Post Meeting Recap (13 May 2016) – Madhatters’ Night – Making A Difference!

Written by: Toastmaster Shawn Lee
Edited by: Competent Communicator, Chai Pei Shan

The mesmerizing and mysterious ‘Madhatters’ chapter meeting began promptly at 7.30pm on Friday the 13th, with our spectacular Sergeant-At-Arms (SAAs) Chandrika Adri Tjo and Shawn Lee bursting on stage with an enticing conversation that led the audience to wear their hats. The SAAs wittily revealed the significance behind wearing a different cap/hat and alluded it to wearing the different roles we play in society. They also invited first-time visitors to introduce themselves and briefly share about the hat (role) they like the most. Among the new guests, the ‘Gungho’ Gillian Lu has returned for a second visit to learn more.

Our Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Chye Bei’An took over and invited Club President, Chai Pei Shan for her opening address. With delight and mystery, she confidently introduced the theme of the month “MADHATTERS’ NIGHT” emphasising on M.A.D as the core message. We are encouraged to be “MAD” because we aspire to Make-A-Difference as speakers and leaders, influencing others, and performing beyond appointment holders’ roles throughout our journeys in Toastmasters.

After being inspired with our Club President’s uplifting address, the prepared speeches further fuelled the audience’s energy by three vibrant speakers: Danny Suyanto, Catherine Lai and Tommy Chew.

Toastmaster Danny Suyanto delivered his Project 5 speech, “Uniquely Me”. He tickled the audiences when he emphasised on how his physical attribute of being tallness had made him unique. It was a humorous speech aligned with the project objectives of “Your Body Speaks”, by bringing the audience attention to his height. His animated speech and lively demonstration engaged the audience. He reveals how good it is to always have ‘people look up to him’ when conversing and also the negative aspect of ‘paying respect’ to the MRT train with a bow before he can enter.

A passionate pre-school educator, Toastmaster Catherine Lai charmed the audience with her angelic voice by beginning with an unusual “ABC song”.

She continued calmly and tried to persuade the audience with her Project 9 “Let’s Learn Phonics”. In her light-hearted and warmth tone, Catherine led the audience to sing with her and encourage us to learn on the spot. She shared that it is very easy for anyone after they pick up phonics to learn the pronunciation of new words on their own. This approach is useful for young children as it will speed up their learning curve and allow them to be independent learners.

Finally, ACB, CL Tommy Chew presented his speech from the “Humorously Speaking Advanced Manual – Project 2: Leave them with a Smile” titled “Good thing, bad thing, never know”. Tommy began with a very serious question and asking the audience how many times they have failed in getting their Driving Licence and concluded that he was the top scorer in the room with 16 failures in total before he finally received his licence. With a series of interesting and unfortunate events, he brought the audience on a journey on things that appear good initially may turn out bad and vice-versa. Tommy’s seriousness with a tinge of humor, coupled with his passion in driving left the audience with intrigue. In his closing, he shocked the audience when he revealed the reason why he sold his car.

This chapter meeting was different from the usual meetings as guest speaker, Toastmaster Hitesh Ramchandani delivered an inspirational message by sharing his life story. Using engaging, heart-warming videos and ‘misdirection’ tactics, he explained that he was born with Cerebral Palsy and how he overcame the odds and become “Better Than Normal”. Hitesh is an amazing, motivational speaker with his endurance story that touched the audience’s hearts and minds. The underlying message that he gave the audience was, “You are a Champion” a phrase that his loving parents repeated to him over and over again as he grew up, which is also believed to be the foundational belief making Hitesh the resilent person he is today. In closing, he encouraged the audience — if he can do it, we can do better. The audience spontaneously gave him a standing ovation in appreciation of the encouraging testimony that Hitesh has deposited in their hearts. (MMTMC has a club tradition to give a 10-seconds standing ovation to our members/speakers to appreciate and encourage them for the time and effort to deliver their speeches.)

The meeting continued with the splendid evaluation of the prepared speeches by Competent Communicator Christopher Kusumowidagdo, Competent Communicator and Communicator Leader, Raymond Ee and our incoming Division ‘D’ Director, Goh Wei Ling (current Area G4 Director). The evaluators presented their evaluation in a light-hearted, positive manner and offered invaluable advice to help our members improve their speeches.

The most energetic part of the meeting was the Table Topic Session helmed by Table Topics Masters (TTM) Abbas Vakharia and Mahendran Bilendra who took the stage with interesting interactions and engagement with the audience. With an unconventional way of explain Table Topics, the TTM invited the audience to throw their hats in the air, marking the start of the thrilling and ‘MAD’ table topics session! There were 11 members and visitors who took up the challenge, namely: Shawn, Michelle, Aaron Zoya, Janty (members), as well as, Shaun, Cow, Navin, Ivan, Swee Hoe (visitors) and Hendri (our photographer of the evening). For the first time, there was ‘hat-trick’ for the Best Table Topics award with equal votes for the best speaker. Indeed, this unforgettable night saw 3 winners: Aaron Khoo, Michelle Sheya Wong and Shawn Lee smiling and embracing the glorious awards together!

The meeting draws to a close with the presentation of Best Prepared Speech awarded to Danny Suyanto for this humorous “Uniquely Me” speech; Best Evaluator awarded to our Club Mentor, Raymond Ee who delivered a refreshing and masterful evaluation for Tommy’s advanced project. The evening concluded with all members and guests who lingered and chatted happily after the entire session was over.

The uplifting, intriguing yet inspirational chapter meeting has certainly made a resounding difference to members and visitors alike. After the meeting, 4 guests, Gillian Lu, Joyce Ong, Lim Swee Hoe and Andrew Wee were convinced of the value of being Toastmasters, and signed up as members to kick start their learning journeys. It was an amazing feat for all present that night!

Written by: Pamela Lau

“Good Things Come in Pairs” on 22 April 2016

“Good things come in pairs” returns for our second edition at our cozy Tai Seng stage. Before the informal meeting starts, guests and members enjoyed a fabulous networking session while tasting the delicacies of the home-cooked dishes, coupled with healthy bananas.

At 7.30pm, our Sergeants-At-Arms (SAA) Maureen Suryani cheerfully came on stage. With a sweet and calm voice,  she welcomed and invited first time visitors to give their self-introduction and their plans for the weekend. 

Our Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Catherine Lai took the stage confidently.

During our first edition (8 April 2016), our Club President, Chai PeiShan shared in her Opening Address on the importance of double “M”: Mentor and Mentee when she explained the meaning of the theme and emphasised on the “Mentor- Mentee” relationships for growth. Our confident VPE,Chye Bei’an stood on stage as Acting Club President. He delivered his improvised speech explaining the meaning of the chapter meeting’s continued theme in the ambience of couples i.e. the Husband and Wife. 

The prepared speeches session of the evening were empowered by four talented members: Shawn Lee, Christopher Kusumowidagdo, Chye Bei’an and Wendy Lee. 

Toastmaster Shawn Lee delivered his Project 2 speech “Alias” with a very clear message of how he adopted another name for himself. The strong opening of his speech allowed him to engage the audience from the start of the speech and the flow of the message was so smooth and easy to be followed by the audience and this made his speech so amazing.

Christopher Kusumowidagdo, a passionate Toastmaster delivered his inspirational Project 10 speech with dramatic actions and inspiring words. He did it very well whereby theaudience were inspired by the gist of his speech “Have Faith”.

Our VPE, Chye Bei’an delivered his maiden Advance Project 1 with a folk tale entitled “Uncle Sai, White Horse”. His speech was entertaining and enjoyable as the audience anticipated to find out about where the white horse went to before returning to Uncle Sai with one black horse and one black and white horse. 

 Wendy Lee delivered her Advance Project 2 very well where the audience were entertained by her sharing of the differences between man and women.

The meeting continued with evaluation session hemmed by  3 of our members, Arva Rangwala,  John Cheng, Richard Ong and visiting Toastmaster, Jaric Ng. All four outstanding evaluators delivered their evaluation with impressive, invaluable advice to help members and audience appreciate the value of feedback. 

 The most exciting part of the meeting was the table topics session. The topics’ master of the evening, our new member Tan Qing Lin who hopped energetically on to stage with a handful of cards. These intriguing cards contained all the topics for the fun improvised speeches. Qing Lin did a great  opening as his cards were fast given out. There were 11 volunteers, namely Pamela Lau, Roy Teo, Thian Hock, Freeman, Arva, Richard Ong, Maureen Suryani, Chandran, Joe Tan, Chye Bei’an and Shawn Lee. Among all, the most entertaining table topic speech was the speech delivered by Chandran Kanapathey who won the best table topic speaker of the evening. The audience were amused by his unique way of relating the speech with the topic he randomly picked. 

The meeting ended with presentation of awards to the best speaker, Shawn Lee and the best evaluator, Jaric Ng and best table topic speaker, Chandran Kanapathey. 

The second edition of “Good things come in pairs” meeting came to its full completion with many guests feeling impressed and motivated by the programme. Guests and members are looking forward to the next edition of MMTMC meeting titled, “Madhatters Night”. 

Meeting Date: 8th April, 2016

Written by Toastmaster Maureen Suryani:

I can’t agree more with theme of this month’s chapter meeting: “Good Things Come in Pairs!”

Human are social beings that need to interact with other people to feel alive. And I do think nothing is better than spending your Friday night with a group of positive people at Money Mastery (Singapore) Toastmasters Club (MMTMC). Held at our home base, Tai Seng, this theme was carried perfectly throughout the meeting. When I came in, I was greeted warmly by a pair of smiling ushers: Chandran Kanapathey and Wendy Lee. Coming with an empty stomach, my eyes directly caught sumptuous fried rice that makes me salivate. It was even paired up with banana to complete the wholesome dinner. Thanks to our dearest pair: Abbas Vakharia & Arva Rangwala who have prepared it all for us.

The evening starts by Sergeants-At-Arms (SAA) of the night to call for meeting, the cool Zhang Yuan stands on the stage looking for her partner to join her on stage. From the backstage, the witty Qing Lin rushed to the stage with a plate of fried rice; still busy munching. Together as a pair, they broke the ice between the audiences in an engaging discussion with the new guests. It was such a pleasure for us having some returning guests, supporters, and first time visitors who found us from our website and social media channels like Facebook.

The cheerful ambience was carried over nicely by our attractive Toastmaster of the Evening (TME), Karen Lim. With her deep and resonated voice, she describes toastmaster as a club that facilitate learning of public speaking through prepared and impromptu speech, as well as, being an appointment holder. She made everyone laughed when she introduced one of our appointment holders of the night by his surname: “Kusumowidagdo.” Surely lots of people had a slip of tongue trying to pronounce it correctly.

The meeting continues with the opening speech from club president, the one and only Chai Pei Shan. She seamlessly brought every guest to look at each other by asking them to greet one another sitting beside and behind them. Emphasizing on the importance of double M – “Mentor and Mentee”, she explained the theme and that besides the chosen evaluator for the evening, mentors invest a lot of time and efforts in their mentees’ journey. Most of our members will eventually become a mentor of a mentee throughout one’s journey in toastmaster as part of contributing back to our club. Our club has many talented, dedicated mentors who are past presidents, Chandran Kanapathey and Raymond Ee who have been active in the club and mentoring members since 5-7 years ago. Having members who are very compassionate in a group is truly a blessing for MMTMC.

The evening kick-started with three maiden speakers for the prepared speech session: Mahendran Bilendran, Shawn Lee, and Pamela Lau. Three of them have shown courage to take the first step and introduced themselves confidently to the audience through their ice breaker speeches. Mahendran Bilendran shared a little boy’s journey called “Hero from Madurai to Singapore”. With a steady voice and good vocal projection, he connected with the audience and ended up his story by revealing the true hero who turned out to be himself. Shawn Lee introduced himself through a storytelling form in which he expressed how “Grace” (as a person) has always been by his side through all the phases of his life: despair, repair, and prepare. With his strong vocal projection and lively movements on stage, he engaged and intrigued the whole audiences till the end of his story by revealing who is the “Grace” person and his transformation journey with God and his church community.

Pamela, with sincerity and authenticity rooted throughout her entire speech has successfully turned her sorrowful Cinderella life stories into a very positive ending. She left the audiences with a heart-warming feeling after sharing how MMTMC as a club has brought joy and laughter into her life. She is a testimonial of how a new member has enjoyed our chapter meetings by soaking in the fun and being with this warmth and vibrant MMTMC family.

To finish this session, our VPM, Mannan Pacha delivered his Project 3 “Get to the Point” speech with a very attractive title. He reminds everyone that the meaning of life can be found in an impromptu decision, like his unplanned trip to Tioman that leads him to fall in love with scuba diving. The best prepared speech of the night goes to Shawn with his captivating, impressive, and inspirational ice-breaker speech. Congratulations Shawn!

Following the prepared speeches, four toastmasters delivered their evaluations fluently with their virtuosity. Michell Sheya Wong, Raymond Ee, Candrika Adri Tjo, and Chye Bei’An packed their evaluations with the strength speakers already have, and some area of improvement to reflect on in becoming a better speaker in the future. And the chosen best evaluators is Michell Sheya Wong, who had taught us the importance of clarity in speaking. It is not a matter of the best accent, but how you make the listener get what you’re saying. The best way to do it is by emphasizing the right part of a word.

The table topic session started with a pair of very different persons; our serious Aaron Khoo and romantic Arva Rangwala. Every participant were free to choose taking a topic from either one of them with their serious and romantic topics. There were ten brave members and guests who participated in this session: Jessica and Sarah, our first time guests that convinced the audiences that great things come in pairs. MMTMC members, Shaun Pang, Christopher Kusumowidagdo, Abbas Vakharia, Desmond Yam, Chandran Kanapathey, and Michell Sheya Wong who always entertained the audiences with the unpredictable impromptu speech they came out with. A visiting Toastmasters Jeffrey Lam from Brahms Centre TMC shared the importance of ‘who we know’ rather than ‘what we know.’ And our charming Zoya, that never fails to impress us with her daring and courageous attitude. Good things truly come in pairs!The best table topic speaker based on polling is Michell Sheya Wong, our formidable member who received two best speakers award of the night!

Congratulations to our club mentor, Michell Sheya Wong who leads by example!

Before we end the night, our VPE, the cool Zhang Yuan reminds us that good things come in pairs, so please make sure you bring your partner, friend or companion to join us at our next chapter meeting: Good Things Come in Pairs (II) on the 22^nd April 2016. Let’s have fun together and embrace our being as a human by having more interaction with others.

From the Desk of Catherine Lai (VP Membership):

On 11th March 2016, we were back to I.E. Singapore for our chapter meeting. The theme we had last year was the Singles’ Night. The theme was chosen to capitalise on being single mindedness in effective communication and leadership. This year back at the same place, our theme was Leap Of Faith. This theme was chosen to captivate members and visitors with stories of faith, hope and love. I felt the love the moment I stepped in the meeting place. Our VPE, Bei’ An, was drenched in perspiration and when asked, he showed us the delicious food for the evening, the famous beancurd tarts from Le Cafe, fried vegetarian Bee Hoon (vermicelli), and Chwee Kueh (Steam rice cakes with salted turnips topping) from the hawker centre beside Kwan In temple. He took the efforts to walk under the hot Singapore climate to buy all of us good food that we would remember for a long time. Before the meeting started, the food was almost gone. As the host, we made the decision to order pizzas to feed our members and guests for tea break. Again, the food (pizza) was gone before table topics started. Here at Money Mastery TMC, we know the importance of feeding the body that in turn will feed our soul.

The evening started with our two witty Toastmasters of the evening, Chandran Kanapathey and Candrika Adri Tjo. They have not only entertained us with their thoughts about everyone onstage but on the audience too. There were only laughter and smiles on everyone’s faces.

Our Club president, Chai Peishan, gave an opening speech about how she became a toastmasters member in our club while she was working in I.E.Singapore. She has come a long way from her first project and now the Club president and award winning speaker in many contests, seminars and conferences. She is definitely an admirable leader in the Toastmasters scenario. She shared with us the benefits of joining a Toastmasters club and how that had helped her ignite and achieve her passion throughout the journey. She has the fairy tale swan story that has turned into an inspirational real life story. Many of us are captivated by her journey in toastmasters and there is no deny that her leadership has paved way to a greater height for our club too.

Our speakers for the night, Maureen Suryani, Janty Widjaja, Arva Rangwala and Bei’ An Chye (in order of speeches), had prepared speeches that were not only educational but had also shown us the importance of love that spiraled us forward and onward in life. Our witty Maureen shared with us the importance of loving oneself before we can love others. In addition, by taking good care of ourselves first, we do not let our loved ones worry about us.

Motherly Janty continued to share with us the secret of happiness. She shared with us the research from Harvard Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger the three key lessons about happiness. They are in the form of close relationships, quality relationships, and stable and supportive marriages. Loving Arva talked about how she woke up one night at 3am to make a lifetime decision to lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle for her only daughter, Zoya. Our beloved Bei’ An, inspired us with his family story of caring for his late grandmother who was in a vegetative state when the rest of his relatives could not take responsibility to do it. Every one of us in the audience could feel the tough journey he and his family went through. In spite of it all, they did their best and his grandmother passed on, in peace years later, with all her loving family members around her. Congratulations Bei’ An on completing your Competent Communication with this speech project. It is truly inspiring for all you and your mum had done for your Po Po. And no guess for the best speaker of the evening. That would be our talented actress, Arva Rangwala.

Our honorable evaluators, Muhammad Taufiq, Novena Methani, Prem Methani and Mohd. Hijazi Sudarmaji played an important role evaluating our wonderful speakers. They have offered many praises for our speakers and at the same time, also gave constructive criticism for them to reflect so they could become better for their next project. That is the beauty of our toastmasters club that offers our members internal support from our club mentors but also external evaluations from quality evaluators. How could we forget the most important evaluator of all, the Language Evaluator? He was none other than Zaid Yassin. Besides being known to be a hot toastmasters in Singapore, he is also much sought after for his poetic evaluations for countless toastmasters. We were indeed very honored to have Zaid as our Language evaluator for the evening. The word of the day he had given us was “trammel”.

Chandran, our witty TME, used the most number of “trammel” accurately that night. Before the Table Topics started, Chandran mentioned that “if you could not think on your feet, sit down”. This had helped to ease the nervousness among those ready to take part of the “think on your feet” 2 minutes speech. Our Table Topic Master, Mannan Pacha, had came up with several “leaps” idioms. Our club member, Mike Lee, won the Table Topic of the evening with the idiom, “Doing is a quantum leap from imagining”. He was not only funny but also very witty about his own experience of thinking to quit his job and be in a much better place to doing it and ended in the new job he had interviewed not long ago. His sense of humor is inevitable and I really look forward to Mike joining the humorous speech contest next year.

Before we ended our night with the next Leap of Faith (II) on the 18th March 2016, we have a new guest, Shawn Lee, who was here in our club for the first time. He joined us as a new member of Toastmasters Club immediately after our chapter meeting ended. We are delighted that many new Toastmasters have chosen our club as their stepping stone to become a better communicator in their life. With this piece of good news, we ended the night and looking forward to many more quality chapter meetings.

Hope to see you in our club soon!

Catherine Lai