Talk Your Way to the Top

Dear All,



There was a newspaper article with the title 'Talk Your Way To The Top' from The Star on 30 October 2008 in the Classifieds section regarding public speaking and Toastmasters. Below is the scanned copy of the article. Please right click on the image and click 'Save Picture As' or 'Copy' to open it from your computer for a larger view.

UM TMC.

How to Improve Communication Skills

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Think before you speak. Plan your presentations and other addresses to groups whenever possible, especially in business. Even if you don't know everything you want to say, you should have a general idea. In more private conversations, take the time to be clear about the points you want to make before talking. Always be honest in your communication.

Step2

Be an active listener. Listening is often more important than speaking. To improve your communication skills, pay attention to what others are saying without getting distracted.

Step3

Make good eye contact. Shifty eyes make you seem less than trustworthy in business and personal life. If you are looking everywhere but in the eyes of your audience, it will arouse suspicion. This doesn't mean you should initiate a staring contest. Just make sure to put your audience at ease by holding the gaze at times.

Step4

Take it slow. Don't slur your words together or mumble. Enunciate. If you speak too fast, then you'll lose your audience. Use words only if you are sure of their meaning. Make yourself easily understood.

Step5

Use appropriate volume and tone. Of course, you should speak louder when addressing a group than you would in private conversations. Reflect emotion in your voice. A monotone approach is never appropriate in any setting.

Step6

Practice; it's the best way to improve your communication skills. The more you do it, the easier it will get.

(taken from "How to Improve Communication Skills" by eHow)

New Fees Charges Effective Immediately

Dear All,

There is a slight increase in our club fees charges to Toastmasters International to cope up with current value of USD compared to RM. The new fees rate are as the following:

(a) RM 75 for the new members fee (to Toastmasters International)

(b) RM 100 for the 6 months membership renewal (to Toastmasters International)

(c) RM 10 monthly club fees - no changes in rate compared to previous ( to our own UM TMC)


The fees will have to be adjusted in accordance to the changes of currency exchange rate of USD - RM.

These new fees rate will be effective immediately.

Thank you.


UM TMC.

No Meetings till the New Semester

Dear All,

Just as a reminder, there will be no meetings held starting from this week due to revision, final examinations, and semester break.

We will resume our meetings in the new semester - Semester 2, 2008/2009. The exact date of the meetings will be informed later on in the blog.

Thank you.


UM TMC.

Happy Diwali!!!

UM TMC would like to take this oppertunity to wish all Hindus a very Happy Diwali.






DEEPAVALI VALTUKKAL!!!

Sincerely from,

UM TMC.

Happy 84th Birthday, Toastmasters International!!!

Twelfth Meeting - Deepavali

It was our twelfth and final meeting of the semester 1, 2008/2009, on 22nd October 2008. The theme of the meeting was ‘Deepavali’ as the festival of lights will be celebrated next week on 27th October 2008. The word of the day was ‘Extravagant’, which means – going beyond what is deserved or justifiable. Example of sentence: Grace will be extravagant in buying cakes when she’s at the bakery shop.

We started off the meeting with the welcoming speech by Vice President of Education, TM Bee Guan. Then the floor was taken over by Toastmaster of the Evening, TM Rishi. He, who was the ‘start-end’ TME of the semester, explained briefly about the history of Toastmasters and the legend behind Deepavali. Why ‘start-end’? Hmmm…It was because he was the TME for the first meeting and the final meeting of the semester, co-incidently.

Next was the Table Topics Session by TM Bee Guan. The questions were related to the celebration of Deepavali. The table topics speakers were Hadi, Kimmy, Ter, Arrisa, and Qin Mei. They all did well in their table topics and none of them intended to change the questions given. However, for the first time in UM TMC meeting, there were actually two table topics evaluators in the session, as Kimmy, our initial Table Topics Evaluator, suddenly volunteered herself to be the speaker. This has pushed Bee Guan as the Table Topics Evaluator specially dedicated for Kimmy.

After that, it was the project speech session. Our speaker of the day was TM Fun Mun Wah, with the title “Learning & Competency” (CC Project # 2 – Organize Your Talk). He explained about the different types of competency classes that humans are equipped in their characters. Well, some secrets were out from the audience when he was communicating with them while presenting his speech. Want to know more about the secrets? Hmm, I guess not.

Then, our General Evaluator, TM Qin Mei, from the HELP University College, took over the control. She was also the Speech Evaluator for TM Fun. Thank you, Qin Mei, for coming to our meeting as the evaluator all the way from HELP Damansara.

Not to forget our role players, TM Terrence (Ah Counter), TM Grace Kang (Grammarian), and TM Nyuk Jet (Time Keeper for the first time). All of you were great.

Next was the award time for the best Table Topics Speaker…….drum roll….drum roll….drum roll…..

KIMMY FOO !!!

Congrats, Kimmy. Oh..oh..I almost forgotten again…Dear President, can we have a humor session around the month of January where only the Officers of UM TMC with Competent Communicator should take part?

Finally, it was the closing speech of the semester by the President. Dear all, we at UM TMC would like to take this opportunity to wish good luck for your final examinations. Study smart and you will definitely pass in flying colors. We would start our meetings again when the new semester begins.

Please log in to our blog continuously for more information on our upcoming meetings in the next semester.

Looking forward to see you all in the next semester with more enthusiasm and energy. Till then,


Signing off,


TM Rishi
VPPR,
UM TMC,
2008/2009.

The Experience of Being a Test Speaker for Division Contest

The Division C Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest was held on 18 Oct 2008 at SEGI University College. I would like to share the real experience of being a test speaker of a division contest.

Well, the division contest was a little different from the area or club contest. This is because the competing participants were chosen from the best speakers from their respective areas. Thus, the quality of the speech presented by each participant for the humorous contest was rather high. As I was concentrating on their humorous speeches, I (as the test speaker) told to myself that I need to upgrade my speech to a level where it would be applicable for a division contest. I begun to think fast the ways that could improve my speech as the time for my presentation was getting closer. But there was nothing much modification that could be done at the last minute.

Strangely, I did not feel the nervousness during the refreshment period just after the completion of humorous speech. However, when everyone was called back to the hall to start the evaluation contest, I could feel the nervousness starting to grow up in my body. The hall was full of audiences. I waited quietly till my name was called to present my speech.

Standing on the stage, in front of the audiences, I started to present my speech. The introduction part was quite difficult for me as I was still in nervous position. But then, the body and the conclusion went smoothly as I could feel myself getting normalized to the situation as I went through the speech. ‘Thank you’ was the final sentence of my speech and it was over.

My speech title was “The Priceless Glory of the Atmosphere”, a brief explanation about the formation of clouds, its categories, rain and lightning. It was actually the English version of the speech that I had presented in Bahasa Malaysia during the UM TMC club meeting of the theme “Hari Raya’ with some modifications.

Next was the evaluation session. Five competing participants evaluated on my presentation. There were two similarities of evaluation points from all the evaluators.

(a) I was really passionate in presenting about clouds
(b) It would be better to use the visual aids

Other than that, all the evaluators have different points of view and it would definitely help me to improve my public speaking in the upcoming sessions. Thank you, evaluators for the concrete points of improvement.

I would say that it was a fantastic experience of being a test speaker in a division contest. I will be looking forward to other division contests for a different and new experiences.

Sorry, I didn't capture any photos.

TM Rishi
VPPR,
UM TMC.

Eleventh Meeting - Black Tie

Our eleventh meeting was held on 15 Oct 2008. The theme of this meeting was ‘Black Tie’. However, no one was wearing the black tie or even the yellow tie. One of our members was wearing the blue tie with black-coloured blazer. I guess those who came to our meeting would have known the mentioned member. Yes, it was our very smart looking Toastmaster of the Evening, TM Fun Mun Wah. Nonetheless, there was also a member who was wearing all black, even though at first he thought of wearing a yellow tie with smileys on it. But due to some unavoidable reasons, he did not wear the yellow tie.

The meeting was started at 5.29 pm with the President’s welcoming speech. CC Kimmy Foo told us that UM was chosen as the best university in Malaysia during the recent QS World University Rankings 2008. It was a good news for all of us. Next, it was the Table Topic Session by our President. The questions were more to current situations in Malaysia (non-political) and it actually made us to think. Most of our Table Topics Speakers were first timers and well done speakers. It was a good start. The Table Topics Evaluation was done by ACB Christine Ong and we learned a few new things from the evaluation.

After that, it was the main session – Project Speeches. The project speakers of the meeting were as the following:

CC Project #2 – Organize Your Talk by TM Nyuk Jet – “2 Minutes Friends”
CC Project #3 – Get to the Point by TM Pang – “Four Characters That Make You Fail in Life”

Nyuk Jet was advising us not to take instant noodles as it is bad for our health. There are no nutrients in it. So students, especially student, and yes students – Please reduce instant noodles as food intake. On the other hand, TM Pang explained on different characters of people that would make them fail. The point that caught all of us was – ‘Talk a lot but no actions’. Hmmm, if you noticed, we members are really talkative, but..hmmm…lets move on.

Our General Evaluator, ACB Christine Ong (from Mid Valley Toastmasters) took over the floor for the whole evaluation of the meeting. There were two of our Toastmasters guests all the way from Stamford College Toastmasters Club – CC Grace Chong and TM Joshua George. CC Grace Chong was the speech evaluator for TM Nyuk Jet and TM Joshua George was the speech evaluator for TM Pang. Thank you evaluators for your time and effort.

Great job on the role players TM Rebekah (Ah Counter), TM Rishi (Grammarian) and TM Bee Guan (Time Keeper). Not to forget our fully prepared TME, TM Fun. [In this meeting, the Grammarian has escaped from paying the Treasurer for the pause fillers. Hehe.]

As TM Fun said, it was the dessert time – Best Table Topics Speaker………drum roll…drum roll……

FAIZ!!

Congrats, Faiz!!! See you in the next meeting.

Oh, before I forget, Dear President, should we have a meeting with the theme “Smileys” where everyone should wear something with smileys on it?? Just imagine if we all wear a smileys T-shirt to the meeting, we would definitely look like.........You have guessed it.

TM Rishi
VPPR
UM TMC.

EXCEEDED 2000 HITS

Today, 14 Oct 2008, is one of the historical day for UM TMC. Our blog has exceeded over 2000 hits (number of views) since we started it in the month of June 2008.

Our blog has been officially launched on 5th June 2008. Now, let us do some simple mathematics.

The Total Number of Days = 132 days

June (from 5th) = 26 days
July (full month) = 31 days
August (full month) = 31 days
September (full month) = 30 days
October (till 14th) = 14 days

The Average Number of Views Per Day

= 2000 hits / 132 days
= 15.15 views per day (approx. 15)

Wow, an amazing average of 15 views per day. UM TMC would like to take this oppertunity to thank all the viewers of our blog. Please keep on surfing our blog for more updated information of UM TMC activities and UM happenings. Your continuous support is our motivator.

THANK YOU, VIEWERS!!!!

Division W Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest

Dear Members,

The Division W Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest is just around the corner. We will be sending our Area W5 representative - champion of the Area W5 Humorous Speech Contest, TM Deborah Chow (from our very own UM TMC) to contest in Division W. The Division W Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest will be held as the following:


Venue : Wisma WIM, 7, Jalan Haji Openg, TTDI
Time : 2pm (Registration and lunch)
Date : 25 October 2008
Fee : RM15 before 18 Oct 2008 Early bird price
(After 18 Oct, The price of the ticket is RM20)


Anyone who would like to join us to give support to our member and observe how the division contest is being held, please inform us at umtoastmaster@gmail.com .

Thank you.


To Deborah,

Good luck. We are counting on you to win the Division W Contest.
We will be there for you.


UM TMC.

A Good Year

Malaysian universities improved considerably in the THE-QS World University Rankings 2008 after last year’s steep slide.

THERE was good news for Malaysian public universities this year in the Times Higher Education (THE)-QS World University Rankings 2008.

Although none made it to the top 200, four out of five improved on their positions, namely Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Only Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) which, ironically, attained apex (accelerated programme for excellence) status this year, went down in the rankings.

USM dropped by six places to 313 in the list, while UM maintained its position as the highest-ranked local university for the second year when it improved by 16 positions to 240.

UKM and UTM rose a whopping 59 places to attain the 250 and 356 spots, respectively. UPM also rose a credible 44 places to reach 320 in the rankings.


(taken from The Star Online - 12 Oct 2008)

Giving a speech in an auditorium

Universiti Malaya Tmc was once again invited to be a test speaker and this time, we decided to send our dear VPE, TM Bee Guan to give the participants a little run for their money.

TM Bee Guan, our ever conscientious and dedicated VPE got into his stride with the challenge to be a test speaker for the Area C4 contest held in Summit Auditorium, Summit USJ.

He got his speech prepared and was rather nervous as it was his first time being a test speaker. He even skipped the refreshments which were prepared. His hands were cold and then, the moment arrived..

"..invite our test speaker for today..TM Teo Bee Guan with his title You Are What You Read!"

TM Bee Guan took the control from the contest chair and began with his speech on reading. On how, these days, the younger generation would rather read entertainment news instead of more beneficial news or books that feeds the mind.

"..its so bad that there are some young people who thinks that India is the short of Indonesia."

He went on with his speech which was peppered with humour and yet sprinkled with a dash of the whole issue's gravity.

It isnt an easy task to be giving a speech in auditorium because you would need to regulate your voice. Voice projection while giving a speech in an auditorium is important because people sitting behind may not be able to hear you, hence, they lose interest in listening to you.

Body language such as facial expressions, gestures, pacing are all packaged into a slightly difficult task because you need to add a little more drama or else, the people behind wouldnt feel the impact of the speech.

Besides that, the fact that you are on stage, an elevated platform, can give you the nerves!

And TM Bee Guan showed us that sheer determination with Toastmasters training, is not an issue at all as he wow-ed the audience and made UM Tmc so proud.

Congratulations Dear VPE! Keep the momentum going and know that we are so proud of you!

Kimmy Foo,
President,
UM Tmc.

Tenth Meeting - Hari Raya Aidilfitri

It's our 10th meeting on 8 October 2008 and was started at 4.54 pm. The theme of the meeting was Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The word of the day was 'Riang' which means ‘Gembira’. Well, it’s a kind of bilingual meeting. Example of sentence : 'Setiap hari Rabu merupakan hari yang riang untuk Kimmy kerana perjumpaan UM TMC akan diadakan'.

Our Toastmasters of the Evening (TME) was CC Kimmy Foo and our Table Topics Master was TM Grace Kang. Kang related the Table Topics questions to our theme of the meeting. The Table Topics Speakers who participated were TM Fun Mun Wah, TM Ras Hadi, Poh Leem, and Alvin. They explained their great experiences of having ‘raya’ together with Muslim friends including the open houses. Our Table Topics Evaluator was also done by our TME, CC Kimmy Foo.

There was one project speech by TM Rishi with the title ‘Suatu Keindahan di Atmosfera’. It was a speech in Bahasa Malaysia explaining about various types of clouds and its characteristics. The ‘Kumulonimbus’ (the rain cloud) was the cloud that really caught our attention. It was an informative speech. Besides that, it is amazing that TM Rishi could actually give a speech in Bahasa Melayu with such fluency and pause-fillers free! He must have done a lot of preparation. Good job TM Rishi!!

Next our General Evaluator, CC Leong Kok Wah, from the Malaysian Insurance Institute Toastmasters Club (MII TMC) evaluated on TM Rishi’s speech and the whole meeting. Thank you, CC Leong Kok Wah.

Not to forget our role players – Ah Counter by Poh Leem, Grammarian by TM Grace Rebekah, Time Keeper’s Report by TM Fun Mun Wah. Thank you role players. A job well done.

Finally the award for Best Table Topics Speaker……..drum roll……..drum roll………

ALVIN

Congrats, Alvin!!! Looking forward for you to participate in our next Table Topics Session too. Can't wait for our next meeting with the theme 'Black Tie'. Dear President, can we wear a yellow tie to our next meeting?

UM TMC.

Change of Time for 8th Oct 2008 Meeting

Dear All,

There would be a change of time for our 8th October meeting to give way to our test speaker for an area contest. Our meeting will begin at 4.30 pm (not 5.15 pm as planned). We would like to apologize for any inconveniences that have been caused due to the change.

Thank you.


UM TMC.

New Blog for Division W - Education & Training

Dear All,

A new blog for Education & Training has been created by the Division W. Please visit the new blog for more information. The address is as the following:

http://DivisionW-ET.blogspot.com


UM TMC.

Area W-4 Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest

Dear UM TMC Members,

Please be informed that Area W-4 Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest is on 11 October 2008 (Saturday) from 9:15am to 1:00pm. The venue is as the following:

Venue :
6th Floor, TBS (Taylor's Business School)
Wisma Subang Jaya (a green coloured 8-storey building)
Jalan SS15/4, (Opposite Subang Square)
Subang Jaya.

If you are interested to attend the contest, please inform us at umtoastmaster@gmail.com as soon as possible. Admission is free. Car may be parked along the side way as it is free on Saturdays.

UM TMC.

Our Upcoming Meetings in October

Dear All,

For the month of October, Malaysians are celebrating two major festive seasons - Hari Raya & Deepavali. Hence, we set our themes for this month accordingly as the following:

8th October 2008 - 'Hari Raya' Theme (versi Bahasa Malaysia)
15th October 2008 - 'Black Tie' Theme
22nd October 2008 - 'Deepavali' Theme

Our 8th Oct meeting is a special meeting as it will be conducted in BM version. So don't miss out this meeting.

However, the meeting on 29th October 2008 is cancelled as it's the revision week for the final examinations. Yes, the finals are coming soon.

Hope to see you all in the meetings.

UM TMC.

Competent Leadership Manual Workshop

Dear UM TMC Members,

Our Division W has initiated a workshop on Competent Leadership (CL) Manual. The objective of the workshop is to give members an insight of how to achieve this leadership award with understanding and to meet the purpose of the whole manual. The details of the workshop are as the following:


Date : Monday, 13 October 2008

Time :

- Refreshment and fellowship start @ 6:30 pm
- Meeting will start @ 7:00 to 10.00 pm

Venue :

AFC Toastmasters Club
Auditorium, AFC House
Asian Football Confederation
Jalan 1/155B, Bukit Jalil
57000 Kuala Lumpur

Door Fee:

- FOC, Refreshments will be provided.


Objectives:
- To introduce the new Competent Leadership manual and the CL award
- To share and exchange notes


For those who are interested, please inform us via our e-mail at umtoastmaster@gmail.com for booking of seats soonest possible. Participation will be on first come first serve basis. Seats are limited. Agenda and map will be forwarded once the seats are booked.

UM TMC.

Be A Professional Presenter Evening Talk

Dear All,

For those who wish to advance a step further into professional presentation, there will be an evening talk conducted by Mr Vincent Hor. The details of the presentation are as the following:

Date :
8 Oct 2008 (Wednesday)

Time :
6.00 to 7.30 pm

Venue :
MAICSA Building,
No. 57, The Boulevard,
Mid Valley City.

All are invited (members and guests). For more information, please contact us at umtoastmaster@gmail.com

UM TMC.

Coming Soon - Our UM TMC Website

Dear all,

UM TMC will be having it's own website soon. The website is still under construction for now. However this UM TMC blog will continue it's journey to keep communicated with all of our members and guests as a fast and simple information provider. Thus, keep surfing our blog for more updates of our activities.


With regards,

UM TMC.