A succesful Joint meeting!

After toying with the idea for more than a month, on the morning of 29^th March 2008 the joint-meeting between HELP UC and UEM Academy finally materialized. And it materialized pretty well, I would say.This was the first joint-meeting between the two clubs of Area W2 and it was truly a special project speech-marathon meeting. Early in the morning, the entourage of the UEM toastmasters was warmly welcomed by the strong showing from HELP UC toastmasters. After several minutes of exchanging pleasantries and getting to know each other, the meeting quickly got underway.

The meeting kicked off with a neat twist to the typical self and role introduction session by Chee Hoong the SAA, with each member sharing the person “Who they admire the most”. What a colourful and diverse lot they were as answers ranged from inspirational politicians and good-looking footballers to even themselves or simply human in general. That session served as a great pick-me-up for some of the sleepy heads, in fact even better than the Venti-sized Latte that the Starbucks girl managed to upsell to me at “One extra ringgit only”.

Following that, the Grammarian of the morning, Claudia introduced the word of the day to us – Neophyte: meaning a novice or a beginner. Claudia the Grammarian

The Toastmaster of the Morning, Gajendran, then took charge and the speech marathon was officially launched.

Gajendran the TOM

The speech marathon kicked off with Mahidon Promwichit of UEM Academy breaking the ice with his speech “The Rise of the Don” bringing us through the thick and thin of his journey from Citibank to Pharmaniaga where he is today.

Mahidon Promwichit

The second speaker, Qinmei of HELP UC brought everyone back to reality with her inspirational speech entitled “Different”. She shared how we should embrace and cherish our differences rather than use it as a source of conflict. Qinmei

Jee Aik of HELP UC returned the audiences to a lighter mood with an attention grabbing opening to his speech “Overcoming Miscommunication”. It made me wonder what I should appropriately say when I commit any kind of misdemeanor in the future…Sorry? Excuse me? And what kind of tone should I use?

Jee Aik

After a short re-hydration break, the marathon speakers continued on with Mohd Faisal from UEM Academy sharing one of his passions through his speech on “Amateur Radio”. Being a neophyte in this method of communication, Faisal’s speech was really eye-opening to me. As he demonstrated the protocols of the amateur radio communication, I kept wondering which part of the communication is amateurish.

Mohd.Faizal

The next speaker, Claudia, then took the stage with her speech entitled “In Memory”. She shared the details of the life of Princess Diana from the moment she was still known as Diana Frances Spencer up to the last few tragic minutes of the horrible accident that ended her life.

Claudia

ClaudiaThe last speaker was Hedzri from UEM Academy. That’s me, by the way. Presenting my first project from the Interpretive Reading manual, I narrated a short excerpt from the book “Utopia” which was also the title of my narration. The story involved an imaginary discourse between Thomas More, the author, and his friend Raphael about a nation Raphael had visited during one of his sea explorations. The nation, Utopia, had very unique and almost ideal practices (depending on which standard it is compared to) which led to word utopia which means “a place of ideal perfection”.

Hedzri

As usual, the meeting proceeded with the evaluation sessions which I led, being the General Evaluator. I was thankfully assisted by experienced and capable evaluators including Amy Choo of Stamford TM Club, Gerard of Mid Valley TM Club, President Ernest, Claudia (Language Evaluator), Faisal (Ah Counter) and Han Lian (Time Keeper).

Overall I really enjoyed the joint-meeting. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves too. And I now have another reason to wake up early on Saturday mornings, besides nasi lemak.A big thanks to HELP UC TM Club for hosting the joint-meeting between the two clubs and may that pave the way for more fun and mutually beneficial collaborations in the future.

Signing off,

Hedzri