Deepavali Themed Club Meeting

Once a term, the club will conduct a Deepavali Themed Meeting, while the men come in their Deepavali-inspired shirt and thrown in an interesting scarf or turban, the ladies, always the more interesting species when it comes to dressing up in styles, will come in their Saris or Punjabi wear.

Toastmaster Vijay Panickar was the TME for this term's Deepavali Themed Meeting. He started off the meeting getting members to dance to an Indian beat, assisted by ATMG Kamal Surin. The meeting proceeds and role players were introduced. Melissa Betsy, then, led the table topic sessions, shooting 9 questions of various topics, from the meaning of Deepavali to cleanliness of public toilet.

After the break, we had four speakers, all embarking on their competent communicator's manual; TM Nantha, TM Raymond, TM Fia and TM Nora Liew. Each of them gave a commendable speech and all of them achieved their speech objectives earning them one step closer to the title Competent Communicator.

Other role players

The best dressed award for male and female went to ATMG Kamal Surin and CC Joanna Liew, respectively. Again, the meeting ended in high spirit, members and guest had yet another fun and inspiring meeting. Cheers to many more fun and inspiring meeting ahead!

KKTMC SAA Outing

A day of Sun, Sand and Sea

Organized by our club’s Sergeant at Arms, Toastmaster Vijay Panickar, the club outing took place in the beautiful island of Manukan, just 15 minutes away from mainland of Kota KInabalu. Aren’t we blessed with beautiful islands nearby? The outing was for members of the club to get to know each other more outside the usual club meetings. During the outing, we had members who brought friends to the outing and in turn, several of them joined the club as members. Perhaps, we should do more of these outings in effort to get more members? Picture time!

Excited faces

Everyone settling down the picnic site...

Some joined a game of charades

Sun-kissed people

Tired but still happy from the island trip :)

Again, we would also like to extend our gratitude for Toastmasters Allen Ding (also Managing Director of Borneo Nemo Adventures) who kindly made arrangements i.e. boat transfers to Manukan, sea sports/island activities e.g. banana boat, sea bed walking, snorkelling etc.

So, I'm just thinking, when is our next outing? :)

District 87 Semi-Annual Convention @ Bali, Indonesia (11-13 November 2011)

Wohoo! It was indeed a Magical Convention!

Led by our current District Governor, Mien Soenari, DTM and the District Team, and of course, not forgetting the Organizing Chairperson, Miranda Surdayadjaja and her magical and wonderful team, 200 delegates flew from East Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia and had the best 3 days Convention ever in Bali, the land of Smiles! The warmth smiles, the tropical themed welcome night, the powerful and inspiring workshops and the entertaining & funny Humorous & Evaluation Contest were definitely the highlights of the District 87 2nd Semi-Annual Convention.

11-11-11

What a date! Like they say: A good start is the halfway to success! :) The convention started off with the Welcome Night -Tropical Themed Welcome Night! This year, instead of having it in a air-cond room, we experienced the tropical night to the fullest by having our welcome night at a open-air restaurant, decorated in a cozy & relaxing manner, with beautiful lightings, flowers and candles to accentuate the theme. To make the night even more magical, all toastmasters dressed up to the occasion. Everyone arrived in his or best pareo and flowery blouse! Even our LGET, DTM Richard A. Gontusan dressed up according to theme in his green and flowery blouse. On this very night, KKTMC once again was given the opportunity  to take the stage and performed a short musical: "Impossible". Through this performance, we showed everyone that anything is POSSIBLE through.... skirt and tutus. Haha, I'm just kidding! Anything is possible through... TOASTMASTERS! Kudos to our 3 performers, ie. Jasmine, Nora R and yours truly for a job well done! It was undeniably a fun night where we catch up with our fellow toastmasters from Indonesia and Brunei that we have not seen for quite some time. The night ended with the famous poco-poco dance and of course, group photos and big smiles!

12-11-11

The 2nd day started off with an auspicious Opening Ceremony, then followed by a series of workshops.

Keynote Speech - The 4Rs Remarkable Results through Leadership, Communication, and Change

First speaker who took the stage was our keynote speaker, all the way from US - Craig Valentine. For those of you who didn't know, Craig Valentine was the World Champion of Public Speaking back in 1999, and, he was the youngest Public Speaking World Champion in the TI History. All I can say is: What a powerful and inspiring speaker he was! We laughed, we teared, we learned as he brought us through a journey on how to influence people around us to embrace change and commit to a higher level of excellence by having the 4Rs: 1) Face Reality; 2) Relinquish barriers; 3) Rely on change and lastly, 4) Reform to better ways. Thank you Craig for reminding us that we must always face reality and to reform to better ways. To reform, we must always change small, but change often! Thank you being "the sign" and kept reminding us that when we take the first step, the universe will be on our side!

1st workshop - Emphatic Listening Skill

After an inspiring speech, we have yet another remarkable speaker, DTM Le Ann Tang who shared with us the importance of emphatic listening & steps to master this skill. She first started off the session by informing us the top 10 lousy listeners and also the top 3 good listeners. Then, she shared with us the 3 rules to be a emphatic listener: Rule 1) Shut Up! Stop Talking & Stop Thinking; Rule 2) Don't be a lousy listener; Rule 3) Listen with your heart, NOT your head. As Toastmasters, we tend to talk too much, and sometimes, we forget the beauty of listening. Thank you Le Ann for reminding us that we should listen more and that's why, we have two ears and only ONE mouth!

2nd workshop - Turning Pro  

Our 3rd facilitator was non other than Hingdranata Nikolay, CEO and Master Trainer of Inspirasi Indonesia. As a professional trainer, he shared with us his tips and advice on how to turn ourselves from amateur to professional speaker. He first started the session with a simple yet entertaining warm up to get all of us loosen up. And then, he shared with us the KEY quality of a speaker: The speaker should be a living example and the speaker IS the message because you cannot teach something that you don't really know! Then, he showed us the steps to turn pro: 1) Choose a specific playground; 2) Establish an expert label, 3) Building a brand; 4) Set up a speaking fee; and 5) Come out and PLAY! If you would like to find out more, please visit: www.nlpindonesia.com.

 

3rd workshop - How to Present with Impact and Persuade with Ease 

Later in the afternoon, Craig Valentine, gave us another mind-blowing session on how to present our speech with impact & persuade our audience with ease. How to do that? He shared with us that in order for us to give an impact, we must Tell a story and Make a Point! Like he mentioned, people are always drawn to stories. So, tell them a story and make a point, because no phrase, no stage! And we must make sure that the foundational phase is less that 10 words so that it forces you to be crystal clear! And how to persuade our audience? Simply. Sell the result, Not the product! Tell the audience how beautiful is the dress if they wear it, and NOT how good is the quality of the dress. Sell the result and people will buy it! To find out more, please visit www.craigvalentine.com.

13-11-2011

This is it! The day where our contestants from District 87 competing to win the District Champion title for the Humorous & Evaluation Speech Contest! And boy, I have to say, I'm so so proud of our representatives. A big Congratulations to our District Champion of the Evaluation Speech Contest, Shahar Banon & also our 2nd Runner Up for the Humorous Speech Contest, Ophelia Domingo. Both of you have definitely made us proud!

Below are the results for both contests:

Humorous Speech Contest

Champion: Novie Gehlen (Indonesia)
1st Runner Up: Ratu Gumelar (Indonesia)
2nd Runner Up: Ophelia Domingo (Kota Kinabalu)

Evaluation Speech Contest

Champion: Shahar Banon (Kota Kinabalu)
1st Runner Up: Sukarti (Indonesia)
2nd Runner Up: David Pranata (Indonesia)

It was a historical moment for all of us. Some of us were tearing (Yes.. again.. ) when the result was announced! It was a happy and overwhelming moment for all of us, especially Shahar. As most of you are aware, Shahar will be moving back to KL real soon. And before she leaves, she was able to realize one of her dreams, in becoming the DISTRICT CHAMPION in the Evaluation Speech Contest! I'm sure this will be a memorable and unforgettable memories that she will treasure forever! Congratulations once again Shahar aka. mummy :)! And Ophelia Ophelia, your frozen egg speech has definitely brought laughter and joy to all of us! And as a first timer contestants in the District level, this was a remarkable result! I'm looking forward to more of your humorous speeches in the future!

Before we put a full stop on this magical convention, KKTMC, the hosting club for the next Annual Convention in Kota Kinabalu from 18-20 May 2011 did a closing pitch to attract the delegates to come to "Land Below the Wind"! Our madam OC, ACS Jasmine Leong did a short power point presentation and ended with something that KKTMC does best - WE DANCE! With the help of the Brunei Boys, Jerry & Zainal, we managed to relive the 'grease moment' by performing a sneak peek of the 'Go Toastmasters you know how to speak in style!'.. And yes, we registered a total of 100 delegates at the end of the convention! Everyone says 'YAY"!

So, if you still have not registered for the convention, please do register before the early bird package of RM400.00 only ended! Because I can assure you, it will be a convention that you don't want to miss AT ALL! So, what are you waiting for? :)

Till then, let's continue to realize our dreams as Craig Valentine said: Your dream is not for sale! So, let's realize them!

Halloween Themed Club Meeting

If you were to come to the last meeting, you would have come face to face with your worst nightmare. Imagine Count Dracula, Devil, Witch, Ghost and even Pirate all in one room. Thank goodness for Miss Universe and Little Mouse to lighten up the ghoulish room.

Okay, so it was a Halloween Themed meeting and some of the more sporting members dressed to the theme. Although we had smaller crowd than the usual, but everyone was enthusiastic by volunteering for table topics as opposed to being picked on. Even two of our guests volunteered to answer topics from first timer table topic master, Toastmaster Darvis Chong.

We had four members giving speech on that evening; Toastmaster Fia gave a beautiful speech about God's printing stating the sky, rainbow and cloud as examples, Toastmaster Adeline spoke about L.O.V.E but not your typical 'L is for the way you look at me...' no, but how L.O.V.E. can help you be a better driver, seriously, Toastmaster Sentence spoke about the key to a happy life, I mean, everyone wants to know the key to a happy life. A very profound speeh indeed! Our madam President Competent Communicator Joanna spoke in praise of the man who had significantly change the lives of thousands or even millions, Steve Job, the man who defined Apple.

Of course, our man of the evening, Distinguished Toastmaster Abu Bakar, never exhausted with funny anecdotes did a great job as the Toastmaster of the Evening. The best dressed guy and lady were hands down DTM TC Lim and CC Joanna Liew respectively.

So yes, if you missed this meeting, don't miss the next one as TM Vijay Panickar will lead us to a Deepavali Themed Meeting. Are you excited? I am. Till the next meeting. :)

16th Semi Annual Convention Division K District 87

Greetings Fellow Toastmasters and Happy Deepavali to those who celebrate this celebration of light.

I finally have some down time to update you with the recent happenings of the club. First of is the Division K 16th Semi Annual Convention held on the 15 to 16 October in Sandakan Hotel, Sandakan. The two days weekend event gathered Toastmasters from all over Sabah and even Brunei and judging from the faces of the convetion participants at the end of it, I'm sure some had a jolly good time toastmastering.

From division council meetings and workshops by our very own Lieutenant Governer of Education Distinguished Toastmaster Richard Gontusan and the funny man, Stephen Fernando showing us how to give a humorous speech to the Leader's Themed Dinner and the Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation contest the next day, the jam packed convention weekend was fun and inspiring.

More importantly, we were there to support our club members, ATM-G Kamal Surin and CTM Shahar Banon as they competed in the Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation contest respectively. The verdict; let's all give a shout out Hooray! and join me to congratulate, once again, ATM-G Kamal Surin for winning 1st runner up in the Humorous Speech Contest and CTM Shahar Banon for taking home the 1st place trophy for Speech Evaluation contest which means, Shahar will be representing Division K in District level Speech Evaluation next month in Bali. Again, we're very proud of both of our members.

Anyhow, to show you what fun we had, here are pictures. (In no order)

Ophelia (SWEPA), Nora, Joanna and Melissa promoting 2012 Annual Convention which will be hosted by KKTMC

Among those who came to support our members in Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest



Congratulations Shahar and Kamal for making us proud!

Leader's Themed Dinner. Guess who is who!

Excellent act by Toastmasters from Brunei

Stephen Fernando came to give a talk on 'How to be humorous"

Look who's having a swell time dancing on the floor!

One big family of Toastmasters!

So yes, if you are interested to join a convention, the next convention will be in Bali on 11 Nov-13 Nov 2011 and it will be District 87 2nd Annual Convention. It's not too late to register. :)

Updates

Hello Toastmasters and visitors,

This post is to give a shout out to two of our very own KKTMC's members who will be representing Area K1 in the Division K Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest.

Advance Toastmaster Gold Mohd Kamal Surin Abdullah, fondly known as 'Kamal Trabotak' from his musical stints during the recent club installation will be representing Area K1 in Humorous Speech Contest. He breezed through the contest from club level to area level with his humorous story of his 'dating' experience. Let's keep it as that. Can't wait to laugh all over again when we hear it at division level.

Competent Communicator Shahar Banon, ever the articulate, precise and concise evaluator will use her evaluation skills during the Speech Evaluation division level.

On behalf of the club and its members, know that all of us are proud of both of you for representing the club and we know that you will give us your best shot.

All the best to Mohd. Kamal and Shahar!!!

6th KKTMC Mooncake Themed Meeting

 Let's revisit what we have experienced our previous meeting, shall we?

What a fun and warm meeting we had last night! From the tremendously fun table topics questions to world class speeches and evaluations & so much more! Our invocator, TM Johan Lee started the meeting by telling us the importance of SMILE! Thank you Johan for reminding us that Smile is FREE, but it's PRICELESS!Indeed, smile is the only curve that can straighten everything! And our humorous Johan never cease to make us smile! He ended his invocation with his "smile" song and his cute ukelele~ :D

TM Johan Lee with his Ukelele - SMILE 

Then, our captain of the evening, TM Karis Chong took charge of the meeting. I would like to congratulate our first timer TME, TM Karis Chong for doing such a wonderful job! To ensure we were 'mentally' set for the mooncake festival meeting, she even went the extra miles to decorate the meeting room by borrowing lantern, aka. tang lung from colleagues and friends, prepare mooncakes and pomelos and make sure that all programmes start on time! Thank you so much Karis for leading the 25 strong audience into another enjoyable meeting! 

Our TME TM Karis Chong

Another first timer, Table Topic Master, TM Raymond Wong shot a total of 10 Table Topic Questions last night! And we had 11 respondents!!WOHOO!! What an achievement! All speakers spoke for at least 1 minute, and the topics ranged from the theme, Mooncake to debatable questions like lie leads to another lie. Do you agree? (Now I know I can't trust TM Edgar fully because he always alternate his lies with some truth! :p) , imaginary questions like what's the most useless superpower, what's the world like without pencil, and tell a story with 3 keywords included in the story: David Beckham, mooncake, vacuum cleaner. Really some refreshing and mind-bobbling questions! Well Done Raymond! 

TM Raymond Wong gave 10 topics to scratch our head off

We also celebrated birthday with our September babies.

Happy Birthday!! September Babies!!

After the break, we resumed our meeting with another highlight, the manual speeches. We had a total of 4 speakers last night. Everyone says WOW! From our young TM Adeline Thien who has dressed up so nicely (like a grown up now... So proud of her) for her "How to live a healthy lifestyle" speech, to yours truly who has talked about tiny little brave tortoise and the big imaginary monster, to TM Ahmad Izzat who has taught us how to fly a plane (Now we know when pilots have nothing to do in the plane, they will start cleaning their window! *wink), and lastly, our VPE, TM Nantha with his very philosophical topic, CHANGE! Great speeches and thank you for sharing your experience with the 25 audience last night!

What I love about this meeting is that everyone, including the guests was so relaxed and were not afraid to stand up and speak. One of the guests,Imran has braved himself to answer the table topic question and another guest, Sue Wen even made a mini speech during his short sharing at the end of the meeting! 

Other than that, I would like to thank our able and experienced GE, ACS Jasmine for reminding us that Toastmasters Programme has definitely unleash the giant within ourselves. Yes, I am constantly inspired by all the members, especially the new members, like Sabrina, Raymond and Adeline who has grown SO MUCH only months after joining the KKTMC Family! Thank you for realizing MY dream!

The night won't be complete without the following awards, and our Ribbon Award Recipients were:

Best Dress (Male): Mohd Kamal Surin

Best Dress (Female): Christine Yap

Best Speaker: Ahmad Izzat

Best Evaluator: Shahar Banon

Till then, take care and we see you all at our next meeting on the 11th October 2011 (Tue) led by our first timer TME, the little cili padi, TM Nora Liew!