Christmas Gathering (18 Dec 2012)

It's the time of the year again to celebrate and let our hair down as we celebrate this festive season with great company, love and loads of fun! This is also our last meeting of the year.

Our SAA, Vanessa, kicked off the session with an interesting ice-breaker. She split the room into half, one half to share what we would do if we were Santa and the other half if were the mean monster, Grinch.

Here is our program for the evening.  

The following are sharing what they would do if they were Santa:

Chun Kwang, a second time guest, to our club. 

 Samuel, our past President, joining us for the evening.

 Rick, one of our past member, joining us too. 

 Ben, another of our past president, sharing his opinions. 

 Kendra, our member, sharing her idea of Christmas.

 Christina, our club advisor, giving her side of the story.

Heidi sharing her perception of her Santa Christmas.

The following are sharing as Grinch: 

 Gerald, one of our club advisor, giving his short views. 

 Our President sharing his perceptions of evil Christmas. 

 Instead of being a mean monster, Doreen, chose to be a nice monster.

Chiew Ping sharing her views of a good Santa Christmas. 

And so the meeting begins with:

The meeting officially kicked off with our President's opening address. 

The game master for the evening was Vincent, who will be explaining the rules to the members. The members were re-arranged to 4 groups. The first segment of the game is similar to Table Topics, but there's a challenge to this. The group would be given some words related to Christmas and they have to come up with a story 1 to 2 minutes long. Every laughter would give them a point. The team who could garner most laughter would win this game. 

 The session's first group contenders is represented by Ben.

Alvin, from second group, exaggerated his whole speech with dramatic actions.

Clifford from group three used his talent of vocal variety to create laughter. 

The last group send out all their members to share their story.

The last group, consist of Samuel, Rick & Vanessa left the audience laughing throughout their story. And yes, from the picture above, it looks like Samuel is torturing Rick. Poor Rick. But it was well worth it because the crowd roared with laughter. After tabulation of results, the fourth group was the clear winner of this segment. 

Prior to break, we had a sharing session from the more senior members of the club. 

 Ben sharing his personal experience, inspiring fellow toastmasters that this platform is a excellent platform to excel in public speaking and leadership skills.

 Doreen shared how toastmasters have transformed her life and how she picked up Chinese from Chinese toastmaster club.

After a good laugh and sharing of senior members, it was time for break. Wine was also being served, courtesy from Vincent.

The good spread of food, many thanks to Chiew Ping's mother for preparation. 

After the break,  everyone returned with a great smile on their faces. The second segment of the game is guess the song. The group had to send a representative to the front, where he/ she would listen to the song given, and he/ she had to recreate the song using knocking on table, clapping of hands or use of bells so the rest of the members can guess the song. The one who shouts out the correct title would help his/ her group score a point.

First up was President. Judging from his looks, you can guess it ain't easy.

Alvin had difficulty trying to share with us the song in his head.

Rick tried to clap & knock but no one managed to guess it. So he was later allowed to use body gestures to sign out the titles. 

Samuel sent the crowd raucous laughter as he mimics the conductor in an orchestra. 

Everyone had a great laugh as more humourous examples pop by. With people scratching their heads as they try to convey the rhythm of the songs. Next up was the prize presentations for the efforts (in no specific order).

Moving on to the last segment of the session was gift exchange. Everyone went home with a gift. :)

This evening's meeting is also the last for our President Kelvin. He has work commitment and hence had to relinquish his post. Our next term President, Alvin, would be taking over. 

 Kelvin passing on the baton to Alvin.

As a token of appreciation for the hard work, the club would also be presenting Kelvin a gift. 

The meeting ended with all smiles making 2012 a fruitful and fulfilling year. Do join us in the coming 2013 meetings for more fun, learning and laughter!