3 October 2017 - Mid Autumn Festival

A warm welcome to fellow members and guests who joined us in our meeting in our warm comfy club on Tuesday, 3 October! There was an amazing turn out this meeting, which filled our session with vibrant stories and interesting tales. In celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival which was the next day, VPE Wen Zhong kick started our meeting sparked off with an ice breaker session, sharing about what we loved most about Mid-Autumn Festival. Most of us expressed our love and craving for the delicious delicacy – moon cakes, some of us relished in nostalgia, sharing about childhood memories of lantern and playing, and few of us indicated our lack of enthusiasm for the festival. Nevertheless, the ball was rolling, the meeting was on.

We had 3 speakers who prepared speeches for the evening – VPM Andy Sitoh with Project 9 (Persuade with Power), Club President Vincent Chua, CC, CL with Dynamic Leadership Pathway L2P2 (Leadership Styles) as well as visiting toastmaster, Michelle Tan, CC with Advanced Project 4 (Touching Stories)

TM Andy

Andy spoke passionately about the importance of volunteering and urged everyone to start volunteering. In our rapid, fast-paced society we live in, volunteering gives individuals a sense of purpose and to feel more alive fighting for a cause they believe in. A memorable quote from his speech, “Volunteering is not a nostalgic relic of the past. But it is our first line of defence against the social atomization in globalizing world”

TM Vincent

Next up, Vincent, completing his Dynamic Leadership pathways project, shared about different communication styles. I’m sure for many of us who are in the working world; we learn that everyone has different working styles and thus different communication styles as well! Vincent shared that growing up as a quiet, reserved and timid child; he naturally adopted a more “supportive” leadership and communication style – with the focus on being patient and encouraging and bring others up to their potential.

TM Michelle

Last but certainly not least, Michelle shared a compelling personal story about her life. Completing AP4 where she had to deliver a touching speech, she gave an extremely expressive and passionate speech, rousing much emotion into her audience.

With that, the prepared speeches of the day were over. At the refreshment break, we were spoiled with a wide variety of food and delights for the large group of 15 of us. Moving on,

We had the evaluation session, which is basically a feedback session on the prepared speeches. Our first evaluator, Jun Seng, evaluated Andy, complimenting the contents of the speech as it appealed to the audience with Logos (Logic), Ethos (Credibility) and Pathos (Emotions). However, he suggested that Andy could’ve improved on his stage work and more personal stores in his speech.

TM Jun Seng

Second Evaluator, Tavin, exclaimed that Vincent gave a marvellous speech and commended his supportive, calm voice. Vincent showed no sign of nervousness and it was truly the mark of an experienced speaker.

TM Tavinn

Lastly, Evaluator Peter praised Michelle for her speech. Her content involved different characters which engaged the audience into the story; and her delivery invoked emotions and feelings into the audience, a truly powerful speech.

Moving on, Toastmaster Yian Tay, division director, conducted a rather interesting table topics session. In conjunction with the theme of the meeting mid-autumn festival, her topics involved a classic mid-autumn festival story… with a spin-off.

Division Director Yian Tay

For instance, Rajesh faced the topic of “When you point to the moon, I will…” and he had to complete the story. In the myth, one’s ear would be cut when they point to the moon, but Rajesh shared that when he points to the moon, it was a symbol of aspiration and the human ambition to soar above and beyond, clearly different from getting one’s ear cut! Theresa, facing the daunting topic of the “10 suns”, proclaimed that she would use the suns as a tool for a barbeque.

TM Rajesh

TM Theresa

Other participants included our young toast master Yi Shan, where she shared about the hero Hou Yi known for his bravery because for the simple fact that he is a man;

Youngest Speaker!

Youngest speaker!

Juwin who spun a tale into a personal story about courage;

Juwin sharing her story

Celine who spun the story about Chang Er and the Sun, incorporating jokes such as the elixir being a mooncake;

TM Celine

All Ears

and last but not least, the table-topics master herself, Yian Tay, just for the fun of it, shared that “the jade rabbit was found doing…” zoomba! And that she was the jade rabbit!

The last segment of the meeting was conducted by Toastmaster Hui Xian, with the language evaluation segment. Throughout the meeting, she was picking up positive or negative usage of the English language which was spoken during speeches. She commended appropriate language such as “trembling with fear”; using “endearing” instead of “special”; idioms such as “raining cats and dogs”; and quotes such as “forgiveness is the key to unlock hatred”. She commented on common pronunciation errors such as “their” should’ve been pronounced as “there” (“W’ is silent). It was truly informative feedback and I’m sure we all benefitted from the feedback!

Language Evaluation

With that, it was getting late and it was about time to head home, but what is a chapter meeting without the prizes right? The best prepared speaker award for the evening was a tough one. It went to Michelle with her powerful story! Best evaluator went to the charming young toastmaster Tavin and best table topics speaker award interestingly went to the youngest speaker – Yi Shan!