January 6, 2008. 6 Days have passed since the ecstatic hours of time passing from 11:59pm, 31 December 2007 to 12:00am, 1 January, 2008. Yet, this significant date holds a different meaning altogether for the us in HELP Toastmasters Club, for on the 6th of January,
After the audience had a rough idea on who was sitting beside them, Ming Haur passed the stage to the very excited club president, Ernest Wong, who was filled with more than passion and enthusiasm on that fine morning. Charming as always, Ernest greets the audience with a warm smile, and a loud, yet soothing "good morning." Ernest earnestly welcomed the new comers in the audience with open arms, encouraging them to join this unique club, and at the same time encouraged the present members to go the extra mile in assisting the club to achieve greater heights.
The momentum of the meeting was then continued with Ernest welcoming the Toastmaster of the morning, Claudia, to conduct the meeting. Claudia, with a splendid smile on her face, further warmed the audience up with her magnificent PR skills. Certain that her audience was now pretty relaxed, Claudia gave the stage to the table topics master of the morning, John Lee.
John Lee, a person well-known for his shrewdness and creativity, surprised everyone that very morning by introducing a very intriguing table topics session. The table topics session this time was a session whereby male table topic volunteers were given topics in which females are familiar with whereas female table topic volunteers were given topics in which males are familiar with. Everyone was shocked for a moment, nobody wanted to jeopardize their good image in this risky table topics session. The whole room went silent, until a brave soul volunteered without hesitation. That brave soul was Gajendran, a seasoned member of the club. Calmly and gracefully, Gajendran took center stage as he awaited his topic. The cool face was Gajendran soon changed into a face of confusion when he heard his topic : tell us about nail polish.
However, as quickly as the facial expression changed, Gajendran immediately began delivering his speech so proficiently as if he had been buying nail polish for his entire life. Gajendran's unwavering belief that he was talking about the right thing up to the very end convinced the audience that he knew what he was talking about.
Taking up the nerve-wrecking challenge next with no worries whatsoever was Felicia. She cheerfully walked up onto the stage with confident smile, she awaited her table topic question from John Lee. Surprisingly, Felicia was able to maintain that confident smile of hers even after receiving one of the hardest topic a woman could ever get : would you prefer alcoholic or non-alcoholic after shave? After smiling for what seemed like 5 seconds, Felicia began her speech with an enticing pout, saying the words "I love alcoholic after shave" convincingly. The audience were listening to Felicia's very persuasive speech as she elaborated on the reasons why she loves alcoholic after shave, and even the types of after shave (woah...you really had me convinced there for a moment that there was actually a white wine after shave ><)
The third table topic speaker of the day was Micheal, who courageously stood up after being cheered onto stage. Micheal walked up to John in a cool manner, as if he had left all his fears behind him the moment he stood up to volunteer himself. The table topic that was given to Micheal is : do you prefer 6-inch high heel shoes, or platform shoes. Without hesitation, Micheal convincingly talked about his two fully-packed racks of shoes. He further elaborated on the advantages of wearing platform shoes and the disadvantages of 6-inch high heels in terms of dexterity (in running away, for instance), and comfort.
As time passed, the audience were getting pretty much used to the pace of the table topics session, in no time, we had our next volunteer, Victoria. She was presented with the topic ‘what tools do you need in a toolbox.’ Coyly, she elaborated on screws and hammers, trying her very best to inform the audience about the necessary tools one should have in their toolboxes.
