6th Chapter Meeting

6th Chapter meeting
Joint Meeting with Sacred Heart Toastmasters Club
17th September, 2009

Word of the day: RISE

The opening speech by Mr. President has given me inspiration to grab every opportunity and challenge the commitment to move on.It applies both in our life and working environment too.

I am delighted when the TME Michael Chu, CC started the meeting with his brilliant idea to spread the JOY OF HARI RAYA and asked everyone to stand up and get to know each other in the room that made us feel comfortable and relaxed.

The impromptu session has spread a joyous comments/experience from the speakers. The topics were prepared in greeen packets and the session was conducted by Adrian Teh, TM.

Bryan Soh, CTM made his audience convinced that 'Malaysian are compasionate towards the handicap'. The motivational speaker J. Kannan,DTM focused the right direction to grab his audience emotionally from all over the world with his Barrack Obama style.

It was a night of joyous HARI RAYA fellowship during the tea break with the Sacred Heart members and guests.








Text By TM Camelita Baluyut
Photo by E T Lee, DTM

5th Chapter Meeting

10th September 2009
Grand Paragon Hotel

The 5th meeting of Johor Bahru Toastmasters Club started off with Toastmaster Saravanan as the Sergeant at Arms and Toastmaster Sankeree as Toastmaster of the Evening. Timer of the day was Toastmaster Abiramy. For table topics, Toastmaster Nadirah decided to do something different. She prepared for us a list of categories whereby speakers will have to describe something to the audience and let the audience guess the answer. Competent Communicator Tan Eng Suan was voted the best table topic speaker. He was given the topic “Singapore” and gave a humorously vivid description of the country, which many members found amusing and entertaining.
As for the prepared speeches, two speakers did their speeches. They were Toastmaster Prabakaran and Toastmaster Andrew Tan. TM Prabakaran did his 7th project, research your topic by presenting an interesting topic titled “Eat Less Rice”. He gave a detailed explanation of how rice is actually harmful to our health and what we should eat more in order to have a healthier diet. After his speech members were enlightened and became more aware of taking a more balanced meal. Toastmaster Andrew Tan on the other hand did his 9th project, persuade with power and gave a speech entitled “Grab Every Opportunity”. He shared with us his own experiences of how he came to be who he is by seizing every opportunity given to him. Through his willingness to take up extra responsibilities, he managed to progress further than his peers. He ended his speech by challenging the members to be bold and daring and rise up to the occasion when given the chance. The winner of the prepared speeches was Toastmaster Andrew Tan.
The meeting continued with the evaluation session. Advanced Communicator Silver Cindy Wong evaluated Toastmaster Prabakaran whereas Competent Communicator Jay Kannan evaluated Toastmaster Andrew Tan. Both evaluators gave uplifting comments for both speakers and pointed out areas for improvements for the speakers. Winner for the best evaluator award went to Competent Communicator Jay Kannan.
Language evaluator, Advanced Communicator Bronze John Foo gave his evaluation for the good and not so good language usage throughout the meeting. This was then followed by evaluation from the Ah counter, Competent Communicator Mark Anthony. General evaluator Toastmaster Michael Chu then gave his evaluation for the day. The meeting continued with the awards presentation and closing speech by club president Competent Communicator Jay Kannan. This was then followed by the annual general meeting for the term 2008/2009. Overall the meeting went well and members enjoyed it.

Text by TM Wai Jey Shin

Photo by TM Andrew Tan.

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

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

Judges Training

Judges Training

Sunday 25th July, 2009 Cheshire Home , Johor Bahru

Johor Bahru Toastmasters Club had 8 participants at the Training Workshop, including the Division Governor, ACS, Cindy Wong, of course!

The workshop was conducted by the veteran in Toastmasters, ACS Mohd Awee. I benefitted from his generous sharing on the subject.

Our Club members, Praba delivered his “Attitude, Attitude, and Attitude!”…Andrew Tan, spoke on very comfortably with his Visual (the Golf gears); good messages were delivered: have good attitude and lifelong learning whether on golf or Toastmasters!

Kudos to Jey Shin who did his first Evaluation report with smooth delivery and confidence; I welcome him to our Club evaluation team ya!!!

Text and Photo by Michael Chu, CC