Friday, August 28, 2009

4th Chapter Meeting

Date : 27th August 2009
Venue : The Grand Paragon Hotel

4th Chapter Meeting

Splendid!!! The spirit of “We Can Do It” still burns in our heart when we gathered at 4th Chapter Meeting, which was held on 27th of Aug’2009. The members had a terrific night with our dear DTM ET Lee hosting the event, despite the fact that few of us were there, to commemorate our 1st meeting in Ramadan month.

There were slight changes in appointment holders, but the members welcomed the change positively and rendered themselves to take up the role at our request. TM Abiramy readily accepted the challenge to be the SAA of the evening and maneuvered the night remarkably.

The meeting begins with inspiring opening speech by DTM ET Lee. His speech was narrated with care and undying passion towards our Club member’s growth. He encouraged the members to soar higher by persisting in experiential learning. Learning in a fun and enjoyable way was the heart of the message that encouraged many. Later, ACS Cindy Wong came up with a word “DETERMINE” as the word of the day. It was indeed timely and thought provoking word that questions our determination towards our life and the loved ones.

TM Wai Jey Shin resolved to host a spectacular table topics session. Indeed 8 participants took part with great determination. The candid questions were based on our past club humorous speech contest. Undeniably, the members had a good laugh and take away from their impromptu speeches.

Adding to the excitement, we had a privileged to listen to two prepared speeches by TM Oh Moo Tan and TM Tan Yu Min. Both the speakers were geared up to deliver their best speech. TM Oh Moo Tan explicitly unfold her burning passion towards arts and painting. She exhibited confident and high enthusiasm throughout her speech, though this was her maiden speech. Besides, she made the members gratified with her special surprise gift. It was a set of bookmarks fitted with her fabulous collection of her drawings. Kudos to TM Oh Moo Tan!

While still beholding the wonderful drawings in the bookmarks, TM Tan Yu Min brought us to Gunung Lambak, Kluang via her adventurous speech. She captured the audience’s attention and made us amazed with her story line. She brilliantly instilled “never give up” and “can do attitude” message through her mountain climbing story. She continues to unfold the hidden message to the audience that life ought to be treated as mountain climbing feat. We need to strive towards our goals and vision despite the challenges and gloomy moment that may pull us down. She ended her speech with an astounding quote from one of the successful mountain climber, it’s not that we want to conquer the mountain, but we want to conquer ourselves. My heartiest congratulations to TM Tan Yu Min!


Later, TM Eugene Paw took the control of lectern with his crystal clear voice and his fellow evaluators. TM Sankaree and TM Andrew Tan delivered their evaluation sincerely and coupled with good suggestions to encourage the speakers, to unleash their best in upcoming speeches.

We ended the night with double celebration because we had two winners for most of the session. Best Table Topic Speaker went to TM Andrew Tan and CC Mark Anthony. Best Evaluator went to TM Sankaree, who did it for the first time. The Best Prepared Speech Speakers award went to TM Oh Moo Tan and TM Tan Yu Min. Lastly, TM Oh Moo Tan awarded with First Timer ribbon and TM Tan Yu Min earned ½ CC ribbon.

Altogether, it was indeed a blessed evening with full of unforgettable memories. I’m looking forward for another notable meeting.

We Can Do It!!!



text by TM Saravanan

Evaluation Seminar

26th August 2009
evaluation workshop

There was an evaluation workshop conducted at Sunway College on the 26th August 2009. The facilitator was ACS Mohd Awee Sidek and the host club was JB North Toastmasters Club. There were two evaluators who evaluated two speakes on that day. Evaluations that were given by those evaluators were analysed and discussed. ACS Mohd Awee Sidek did a good job on that day. He did not only analyse the evaluations which were made but also briefed on how a good evaluation was supposed to be made. On the whole, the event was successful and I am sure that like me, those who attended the workshop would have gained a lot of benefit.




Text by TM Abiramy Venkatachalam

Joint Installation 2009 Appreciation Dinner










Date : 20th August , 2009

ATMB John Foo , Michael chu,CC , DTM E T Lee , TM Sankaree and President Kannan attended the Appreciation Dinner given in honour of the Joint Installaiton 2009 Committee. We had the whole Impian Cafe at our disposal. Oh no...no ..we did not book the whole Cafe. This cafe caters only for special occasions and we happened to be the only client that night.
We watched the video recorded by Tm Razak of YPJ Toastmnasters Club. It was a memorable and nostallgic evening. Many spoke heartily about what they have achieved individually by take part in the organization of the Joint Installation Dinner.

Johor Bahru Toastmasters Club moted the idea of Joint Installation sometime in June 2009, one month before the new term began. Vice president of Education Michael Chu, CC was elected as the Organizing Chairman.

At first we only have in mind a Joint Installation of 2 or 3 clubs, possibly with Johor Jaya and/or JB North Toastmaters . The response was so overhelming that we eventually managed to convince 8 clubs to partticipate.

The Joint Installation prove to be a great success, among other things we




  • created opportunities for dozens of Toastmasters to speak to a crowd of 250 even in face of the current economic downturn


  • prove that Toastmasters club meetings can start on time and end on time, irrespective of the size of the congregation


  • Toastmasters will always perform their best if given a clear mission and complete control of their assignment


  • WE CAN DO IT! we are the pioneer club in Johr Bahru, and we are on the way to be the premier club in town again.


Johor Bahru Toastmasters, WE CAN DO IT!



Text and photo by E T Lee, DTM

Friday, August 14, 2009

Humorous Speech Contest 2009
























Cub level Humorous and Evaluation Speech Contest
13th August 2009, Paragon Hotel, Johor Bharu.

The Johor Bahru Toastmasters Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests, Term 2009/2010 was held on 13th August at the Grand Paragon Hotel. It was a memorable event not only for the contestants but for the 30-odd audience as well. They were many visiting toastmasters from neighbouring clubs in Johor Bahru, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur who attended the contest.
The Organizing Chairperson was CC Mark Anthony and the Co-Organizing Chairperson was TM Saravanan. This term the club was privileged to have 5 contestants for the Humorous Speech Contest and 4 contestants for the Evaluation Contest. They are;
Humorous Speech Contest Speech Title
E T Lee Deer And Tortoise
J. Kannan Perfect Mismatch
Michael Chu If size that matters
Wai Jey Shin How to get rid of cockroaches
Jay Shopping for Hope

Evaluation Contest
Adilin Arifin
J Kannan
Jay
E T Lee

At 7.15pm the Humorous Speech contest started with the Contest Chair CC Mark Anthony welcoming everyone and explaining the rules. Contestant No 1, E T Lee, started the ball rolling with his speech followed by the next contestant right up to Contestant No 5, Jay. The contestants definitely knew how to entertain the audience with their facial expressions, body language and words. Some of the speech titles were cleverly chosen with a twist while some were meant to instill fear on the audience. Great job contestants!
After the break, the Evaluation Contest started with Contest Chair, TM Saravanan giving the introduction and briefing on contest rules.
The Test Speaker was TM Abiramy who delivered a 7 minutes speech on her holiday trip to London with her family. It was definitely an interesting and entertaining speech. Don’t we all wish to go to London after hearing her speech??
After 5 minutes, the Contestants took their turns to present their evaluation on the speech. The points raised were encouraging and helpful for the speaker.
While the results were being finalized, TM Andrew Tan took over the control of the lectern and conducted the interview session.
All contestants were asked questions in relation to the speech they just presented. The contestants were forced to reveal their personal opinion in some of the questions.
Finally the results;
Humorous Speech Contest
Champion: Wai Jey Shin
1strunner up: J. Kannan
2ndrunner up: Jay

Evaluation Contest
Champion: J. Kannan
1strunner up: Jay

Congratulations to all winners and also a word of thanks to the appointment holders below for making the contests a successful one.

Chief Judge: CC Tan Eng Suan (together with his team of judges)
SAA: TM Carmelita
Timer: TM Prabakaran
TM Sankaree
Ballot counter: TM Eugene Paw
TM Tan Yu Min

A word of encouragement to the younger Toastmasters in the club, Wai Jey Shin’s win has proven that every member has an equal chance of winning. It is whether we have the courage to take up the challenge.
Looking forward for more contestants in the next Club contests.





Photo & Text by Mark Anthony