Thu 20 Sep 07, 3rd Chapter Meeting@Headquarters

Opening Speech
Siva's (President Theresa was away on a seminar) opening address covered on re-visit plans. He shared that Changi area was explored to be the next S'pore International airport after Kallang Airport. However, due to some issues then, it was built at Paya Lebar although it was near housing estates. After passenger numbers rose greatly, the plan in Changi was re-visited & the rest is history.

How does this apply to Toastmasters? An idea would strike & planned to be the next project topic. However, due to insufficient info, material, etc. the topic would be dropped & forgotten. The advise is to re-visit the planned topic later, who knows it might be become one of the better project speeches.

Word of the Evening
Inspire , Aspire ---> by visiting Language Evaluator, John Choi (President, Radin Mas TMC).

FIRSTS
It was an evening of FIRSTS:
1) FIRST time ITE TMC Chapter meeting held in Headquarters
2) FIRST time performing the role of Table Topics Master - our brave Madeleine, well done
3) FIRST to complete CC (½ DCP goal for our Club) this term --> Velkumar
4) FIRST time a real hammer (not to be confused with the gavel) was used during a speech
5) FIRST time our 2 Treasurers (Poh Lian & Eng Kai) took on the role of Ah Counter & Timer together, sat side by side (did they discuss anything about accounts? you will have to ask them)
6) There were 2 Project Evaluators & Language Evaluator FIRST time visiting ITE TMC
7) FIRST time Siva, VPE2, planned a chapter meeting (phew! glad it's over..... hey wait a minute, still got to plan for the next 2 chapter meetings...start engine again.......)
8) FIRST time a pleasant surprise plan (some called it a 'plot') was executed to perfection (read below on Project Evaluation to find out, someone was completely taken by surprise)

Prepared Speeches
There were 3 prepared speech speakers: Siva (P6), Velkumar (P10) & Lye Sum (AP6).
Amazingly, all 3 had personal experiences to share as part of their speech:
1) Siva - secondary school maths teacher 'roasted' him during class
2) Velkumar - how he got to work in S'pore
3) Lye Sum - right place, wrong time, almost caught in the middle of an "unpleasant" situation. Those present at the mtg were glued to his speech, waiting to hear what's next.

Congratulations to Velkumar who completed his CC. He used a real hammer to dramatise his introduction part of his speech.

Project Evaluation
Next came the value-adding evaluation session, Hijazi was called upon to evaluate Lye Sum's speech & revealed that he was Lye Sum's former student (look at Lye Sum's expression...... oops.... everyone else was surprised too & did not take candid photos). Who's the planner (plotter)? VPE2, Siva. Siva met Hijazi during a club visit at Bukit Timah TMC. As he was planning the programme, thought about having a former student (Hijazi) evaluate his former lecturer's (Lye Sum) speech. At the start of mtg itself, Hijazi did not tell Lye Sum where he studied & Lye Sum also did not recognize him. TME also edited Hijazi's introduction as to not to reveal too much. Well, at the end it was a pleasant surprise.

Language Evaluation
John touched on
1) Use of the Word of the Evening;
2) Trash (not so good use of language); and
3) Cash (use of good language).

Conclusion
For a change, we had our chapter meeting in Headquarters. At the highest floor, 9th Storey, Board Room. Air-con (those present felt colder though) was auto set by the system. Hence, when the sound of air-con could not be heard anymore, we knew we had to wrap up & say our good-byes.

Best Table Topics Speaker : Tan Kay Chuan (Patron, ITE TMC)
Best Prepared Speech Speaker : Ong Lye Sum, CL (VPE1, ITE TMC)
Best Evaluator: Mohamad Hijazi, ACS (Club Ambassador, AIA Changi TMC)

We had 3 guests, Shirley (College East), Vivian (HQ) & Choon Chiat (HQ) who had an enjoyable evening.

Thanks to Kay Chuan who contributed mooncakes, assorted kuehs & bought souvenirs for visiting Toastmasters.

Siva, VPE2