From the keyboard of our SAA

SAA feels disturbed seeking members when he is not free but likes disturbing members when he is too free.

November month was such a busy month for me! Since the previous meeting, I could only contact members on Friday to fill up empty roles I was not free on other days. Certainly not my style of managing matters! When I was having my holidays in the last semester, it was fun “disturbing” members to fill up roles, but for November, it was “disturbing,” but adventurous as the stress makes it exciting...haha… I am just expressing my feelings for fun in this paragraph and the above topic is only for this paragraph…haha… The following paragraphs are regarding the meeting.

For today’s meeting, there were problems like missing roles players which was not settled until that morning. Luckily, members are proactive, so they made suggestions and solved the problems for me. For unknown reason, this meeting only 11 members (including 1 guest) came. Therefore, it is no surprise that some role players had to dual play.

Qinmei, as SAA, called meeting to order and threw an interesting question, “If you were an SAA, what would your question be?” This question allowed many to throw in humorous replies. For example, Boon Keong said his question would be what you would think my question would be if I am the SAA.

Ka Chaun, first time TOM, came and asked role players to introduce themselves. Next, John gave his presidential address and made us of Jee Aik’s comment during the introduction session by Qinmei, “Why is SAA called sergeant-at-arms?” Then he brought up the question of the SAA’s purpose which led to asking us the purpose of giving speech and filling up our manuals.

Then we had our Table Topics session conducted by Michael. He gave us 2 broad selections of topics: interesting, challenging. After selecting one of the broad topics, he showed the speaker a topics list and the speaker was to select one. The first speaker was Ernest. His message was that we should overcome challenges and avoiding is not an option. The second speaker was Qinmei. She concluded money is the world’s greatest injustice and it is also the solution to it. Third was Benny from Maxis Toastmasters, who concluded that fame is a good thing regardless of one’s intention. Fourth was Jee Aik. He told about his first taxi ride alone as an example of courage. The last speaker was Boon Keong who said learning from mistakes when we fail is as or more valuable than just winning. We then had our long, lost member, Ashrel as our evaluator who was or is back in Toastmasters.

Now came the assignment speeches session. The first was Michael with his topic “Dislocated, Disturbed, Disappointed.” He was performing martial arts as he was describing but got his arm dislocated in the story. He was disturbed and sought help but was disappointed with that help. He closed by saying that you have the abilities because you are able. Next was Ernest who was interviewed by Boon Keong, acting as radio talk show host, about his Cheras community organization to make Cheras a better and safer place. Last was John who did a monodrama. He was role playing Jesus’s final moments at Gethsamene talking with God in frustration before he got arrested.

After the speeches was the evaluation session. First time role players recognized were Mustafa as Timekeeper and Ka Chuan as Toastmaster of the Morning. Final was the presidential address and prize giving ceremony. The best Table Topics speaker went to Jee Aik. The best assignment speaker and evaluator went to John.

Overall, the meeting was dynamic despite few role players and low attendance. Quantity does not always make a good outcome; quality makes a good outcome too. Both quantity and quality are important for a successful meeting. Until next time, let’s hope to see both quantity and quality in our future meetings!


Tan Jee Aik