may lead to freedom from a mundane life.
Past President Freddie had us laughing at his story of dejection when two girls turned him down when he asked them out for a date. He struck gold at his third attempt and his conclusion was that if you don’t give it a try, you will never know whether you will succeed.
Our courageous guests Nancy and Priscilla decided to give Table Topics a try. Nancy shared with us a difficult decision she had to make a year ago, whether to continue to work in Australia or whether to come home to Malaysia. It was a risk as she enjoyed her life in Melbourne yet she felt that the missing piece was the family touch. She decided to follow her heart. We hope that she will soon choose to build new family ties with us - with Friendship Club and Friendship friends.
Nancy telling us about a difficult decision in her life
As for Priscilla, even though she is adventurous, she is not a risk taker. As she previously had a disastrous investment experience, she now chooses to be a low risk, low returns investor. However we are glad she chose to take the risk of speaking at Table Topics. It did not turn out to be a disastrous speech. On the contrary, she spoke fluently considering that it was her first Table Topics speech!
We were certainly in for a treat for the Prepared Speech Session as we had the privilege to listen to two project speeches on visual aids and a contest speech.
Speakers Freddie, Ian and Daphne
For Daphne, she gave us amusing examples of the differences between men and women in her “Stay in Love” speech. Using her tablet and fairy tale books as her visual aids, she told us that her husband did not believe in fairy tales. In fact, he did not even fit the description of a knight in shining armour as he could not ride a horse. Although reality always win, our fair fairy from Ipoh believes that living happily after is not a fairy tale. It can happen in real life with effort, forbearance and tolerance.
For Ian, it was “The Longest 2 Minutes” in his life when he did his first Table Topics on 25 October 2011. It was a terrifying experience for him, one that he will never forget. Being a resilient and resourceful young man, he decided to improve and practice at every opportunity that he had at Table Topics, to be a better impromptu speaker. On 31 January this year, he won a trophy at our club’s Table Topics Contest. His motivating message to us was to find the courage to speak, as it is only thru practice that we can improve as a speaker.
Past President Freddie presented his “Face-hooked” contest speech as preparation for our Area W3 Contest on 25 February. TME Grace was liberal in her evaluation of his speech.
Freddie and Ian are Best Project Speakers with a gift sponsored by Past President Lay Theng - a ticket to Division W Speech Contest on 17 March
In the Evaluation Session headed by TLI Chair G. Sivalingam, DTM, evaluators Moses, Ben and Zaiton provided specific feedback for our speakers. We would like to thank DTM Siva for taking up the GE role despite his busy schedule as TLI Chair.
President Angeline presenting a Thank You card to GE Siva
The awards given out for our Take Calculated Risk meeting went to
Best Table Topic Speaker – Nancy Soo
Best Project Speakers – Freddie Yap and Ian Tai
Best Evaluator – Moses Wong
Nancy is Best Table Topic Speaker
Moses wins the Best Speech Evaluator award
Thank you for being at liberty to attend our Take Calculated Risk meeting. Do join us again at our joint meeting with IBM Toastmasters Club on 28 Feb. Also do not hesitate to attend our 6 March Hesitation is a Loss meeting. Take calculated risks, do not hesitate, as you make strides to improve as a speaker!
Photos contributed by Moses Wong
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