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!
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