Tay Juet Hui, the toastmaster of the day, has incorporated a section for the appointment holders to introduce their roles to the audience.
Putting together facts and technical points into layman terms is a challenge. As Timer and Ah counter, the appointment holders do not have many opportunities to speak and their role is relatively technical. The opportunity incorporated by Juet Hui in his play as the toastmaster of the day provided them a platform to practice in their speaking skill is commendable.
Opening Address
Jamil Suleiman, Club President, is a tour guide by profession. With the impending Mid-Autumn Festival and recent Hari Raya celebrations, he had been kept busy with many tour bookings. Although tired, he was pleased with the turnout of the tour bookings. He went on to share that before he joined the club, he found it difficult to speak in front of many unfamiliar faces and often was lost for words. Since then and through the many speech practices he had during club meetings, he has learnt the importance of eye contact and body gestures and built up his confidence. He encouraged all members and guests to fully make use of the platform available in our club to practice their speeches so that they can improve and speak well with confidence.
Language evaluation
Hui Kuang, gave us the word of the day and encouraged us to use it in our speeches. The word was “vociferous” which originated from Latin, and is an adjective used to describe “crying out noisily, clamorous, being noisy vocal and loud”. The word is made up of two components - voice (“voci”) and distance (“ferrous”). By joining the two words together it also meant “throwing out your voice loud and far”. For example, “the vociferous crowd cheers loudly when the car raced by”.
As a first-time language evaluator, Hui Kuang had done well. Congratulations!
Prepared Speeches
Comprising project speeches from both the advanced and basic manuals, the prepared speeches were from:
| Speaker | Project Manual | Project Titles | | David Chen | P2 – Organise your speech | Developing the good habit of protecting the environment | | Peter Le Duy Diep | P3 – Get to the point | Music equal relaxation | | Jamil Suleiman, CC | AP4 – Story Telling: The touching story | On the brink of death |
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Developing the good habit protecting the environment – David was impressed by the cleanliness and beauty of Singapore when he first touched down on the island. However, he understood this didn’t come easy and that tremendous effort was required for the country to achieve such results. David impressed upon us that everyone had the ability to contribute towards protecting the environment. This included cultivating good habits in the many things that we do everyday. For example, we could save water from our shower for flushing toilets to reduce waste water as well as remembering to switch off electrical appliance after use to save energy.
Music equal relaxation – Peter shared with us the difference between noise and music. Noise was a form of pollution to the ears while music created a relaxing mood. He described to us the noise pollution he experienced at last years’ Formula 1 race. The cars were racing at a speed of 360 mph and whenever a car passed by his seat at the audience stand, the noise level was so deafening his friends could not hear him speak. As for music, he related that music instruments reverberated vibrations in our body. With a combination of the right music and the right mood, this gave rise to a beautiful atmosphere. Listening to music was also another form of relaxation whenever we needed it.
On the brink of death – Jamil related his brush with death when he was involved in a road accident while riding his motorcycle on an expressway. It skidded over a puddle of oil sludge and he fell from his motorcycle. Fortunately his injuries were not serious and he survived. It was a touching story and the incident made him realize the hardship his wife would have had to bear with a young family. He felt that riding a motorcycle made one vulnerable to all road conditions and reminded all to treasure their lives and to think twice when considering riding a motorcycle.
Just four laughs
Richard skillfully incorporated words that sounded alike to “sir” through his jokes when he introduced a few of the not so popular knights of King Arthur. The “knights” were: Surgery, Surprising, Survival, Surveillance, Surrender, cir*****ference, Salamat, etcs. It was an interesting yet entertaining segment for members and guests at the meeting.
Speech Evaluations
The evaluators provided constructive and supportive feedback. They were:
| Evaluator | Speaker | | Julies Tan, CC | David Chen | | Krishnan, Venugopal, CC | Peter Le | | Richard Sng | Jamil Suleiman, CC |
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Table-Topics Session
Conducted by Lisa Ooi, whose theme was about motivational / inspirational quotes by famous people. A total of 8 topics were attempted by the participants listed below.
| Speaker | Topics | | Ho Eng Lye | Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees. -Williard Marriott
| | Lim Meng Guan | I discovered a long time ago that if I helped people get what they wanted, I would always get what I wanted and I would never have to worry. -Anthony Robbins
| | Julies Tan, CC | Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret. - Laurence J. Peter, 1919-1988
| | Dewa (Guest) | Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States
| | Ann (Guest) | Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius | | Clarence (Guest) | A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. - Walter Winchell, 1897-1972, American Newspaper and Radio Commentator
| | Sylvia (Guest) | "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Sir Winston Churchill
| | June Soh | The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. - Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, 26th President of the United States
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Best Ribbon Awards
Congratulations to the following for winning the best ribbon awards:
| Table Topics Speaker | Clarence (Guest) | | Prepared Speech Speaker | Jamil Suleiman, CC | | Speech Evaluator | Richard Sng, DTM |
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Announcements:
Both Richard Sng and Rena Teow are finalists of the PA humorous speech contest. The contest is held on 3rd October, 1 pm, multi-purpose hall, Cheng San CC. Tickets are priced at $12 each (includes high tea, goodie bag and a chance to win a LCD TV) Members can contact our Club President, Jamil Suleiman to purchase the tickets.
Thank you Lisa Ooi for having edited this meeting minute.
