Standing Ovation

Dear New Members,

You might be asking - what's a standing ovation? Standing Ovation is a compliment, an acknowledgement or a way to congratulate new members for taking the first step in Toastmasters and completing the first Project Speech from Competent Communicator manual. It is done as soon as the new member (speaker) completed presenting the first speech. The speaker will have to sit, while all the others who attended the meeting will rise and give a big hand and applause to the speaker. This will indirectly motivates the speaker to go ahead to proceed with the upcoming project speeches more confidently. Completing the first speech needs guts, and those who have completed the first speech are considered to have overcome the main fear of public speaking and deserves an applause.

UM TMC.

Hot Events in February

Dear Members,

Please mark your calendar for these 2 great events happening on the same day, 28th February.Hurry up and book your seats as we are only a mere 2 weeks away.

First Event: Leadership Excellence Series Workshop (jointly organized by Division B, C, P and W)

In the Klang Valley, a Leadership Excellence Series Workshop will be held where all the 11 leadership excellence series manuals from Toastmasters International will be covered during the workshop!

This workship will be conducted by 5 Past District 51 Governors! (DTM Dr Arulnathan, DTM Ho Fong Ming, DTM Sivanganam, DTM KK Chee and DTM Low Yat Seow). This workshop is highly recommended for all the current and future leaders. Learn how to present these manuals. See attached flyer for more details.

Second Event: Parliamentary Procedure Workshop (organized by YMCA Ipoh and Ipoh Toastmasters Clubs)

In the Kinta Valley, we will witness another great event, the Parliamentary Procedure Workshop: Taking The Angst Out Of Your Meetings. This workshop will also be conducted by a Distinguished Toastmasters, past District 51 Governor, DTM Dunstan Chan. If you are a manager, assistant manager, supervisor, club president, vice president or anyone for that matter, who may potentially be given the opportunity to chair a meeting, then this seminar is for you. See attached flyer for more details.

UM TMC.

Seventeenth Meeting - Valentine's Day

It was our seventeenth meeting for the semester 2008/2009 and our 44th meeting since the establishment of UM TMC. The theme of the meeting was Valentine’s Day. The Valentine’s Day will be celebrated on the 14th February 2009, this Saturday. So make sure you have marked this special day in your diary. Valentine's Day is not limited to boys and girls relationship, but also families and friends. Thus, do spend your time with families too.

The word of the day was ‘Love’. Meaning: A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection. Actually we have picked up only the main meaning of the word ‘Love’. There are more meanings of ‘Love’ in the dictionary to be referred. Example of sentence - 'She is a good teacher and all her pupils love her'.

Our Sergeant-of-Arms called meeting to order at 5.15 pm sharp and we have started the meeting on time as scheduled. Let me repeat that, it was SHARP 5.15 pm. The welcoming speech was given by our Vice President of Education, TM Bee Guan, since our President is having a good time in Singapore. Dear CC Kimmy, can we have a trip to Singapore too but all expenses to be fully paid by the President? Ooops, again…wrong question!!!

The Toastmaster of the Evening, TM Rishi, took over the floor. I wonder why it always has to be TM Rishi as the TME for festival theme meetings…I have no idea. TM Rishi has made everyone to introduce themselves and to explain their plans for the Valentine’s Day. We can see that most of us will be spending our time with families and friends.

Next was the Table Topics Session by TM Bee Guan. There were six table topics speakers as the following and all of them were good speakers. Bravo!!!

1. Grace Rebekah

2. Chieng Tian

3. Bathusia

4. Ivy Lau

5. Vighnes

6. Fun

Anyone who needs advice on how to memorize things, you should book an appointment with Bee Guan, but I guess there could be some charges. He’s really good in memorizing. TM Deborah Chow was the Table Topics Evaluator.

Next was the Project Speeches as the following:
1. CC Project#1- Ice Breaker – ‘A Life Changing Event’ by TM Ivy Lau Lian Tze

2. CC Project#1- Ice Breaker – ‘Silent Stump?’ by TM Heng Jing Yi

3. CC Project#9- Persuade with Power – ‘Honesty is the Best Policy’ by TM Deborah Chow

Ivy Lau explained about her personal life story that was quite touching about how she has gone through some bad times in her younger age. Heng Jing Yi gave a speech on how she managed to regain herself after a few losses in academics and competition, and it was a touching one too. On the other hand, TM Deborah came with a different approach of speech about her friend who are not good in baking cakes but keep receiving false impression from others. Thus, always be honest - if it’s not good, just say it (but look through the overall situation as you don’t want to get in trouble).

Later, the General Evaluator (GE) took control. Our General Evaluator was none other than TM Bee Guan. It was the first time we were having our internally selected GE. We have to be the first in everything, right? Hehe…

The Project Speech Evaluators were TM Deborah, TM Rishi and TM Bee Guan. For TM Rishi, it was the first time of being a Speech Evaluator, and it was quite tough too. Maybe it would be better with more practices. The role players were TM Tham Hui Xin (Ah Counter), TM Ras Hadi (Grammarian), and TM Yee Xin (Miss Rolex). The Grammarian worked hard in this meeting as the word 'Love' was used many times. It was a new record for the Word of the Day.

Next was the award session. The Best Table Topics Speaker goes to…drum roll….drum roll….

VIGHNES

Congrats!!!

Our next meeting details are as the following:

Date : 18th February 2009
Time : 5.15pm
Venue : BTEC001, First Floor, Block C, Education Faculty, University Malaya.

The theme is “REVVING UP”. So make sure you attend the meeting in a 'revving up' kind of thing, just like an engine. Hmmm. That's wierd.

TM Rishi
VP Public Relations,
UM TMC.

Contests Schedules of Toastmasters Clubs

Dear Members,

Below is the schedule for the contests in Klang Valley. Please inform us at umtoastmaster@gmail.com if you are interested to play any roles or attend the contest. Together we give a hand for each other.

February:

4th WEDNESDAY 6.30 pm GREAT EASTERN
10th TUESDAY 6.00 pm UNITAR
11th WEDNESDAY 6.30 pm HSBC

11th WEDNESDAY 7.00 pm UEM ACADEMY
12th THURSDAY 7.00 pm HEWLETT PACKARD
12th THURSDAY 6.00 pm ERNST & YOUNG
14th SATURDAY 9.00 am HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
14th SATURDAY 9.00 am DELOITTE KASSIMCHAN
17th TUESDAY 7.00 pm FRIENDSHIP TMC
18th WEDNESDAY 7.00 pm CIMA CLUB
21st SATURDAY 2.00 pm GE OFFICES



March:

7th MARCH 2.00 pm EXXON MOBIL

UM TMC.

How Joining a Toastmasters Club has made a Significant Difference in my Life

If I have not join a toastmasters club, I would still be sitting inconspicuously in the class, never raising my hand and never asking a question, and remain a fool forever. Today, I am no longer a fool. Naturally they look up to me as their spokesman.

If I had not join the toastmasters club, I would have remained a shy recluse. But the club has open up my social life so that I can see issues from many perspectives and respect differences.

If I have not join a toastmaster club, I would have remained jobless. The interviewer was like another table topics session. I was able to speak off the cuff with confidence. In the club I would have gotten a prize. But in that interview, I got the biggest prize of all - the job.

If I had not join the toastmasters club, I would have remained a simple worker who only knows how to take order instead of making decision. As a club leader, I have discovered the power to impact the quality of people' lives through mentoring and organising workshops. Using the hamburger approach in evaluation, I have become a better listener.

If I had not join the toastmasters club, I would still be imprisoned within my prison walls of fear of public speaking. Now it has open the door to a whole new world of freedom and happiness. Now I enjoy public speaking. I have found my voice..and a new lease of life.

By Sam Choo (Asian Toastmasters)

Published on April 2004. This essay won him 5th place in the Singapore Toastmasters Awareness Month Essay Contest.

February Birthday Girl

This post is dedicated to our February birthday girl, Grace Rebekah.



Making wish...wonder what she wished for...


Now that wishes were made, time for cake cutting.


But she just could not make herself to cut such a lovely cake.


Angle not good, let's try another angle.


Ah! So excited to cut it finally.


But must be careful with it.


Happy Birthday, Grace Rebekah!

Best wishes for you, from your beloved friends:


be healthier, happier and prettier.

Post made by
Fun

Sixteenth Meeting - Federal Territory

It was our sixteenth meeting with the theme ‘Federal Territory’. The Federal Territory Day is a special day for Wilayah Persekutuan and celebrated on the 1st February of each year. The Federal Territory is a collective of three territories, namely Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, governed directly by the federal government of Malaysia. The territories have neither a head of state nor a state legislature.

The word of the day was ‘Holiday’. Example of sentence: St Patrick’s Day is a holiday in Ireland.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the evening called the meeting to order at about 5.25pm. Then our lovely President, CC Kimmy Foo, gave a welcoming speech and asked us to introduce ourselves briefly. It’s a method where everyone who attended the meeting was given a chance to speak. Then, the floor was passed to the Toastmaster of the Evening, TM Deborah Chow.

Deborah introduced the role players and explained more about the celebration of Federal Territory Day (well, “almost all”….including - doing nothing at home...hehe..).

Then, it was the Table Topics Session by the Table Topics Master, CC Kimmy. Dear President, can we use TM Kimmy instead of CC Kimmy since most of us are having problem to pronounce ‘CC’ in front of your name? Ooops, wrong question!!! All the table topics questions were related to the theme and Kuala Lumpur as a whole. The Table Topics Speakers were as the following:

1. Rishi

2. Vijay

3. Kah Fai

4. Grace Rebekah

5. Deborah Chow


Great going speakers, especially the first…*ahem*

Next, it was the Table Topics Evaluation by DTM Vincent Hor. Actually, DTM stands for Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest ranking in Toastmasters, and we are proud to have a DTM as our Evaluator, giving full support to our club, all the way from MAICSA Toastmasters Club.

The ‘stars’ started glittering showing that they were fully prepared for the next session - Project Speeches. The Project Speech Speakers were as the following:

1. CC Project No.2 : Organize Your Speech – “An Overview of Teaching of English in Malaysia" by TM Ras Hadi

2. CC Project No.7 : Research Your Topic – “Why sleep early? “ by TM Nyuk Jet

3. CC Project No.9 : Persuade With Power – “Natural Selection or Your Selection? “ by TM Bee Guan

Ras Hadi showed us the whole view and importance of whether English should be used in secondary and tertiary education in Malaysia. Currently, the issue is under the consideration of government. On the other hand, TM Nyuk Jet explained about the disadvantages of sleeping late (after 11 pm) which really made us all frightened since most of us sleep quite late night. Even I’m a bit frightened – it’s 2 am now, and I’m still writing this report. My liver ‘should be working now’ since its optimum functioning time is from 1 am to 3 am. The third speaker, TM Bee Guan, told a story of determination of a worm called the ‘Simpson’. Yes, it’s true that when there’s a will, there’s a way.

The General Evaluator, DTM Vincent Hor, took over the session for the overall evaluation of the meeting. Our Speech Evaluators were TM Bee Guan and TM…oops…CC Kimmy Foo. Our Ah Counter (Heng Jing Yi), Grammarian (Vighnes) and Time Keeper (Ivy Lau) were first timers and they did a great job. Thank you all.






Finally, it was the award giving session. We had the awards for Best Table Topics Speaker and Best Project Speech Speaker.The Best Table Topics Speakers goes to…..drum roll…..drum roll…..

DEBORAH CHOW

The Best Project Speech Speaker goes to…….drum roll……drum roll……

RAS HADI

Congratulations for the award winners. For those who did not win any award yet, keep on participating and you can do it too.

Our next meeting details are as the following:

Date : 11th February 2009

Time : 5.15pm

Venue : BTEC001, First Floor, Block C, Education Faculty, University Malaya.

The theme is “VALENTINE’S DAY”. Now, that could be exciting, right? So make sure you are in your great looks.

TM Rishi

VP Public Relations,

UM TMC.

Our Next Meeting Details

Dear All,

Our next meeting is as the following:

Date : 4th February 2009
Time : 5.15pm
Venue : BTEC001, First Floor, Block C, Education Faculty, University Malaya.

We still didn't decide on the theme of the meeting yet, but we will post it in this blog on Wednesday morning. So please keep an eye on our blog.

See you there.

UM TMC.