Happy Chinese New Year - A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

President's Pledges

On January 20, 2009, the whole world will listen to the pledge of 44th President of United States of America,

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Club Presidents, do you remember your pledge,

"Will you, as President, accept this challenge and perform the duties to the best of your ability?"

and supposedly you have grabbed the gavel and shouted out loud,

"I WILL".

Now six months later, that was a nostalgiac memory.

Have you lived up to your promise? What legacy will you leave behind?

It is not too late. You got another six months left to do the necessary so that you can leave office on June 30, 2009 with dignity and pride and that you have done your very best!

"Action Speaks Louder Than Words"

I was gleaming through the sports page today and came across two Penangites who have excelled through hard work, sacrifice, dedication and perseverance to become world sport champions achieving world number one ranking!

The pride of Penang - two young Malaysians.

Our heartiest congratulations to Nicol David and Lee Chong Wei - an inspiration to all of us.


Datuk Nicol Ann David from Penang Island
- Squash Queen





Datuk Lee Chong Wei of Bukit Mertajam
- Badminton King




Photo source: Wikipedia

Forecasts - Year of the Ox

I just received above postcard of a famous Chinese painting of "Five Oxen" from Wuhan, China. What will the Year of the Ox brings to your Club?

1. The Ox is the second animal of the Chinese zodiac animals of Earth and Yin origin. The Ox will work hard and persevere and so all Club Officers and District Officers if they work hard without complaints like the Ox in 2009 will achieve all the DCP and District goals without any problems.

2. The Ox is strong and a born leader - honest and sincere but stubborn. So it is important that the Club President continues to lead with conviction and yet it is important to be flexible and tolerant to club members in meeting their different personal individual goals.

3. Clubs can expect to lose as many old members as new members join. It is important in 2009 to focus on ensuring that all members, new and old, are able to do their speeches, play different roles, conduct workshops to keep harmony, peace and avoid conflicts. Conflict resolutions and win-win situations are areas to watch out for especially in the middle of the year.

4. Quality of speeches and evaluations and meeting standards are under threat with changing attitude and lack of discipline. External factors affecting the club meeting atmosphere can be brought under control with patience and strong cooperation.

5. Financial scandals may happen and it is important that auditors and treasurers keep a close eye on careful spending and scrutinize all claims.

6. Overall, there is much optimism and hope that 2009 will be a year of recovery from the unexpected events of the preceeding year of the rat. Staying calm and confident, more open communication and leadership by example will result in a strong results in 2009 end.

Disclaimer: Above forecast report is pure fiction. As saying goes, "You are what you think". Have a great year in 2009 - Year of the Ox.

How to score in Table Topics Contest?

First, review the judging criteria of Table Topics Contest:

1) Speech Development (Opening, body, close, organization, smoothness)=30%

2) Effectiveness (Logic, directness, enthusiasm, achievement of purpose, audience response)=25%

3) Physical (Appearance, body language)=15%

4) Voice (Flexibility, volume)=15%

5) Language (Appropriate to speech, purpose and audience. Good grammar, pronunciation and word selection)=15%

So if you are already an eloquent speaker, half the battle is won and you will score better in body language, vocal variation and excellent command in English.

If not, you can still pip to win by speaking more clearly and intelligently on the topic to win the hearts of the audience and judges with your logic, appeal and wit.

Time is a factor, with 2 minutes, you need to have both coverage and depth and stand out from the other contestants. And if you go overtime, 2 minutes 30 seconds, you are out.

Be prepared for the unexpected as in "silly" or "mouthful, confusingly long" or "incorrect grammatically" topics. Examples like:
a) "Is a mother or a father a better parent";
b) "War is bad yet unavoidable, yet how can we teach our children and how to make our school education system to complement that"
c) "Baby is more important than love and money, it is glue in one marriage"

Practise. Have someone or your club members throw different topics at you and you can practise answering them. Or you can mentally make up topics and response to the topics in front of a mirror or video camera. Or visit different clubs and volunteer to be the first speaker during the table topics session.

Good luck.

D'Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club, Petaling Jaya

I received this meeting agenda from Past President and Past DPRO Tham Chee Wah. If you are a Toastmaster living or visiting Klang Valley, this is a monthly meeting not to be missed.


"Your Preferred Club meets 2nd Thursday - D'Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club"

Dear Friends
Happy New Year! How are you doing at the start of 2009? Sunshine, bright and breezy..... as always!!

This is it, the 2nd Thursday of the month in January 2009, join us :
D'Utama Advanced Toastmasters Club
8 January 2009 (Thursday)
7.3pm - 10.00pm
Meeting Venue : Room 1.08 Kolej Damansara Utama
Jalan SS/41 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Door Fee : RM10

http://www.duadvanced.blogspot.com

All the speechesAll the evaluationsAll the open evaluations
happening this Thursday!!
Join us, see you there!
Have a lovely week ahead!

Tham Chee Wah

click on this meeting agenda for larger view







President Deborah Hoe, VPE Foong Weng Tuck, VPM Samantha Teoi, VPPR Karen Yen, Secretary Nancy Liew, Treasurer Yip Wah Pung, SAA Bonnie Loo, IPP Lee Wei Seong

Speeches for Your Evaluation

P1 - President Hu Jintao


P2 - Queen Elizabeth II


P3 - President Elect Barack Obama

A Toastmaster's Glass

A toastmaster's glass is an English glass about the size of an ordinary drinking glass but with only about one-quarter of its capacity.

The glass creates the illusion of being full by means of a depression in its bowl, which in fact is almost solid.

It owed its origin to the clubs of 18th-century England, where the toastmaster had to remain sober enough to carry out his office.

Source: Britannica Online Encyclopedia

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

Source: The Star, January 4, 2009 (Photo cropped)