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Snippets: Christmas Themed Chapter Meeting

Feeling the Christmas ‘withdrawal symptoms’? Fret not! Our very own Media Team is here to take you down memory lane…

On Tuesday last week (20th December), NUS Toastmasters Club held the annual, highly anticipated ‘Christmas Themed Chapter Meeting’. For some members it is the first of many more exciting themed meetings to come; for others it is an event that has found a special place in their hearts over the years. Regardless of which category you fall into, the Christmas Themed Meeting this year has been an evening of celebration and camaraderie.

The festive mood this year was nothing short of infectious, thanks in no small part to the Christmas decorations that were painstakingly put up by the event organisers (kudos to you, Chris, Kelly and Zhang Ying!). Deck the halls with boughs of holly, anyone?

But what is a themed meeting without themed snacks? The Christmas Themed Meeting also featured a spread of classic Christmas snacks such as cupcakes, brownies and even a log cake! (Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some turkey next year…)

After filling their bellies with sugary treats and drinks, our members adjourned to the meeting room to enjoy the games and activities planned by the organisers. With Chris’s charm and wit, it did not take long for them to snap out of their food-induced coma and into an enthusiastic mood. The main activity for the night was a game whereby members were split into groups, with each group having to act out (a la charades) a particularly Christmas-y sentence. For example, the sentence could be as follows: The children huddled around the fireplace with cookies and milk – anxiously waiting for Santa to appear. It was an activity that made for numerous moments which had the room filled with peals of laughter.

Special thanks once again to our members Chris, Kelly and Zhang Ying for selflessly shouldering the preparations. Without their efforts and foresight in planning, this unforgettable get-together session would not have been as successful as it was.

(credit to Cheng Hoo for his contribution to this NUSTMC Snippet on the Christmas Themed Meeting)

Snippets: Projects Night 2016

Hello everyone!

On the 13th December 2016, NUS Toastmasters Club held our annual Projects Night.

The first highlight of the night sparked off with our fellow club members presenting to us a variety of speeches that spreads across the
Competent Communicator Manual to the Advanced Communicator Manual.

Snippets: Halloween 2016

On the stormy evening of 25^th October 2016, our club held the highly-anticipated Halloween themed chapter meeting…

The festive decorations were spectacularly done and our members turned up in a variety of creative and cute costumes! Our members came dressed as various iconic characters such as the Phantom of the Opera, Tony Stark, a Facebook icon and many more! (Can you guess who dressed as what?)

The food was not the usual fare of London Choco Rolls as well (not that they aren’t delicious!), our members got to enjoy cakes and other pastries from the cryptic ‘Tiong Bahru Bakery’…

The games and activities planned by the organisers (Jasyree, Rama and Yi Feng) were inventive and certainly roused our members to fever pitch. In particular, there was a segment where members broke up into groups to present a skit based on two randomly chosen words. For example, if a team drew the words ‘Unfaithful Princess’, then they would have to perform a skit based on these two words!

What was YOUR favourite part of the Halloween themed meeting? Leave a comment below! (Best answer gets a one-time only, FREE London Choco Roll next meeting)

The first of many NUSTMC Snippets, brought to you by the Public Relations Subcommitee.

Speechcraft Workshop – 14/10/2015

As some of you may already know, NUS Toastmasters club held a Speechcraft workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week! In brief, the Speechcraft workshop is mainly targeted at prospective Toastmasters and anyone who is interested in learning more about public speaking. It was heartening to see so many fresh faces at the workshop, which is clearly a testament to the “bench-marketing” skills of our Toastmasters!

The Speechcraft workshop was mainly centered around getting our guests to step out of their comfort zone and get a feel of the excitement and sense of accomplishment that public speaking can bring to an individual. As such a sizeable part of the workshop was dedicated to introducing our guests to the segment of every chapter meeting we all know and love, Table Topics – more on that later.

Firstly, we kicked off the workshop with an introduction by our Toastmaster-of-the-Evening, the articulate and very animated Michael. Following that, the Club President, Nathaddeus gave a rousing opening address to our dear guests to give them a proper welcome to the workshop. The first Educational Talk, Taking the Terror out of Talk of the evening was held by Wekie Tay, DTM. It is always a pleasure to be the audience when Wekie is speaking – there is never a dull moment. The main takeaway from the first Educational Talk was how to overcome your fear (of public speaking). Wekie shared with us many useful tips no doubt gained from his vast experiences in public speaking. Moving on to the next Educational Talk, How to Tackle Table Topics, we had Darryl Lee, ACB, ALB to share with us how to go about tackling table topics. He shared with us many useful tips and various methods on how to go about tackling table topics. Darryl’s charming demeanor and megawatt smile captured the attention of everyone in the room with ease.

After that we had some volunteers (some involuntarily so, thanks to Andrew!) from the audience to try out some Table Topics! There were definitely many talented individuals in the room that day, and it was interesting to hear what they had to say. The guests were then split into five groups for a “Breakout Session” whereby everyone got a chance to try out Table Topics within their groups! It was an encouraging sight to behold – individuals who only moments before had their own inhibitions about public speaking, picking up the courage to step out of their comfort zone. Is that not the whole point of being a Toastmaster

After a short refreshment break, we entered the final phase of the workshop which comprised of the last (but definitely not least) Educational Talk, How to Organize Your Speech by Chin Jun Han, CC. Jun Han delivered the talk flawlessly and with unwavering confidence. Organizing your speech is a skill that many spend years perfecting, and I am glad Jun Han was able to share his knowledge with our guests. Lastly, our beloved Wekie took the room by storm once more by conveying to us the importance of communication and leadership in the world of the present and future (How Communication and Leadership Can Help You Succeed). All in all, it was such a thoroughly convincing segment and I am sure many of the guests felt the same way too! Alas, all good things do come to an end (as it would seem for the workshop and this post – just kidding!), with that the workshop drew to a close.

It was a very informative and structured workshop, with plenty of opportunities for our guests to interact with each other and speak up if they have something to say. I do hope to see most, if not all of them joining NUS Toastmasters in the near future! As some of you may have noticed, I have carefully avoided going into the specifics of the material that was taught. Perhaps you wish to learn more about Toastmasters or to gain some more valuable public speaking skills? It’s easy!

NUS Toastmasters holds variety of workshops and events catering to various facets of public speaking all year-round. Our arms are wide open for our members, prospective members and guests!

Entry by: Ong Leon Jin (PR Subcomm)

How Scrupulous Could We Be in A Chapter Meeting?…

As the word chosen as the Word of The Night, “Scrupulous” means “diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details”, and scrupulously and scrupulousness are two variations from this word.

On top of how I understood this word in the past, today my fellow Toastmaster upgraded my understanding about this word.

As the Toastmaster-of-the-Evening, Alicia had scrupulously prepared for her show tonight. She started off the chapter meeting by cracking a joke which she recently came up with, and defining a more lively way of handing over the stage: a hi-five, instead of a hand-shake. This creative opening instantly brought smiles across the audience. Then, she brought us into an entertaining learning journey of Toastmaster evening.
Her innovative linking between speeches, along with her enthusiasm and expressiveness had brought to the audiences a stupendous performance. She successfully lightened up and maintained the atmosphere each time she took over the stage.

Chinab, our table topic master, ventured into his creativity through his topic questions. He had scrupulously chosen 10 pictures to be displayed, and then tasked each table topics speaker to talk about anything related to the picture they choose to release.

Our Advanced Project 1 speaker, Andrew grabbed everyone’s attention through his storytelling project and left everyone in the room in awe. His scrupulousness was reflected through his great vocal variety, appropriate gestures and visual aid when delivering the Indonesian folktale, and he engaged the audience by asking questions at the end of his speech.

Not only Alicia, Chinab, and Andrew, but also everyone else had shown their scrupulousness in their preparation, be it as a speaker or an appointment holder. A scrupulous preparation by each person would make a chapter meeting a success.

This chapter meeting taught me the importance of everyone’s cooperation and preparation. I learnt how to create a comfortable ambience for everyone from our TME, Alicia, from the topic master, Chinab and from many others. Besides, I also learnt the importance of creativity for not only tabletopics questions but also speeches, for example, Andrew has taught me how to engage the audience. As a Language Evaluator of the evening, having listened scrupulously to all the uttered words throughout the meeting, I now truly understand the meaning of the word I proposed.

Written by:
Ardina, Su Yanping
Editted by:
Yu Wenxi
29th Sep, 2015