The Vision 2020 flier (1)

The Vision 2020 flier (2)

The Budget Speech 2011 was tabled by the Finance Minister on 13th October 2010. He made it clear that the budget was designed to lay the foundation for Malaysia to become an advanced nation by 2020. Vision 2020. Its another 10 years to go before we can reach our aim to become an advanced nation. Can we? With all the hype around that, we already decided on the theme for our 3rd PNTMC meeting.

It was held on a fine Thursday afternoon on 28th October 2010. We invited TM Shahrizan from Maxis Toastmasters Club as a guest again and he graciously accepted. God bless him.

I was the Toastmaster of the Day, it was my first time really so a bit nervous there. Unfortunately the President had some matters he had to attend to so we were a bit lost without him. We missed him dreadfully. (its true Sharul :p) But aside from some hiccups where i actually forgot to call on the roleplayers’ reports like they didn’t existed (i still could not believe i did that…they had to cue me, and i was still like, “what is it?” for some 10 seconds), and forgot to ask everyone to do a standing ovation for the ice-breaker (only i did a standing ovation for the ice-breaker because i was the only one standing), everything went just FINE..

Just to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak in the meeting, i threw a general question so that everyone can give their own view on Vision 2020. We had a good feedback on that. There was this feedback from TM Shaari Alwi that i remembered and i want to share with you. He said he remembered when our ex PM, Tun Mahathir introduced Vision 2020 (“Wawasan 2020″) in 1991, he was still in primary and he was supposed to draw on paper what Malaysia would be like in 2020. He drew some flying cars, robots and tall towers with people wearing futuristic clothes. I guess at that time we all thought the world would be that futuristic after 30 years. But right now in 2010, it’s not likely that Malaysia will have flying traffic in 2020 right? When we were young we kind of have different views on what a developed nation would be like.

There were 2 speakers that day, and i’m proud to announce our very young Ice Breaker for the only GEM trainee yet, TM Siti Aisyah (She’s only 23 years old..), and TM Abdul Rahman’s unwavering effort for giving out his 3rd Speech..! (he just gave his 2nd speech in the last meeting).

TM Abdul Rahman (Aman in short) gave an interesting speech entitled “I can read who you are by looking at your phone number” (say that in one breath please.. ). And we found out he really could. He took the phone number of some ‘volunteers’ and actually told us the person’s behaviour and financial condition. So you better be careful if you give your number to him people. You won’t like it if he says “You’re broke”, would you?

TM Siti Aisyah was surprisingly calm and brave in contrast to her quiet behaviour. I really thought she was nervous, but she didn’t show that at all when she gave her speech. We are so proud of her. Congratulations TM Siti Aisyah.! We want to see more of you and more of the other trainees as well. Next meeting then?

TM Shahrizan gave a marvelous evaluation as usual. He evaluated TM Aman’s speech and gave some tips on picking out a good title and speech. It is a learning experience every time he speaks. Thanks a lot TM Shah..! TM Ezrin was wonderful of course. She evaluated TM Siti Aisyah’s speech eloquently with her soft calm voice. She gave a good motivation to TM Siti Aisyah to continue with more speeches. And was especially impressed with her speech, especially because TM Siti did not at all read from a script for a first speech..! How awesome is that. We (actually me) could really learn from her.

We wrapped up the meeting with the role players’ reports and thereafter we had our double dose (double order) of Dominos Pizza lunch in the meeting room. Thanks to all who came and helped out with the arrangements. See you again at our next meeting!

It's raining Pizza!

Members in Raya mode and meeting room furnished with fairy lights and flowers.

Hello all,

Nearing the end of Raya month, we did our 2nd club meeting and sure enough the theme was associated with Raya. However, we decided to do something different because we miss Deepavali and Chinese New Year too. So we came up with the One Raya theme so that all of our colourful festivities can be celebrated. (Actually we just want to see our S-A-A officer, Gana to wear his dhoti. Huhu. So cute.) To bring out the festive vibe, the meeting room was decorated with Raya fairy lights and also ehem..artificial flowers, thanks to our decorator, TM Mohd Yani.!

It started a bit late, but the meeting was so fun. We invited some of our aspiring GEM trainees to the session just to let them experience more of toastmasters. And indeed they did. One of them even sang her favourite Raya song. Our Table Topic Master was our own VP Membership, TM Nurul Azirah. She provided some ‘gotcha’ fun questions on a nice slideshow and succeeded to make the Table Topic Session relaxing. Hence the ever ready volunteers.

The Joke Master Session was handled by TM Gana with some funny and memorable TV ads from Petronas and TNB on Hari Raya. We should get more videos in for our next meeting session. Its just an excuse to watch some media of course.

We had special guests that afternoon. Our petite and brilliant mentor TM Nirmala Shanmugam and her talented buddy TM Shahrizan came to our rescue although a teenie bit late. We were in dire need of an evaluation and attention. TM  Abdul Rahman aka French Photographer was our first speaker that day. Exceptional as he was, he came up with quite an opposite title for such a merry theme. His speech is called, ” My Gloomy Raya”, and he recalled to us all the gloomy moments he had when he celebrated his Raya. He didn’t manage to make everything gloomy that day because it actually sounded funny. I for one laughed confusingly when he said, ” I need a wife”, although i didn’t think it was appropriate at the time. However, a positive evaluation from the very understanding TM Shah made it all understandable. Thank you TM Shah  for that marvelous evaluation and TM Aman for making us had a fun time listening to your humourous speech..!

The second speaker was TM Mohd Yani, who is very passionate about Cycling. His speech title is, ” How Cycling Improved my Life”. Calm and collected, Yani’s manly voice resonated powerfully through out the room like a James Bond speech to one of his ladies during one of his successful missions. He influenced us to join him cycle through the jungle and get sucked dry by leeches. It was compelling. We girls almost wanted to. And so did TM Nirmala. TM Nirmala was very impressed with Yani’s impressive speech and (and we do too..!) gave a comprehensive view of his performance and superb advice that could be used by all of us toastmasters.

TM Shaari gave his first ice-breaking speech..Congratulations..! Since we know you’re so shy. We can’t wait to hear your next one..!

Anyway, i just realised that all of our male speakers didn’t read from a script at all. Talk about confidence..!

All and all, we had a great time, especially after eating the Nasi Beriani Power brought all the way from Sungai Buloh! Scrumptious..!

This is kind of impromptu but its a good thing i'm cool about it! Yey Shaari!

Who wants to listen about my very gloomy raya?

Join me ladies..i'll make sure cycling is the best decision you'll ever make..(Tempted ladies?)

It’s been awhile since this blog is updated. And a lot has happened since then. We had our first club AGM last 21st July, 2010, and pleased to say we have a quorum. Votes were taken and the President was smug as ever (confident that he’ll get unanimous votes..? ) Anyway, we got the results for the new line up of Club Officers for this term as shown in the pic.

The new breed of bread (toasted)

The new breed are as spirited as ever to take on their new roles. I guess its all about working together, huh. We all want to improve, and still juggle the workload at the office with umm.. excellence. We know we’re young and want to enjoy everything life has to offer. But we do want to make it meaningful along the way. One of them is by improving through Toastmasters. So let’s have a toast shall we. To life and living it to the fullest.

Greetings of Ramadhan Al-Mubarak and may God bless everyone!

However, perhaps readers or members of any Toastmasters Clubs have heard about CL or CC, but have no idea of what it is. For this postings, perhaps we can get to know what is it. For this, PNTMC thanks our mentor, Dr Sabariah for her tireless effort.

10 Tips On Using the CL Manual

“My club found every part of the CL manual very useful. There’s no doubt that it really serves its purpose of developing new leaders.”
-Voltaire R. Victoria, DTM

So, what’s the deal with the CL program?

The Competent Leadership (CL) manual gives you an opportunity to learn and practice leadership skills by serving in club roles. It will help you gain self-confidence and skills that will help you in many ways: academically, professionally and personally. The CL manual offers training in time management, organization, planning and critical thinking – all of which can be applied to everyday life.

Consider this: If the CL manual can help a club run more efficiently and successfully, and it can also help club members to improve their lives, why wouldn’t your club leaders pursue it? Sometimes, a little promotion from a fellow Toastmaster can help smooth the way. In case you’re finding it a little difficult to get the ball rolling with your VPE or other officers, here are ten quick tips from Toastmasters members that you can use to help promote the Competent Leadership manual:

1. At each club meeting, have one member assigned as the CL evaluator. By having an assigned evaluator, you ensure member progress in the CL manual.
2. Increase member awareness by requiring that members bring their Competent Leadership manuals to every club meeting.
3. Does your club have a sample copy of the Competent Leadership manual on display at every meeting? Keeping an extra copy on hand means you’ll have one available for guests to peruse or for new members to borrow.
4. Make sure that you recognize your members when they participate in the CL manual. Award a member with a ribbon when she’s halfway through and make an announcement when that person completes the manual. Let her know you appreciate the special care and preparation that she took with each meeting role.
5. Encourage the president and VPE of your club to promote the CL manual at each club meeting. Emphasize how the manual functions as a valuable learning tool – training each member on the different roles of the meeting and helping them build beneficial skills for the working world and daily life.
6. Place equal importance on the leadership and communication tracks in your club by including accreditations for both tracks in all correspondence, agendas and programs for your club.
7. Use the Competent Leadership Achievement Chart! Post it on the wall during meetings and keep it up-to-date. Draw attention to the successes listed on the chart.
8. For every speech a member gives, your club can request that he perform and receive evaluations on at least three meeting roles.
9. Does your club have a newsletter or Web site? Post a reminder to members to bring their manuals. Also, your club can post a congratulatory list of those who have completed the manual.
10. Ask each member who achieves the CL award to mentor a new member in the manual.

These tips will help make the CL manual a natural and easy part of your club’s meetings. When the CL manual is second nature to the members of your club, you’ll be pleasantly and easily learning leadership skills that help you everyday.

So I supposed that readers and members especially now have a better understanding. For PNTMC members, don’t worry, a schedule of your roles are recorded. However, I do hope your CL Manual has been updated and get it signed by your VP Education or any Committee who was there during the role being played by you.

Signing off for the next postings….

However, struck at 12pm, some souls started to gather at one location, which is Cempaka Room, 12th Floor of Bangunan Setia 1 for a Toastmaster meeting held by Prokhas Novice Toastmaster Club. For the 15th time the meeting will be held and some were hoping that attendance will be as good as usual.

After waiting for quite sometime, the meeting finally started at 12.10, few minutes late than we should start. However, this could be still consider a good one as most of the PNTMC members were occupied with such jobs that did not allow us to leave whatever we do earlier than 12pm.

PNTMC received two honorable guest for this meeting – Dr Sabariah and PNTMC mentor – En Faisal Shahbudin. This meeting also remarked as 1st meeting held under new PNTMC President, Sharul Sofian who replaced Ahmad Humaam who have left the club few days ago.

Alas, the club and the meeting is held by good hands led by new President. This around, the theme resembles the approach for the 15th Meeting. Since most of the club members were occupied and stuck with loads of workloads, “Free & Easy” should be an escapade for members.

Free and Easy we were.. having good laughs along the way with unexpected jokes and surprises in presentations, be it during the Table Topic or Assigned Speech Session. Perhaps these pictures can tell a thousand words instead of me typing a thousand boring words…

I wonder what made Dr Sabariah smiling....

Something must be tickling Aizat..

Godzilla in my town????

Smile!! You are on Ray Ban Commercial with Tom Kurus!!!

Aiyah.. 3 red cards already.. do they have the sense of time??? Stop talking la.. you make my stomach hurt of laughing!!!

Clap! Clap!!!.. er.. for what huh? (Sorry I forgot)

and oh yeah.. this is Mr Sharul Sofian.. our new PNTMC President..

Hi! I'm Sharul

We ended the meeting with smile on our face at around 1.50- 1.55pm. It was a good meeting with better attendance than the previous we had (I think so…)

Wanna join? Contact us and we will tell you the details!!

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Happiness, 

Is about being together

Is to be with friends and peer

Is to say how you, my dear are.

Happiness,

Is not about how you look or appear

Is not about having many things so dear

Is not to be in denial but a team player.

Happiness,

Is about having a soul so free and freer

Is to talk less but more to listen and hear

Is to meet delightful people far and near.

A poem; originally created and cited by:

Hj Anuar Ismail

MCOBA Toastmasters

It is 2010 people! And it is a brand new year. Yeah, we are definitely moving towards a fresh, brand new and hopefully a motivated year for us, the Toastmasterians. Toastmaster had indeed instilled many positive echoes in achieving self-improvement in public speaking area. The spirits of Toastmasters are incredible where all the Governors, Club Presidents from various clubs support the meeting while members greet each and everyone with big :) and “Hello”.

The meeting themes are usually remarkably creative and create great atmosphere to the meeting. Toastmasters are all about sharing one’s knowledge to another. Toastmasters are not about fear. It is about having faith in one self where doing mistakes are not a problem. It is about you stand together with your friends and believe you will improve yourself in public speaking.

Talking about public speaking, eh? Hmm….Feeling some butterflies in the stomach before giving a speech in front of a crowd is natural. But don’t let your nervousness haunt you. It can be detrimental.

Thus, share with you herewith 10 tips for Public Speaking:-

1) KNOW YOUR MATERIAL

Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more about it. Use humor, personal stories and conversational language (make sure that you won’t easily forget what to say).

2) PRACTICE & PRACTICE & PRACTICE

Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.

3) KNOW THE AUDIENCE

Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

4) KNOW THE ROOM

Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

5) RELAX

Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. (1-100, 2-200, 3-300. Pause. Begin). This will transform the nervous energy into enthusiasm.

6) REALIZE THAT PEOPLE WANT YOU TO SUCCEED

Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

7) VISUALIZE YOUSELF GIVING SPEECH

Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping- it will boost your confidence.

8 ) DON’T APOLOGIZE

Do not apologise for any nervousness or problem- the audience probably never noticed it.

9) CONCERNTRATE ON THE MESSAGE- NOT THE MEDIUM

Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.

10) GAIN EXPERIENCE

Mainly, your speech should represent you – as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. A toastmasters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.

Source: http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp

2009 has left us with a remarkable record where every members of our club has presented their ICE BREAKING SPEECH. Well done everybody! Thus, as an editor of this blog, I would like to wish everybody the best of luck in everything that you guys have planned to do. Reach and grasp your goal with the highest effort, never give up and always keep your finger crossed – that would be the last thing we normally do.

Special announcement:

PNTMC will resume its meeting on this Wednesday, 13 January 2010. See you there!

Again, Happy New Year. Good bye 2009 and welcome 2010. Till the next blogging!

Adios!

Once upon a time, a meeting had been conducted and this time it had shared most of its love and joy. A theme LOVE was picked and wait till you find out the word of the day, which was err…. Lust.

Well, be calm people. Not that ‘lust’, ‘lust’ but a different meaning of lust. It can also be translated as an overwhelming desire or craving, intense eagerness or enthusiasm, pleasure, relish. Our grammarian role played by TM Ahmad Muhaimin had brilliantly explained to the room about the word picked i.e. ‘lust’ and presented some of his example sentences.

Picture  shown our En Faisal presented some welcoming speech.

The meeting was excellent with music in the air brought up the mood to the room. Thanks to TM Ardy Rizal who brought his notebook and clicked on his mp3 lists. Some slow numbers by Wet Wet Wet, Celine Dion, Lionel Richie and many other love songs singers filled the air. We definitely felt the love; love towards the club and love towards the passion to be a good speaker by participating in Toastmasters.

Our TM Shahirah had conducted the meeting pretty well. She was absolutely the sweetest Toastmaster of the Day delivered “love” to all members; kept the beat of the meeting while TM Ardy tagged along with his clock to ensure the meeting ran accordingly. Ah Counter role played by TM Najib focused on speech crunches. Better be alert when you open your mouth and when you talk or there will be listed 14 ‘ums’ and 11 ‘lahs’ reported by the end of the meeting.

Picture shown is our Mentor, Dr Sabariah Jusoh explaining the objective of the role being a General Evaluator.

The table topic master presented 5 topics related to the theme. TM Azura presented the impromptu speech topics and there were 5 speakers came forward and did their impromptu speech. We were very lucky to have guests came to our meeting i.e. our very own Managing Director En Fazlur Rahman and his mate En Khairul from Bank Islam. En Khairul had been generous enough to share his thoughts during the Table Topic Session.

 2 speakers presented their “Ice Breaker” speech and they were TM Azlan Shah and TM Yuliana and our very own President TM Ahmad Humaam presented his 2^nd project speech entitled “Love” similar with the theme of the meeting.

 Speaker TM Azlan presenting his “Ice Breaker” speech.

El Presidente Ahmad Humam with his speech entitled “love”.

Music was flown into the air each time there was time interval between one agenda to another. This has kept the spirit of the love theme moved during the meeting. We felt love and delighted to see an outstanding number of attendance in the room. The theme had definitely captured many attentions and guests to come to our meeting.

See more pictures of the meeting….

Meeting was adjourned at 1.35pm. Everybody walked out from the room with heart filled with love…

…till the next meeting… ;P

This Gala Night was attended by more than 500 Toastmasters members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore.

Our Managing Director had presented a special speech in conjunction with the award presentation. Some of the excerpts from his speech….

….”I truly believe that the “LEARN BY DOING” way of Toastmasters is the best way to get employees up on their feet and plunge them deep into a set of activities that would instantly grow on them and stick to their minds.…”

….”Though I must admit that I may not be the best of orators or the most charismatic of speakers, it should not stop me from developing my employees into self-assured communicators who can captivate their audience….”

 (Find more of his speech below).

For this, we would like to congratulate our Managing Director of Prokhas Sdn Bhd for receiving this honorable award and thanking him for his continuous support to our Club.

Congratulations and thank you En Fazlur!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Thank you Mr. Chairperson and a very pleasant evening to all.

District Governor, Distinguished Toastmaster Richie Chong,

Toastmasters of all levels,

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my special thanks and appreciation to the District 51 Toastmasters for this Special Corporate Award. Having worked in Danaharta and Prokhas, two organizations which you may roughly describe as “debt collection agencies”, I must say that collecting this award is a welcome change, because everyone is smiling sincerely at me during this happy occasion. No one has ever given me a sincere smile when I collect debts from them. And, instead of putting their hands together for me, like what you did just now, the debtors may instead be making some inappropriate hand signals at me!

So, again I say “thank you”! Indeed, this Special Corporate Award is very meaningful to me, as well as to Prokhas as a whole.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Being in the presence of Toastmasters of all levels tonight makes me extra conscious. As a former banker, I pride myself of having the ability to conduct ‘on-the-spot’ evaluation of any potential borrower. But, right now I am in a spot, because I think some of you may subconsciously be evaluating my speech, while others may already be counting my “errs”, my “umms” and my “lahs”!

Because some of you may be timing me, I shall try to deliver the rest of my speech in about 5 minutes. And, since this is my first speech in front of members of Toastmasters, you should all permit me to use notes!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Human Capital is a very important asset, if not the most important asset, of any organization. Well-developed and skilled Human Capital is the mainstay of any company, the pillar of any establishment and the stronghold of any organization. Without quality Human Capital, or employees as we usually call them, no organization can move or improve. They are vital to the continued existence of businesses.

However, getting employees to continually improve themselves or acquire new skills is rather tough, since humans in general have the tendency of abhorring change and loving complacency instead! So, we sometimes have to nudge our employees into the right direction, and we sometimes have to form TWO Toastmasters clubs at the office to get them to improve their confidence levels and their public speaking skills!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I truly believe that the “LEARN BY DOING” way of Toastmasters is the best way to get employees up on their feet and plunge them deep into a set of activities that would instantly grow on them and stick to their minds. The two Toastmasters Clubs in Prokhas have helped to hone the soft skills of my staff via the roles that they play as club EXCOs, and as role players during club meetings.

George Bernard Shaw once said “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” Now, I don’t mean to offend the educators in our midst with that quote, but Toastmasters are definitely a bunch of people who can, and who do what they can. Not only that, they also strive to “share the magical moment” with new members. The energy that I see and feel in Toastmasters meetings is infectious and I would love to see all employees of Prokhas share that energy.

Though I must admit that I may not be the best of orators or the most charismatic of speakers, it should not stop me from developing my employees into self-assured communicators who can captivate their audience. I would like to see the people in Prokhas flourish and grow into confident men and women of substance. I have pushed for the creation of TWO Toastmasters clubs in Prokhas, and God willing, I shall continue to support them!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Before I end my speech, I would like to again thank District 51 Toastmasters for this award. My special appreciation goes to the District Governor, Distinguished Toastmaster Richie Chong and Distinguished Toastmaster Joseph Gomez for their support, AND my gratitude also goes to the Toastmasters who have spent their time and effort to visit Prokhas and support our two clubs, namely:

• Distinguished Toastmaster Ganesh Sangaran
• Distinguished Toastmaster Rema Paul
• Advanced Communicator Bronze Hakim Hamzah; and
• Advanced Communicator Bronze Dr. Sabariah

Finally, a big “thank you” to all present tonight and I wish “all the best” to District 51 Toastmasters!

Thank you!”

Speech by En Fazlur Rahman Ebrahim, Managing Director of Prokhas Sdn Bhd: Special Corporate Awards Presentation

Tadaaa! We had a joint meeting together with Prokhas Toastmasters Club last time and now we are glad to spill out some of the great experiences we had during the meeting. The theme was Hari Raya where everyone had gathered in their nice ‘Baju Raya’- (I hope I was all baju raya because everybody was dressed nicely).

 The role players for the meeting were…

Toastmaster of the Day (& co-TMD): TM Haryana Johar and TM Nur Azura Md Jaya

Table Topic Master: TM Natasha Abd Rahim

Ah Counter: TM Faridah Abd Wahab

Grammarian: TM Azham Zainal Abidin

Time Keeper: TM Mohd Juani Zolkifly

The two (2) assigned speakers were…

 TM Adi Johan with the speech entitled “Me, Myself and I”

TM Nur Lisa Amir with the speech entitled “My Raya”

The meeting started at 12.00pm and began with very interesting table topics organised by TM Natasha. The topics were about Raya ( it was Raya theme anyway). Five (5) table topic speakers had volunteered themselves and they were:

1.TM Kamarul Arffin Ngah

2. TM Azman Syah Abd Karim

3. TM Azlan Shah Mohd Hanif

4. TM Ardy Rizal Zubairi

5. TM Norazman Abdullah

Based on the majority votes, TM Azlan Shah Mohd Hanif had been crowned as the Best Table Topic Speaker. The two speakers were fantastic too and had amazed us with their stories and their speaking skills in their assignment speeches.

Additionally, we were grateful to have the outstanding and well experienced speaker evaluator to evaluate the speakers as well as the general evaluator to evaluate the overall meeting conducted and they were:

1. Toastmaster Faisal Shahbudin, CC, CL

2. Toastmaster Hakim Hamzah, ACB, CL

3. Toastmaster Dr. Sabariah, CTM, CL

 4. Toastmaster Ganesh Sangaran, DTM

The meeting adjourned at around 1.35pm. The joint meeting was a good idea indeed for us to see a collaboration of team works between both clubs and able to interact among each other of the clubs’ members. Hope there will be another round of joint meeting between these two (2) clubs in the future.

 See you in our next blog!