IEM SARAWAK TOASTMASTERS CLUB

9th Training Meeting 12.11.2009

2009-11-23T05:12:00.000-08:00

Good Day Everyone,

Our 9th Training Meeting was a small but entertaining meeting with 4 speeches altogether. The first Speech was done by our new member TM Kho Boon Phiaw.

TM Kho Boon Phiaw was then awarded a ribbon for starting his CC manual by Area Governor D3
Our second Speech was TM Chai Joung Jung's CC6 titled "Money is not the only measure of success in life"The 3rd Speech of the night was TM Richard Lim's CC10 titled "My Belief my Destiny".

He was then awarded a ribbon by Area Governor D3 for this completion of the CC manual

Finally the advance Speech was done by Area Governor D1 ACS/CL Tang Hong Mui on her ACG4 titled "Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine"
Let's bring in the EVALUATORS!!

Finally the last event is the Table Topics session which is lead by the charming ACS Allison Lyall

And her victims are:

Finally to evaluate the Table Topics session, we have ACB/CL Robert Chang
And our General Evaluator is Area Governor D3 ACB/CL Leslie Chai to evaluate the whole meeting.
Unfortunately our caterer forgot to deliver the goodies for the night so we improvised and had our tea in Mc Donalds.
Good Night Ya All!

2009/2010 INCOMING PRESIDENT ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

2009-05-29T00:12:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

A wonderful year has passed and before we progress onto the next session, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone whom we have been working with.

2008 /2009 Session has been a good year for IEM Sarawak Toastmasters Club especially in achieving the President Distinguished Club award which I am very confident we will attain for this session. It has also been a good year since we were involved in many activities such as District 51 Annual Conventions, presentations and talks which promotes Toastmasters all around Kuching and help create awareness that Toastmasters is always around to aid engineers in public speaking.

The present success of IEM Toastmasters Club would not have been possible without the leadership of our outgoing President ACB/CL Fauzi Shahab and his team. Actually I should regard ACB/CL Fauzi Shahab as a Super President since he has held and assisted almost all the other Exco members and their duties during this session. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fauzi Shahab and his team for a job well done. Let us all give him and his team a big applause for all these contributions. It would be difficult to match their outstanding achievement for this 2008/2009 Session.

I sincerely accept this important role as President of IEM Toastmasters Club for the 2009/2010 Session and together with the strong support of my new team members (My VPE, VPM, VPPR, Secretary, Treasurer, SAA and committee members) aligned with the new upcoming motto, we will strive to attain perfection of the 10 DCP Educational Goals to achieve again the President Distinguished Club award for the 6th time. With this target as set aside, I would also drive to promote membership to at least 40 members and also to win all the club contests up to international level be it humorous, evaluation, international speech or table topics. Why? Because all I see here are potential candidates to be champions in these events and make us proud to be a member of IEM Sarawak Toastmasters Club.

Before I end this speech, I would like to share a quote with you from Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

With this I would like to wish everyone a blessed, prosperous and a great year in the 2009/2010 Session ahead.

Thank you.

CC/CL Benjamin Lim Siaw Ming
Incoming President
Session 2009/2010

CLUB 5TH AGM

2009-05-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

CLUB 5TH AGM HELD ON 28 MAY 2009

2009-05-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

IEM MEMBERS AT THE ANNUAL DISTRICT
51 CONVENTION HELD IN KUCHING FROM
17-19 APRIL 2009

MEETING HELD AT JAMBU ON 12 FEB 2009

VALENTINE AND ACHIEVERS NIGHT

GUEST NIGHT MEETING

AREA D3 CONTEST IN JANUARY 2009

WITH CC KUEH (IN SUIT) AS THE

ORGANIZING CHAIRPERSON

Jan 09: First Meeting in 2009 and Contest NIght

2009-01-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

Meeting No. 5 (Contest) & No. 6

2008-09-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Excerpts taken from TI Magazines, July Issue

"I have watched so many people come into Toastmasters, and as they have developed their confidence, that condidence has expanded into courage - the courage to conquer"

"Do not leave Toastmasters until you have at least earned your Competent Communicator and served as a club officer!"

Jana barnhill, DTM
President of Toastmasters International
*
*

"The incremental approach takes major pressures off us yet puts improvement on a comfortable auto-pilot. Then one day, without feeling the pain of the process, it just dawns on us that we've become darned good speaker."

Richard R. B.

___________________________________________

Meeting No. 5: Humorous and Evaluation Contest
11 Sept 2008

The Humorous and Evaluation Club Contest was held with Amanda Lee from ABC Toastmasters Club as test speaker.

The evaluation contestants were Kueh Hua Men, Alvin Lim, Leslie Chai, Kharunizam and Benjamin Lim.

Timers were John Lau and Thomas Tiong, and tally counters was Timothy Yong of Kuching Connection Club. The Contest Sargeant-at-Arms were Lim Kian Hwa and Timothy Yong.

Congratulations to the contestants who are already winners when they came forth and spoke at the evaluation contest.

The ranking were Leslie Chai- champion, Alvin Lim – 1st Runner Up and Khairulnizam – 2nd Runner-up. Both Leslie and Alvin will represent the Club at Area D3 contest which will be held on 20 September 2008.

AREA D3 Humorous and Evaluation Contest
20th Sept 2008

Evaluation contestants were Leslie Chai and Alvin Lim from our Club and Diong Lee Jiuan and Campbell Apau from Kuching Toastmasters. Campbell emerged champion and Diong L J emerged 2nd runner up, both will represent Area D3 in the Division Contest.

Well-done to Leslie and Alvin for representing the Club at this Area contest.

Division contest tentatively will be held on 18 October 2008. Members will be informed when the date and venue is fixed.

Meeting No. 6: 25 September 2008

The meeting was attended by six members and six guests.

Congratulation to Kassim Jeritan who completed his CC7 speech and is three speeches away from getting his Competent Communicator. He was evaluated by CC Khairulnizam. Move on Kassim.

The 2nd speaker is ACB Tan Hong Mui from X-Fab Club, who did the Specialty Speeches Advance Manual for Read Out Loud. ACB Fauzi evaluated her speech.

We will continue to encourage our members to do speeches especially those that have not done any for a very long time. It is noticed generally that once members stop making speech for a long time, it is difficult to pick up and move on. But with commitment and the goal to complete the speech, you can do it. Commit yourself to speeches.

When contacted to make speeches by the VPE or TOE, jump on it. Don't think twice. Remember this quote - " If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you're right". Start to think 'You Can'.

Fauzi Shahab

Prez

IEM EXCo Installation and Training Session 4

2008-09-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

IEM EXCo Installation and Training Session 4

The meeting was attended by 7 members. There are 8 guest from other clubs and they were:

Grace Lim, Law Lee Poh (Connection);
Poh Khee Yong, Robert Chang (Kuching TM);
Fong Fui Yee, Jacquelin Goh (ABC Club) and
Gregory Poh.

The events started with the discharge of the Past Ex-co and installation of incoming Ex-co whereby a pledge is made to serve the Club to the best of their ability.

The meeting is then followed by the normal training meeting with Fauzi doing his CC7 speech which is later evaluated by Victor Foong.

Table topic was conducted by Khairulnizam that centers on the Merdeka theme.

Members are encouraged to prepare and make speeches in the Club.

Please also introduce this Club to others so that the membership strength can be increased and more engineers can benefit from this TI program.

Next meeting is on 11th September which is our contest night for humorous and evaluation speech contest.
_______________________________________________

President Speech:
ACB S. M. Fauzi Shahab
28 August 2008

Fellow members, supporters & friends of our club, ladies & gentlemen. A very good evening.

When first introduced to IEM Sarawak Toastmasters Club back in July 2004, I did not have the full picture how I would benefit and least of all cross my mind that I would one day gained the confidence of the members to lead the Club. I signed up soon after attended the first meeting and immediately took on the role of the Asst. VPE, a non-TI official position. The subsequent session 2005/2006, served as VPE. In 2006/2007, as VPPR and the last session as VPM, thus complete holding all the VPs position. I took on the VPs’ roles as I have been reluctant and unprepared to take on the leading role as the President. There is no more VPs role to serve but to rise up to the challenge as the President. I wish to express my gratitude for the confidence and believe the members have placed on me to lead the club.

I ‘grew’ with the club, both as a member and serving as ex-co. I have indeed learned tremendously the soft skills in being better communicator and to take on the leadership role ever since I joined the toastmasters. I achieved my educational goal of getting Competent Communicator, Advance Communicator and for the leadership track the Competent Leader. While this can be measured by completing the programs established by Toastmasters International, what cannot be measured is the confidence, self-esteem and personal growth I have developed in this Club. The quote from Bonny Blair serves to remind me the benefits I have gained in Toastmasters:

“Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you have done before”

The Club would continue to be the avenue for the members especially the engineering fraternities to be winners. As the incoming President the plan and strategy would be to meet these goals:
· To increase the membership of the club to 40 with sizeable membership from the ladies;
· To hold quality educational meetings that are supportive and conducive for members;
· To achieve the DCP goals; and
· To maintain sound financial standing of the club.

Together with the ex-co members, CC Khairulnizam Mohd Khalid (VPE), CL Benjamin Lim (VPM), CC Winston Gerard Jingie (VPM), TM Sandra Gemong (Secretary), TM John Lau (Treasurer), TM Kassim Jeritan (SAA), ACB Alvin Lim (IPP) and the committee members, ACB Nicholas Andrew Lissem, ACB Leslie Chai and TM Steven Kueh, we will continue to carry on the excellent performance of the Club since its formation. We wish to express great appreciation to the past ex-co under the leadership of ACB Alvin Lim for setting the solid foundation for the Club from which we can continue on. We hope that all the members of the Club would provide us your support voluntarily, because it is through this voluntary and mutually supporting environment that Toastmasters is one of the world renowned organization.

Let us not forget the other Clubs that have been instrumental in our success shown through their strong support in attending and guiding us in our meetings, in the past and until now. Thank you to these Clubs which I would like to mentioned here:
· Kuching Toastmasters
· Hornbill City Toastmasters
· Azam Toastmasters Club
· X-Fab Toastmasters Club
· Connection Toastmasters Club
· ABC Toastmasters Club

Finally, for the trust, confidence and believe the members have put in me to lead our Club, I pledge to put in my utmost effort for our Club’s well-being.
_________________________________________________

IPP Speech for Installation Night 2008

ACB,CL Alvin Lim

Fellow members of IEM Sarawak Toastmasters Club, supporters & friends of our club, ladies & gentlemen,

Last Sunday, we had just witnessed the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games. To me, one of the most significant & symbolic event during the grand closing ceremony was the official handing over of the Olympic flag from the current host Beijing to the next host, London. Using this analogy, this is what our installation this evening is all about. The symbolic handing over of duties from the outgoing exco to the new exco of session 2008/2009.

During my term as President last session, I had the previlage of working with a wonderful team of excos. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them from the cooperation, dedication & most important of all, their friendship. Together as a team, we did our level best to guide the club forward. I believe with the exco’s commitment and our club members participation & cooperation, we have managed to achieve our goal of helping our members become better leaders & communicators.

And because of everyone’s contribution, our club has once again managed to achieve the “President Distinguished Club” award. This continues our club’s proud tradition of receiving this award 4 years in a row since the club was chartered.

On a personal level, my term as President was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. A phrase made famous from the movie “Forrest Gump”. From the high of being promoted at work to the low of losing my Grandfather during the term. But whatever situation I was faced with, I believe my Toastmasters experience has helped me.

For example, during the interview process for my promotion, the experience I gained from leading the club and Table Topics helped me tremendously. Even in the passing of my Grandfather, Toastmasters helped me come up with an eulogy worthy of my Grandfather’s colorful life.

And because I have personally gained from my Toastmasters experience, I strongly believe in its ability to help others. That is why I will continue to support the club & it’s activities.

In closing, I would like to congratulate Fauzi as the new President to continue to lead our club forward. Using the analogy of the Olympic games, I urge him to adopt the Olympic motto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius”. “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.

Faster – to plan ahead to ensure our club achieve our goals “Faster” and ahead of schedule.

Higher – to aim “Higher” & to achieve 10 out of 10 DCP goals for the first time in our club’s history.

Stronger – to increase our club’s membership to make our club “Stronger”.

Thank you.

_____________________________________________

Training Session No.2 24-july 2008

2008-07-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

REVIEW OF MEETING NO.2 – 24 JULY 2008

The meeting was attended by 16 people – 11 from IEM and 4 from Kuching Toastmasters Club and 1 from Connection Toastmasters Club.

Speakers and their evaluators were:

TM Rudy Zulfika Yusof who made his ice-breaker speech. He was evaluated by CC,CL William Chin who urged him to move on to the next speech. Congratulation on the first speech and don’t wait too long for your next speech.

TM John Lau introduced a new word, infantilize in his speech. A good speech for parents or would-be parents with small children. The message: don’t pampered them too much until adulthood. He was later evaluated by ACB,CL Alvin lim

ACB,CL Nicholas who did the advance manual speech for making a toast. His toast was inspirational with the message for new president and his ex-co to bring success to the club. ACB, CL Robert Chang evaluated the speech.

ACB,CL Leslie Chai set the scenario with all the audience imagining themselves as newly recruited employees in Sarawak Energy Berhad. He made a presentation on the expectations and opportunities in company and ended with a two-way questions - "Are you right for the company? Is the company right for you?". ACB,CL Campbell Apau evaluated him.

Table-Topics

Before we started the table-topic, ACS Victor Foong set an encouraging mood by introducing the benefits of table topics and that we shouldn’t shy away from this session. This was his tips for table-topic speakers –

Remember PREP

P – Your proposition of the topic. What is your stand – is it for or against.

R – Reasons to support your stand

E – examples

P– Proposition but making a summary of it.

The other method is the Pendulum effect – Why good or for the topic, then why bad or against, and then sum it all up.

The time-line method.

TM Grace Tan, TM Diong Lee Jiuan, CC Khairulnizam and ACB Fauzi were the table topic speakers for the night while Benjamin Lim was the Table Topic Master.

General Evaluation

How was the meeting generally? CC,CL Diong Lee Jiuan was the general evaluator and this was what she had to say:

The meeting was well conducted (Great work CC Kueh Hua Men for putting up the program and running the session)

Warm welcome of the guests

Great introduction of the benefits of table topic before starting.

All evaluators made encouraging and motivating evaluations.Good table arrangements

(We will continue to maintain this)

Improvements include

keeping to the time in the program

Speakers to keep within the timing of the speech

Applause to be led by the TOE

Seats at the front are empty and can be filled up

(We will work towards improving on this suggestions)

NEXT meeting is 14 August 2008 and the TOE is Benjamin Lim.

Fauzi

Prez

DON'T 'DIE' ON STAGE by Dunstan Chan

2008-07-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

The SUNDAY Post; July 13, 2008

Don't 'Die' on stage

A Few weeks ago I attended a function hosted by an international firm in Kuala Lumpur. The occasion was the opening of a new office in city.

The newly appointed manager for Kuala Lumpur branch is a good friend, hence the invitation. As the new boss, it was fitting he should deliver the key speech. Maybe it was the occasion, maybe it was the sight of the many dignitaries but his nerve really wreaked havoc on him. I thought he was going to keel over in the middle of his speech.

Afterward he was depressed. Knowing that I dabble in public speaking quite a bit, he asked me, “How do you get rid of your nervousness?” Well, you can’t and you shouldn’t want to totally get rid of the nervousness. So this article is very for my for my good friend and the many who have to ‘stand up there’ to give it all.

Let’s face it, unless one is a very seasoned public speaker and enjoys such dominance over the audience, the chances are that every time one steps u to the lectern, your pulses will quicken. On a few occasion, I have witnessed speakers in competitions freeze on stage with blank gazes in their eyes.

I am glad to say that as far as I know, such spectacles have been limited to speech contest, where the added pressure of competition blew a fuse in the memory banks of the speakers. In ordinary public situations, I have seen that few odd verbal fumbles here and there, but never to such a dramatic seizure.

Call it podium jitters, stage fright, nerves or what have you if you feel your heart pounding, your throat constricting, your hands trembling and getting clammy, don’t feel bad. You are in good company. I have heard that even a fiery orator like the late President Sukarno, the ‘great Communicator’ like former President Ronald Reagan and the famous actor Sir Alec Guinness suffered from attacks of nerves before a big performance. They learned how to handle and ride with the nervous tension.

What is it really, this nervous tension? It is an energy surge caused by the adrenaline which the body produces in the face of a challenge. It is said to be the remnant of our primordial defence – the ‘flight or fight’ instinct.

In the face of perceived danger the body naturally produces that extra ‘juice’ to allow one to fight harder or run faster.

As a kid, I was a bit of a rascal, Along with my gang we loved to ait and tease the dogs in the neighbourhood, especially the big German Shepard of a Eurasian family. We called the dog ‘Ang Mo Kau’. We were able to annoy the dog, throwing stones at it, with impunity because it was always firmly tied.

One day I was going about my usual routine, being naughty, but unbeknown to me the dog was off the leash! So as a twelve year-old I was chase by that viscous dog. I could almost feel its hot breath and bear the clicking of its teeth just inches away from my calves.

Driven by fear I flew like the wind. I would have given an Olympic sprinter a good run for his money that day. I reach a stream just ahead of the ranging beast and with one flying leap I cleared the water, leaving the growling brute on the other bank. I must have broken Sarawak’s long jump record, but alas, it was chemically aided by the power of adrenalin.

Nothing beats terror and nerves in putting a boost in one’s engine; for try as I might in later years, I could not achieve that same athletic feat.

Unfortunately without a means of control this pumped up nervous energy is just as likely to give us paralysis as extra mental and physical alertness. Fear and nerves are not such bad things if only we can keep them under control. They can sharpen our reaction and give us that extra edge for better performance.

The first thing I believed we have to do is to recognize what it is that we really fear. Two of our greatest fears in public speaking are the fear of appearing foolish and the fear of failure.

These twin terrors are the main culprits of stage fright. Standing in front of an audience with the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring, the speaker can be driven to paranoia, with every smile taken for a snigger of ridicule, and every frown assumed to be a sign of disagreement. Soon the speaker imagines that the whole audience is against him. Really it is a wrong assumption, for in all my experience as a speaker and as a listener, I have never come across an audience that wanted the speaker to fail.

Many professional speakers recommend the three-pronged method in controlling the nervous energy; relaxation, energy release and visualization.

Relaxation begins mentally. First thing to do is to get rid of the “they against me’ mindset. Understand that no audience wants the speaker to fail, as mentioned earlier when faced with a challenge the body is energized by the extra adrenalin. Tension, which is the opposite of relaxation, is caused by the penned up energy. One way to decrease tension is through efficient breathing pattern. Take a deep breadth, hold it and count slowly up to five then slowly release it. Repeat the cycle until a rhythm of comfortable and steady breathing pattern is set.

Energy release can be achieved through doing some physical movements like stretching, pacing about, jumping up and down, screaming, etc. Needless to say, one has to do these exercises out of sight of the audience.

Visualization and mental rehearsal is widely used by many, including Olympic athletes. The idea is to put oneself in a positive frame of mind. It involves visiting the past and projecting to the future.

Close your eyes and bring yourself mentally back to a moment of past success. This does not necessarily need to be in public speaking, simply a moment of glory and satisfaction. Relieve it, dwell on it for a while and then bring yourself to the future, visualize yourself in front of your audience and see yourself captivating them with your presentation. This should put you in a positive frame of mind, for a good and bad cannot dwell in the same space and time.

Placing oneself in front of a crowd and being the subject of scrutiny can be stressful. But, it need not develop into a mind numbing experience. Accept nerves as a natural reaction to a challenge. Seek not to eliminate it, instead bring it under control so that you can harness its energy for an enhanced performance.

However, the tension releasing techniques I have suggested can only be effective if the speaker is fully prepared for the occasion, as preparation is the bedrock of success. Without thorough preparation, no amount of pacing, jumping and imagining can save the speaker.

2008-07-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Some of the Club activities in Pictures for the last session 2007/2008

ACB Alvin Lim (President 2007/08) making a toast at a start of one

of the training session. IEM Club holds its meeting every 2nd and 4th

Thurday of every month at 7:30pm.

The 4th Anniversary Cake for the Club

2008-07-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Reproduced from Article byVictor Foong :

IEM Sarawak Toastmasters Club

In the construction sector, engineers are frequently looked upon as leaders in planning and implementation of projects. As such engineers must possess good communication skills in order to communicate their message, requirements and even vision. They also need interpersonal and leadership skills to mould people in dissimilar profession into efficient teams heading towards the same goal. Realising this need, IEM Sarawak Toastmasters club was established in Nov, 2003 as a standing committee within IEM Sarawak branch with the aim of providing an avenue for the engineering community in Kuching to improve and enhance their leadership, communication and public speaking skills.

The mission of a toastmaster’s club is provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn will foster self-confidence and personal growth. In order to carry out this mission, this club carries out the following:

Help its members improve their abilities to communicate effectively;
Provide for its members’ instructions, educational materials and opportunities which will give them skill and experience in the preparation and delivery of speeches;
Encourage its members to read and to listen analytically;
Provide for its members’ fair and constructive evaluation of their efforts toward self-improvement;
Increase its members’ knowledge of the rules of parliamentary procedure and their skills in conducting meetings and participating in group discussions;
Afford leadership training for its members; and
Provide opportunities and encouragement for its members to appear before audiences and to express their thoughts creditably

The IEM Sarawak toastmasters club is an association of the Toastmasters International, a leading non-profit movement devoted to making oral communication a worldwide reality. Since its inception over 80 years ago in United States, the programme had spread and help over 4 million people all over the world become more confident leaders and effective public speakers. In Malaysia there are some 210 toastmasters club of which 17 are in Kuching.

Since its formation, IEM Toastmaster’s Club has quickly risen to be one of the premier toastmasters clubs in Kuching with many of her members winning speech competitions locally and abroad. Currently the club has 29 members and holds their training meetings on 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month. Meetings are conducted normally at the Ultimate Professional Centre’s Main Hall, Bukit Mata Kuching, which is where the IEM Sarawak’s Secretariat is base. However meetings are occasionally held in less formal environments as a social event to foster goodwill among its members.

The toastmasters programme is conducted on a “learn-by-doing” philosophy. Upon joining members are provided with manuals which cover the basics of speaking in public and leadership skills. The member then carries out a series of projects contain within the manuals at a pace suitable for their want and needs. During the training meetings, members practice various skills useful in public speaking, including giving speeches, speaking extemporaneously, listening, and providing each other with feedback and evaluation. Members are also encouraged to participate in a number of contests organised by the toastmaster’s organisation. Four contests are organised each year. Each contestant must beginning competing from club level and winners will continue to compete in the higher levels at Area, Division and ultimately District. In the District level contestants comes from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Membership to the club is open to all who are practicing engineers; technical staffs involve in the construction industry or scientist. Membership registration forms are available at the IEM (Sarawak Branch) Secretariat (082-428506) .