Sunway University Toastmasters Club 6th Meeting (23rd July 2012)

This was Sunway University Toastmasters 6th Meeting and our club is going strong. We had excellent speakers and enlightening evaluators that made the overall session enjoyable and educational.

Table Topic Speaker

Luke Aaron - CC#1: "Every man dies but not everyman lives"

Lee Yuan Teng - CC#1: "Explore. Dream. Discover"

Ashwinee Rvan -  CC#2: "Beauty and the Beast"

Undaarma Gansukh - CC#5: "Gestures"

Chan Siew Peng, ACS CL - CC#10: "Expanding our Future"

Nawal Lyana - Grammarian Report

Crispen - Timekeeper's Report

VPE Victor Ong, ACG ALB

Aaron Lim, Sergeant-At-Arms

10 Tips for Public Speaking

Please do visit the toastmasters official website for more useful information that could help you improve your communication skills.

Source: http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp

Feeling some nervousness before giving a speech is natural and even beneficial, but too much nervousness can be detrimental. Here are some proven tips on how to control your butterflies and give better presentations:

1. Know your material. Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more
   about it than you include in your speech. Use humor, personal stories and conversational language – that way you won’t easily forget what to say.
2. Practice. Practice. Practice! Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.
3. Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.
4. Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.
5. Relax. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. ("One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.
6. Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.
7. Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.
8. Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem – the audience probably never noticed it.
9. Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.
10. Gain experience. Mainly, your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.

Sunway University Toastmasters Club 4th Meeting (5th July 2012)

The 5th Meeting of the Sunway University Toastmasters Club was as usual fun and enjoyable with an assortment of speakers and evaluators who were both equally eloquent. 

Toastmaster of the evening, Sheryl Chieng, giving a brief introduction of Toastmasters

We were fortunate enough to have the energetic and eloquent Sheryl Chieng who happens to be the VPE of Mid Valley Toastmasters to be our Toastmaster of the evening. She definitely brought the energy to a new level.

I think I prefer being Married

Presidential Address

As always, our President, Dr. Nagiah Ramasamy never failed to impress us with his endearing presidential address. He even gave a shot at the table topics, describing to us about how life was like as a bachelor and a married man

Prepared Speeches

Moving on to the prepared speeches, we had 4 impressive speeches for the night. Our appetizer was definitely a mouth watering one with Ashwinee, TM giving her icebreaker which involved telling us her life story up to date and why she was so special.

This Is MY story.

I always argued with my siblings 

After this eye opening appetizer we were introduced to the 1st main course which was TM Nawal Lyana who was also giving her Ice Breaker speech about why she decided to join Toastmasters. 

I wish to improve, that is why I joined Toastmasters

I am a very shy girl

While she was a bit nervous at first, it soon disappeared as she continued along, and her speech was definitely something each and every one of us can relate to as Toastmasters. Furthermore, most of us are here in Toastmasters not because of the ability to speak fluently but rather because of the inability to speak fluently. 

TM, Nawal's speech was followed by our 2nd Main Course which was ACB,CL, Kenneth Ho giving an Advanced Speech From the Specialty Speeches Manual, Project 2# Uplift the Spirit. His speech title was "A Light in the Darkness"

There were 4 companies that I was aiming for

                                               

 Never give up, and you will see the light. 

                                               

His Speech was about how he managed to find his source of hope in his moment of despair and how it changed his life. Last but not least after the appetizer and main courses it was time for the dessert. This was offered by a most lovely and charming TM, Jean Ng from Taman Indrahana. 

How much money do you have little girl?

What is the price of a Miracle?

She told us a captivating story about the price of a miracle. This story was simple but yet touching and we were all close to tears after listening to it. A most suiting dessert to wrap up our wonderful TM 'dinner'.

Evaluation Session

While we all felt the 'food' which we were served was extraordinary, it was finally time to listen to the verdict of the panel of judges. 

Grammarian : The overall use of English was Excellent

Timekeeper: The meeting went slightly overtime

Ah Counter: I detected only 5 mistakes tonight

GE, Joyce Hue : I really love this meeting

Would you invite me back again? 

After moments of anticipation, we finally sighed a breath of relief as the panel of judges said that our 'dinner' was satisfying but unfortunately still had a lot of areas of improvement. 

Awards Session

Finally, the best 'chef' for the day had to be selected. First up, we had TM Ashwinee who won both the best Table Topic and Prepared Speech award. Next was DTM, Victor Ong who won the best Evaluator, and of course we did not forget to recognize the contributions of our General Evaluator whose presence only made the meeting so much more meaningful.

Ashwinee, TM best Table Topics and Prepared Speech Speaker

DTM, Victor Ong, Best Evaluator

Token of Appreciation to our No.1 "Food Critic"

All in all, it was an exciting and interesting meeting, and the Sunway University TM club has definitely come a long way since it was chartered. With such devoted members and an ever increasing array of guests, there is only room for more improvement!!!