KOTA KINABALU TOASTMASTERS CLUB: 13th Meeting 2012-2013 (8th January 2013)

Dear Fellow Toastmasters and friends,

The word of the evening, Paucity, certainly didn't describe our last KKTMC New Year's themed meeting! :) If it was a word to describe our New Year's Themed Meeting, it would be - Abundant! Throughout the meeting , there was an abundance of positive energy, abundance of laughters and fun learning! and That my friends, are the qualities of an awesome meeting! :)

This meeting, we had FOUR first timers from of our newest members; Rogers Tiam, Emylia Philip, Melinda Chua & Kevin Ng who all within the last 2 meetings but wasted no time in taking up a role at our meetings, and did a fantastic job at that too! I especially liked how Invocator Emylia has inspired us to "take the first step in realizing our dreams. Be a Toastmaster!" Definitely shared my thoughts and took the words out of my mouth! Good job you guys!!

As soon as our seasoned TME took on the stage, Yee That Hian, DTM started cracking our funny bones with his ever witty punch lines! I think one of the most memorable things he said was "It takes 2 to Tango, and 2 hands to clap. If there's only 1 hand... then I can only slap you!", a simple truth, said with a straight face was all it took for everyone to burst out laughing! Thank you 'Uncle' Yee for leading us to such an amazing New Year Meeting, setting an example for future TMEs to emulate. Thank you!

Our ever bubby and vivacious Table Topics Masters Sylvia Maten, ACS came on stage fully prepared with goodies fielded 6 questions and got 7 people to respond; Joanna Liew, ACB, CL, who would choose to become a banana if she were a fruit, to my plans in making 2013 fruitful by enhancing the quality in KKTMC members. Florence Majanil, CTM shared her lessons learnt from the past and Intan Salwana gave us a glimpse of her childhood wish! Abu Bakar Sheriff, DTM gave current or future parents some tips on handling future children and Yee That Hian, DTM (employer) and VPE Fia Iskandar, CC (employee) shared the same thoughts on the recent minimum wage policy in Malaysia - that wage should reflect workload! It was a fantastic session and even though we may be thrown off when asked to give an impromptu mini speech, we are trained in Toastmasters to find our ground and speak with style!

Of course, not forgetting our young Table Topics Evaluator Raymond Wong, CC who was sharp as always in his evaluation and gave many useful tips to future Table Topics Masters!

After the break, we had 3 speakers presenting to us their prepared speeches. Vijay Panickar (project CC3 "So you think you have no talents") shared with us the "secret" formula to success - Practice, purposeful practice and self-motivation! (Shh... you're not supposed to tell anyone)!! A natural speaker, he has engaged us in his speech the minute he started speaking. Thankfully, his first timer evaluator, Intan Salwana, didn't "panic" and gave him a rounded useful evaluation! Well done!

Raoul Yong (project CC5 "The Lonesome, Lazy, Litterbug") started his speech with an interesting opening! Instead of his usual openings, he started off by blowing his nose and littering around the stage, bringing us into his speech and how to handle litterbugs! So if you ever see a litterbug dumping a piece of garbage, you pick up his trash and dispose it, then smile at the litterbug and bi d him or her a nice day!

Nora Ridzwan, CC (project ACB6 "The Play - West Side Story) reenacted 2 romantic scenes from West Side Story, where she had to play 3 distinctive characters from the play while narrating her own story! Our dancing toastmasters captivated our attention throughout with her portrayal of Tony, Maria and Anita (actions and accents included)! Wonderful presentation indeed! Both speakers were given apt evaluations by seasoned evaluators Joanna Liew, ACB, CL and Jasmine Leong, ACS, ALS respectively.

Oh! If we're ever caught speeding, we now know what to do with the police! Thanks to Humour Master Nora Liew, CC.

We also had a special presentation of "Simply the Best" pins by our District Governor Richard A. Gontusan, DTM, to every member who successfully changes their Toastmasters title during this term and also successfully brings in a friend into Toastmasters! Here are the list of recipients for the first half of the term:

Bring a Friend: Abu Bakar Sheriff, DTM

CL: Joanna Liew, CC, CL

CL: Jamie Chieng, CC, CL

ALS: Jasmine Leong, ACS, ALS

Congratulations and well done to your efforts!! :)

Finally, a big thank you to all the role players & speakers who have chipped in their efforts in making the meeting a success! Special thank you to our VPE Fia Iskandar, CC who had worked hard in making sure all our roles are filled, role players briefed, and that they came on time! :) Good job VPE! :) More importantly, our ever supportive, seasoned Toastmasters, actively participating in the meeting had surely made our meeting fruitful! Thank you! :)

I'm still reeling from the excitement and the after meeting "yamcha" session! Our 2013 has indeed started on an amazing note and I can't think of a better way than to kick start my year with a dose of Toastmasters spirit! Thank you everyone for making it such a pleasurable Journey with Toastmasters!! :)

With that, I hope to see everyone again at our next meeting, 22 Jan 2013 - Chinese New Year Theme!

Happy New Year 2013!

Yours in Toastmasters,

Jamie