Review of Meeting (22 March 2006)

The meeting was called to order at 7.30 pm sharp, a hallmark of Bangsar Toastmasters Club - timeliness (at least as far as I have observed).

Attendees: AC Fong, Audrey, Bavani, Lakhmichand, Lourdes, Muhendaran, Rema Paul, Renganathan, Shandini Dewi Veeriah, Shanmugam.

Guests: Bala, Parimala (TMIKL) ATMB Renuka Dewi Mylvaganan ( MIA )

DTM Lourdes was the Toastmaster of the Evening with a twist; he killed two birds with one stone by also presenting his Assignment Speech from the Advanced Leadership Manual. The experienced speaker did an excellent job at his role as well as his speech. With his theme, ‘Getting to know you a little better’, we managed to learn a little bit more about the speakers that evening.

TM Shan was a man who wore many hats that night. Not only was he the SAA, he was also the Table Topics Master as well as the Timekeeper. The Table Topics Master came up with very thought provoking topics for the Table Topics Session. He used quotes and anecdotes to challenge our participants of this session.

Assignment speeches: CTM, CL Rengan spoke of how sheer grit and determination brought him through a challenge no one (his family and friends when he was young) thought he could accomplish - winning a sports event! Rengan, we had no idea that you were an athlete in school.

TM Shandini was the next speaker of the day with her topic “Try it and You Will Know What I Mean”. Being true to her style of subtle humour, she started her topic with a rather provocative description of an activity which kept us guessing what she was referring to. Only after that did she let the cat out of the bag - Yoga! The ‘it’ she wanted us all to try was yoga! She did a splendid job at convincing us that yoga was good for one’s general well being both mentally and physically. Many of us were seen nodding our heads in agreement as she spoke of the benefits of yoga. Know anyone who gives free yoga lessons?

We then had ATMS Rema Paul deliver her roast entitled ‘The Viking - The Gentle Giant’. I think none of us had met her husband, but thanks to her vivid description and energetic speech we had a fairly good idea of the demeanor and also the height of the gentle giant she is married to.

The following speakers received awards:

Best Table Topics Speaker : Renuka Dewi Mylvaganan
Best Speaker : Shandini
Best Evaluator : Audrey

Congratulations to the winners!

Our meeting that evening was graced by the presence of ATMS Ramdas who was also the General Evaluator. He made several points on our strengths as well as our some points for improvement. While it is always nice to hear praises we must remember that there’s always room for improvement and that we should more importantly improve on our weakness. The meeting was a little quite that evening as we did not have the usual full house present. So, to all members, let’s try to attend all meetings as far as possible. Each and every member has a responsibility towards ensuring the success of the meetings.

Finally, the President reminded everyone present of the 5^th Anniversary Bash which was to be held on Saturday 25^th March 2006. He also took the opportunity to remind members to remit their membership fees to the Treasurer as soon as possible. The meeting was concluded at approximately 10 pm.

Till we meet again!

by: Bavani

Congratulations...

CONGRATULATIONS!
to
Suriakumar Arulampalam

for being awarded

1st Runner-up
in
Area W1
Table Topics Contest
(May 18, 2006)

Review of Meeting (8 March 2006)

Bangsar Toastmasters Club had a well-attended, fun meeting on the 8th of March. As usual, this meeting had lots of fellowship, learning (where else can you learn about the different ways to commit suicide and why leaving home with your mobile phone is more important than leaving home with your identity card or money - now don't you wish you had been at the meeting!) and fun - in other words a typical Bangsar Toastmasters meeting.

A total of 12 members and 7 guests attended the meeting. Members who attended the meeting were Audrey, Ivan Fong, Lakhmichand, Letchuman, Lourdes, Muhendaran, Pratap, Ranjit, Rema, Shandini, Shanmugam and William (our long lost member)!

The guests were Zhi, Mohan (both non-Toastmasters), Renuka (MIA Toastmasters), Francis (Area W1 governor), Alvin (Money Mastery Toastmasters), Pushpa (Labuan Toastmasters) and Parimala (Toastmasters International, KL).

The Role-players during this meeting were as follows:

Assistant Sergeant-at-arms - TM Shan
Toastmaster of the Evening - CTM Ivan Fong
Table Topics Master - TM Pratap
Table Topics Evaluator - CTM Audrey
Ah Counter - ATMS Pushpa
Grammarian - ATMB Rema
Timer - CTM Ranjit
General Evaluator - ATMB Renuka

The Toastmaster of the evening, CTM Ivan Fong, formerly known as AC Fong (good thing he didn't change it to a symbol), started off the meeting very enthusiastically. He introduced himself and explained why he changed his name. We had ATMB Lakhmichand giving us some food for thought in the Invocation portion of the meeting. He related a personal story about his wife and her trip to India and why sometimes panicking does not really help. The General Evaluator, ATMB Renuka, was quite thorough in her evaluation and had quite a few nice things to say about our club (which left us light-headed with pride) and some good suggestions on improving ourselves (which quickly brought us back to earth).

The word of the day was "Integrity".

The table topics master, TM Pratap, had some really challenging topics for us.

CTM William received a topic that required him to tell us about what he would do if he were granted 2 wishes - the 1st wish was about receiving a million dollars and the second one was a wish of his own choosing. He spoke about wanting health and immortality as his second wish. However, it was obvious he was more excited about the one million dollars since he spoke extensively about how he would enjoy himself and lastly give a little away. No mention of him sharing anything with us, his fellow Toastmasters - sad, isn't it - good thing it is just a table topic.

CTM Ranjit received a topic about what kind of animal he would like to return as after he died. Ranjit talked about why humans are the worse kind of animals before he finally told us that he would return as a snake and wait for us outside our doors. Ranjit, my friend, I've heard that snakes are good in soups, so be careful whose door you wait in front of.

ATMB Francis was asked to tell us about who would be the one person he would like to be stranded on an island with forever. His answer was a total shock to us - prepare yourself for this - the person he would like to be stranded on island with forever is ATMB Muhendaran, the President of Bangsar Toastmasters Club. Are you shocked as well? I wonder if Brokeback Mountain had anything to do with this shocking revelation.

ATMS Pushpa received the topic about how being abused as a child had an effect in your adult life. Pushpa related her own personal story of being abandoned and how she grew up not having much confidence. It took a lot of guts to share something like that and we in Bangsar Toastmasters appreciate the courage it took Pushpa to open up like that.

Guest Mohan was asked to talk about how the rise in petrol prices had affected his life. He related how he now borrows his wife's smaller car to drive long distances instead of using his bigger car. So, the next time you see a small car driving past you, remember, his or her other car could be a Rolls Royce.

We had four prepared speeches - 3 basic and 1 advanced.

TM Shanmugam did his speech no. 7 from the Basic Communication & leadership manual. The title of his speech was "Police Brutality versus Human Rights". His speech was about how there is nothing in our law that says that the police can use excessive force to deal with suspects. The speech had a lot of facts and references to human rights issues. He was evaluated by ATMS Muhendaran.

TM Lechuman did his speech no. 8 from the Basic Communication & leadership manual. The title of his speech was "Suicide". He spoke about suicides and the why and how of it. He even had props - guns (not real ones, ok), pills, ropes, etc. However, he did not demonstrate how to do it, thank god. His evaluator was ATMB Lakhmichand.

TM Shandini did her speech no. 8 from the Basic Communication & leadership manual. The title of her speech was "Is it just a gadget?" She spoke about how her mobile phone is the one thing she never leaves home without - forget about money, identity cards or even dressing up – not as important as her new phone. Her evaluator was TM Pratap.

DTM Lourdes did his Advanced Speech, module no. 2 from the Specialty Speeches manual, "Uplift The Spirit". The title of his speech was "The Little Things". He talked about how sometimes in the pursuit of bigger things we ignore or forget the little things in life. His evaluator was CTM Ranjit.

As is the tradition in the club, awards were given to the best speakers and evaluators.

Best Table Topic Speaker - Mohan.
Best Prepared Speech Speaker - DTM Lourdes
Best Speech Evaluator - CTM Ranjit.

Congratulations to all the award winners!

The President, ATMS Muhendaran reminded all the members that our 5th Anniversary Bash is on the 25th of March and we were encouraged to bring guests and friends to the event. There will be lots of food, fun and fellowship. He also reminded members to settle their semi-annual dues.

The next meeting will be held on the 21st of March, 2006, so make sure you do not miss it.

by: Lourdes, DTM