Sunday, November 30, 2008

With position, comes power and responsibilities and possibilities.


Photo: Gavel - the symbol of leadership

The second round of Club Officer training is just around the corner.

Every year in Toastmasters International, we elect a new set of club officers who are thrown into the deep end to learn to run the club and overnight enhance their leadership, communication and service skills. The Club Officer manuals and the Club Officer training and guidance of senior club members are the life jackets thrown in.

During the first round of Club Officer training and Club Installation, every enthusiastic club will zealously commit to achieve President's Distinguished Club or 10 DCP goals early without any qualms.

And now five months down the road, reality has set in. The busy schedule, the last minute projects pulled out, the unexpected resignations due to job changes.

Yet it is amazing to read that there is one Club in District 51 that has already achieved 9 DCP goals! So everything is still possible and it is time to pull up the socks.

It has been said that achieving 1 DCP goal from the Club Officer Training is the easiest. Yet, it is a measurement of leadership and the commitment of the club officers to get 4 of the 7 to attend two trainings per year. Club Presidents can always give free rides and overflowing recognitions to encourage officers to attend.

Unfortunately, sometimes even Club Presidents do not attend. Here is when the VPEs can become the heroes and heroines.

In the good old days, Area Governors would even visit the "weakest clubs" who did not send a single officer to attend. Did a quick briefing to give these clubs one DCP goal and to give their club officers their requirement to acheive the Competent Leadership award.

Even at some Club Officer training that I have attended, some club officers would show up to only sign their names and then to leave immediately or during the break, just to make the minimum number of 4 officers attending. That is not right and should not be condoned. If you can do that, others will start doing it too.

There was an email from Toastmasters International a long time ago that gave reasons why it would appreciate the benefit but would not give DCP credit to a video conference training given to a club which was 200 miles away by the District Officer because it was not a face-to-face training.

Since it was too expensive for the Club officers to fly to attend an organized training by that District, the Club had no choice but to accept the rule of credit giving but knew technically it was still possible for their club to achieve the other 9 DCP goals for President's Distinguished Award.

There is a range of diverse and opposing needs at any club officer training. The new club officer often complained that not enough basic training is given to help them play their role well.

The senior member who had attended many training before would complain that it was the same old thing and prefered some more esoteric exciting albeit non-Toastmasters leadership mini-workshops.

Yet there are plenty of opportunity for learning new things and sharing when senior and new club officers meet on an areas of common interest during any Club Officer training..

My opinion is that Club Officer training is the only and best time to focus soley on the responsibilities, challenges and sharing of best practices of the Club Officers. Other workshops can be held at other times.

If you are a Club Offcier, whatever your reasons to attend or not to attend, remember that you were elected, installed and have pledged to serve your club as a club officer to the best of your ability.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Where have you been in 2008? An Inspiring Video

Where have you been in 2008?

This YouTube video is inspiring. Like an inspiring speech, I hope it will make you feel better about yourself and this world.

Let me know if you like it?



Source: YouTube. Added by: Matt, 32, USA, Website: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Members Birthday, CC & Project Speech

Here are some snapshots that I have taken of tonight's Bayan Baru Toastmasters Club Meeting @ November 20th, 2008.

- Happy Birthday cake for November born: Leong Teng Leong, Alfred Kuan and VPPR Chew Yoon Seng.

- Only 4 Speech projects were delivered instead of original 8 members who had signed up. Bravo for Tajima, Alfred, Kishen and John for prevailing.

- As usual, President John Yeoh led by example, did his advanced project as "Guest" at a talk show entitled "Genghis Khan" with recently back from Bali, Michael Xavier playing the host.

- It was Guests Night. Prakash Rao brought his two children, Kuan Ee brought 4 classmates. Alfred Kuan brought his colleague Zan.

- Our 2nd Competent Communicator for this term:
Club Secretary Kishen Velu, CC. Congratulations.


Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Welcome to Bayan Baru Nov 20th Club Meeting cum Guest Nite

Welcome to this forthcoming Bayan Baru Toastmasters Club meeting at Thursday 8pm on November 20, 20008. It is "Guest Nite" too.

Venue is at Penang Skills Development Center (PSDC), Room3406, Block 3 Level 4 @ No.1, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, Penang Island. It is 5 minutes from Penang Snake Temple.

Click here for the map. One gate is for entry, another gate for exit. Free parking inside. Ample places - there is outdoor parking spaces as well as multi-storey indoor car park. The guard is helpful and is aware of the Toastmasters meeting room venue.

Just take the lift to the Level 4 and you can see the meeting venue when the lift door opens - the meeting room with see through window screen.

If you cannot find the venue, call for direction, Club President John Yeoh, 019-4615178

As it is "Guest Nite", the usual RM5 admission is waived. So come one, come all. Bring your friends along.

The Toastmaster of the Evening is Leong Teng Leong with the theme "Hero To Zero". Just received his email of the meeting roles.


Toastmaster of the Evening: Leong Teng Leong

General Evaluator: Goh Hock Hai
Table Topics Master: Eileyn Chua
Table Topics Evaluator: Margaret Chan

Thought of the Day: Tan Kuang Ee
Humorist: Chew Yoon Seng
Timer: Prakash Rao
Ah Counter: Winnie Foo
Word of the Day/Grammarian: Kesavaraj
Registration: Chan Kuan Wai

Project Speaker #1: Tajima Keiji, P4
Project Speaker #2: Alfred Kuan , P5
Project Speaker #3: Kishen Velu, P10
Project Speaker #4: John Yeoh, ACS3

Evaluator #1: Rosalind Chan
Evaluator #2: Mah Ting Keong
Evaluator #3: SL Liew
Evaluator #4: Ong Swee Keat

Taiping Toastmasters - Well Done!

At the recent Bali Convention, Taiping Toastmasters made waves again as May Cheah won the 2nd Runner-up in the District 51 Humorous Speech Contest 2008.



May Cheah continues the fine tradition of Taiping Toastmasters in producing speech champions in the likes of Sukhdev Singh and Varpal Singh.

Personally, I have visited Taiping Toastmasters Club many times over the years. Besides going to the famous Taiping Lake, Maxwell Hill, Night Safari Zoo, one can just drive to Taiping for a great evening of fellowship and late supper at Taiping Toastmasters.

Taiping Toastmasters, chartered in 1980, is the oldest Toastmasters Club in Perak. Here is the meeting information from Toastmasters online directory.




Taiping Club - Club No. 552 , Area S-1, Divison S

Meeting Time: 8:00 pm, 1st & 3rd Wednesday

Venue: Panorama Hotel, Conference Room, 5th Floor
61-79, Jalan Kota, Taiping, Perak

Contact: 6012 4631982
sussiehippo@yahoo.com

Monday, November 17, 2008

News from International Director





Wow! What a great District 51 Convention@ Bali, Indonesia, 14th - 16th November 2008

Dear Brother SL,
I just came back from an exciting time at the District 51 semi-annual Convention. Congratulations to the Toastmasters of District 51 for putting together a great experience for me and for more than 310 Toastmasters that made the journey to that beautiful Bali, Indonesia.

The amazing experience began with being picked up at the airport by Convention Chair, Veronika Trianto.

The Convention was organized with excellent presenters and good food in a great facility. I congratulate District Governor, Joseph Gomez, DTM and his team on putting together a great convention. An excellent conference can go a long way to helping a District 51 achieve its goals.

I was warmly welcomed everywhere I went. It looks like we should get at least one new club in Bali very soon.

Once again, to the members of District 51 thank you for your warm welcome and for putting on such a great home coming convention for me. It made my first visit as your International Director a memorable occasion that I will remember for a long time.

Your friend for life

Kim Siong
Your International Director 2008-2010

Sunday, November 16, 2008

2008 District 51 Humorous Speech and Evaluation Speech Top 3 Winners



Here are the Top 3 winners of both Contests at District 51 Bali Semi-Annual Convention on Nov 16, 2008. Heartiest Congratulations!

Well done to all the contestants too - you are all also winners in your own right.


District 51 2008 Humorous Speech Contest:



Champion : Stephen Fernando
Division C, C-2: PJ Hilton, Selangor

1st Runner-Up: Roger McGowan
Division W, W-4: Speecom, Kuala Lumpur

2nd Runner-Up: May Cheah
Divison S, S-1: Taiping, Perak

District 51 2008 Evaluation Contest:



Champion : Michael Xavier
Division N, N-2: Bayan Baru, Penang

1st Runner-Up: John Lee
Division W, W-2: Help University College, Selangor

2nd Runner-Up: Ahmad Fakri Hamzah
Division P, P-1: Shell Semarak, Selangor

Click here for List of Past District 51 Speech Champions since 1997.

Exploring Indonesia Toastmasters Clubs


Photo of Organizing Committee of Bali Convention


Today, I decided to find out more about Toastmasters Clubs in Indonesia.

The District 51 Bali Convention is just over last weekend. Although I was not able to attend, I thought I could at least increase awareness of Toastmasters Clubs in Indonesia through this posting. Well, someone else has actually already promoted public speaking for Indonesia - USA President Elect Barack H Obama.

I have been 4 times to Indonesia for purely Toastmasters trips. Will write about that in another post. But in this post, just to publish some online photos of Toastmasters Clubs in Indonesia for your enjoyment. Click on the club name to find the source of photo and/or club sites.

There are over 48 clubs in Indonesia - in Java, Sumatra, Bali, Riau, Kalimantan, primarily English speaking clubs with a couple of Bahasa Indonesia clubs and a Mandarin Club.

Click here for the Toastmasters International directory of all the Clubs in Indonesia.

In 1998, when I was District Governor, I went to Medan twice to help charter the first two Toastmasters Clubs in Sumatra - Medan First Toastmasters and Deli Toastmasters.

Today, in 2008, glad to know that Sumatra now has its own Division, that Medan has hosted the District 51 Semi-Annual Convention in November 2007 and that there is now a Toastmasters Club in Bandar Aceh - see photos below.

Without a doubt, Indonesia has a great potential growth for Toastmasters Club and one day will easily have over 200 Toastmasters Clubs and have her own coutry district or even two districts.



Essential Toastmasters Club, Jakarta





The Innovators Toastmasters, Jakarta





Kalibata Toastmasters, Jakarta





Medan First Toastmasters, Medan, Sumatra





Polonia Toastmasters, Medan, Sumatra





Kutaradja Banda Aceh Toastmasters, Aceh, Sumatra

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

2010 Toastmasters International Convention moved from Sydney to Palm Desert, California

Just saw this email published online. Thought I share with all.

So sad... Just have to wait longer for the first Toastmasters International Convention to be held outside of North America.

Palm Desert is near Palm Spring, west of Los Angeles. Palm Desert was the venue of the 1998 Toastmasters International Convention.

I attended this 1998 Convention. The venue was a 5 star hotel in a semi-arid flat desert turned into a green palm fringed golf resort with many outdoor jacuzzi pools and snow capped mountains in the distance. A beautiful place for a Convention.
--------------------------------------



From: DRex@toastmasters.org
Sent: 12-Nov-2008 16:08:48 PST
Subject: Toastmasters 2010 International Convention

Dear District Governors and Lt. Governors,
I write to you today to announce a change in location for the 2010 International Convention.

World Headquarters recently conducted an extensive Convention analysis, taking into account the global financial crisis and economic downturn, as well as the overall increased costs associated with holding the Convention in Sydney. This led to a realization and decision that it would not be fiscally responsible to hold the 2010 Convention in Sydney, Australia.

The new site for the 2010 Convention is Palm Desert, California. We hope you will join us and many of your fellow Toastmasters there!

We realize this will be a disappointment to many of our members, especially those in Host District 70, led by Elizabeth Wilson, whom we thank for theplanning and work they have already done.

Many Toastmasters saw the 2010 Convention in Sydney as a landmark in ourhistory, a demonstration of the truly global nature of our organization.

As we continue to stretch into more than 92 countries around the world, I can assure you that our global roots are deep. We will continue to evaluate sites worldwide as potential locations for a future International Convention and look forward to holding an “international” Convention as soon as the time is right.

This was not an easy decision to make, but it is one that will ultimately benefit the interests of all members. Our primary responsibility at this time is to be prudent guardians of the organization’s funds.

We appreciate your understanding and support.

Best regards,
Dan
-------------------
Daniel Rex
Executive Director
Toastmasters International
drex@toastmasters.org / http://www.toastmasters.org/
P: 949 858 8255 F: 949 459 2466

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

SOS - Looking for Missing Names of Past Speech Champions

Still trying to compile the full lists of Past Division N and Past N2 Speech Contest Champions. Here are the missing years, if you know, please post here or email me at "smspenang" at "@gmail.com"

Have added the names of the Past DVG, AGs and Club Presidents to help remember which term.Please forward this to someone who may be able to shed some light. Thank you for your help.

Divison N (Current List 1)
========
Year 2000-01 DVG Ahmed Bazari
AGs - Suaran Kor, Mah Ting Keong, Naranjan Singh, Peter Balan, Audrey Dewitt, Ng Fook Chin
- Division N Evaluation Champion 2000 = ?

Year 2001-02 DVG Sukhdev Singh
AGs - Thannimalai, Rosalind Chan, Devaraja Deva, Neelamekan S, Roger Green
- Division N Evaluation Champion 2001 = ?

Year 2002-03 DVG Roger Green
AGs - Chee Keng Kok, Andy Lim, Heleh Cheah, SIvanganam, Paul Seah
- Division N Evaluation Champion 2002 = ?
- Division N Table Topics Champion 2003 = ?
- Division N International Speech Champion 2003 = ?

Area N-2 (Current List 2)
======
Year 1996-97 AG Lee So Cheran
Club Presidents - Foong Wai Yi(NS), SE Lim (MIM), Usha Devi(Texchem), Rizal Fazi(PDC), Ooi Thien Ern(Intel), Adrian Ung(Bayan Baru)
- N2 Area International Speech Champion 1997 = ?

Year 1997-98 AG Pauline Ang
Club Presidents - Ricky Ch'ng(Hong Leong), Yeoh Ai Ling (BMCC), Ramamurthy Veerapan(Dell), Eunice Loo(MIM), Stella Teo(PDC), Janet Lim(Bayan Baru)
- N2 Area Humorous Speech Champion 1997 = ?

Year 2000-01 AG Mah Ting Keong
Club Presidents - Justina Goh(PDC), Tan Kok Joo(Bayan Baru), Fong Chin Meng(Intel), Laurence Yap(Komag)
- N2 Area Table Topics Champion 2001 = ?
- N2 Area International Speech Champion 2001 = ?

Year 2001-02 AG Rosalind Chan
Club Presidents - Margaret Chan(Bayan Baru), Yap Hoo Leyong(Intel), Andy Lim(Komag), Abdul Jalil(PDC)
- N2 Area Evaluation Champion 2001 = ?
- N2 Area Table Topics Champion 2002 = ?

Year 2002-03 AG Andy Lim
Club Presidents - Ong Swee Keat(Bayan Baru), Grace Lim(Intel), Marina Zai(Komag), Amran Abdul Hamid(PDC), Khairir Khalil(Penang Seagate)
- N2 Area Evaluation Champion 2002 = ?
- N2 Area Table Topics Champion 2003 = ?

Saturday, November 8, 2008

News from LGET



District 51 Humorous & Evaluation Speech contest Run-offs A/B

Dear fellow Toastmasters especially those who will be in Bali, Indonesia,

Sincere congratulations to all Division finalists and the winners from the recently concluded Humorous & Evaluation contests.

The purpose of this letter is to acquaint everyone with the procedure for the next contest in which your division winners will be participating.

As we have 13 divisions that are competing for the championship, we will be splitting the contestants into two separate groups and the top three highest placed contestants from each group will qualify for the district final on Sunday 16th November.

It will be known as Run-off A and Run-off B.

Division A, C, E, I, K, N & P in Run-off A and Division B, D, H, J, S, W will be in Run-off B.

Both the Run-offs contest will begin at the same time at a different venue.

The Humorous speech run-off's will begin at 1020am after the Opening ceremony on Saturday 15th November.

The Evaluation Contest run-off's will begin at 1140am at the same venue as earlier for run-off A & B.




The Humorous speech Run-off A contest will be held at:
1. City: Bali, Denpasar, Indonesia
2. Location: Agung room, ground floor, Inna Grand Bali Beach hotel
3. Date: November 15th 2008 – Saturday
4. Time: 10.20am (GMT +8 Bali Local times)

The Humorous speech Run-off B contest will be held at:
1. City: Bali, Denpasar, Indonesia
2. Location: Joged-Kecak room, 2nd floor, Inna Grand Bali Beach hotel
3. Date: November 15th 2008 – Saturday
4. Time: 10.20am (GMT +8 Bali Local times)

It will follow the rules in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest Rulebook 2008 (1171).

Trust the above information will benefit the contestants respective teams and supporters. Have a great weekend and see you in Bali.



*We will also be having a limited edition sales of the Bali Semi annual convention pin along with Convention T~shirts with the convention theme and even Toastmasters logo on it after getting the approval from Toastmasters International.

Those interested to have these items, please ensure to book the through your division, areas or clubs delegates who will be going to the Bali semi annual convention.

With Thanks and Gratitude,
Richard Chong @ Ritchie ACS / ALB
Lieutenant Governor Education & Training 2008/2009

E-mail: Ritchierc@yahoo.com
Cellular phone: +6012~2939 272
http://www.tmdistrict51.org/
http://ritchierc.blogspot.com/

*District council meeting will be on November 14th 2008 Friday in Bali, Indonesia
**District 51 semi annual convention November 14th-16th 2008 ~ Bali, Indonesia
http://www.tmbali2008.com/

News from DPRO




Dear club officers,
Want to come out with Toastmasters flyers to promote your club meeting?Want to design your club name card?
Want to find out what is the club website guidelines from Toastmasters International?
Want to come out with a presentation material for new club demo meeting?
Those are the common questions that people asked when it comes to Toastmasters publicity.
The good news is we are making it easier for you to locate the information to get your Toastmasters publicity up and running.
Want to design a Toastmasters flyer?
Why don't choose from the templates that are available and customize it as your wish.
Introducing to you the latest addition to our district website, the publicity resource page.

To access, go to district website at: http://www.tmdistrict51.org/ and click on Resource -> Publicity on left side navigation side bar.

Warmest regards,
Clement Pang, DTM
District 51 Public Relations Officer
Website: http://www.tmdistrict51.org/
Email: d51pro0809@gmail.com

Want to talk Toastmasters?
Join District 51 Toastmasters Forum at: http://www.tmdistrict51.org/forum

PDG Council - What's That?


Photo: First PDG Council at Vistana Hotel, Penang @ March 7, 2007

I just received an email about a PDG Council meeting in Bali this November.

Not sure if many Toastmaters in District 51 know what is the PDG Council or its role in District 51. So here goes ... my 2 cents.

In Toastmasters International District Administrative Bylaws, Article XI Committees,
"g) Other Committees.
Other Committees may be appointed from time to time as may be deemed advisable by the District Governor or the District Council. Such Committees may include, among others, the following special Committees: Youth Leadership Program, Speechcraft, Administrative Policies and Procedures, Awards, Speaker Burau, District Newsletter, and Past District Governors Advisory Committee"

In short, for District 51, PDG Council = Past District Governors Advisory Committee.

I googled and found this online posting by District 19 which mirrors quite closely our current District 51 setup for PDG Council.

"STANDING RULE #4
FUNCTION OF THE PAST DISTRICT GOVERNOR’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The functions of the PDG Advisory Committee will be as follows:
- Serve as the District 19 Long Range Planning Committee.
- Serve as a resource group to address certain tasks at the request of the District Governor and the District Advisory Committee.
- Make recommendations to the District Governor on items pertinent to the "Mission of the District".
- Review the District 19 Standing Rules (See Rule #13).
- All Past District Governors who are active members in good standing, in a District 19 Club in good standing, are eligible to serve on the PDG Advisory Committee.
- The Immediate Past District Governor, or most immediate Past District Governor available to serve becomes Chairman of the PDG Advisory Committee on July 1 of every year."


The first "official" PDG Council meeting was held at Vistana Hotel, Penang on March 7, 2007. Before that, Past District Governors often sit together to greet VIP or during Installation Dinners or Farewell Lunches at District Conventions and have informal sharing of current District issues.

The second PDG Council meeting was held at Sunway Club in Subang Jaya on September 2007 and the last PDG get-t0-together that I attended was a breakfast at the Medan Semi-Annual Convention on November 2007. So District 51 PDG Council is still very much at its infancy.

It was decided that the PDG Council will include all Past District 51 Governors and Past Territory Council Chairperson residing with District 51.

In other words, the Past District 51 Governors and Past Territory Council Chairperson who are now residing in Singapore in District 80 will not be included in this PDG Council... ouch.

The Immediate Past District Governor will serve as the Chairperson of the PDG Council.

My humble opinion is that the PDG Council is another resource at the service of the District Governor and District Council. It should not morphed into a self-directing committee but one that works on issues which are requested by the current District Governor and District Council.

I feel that each Past District Governor has a vast personal Toastmasters experience to share, own leadership style and view points. What comes out from the PDG Council should therefore be more a collection of ideas rather than a unanimous voice or vote. Just my 2 cents.

Kuantan Toastmasters, Pahang (formerly Vistana)



Last year, upon my request, I received a nice postcard of Kuantan from Past President Vincent Lim of Vistana Toastmasters Club in Pahang.

Today, I thought I should return the kind favor by posting their change of club name and venue..

Note: The change of Club name or venue or meeting date is a major decision and reinvent by any club after careful deliberation. It requires approval of two third majority and the change must be submitted by the Club Secretary in writing to Toastmasters International. There is a special TI form.

FYI - Vistana Penang has also changed name to Vista Penang.



Kuantan Toastmasters Club (formally Vistana Toastmasters Club)

Dear Kuantan Toastmasters Members, Mentors and Guests,

This is the first TME write-up since we change our club name (formally known as Vistana Toastmasters Club). I hope this short write up will remind us about to always be positive and keep in touch in this ever changing world.

As we are celebrating our 84th anniversary of Toastmasters International on the month of October, we at Vistana Toastmasters will embark our new chapter in another new venue. 31 Oct 2008, a historic day for Vistana Toastmasters Club.

Today we are having our Toastmasters meeting at our new venue at Pahang Ceylonese Club.

In line with our theme of that evening "Change for the Better", we also were inform by our Mdm. President TM Sarimah about the change of our club name. Effective Nov 2008 the club Exco decided to change our club name to Kuantan Toastmasters Club. Truly a big change for us.

It was a great start for us having 7 guests on that memorable evening. We have four guests from Hong Leong group consist of Dennis, Aaron Tee, Mr Lim and Danny. We also have Su Chin @ Susi from P&G, Mr Adnan, a retiree and Amidah, our regular guest.

During the Table Topic session four of our guest participates as Table Topic speakers conducted by our President TM Sarimah. It was a well receive session as most of the guest attempted this session for the first time. Well done to all the Table Topic speakers on that evening for a splendid performance especially Aaron Tee who pick up the Best Guest Table Topic speaker. Thumb up for Table Topic Master Sarimah for motivate the Table Topic speakers to "Open their mouth".

In the second part of our meeting, we have 3 assignment speakers who attempted their communication manual. They are TM Fong Siew Ching who is doing her Ice Breaker entitle "Autobiography". It was a short and sweet Ice Breaker by Siew Ching who share with us her background and why she being a Toastmasters.

Later, two of our club leaders share with us their Project 8: Get comfortable with visual aids. TM Pohlin with her speech title "Garbage Enzyme, The Savoir" and TM Sarimah with "Cheap but Good". What can I say about their performance is "Magnificent", "Truly great speeches". I should bring a video recorded to capture their excellent speech.

During the evaluation session, all the speakers have been point out their strong point and room for improvements. Above all I feel the members and guests have enjoy the meeting and is good to known two of our guest Amidah and Mr. Adnan is going to be apart of Kuantan Toastmasters club soon. A big thank you to all the role players and speakers that make the meeting a success and memorable.

To sum up, I must say thank you to Pahang Ceylonese Club for renting us a good and comfortable meeting place for us to continue our Toastmasters aspiration.

P.S. Thanks to Gunedran for recommend this new venue to us.

Courage to Make a Difference

Your TME,
Vince Lim
31 Oct 2008


NOTE: Map & Address of New Venue:



Peratuan Ceylon Pahang
A-4834, Tingkat 1,
Lorong Seri Kuantan 25,
Taman Intan, 25250, Kuantan,
Pahang Darul Makmur

Friday, November 7, 2008

Toastmasters Pins



When our Nov 6 Thursday night's meeting was over, our Bayan Baru Toastmasters Club President John Yeoh gave out to Club members the above nice pin of "District 51 The Courage To Conquer".

Apparently it was because our Club submitted the October semi-annual dues early. A big thank you to District 51 Governor 2008-09 Joseph Gomez.

This reminded me of my own small collection of Toastmasters pins.

I always enjoy looking at the many pins that some Toastmasters proudly wear and display especially during special Toastmasters events.

Yet personally, I do not like to wear them myself. Pins are unfriendly to fingers and elsewhere. Pins prick, exact pain and draw blood. Pins also cause permanent textile damages by boring holes into coat lapels, nice shirt collars or expensive ties.

Overall, pins are nice, Great to look at and tells a story. So I just collect them but keep them at home. Now I get to show them off to you.




This is less often seen pin of a gavel. Perhaps contest judges can wear them incognito.




A Merlion souvenir pin given by Toastmasters from Singapore. Exchanging or giving our pins during Toastmaters Convention is cool.




A Kangaroo Souvenir pin from Toastmasters from Australia.




14K Gold Pin. Nice but are so small to read.

So hard to tell the difference between a Toastmaster Pin or Club Officer Pin to the untrained eye. There is subtle differences in szie.

This is an "ATM" pin for Able Toastmaster Pin. Since these awards are no longer given out, this becomes a rare collector item. Interested to buy one, see me as I have a few left. LOL.




This prized coveted "DTM" pin will replaced all the other educational award pins. Can be bought and worn even if you have not earned your DTM yet. But why do that?




The "Past District Governor" pin has a "ruby". It can be worn be a select few but again who knows.

If you are President, buy the "Past President" pin which you can wear forever. The "President" and "Immediate Past President" pin is valid for one year only.



Here is a pin from a District 21 Governor of British Columbia, Canada.





And Toastmasters International Convention Pins. Good news, you can buy past International Convention pins when you attend any current International Convention.

Link: Toastmasters International Online Shop: Pins