A Word from the President...

Bangsar Club

President's Distinguished Club!

Hmm, we didn’t set out to achieve that specifically.

What we always wanted to do is to ensure the club grows as a whole.

But we still scored rather well, didn’t we?

The award simply shows that whatever we are doing, we are definitely doing it right.

It is called “President’s” Distinguished Club, but I believe credit goes to each and every member of the club.

My salutations go out to all you Bangsarians, simply because:

- if members do not do their speeches, we lose points

- if seasoned members do not do their advanced assignments, we lose points

- if members do not attend the trainings, we lose points

- if new members do not join the club( and we had 11 members), we lose points, in this case 2 points

- if members do not pay their subscription on time, we lose points

- if the officers do not do the required submissions to TI, we lose points

- if the seniors do not turn up to take up the all-important roles, what will the meeting be?

- if members do not turn up for meetings...well, none of the above can possibly happen!

It’s a team effort and we deserve a pat on our backs!!

Now let’s keep the momentum going.

My only personal wish is -

Guys, let’s attend our meetings regularly.

When we have a full house, we have lots of fun. Otherwise the oomph goes missing.

We know we are all busy working people.

2 evenings in a month, that’s all, 2 evenings in a month!

Like what the wise man (you know who) said, "It’s all in the mind".

Let’s try, shall we?

Cheers,

Ranjit Singh

President 2007/2008

Bangsar Toastmasters Club

Meeting Review (17th June, 2008)

	Attendees / Roleplayers:
1	Chandran V	Ah Counter
2	Lakhmichand M.A.	Timer
3	Lourdes C	Evaluator
4	Loke Kah Sing
5	Mary Barton	TTE
6	Maureen Ong Swee Kin	Grammarian
7	Michelle Ong Swee Jin	Evaluator
8	Muhendaran Suppiah	SAA / Speaker
9	Parimala Thevi Sundram	Invocation
10	Ranjani	Speaker
11	Ranjit Singh	TME
12	Rema Paul Gopal	Evaluator
13	Renu Dayalal
14	Sai Jyothirmai Racherla
15	Sethuraman Muthukaruppan	TTM
16	Shanmugam Ganesan
17	Syamala Murigah	Speaker
	Guests:
1	Gerard Peter (Mid Valley)	GE
2	Aishah
3	Aishlee
4	Ananthan Sanggar
5	Francisco Morales
6	Mooi Kheng
7	Pushpa
8	Shanti

The last meeting for the term 2007/2008 started with an oomph !

Three guests Mooi, Pushpa & Shanti came in before any of our own members, so did the caterers (Lucky arranged for new ones). By 7.00 pm our place was teeming with members and guests.

Meeting started right on the dot and for this meeting, I was given the honor of being the Toastmaster Of the Evening, simply because it was the last meeting for my term as the President. I chose to have a light-hearted session and the mood prevailed through out the meeting with lots of laughter and participation from the audience.

Muhendaran, as the SAA brought the house to order.

I did the President’ opening address with a simple quick round of self-introduction.

I, as the TME, then proceeded to introduce Toastmasters albeit in a different way, whereby explanations were provided as the session progressed.

Parimala gave us a pretty long list of goal-setting tips in her invocation.

Sethu for the first time ever as the TTM tested the speakers in his very own way with diverse topics. Table-topics Speakers for the evening were Shan, Francisco, Muhenderan, Aishah (guest-bravo) & Parimala.

Immediately after, Mary Barton did a wonderful job of evaluating the table topics speakers. While being very encouraging towards the newcomers, picking on their positive points, she noticeably didn’t pull any punches when evaluating the seasoned speakers… very very Bangsar-like!!

Next change – Humor Session with Muhendaran, Ananthan & Lucky giving us some real life action.

The 10 minute break was exactly that – a 10 minute break. It proved to be very good with members and guests mingling freely.

After the break, we had the speeches.

Muhendaran, did speech # 3 (C&L Manual), about the murder of a friend/relative and a very important message – charity begins at home.

Ranjini, attempting speech # 8 (C&L Manual) spoke on “How to Trust Someone”.

Finally Syamala, gave her penultimate speech (# 9) before achieving her Competent Communicator award; spoke on the need for vaccination against chicken pox.

All speeches carried an important message for everyone to take home.

Gerard Peters, CTM/CL, was the all important General Evaluator for the day. Gerard gave us some very important pointers on aspects where we could improve further. His team of Evaluators and role-players , gave crisp, on-the-dot and precise pointers as to how the meeting progressed.

The winners were:

Best Table Topics Speaker – Aishah

Best Evaluator - Lourdes DTM

Best Speaker – Muhendaran DTM

In my closing address as the President, I took the opportunity to thank each and every member of the club for making my role as the President for the past one year a thoroughly enjoyable one. We closed as President Distinguished Club despite not targeting for it.

Then came the best moment of the meeting – we had 7 non-toastmasters guests today.

Mooi signed up, and apparently she wasn’t so sure when she came in… but by break time she had signed up!!! A warm welcome to you Mooi !

Francisco wanted to pay-up but we didn’t have the forms with us... one more on board!

Ananthan says he will come for the next meeting and sign up… Wow! Let’s see.

Shanti WANTS to sign up !

Just before we ended, Lourdes had everyone in stitches with his lovely comments on my term as the president. Thank you Lourdes, much appreciated.

Wonderful people. Wonderful meeting. Cheers to all.

by Ranjit Singh, ACB

Meeting Review (3rd June, 2008)

The attendance was made up of Club Officers (4), members (9½) and Guest (2½).

Attendees

Ranjit Singh ATMB

V Chandran CTM

Maureen Ong CC

Sethu

Mary Barton ACB

Shanmugam CTM

Michelle Ong CC

Lucky ATMB

Ranjani

Primala

Sham Sunder CTM

Rema Paul ACG

Sai

Guest

Renu

Dinish

Francisco

Role-Players
Acting SAA	-	Shanmugam	CTM
TME	-	Michelle Ong	CC
Invocation	-	Ranjani
TTM	-	Lourdes	DTM
GE	-	Rema Paul Gopal	ACG
Ah Counter	-	Sethu
Grammarian	-	Mary Barton	ACB,CL
Timer	-	Sai

THEME: Magical Word of the Day: Enchanting

It was a first time for Bangsar Toastmasters (at least since the time I was a member of Bangsar Toastmasters). Everyone was seated by 7.15 pm waiting for the meeting to begin and the SAA did not have to remind everyone in attendance to take their seats. As such, the meeting started 2 minutes earlier at 7.28 pm.

We began as per our tradition with a recitation of our Toastmasters promise led by our acting SAA Shanmugam CTM as our SAA Muhendaran DTM could not attend the meeting. Then the president took us on a round of self-introduction and then he gave us some good news.

We were blessed with the presence of 2 new guests and a part guest part member. (Renu attended our last meeting and had submitted her form before the meeting). For the benefit of the guests and to remind the members, I gave a brief introduction on the history of Toastmasters and what Toastmasters is all about.

During the invocation, Ranjani used an inspiring story about a man who overcame his background and various obstacles to educate himself and thus make something of himself to bring home a point that we too can overcome difficult and seemingly insurmountable obstacles in our lives.

Lourdes then took to the floor to facilitate the table topics session. The session was a “chain-idea” session whereby Lourdes used the word of the day as the first table topic and the 1^st speaker will provide the idea for the 2^nd table topic and so on.

The Table Topics speakers and the speech titles were as follows:

1. Mary Barton: Why is being in Bangsar Toastmasters club such an
enchanting experience?
2. Parimala: Would you say the right thing even though you know it is a
lie?
3. Shanmugam: Would you be offended if I were to say you were the meanest
person on earth?
4. Renu: Sometimes you have to be mean to be kind. Do you agree?
5. Sethu: Tell us why you would like to overthrow the President of Bangsar
Toastmasters club.
6. Francesco: Give us your impression of Bangsar Toastmasters club.

(Note: words in bold were the chain-idea)

The TT Evaluator, Chandran CTM, was sharp, as usual, encouraging, and generous with feedback. He gave many specific examples on how the table topics speakers could improve.

The humor master, Shanmugam CTM then made the audience laugh with 2 very funny jokes.

After the 10 minute break, the assignment speeches commenced with 2 members doing projects from the same advanced manual i.e. “The Entertainment Speaker Manual”:

1. Maureen CC did project #3. Title: April Fool
2. Sham Sunder CTM did project #1. Title: Marriage, Women and Golf

The speakers were not only entertaining but humorous as well.

Our GE, Rema Paul ACG then took us through the evaluation session. We first heard the reports from evaluators of the two assignment speeches (Lucky ATMB, Evaluator for Maureen & Ranjit ATMB, evaluator for Sham Sunder) after which we heard the reports from the various role players. Then the GE gave us her comments on the meeting.

The BEST AWARD was then given to the winner -

BEST
TT Speaker	:	Mary Barton

There were no Best Speaker and Best Evaluator award for this meeting because there were only two assignment speeches.

After the business session the meeting concluded on time at 9.30 p.m. Truly, it was an enchanting and a delightful meeting!

by Michelle, CC

Are you UNIQUE?

Joint Meeting Review (15th May, 2008)

Venue: AmBank Training Centre, 9th Floor, Jalan Puncak, Kuala Lumpur.

Attendees (34):

AmBank (15):

Norhanifah	President
Mah Foong Hoh, CC	VPE
Raja Reza, CC	VPM
Vanitha Rangganathan	VP PR
Jean Soong, CC	SECRETARY
Annette Wong, CC	TREASURER
Zalika Yahaya, CC	SAA

Aznoor Affan

Azril Haris Mat

Helena Doreen

Iza Rahayu

Nantha Kumar

Selvi Nachiappan

Syaiful Riezal

Zaidi Othman

BANGSAR (12):

Ranjit Singh, ATMB	President
Shanmugam, CTM	VPE
Sham Sunder, CTM	VPM
Lucky, ATMB	VP PR
Muhenderan, DTM	SAA

Chandran, CTM

Hugesh

Jessy

Marry Barton, ATMB

Maureen, CC

Ranjani

Rema, ACG

Guests (TMs) - 2

Ahmad Fakhri

Daniel Teh

Guests (Non-TMs) -5

Role Players:

SAA	-	Zalika Yahaya	CC
TME	-	Raja Reza	CC
TTM	-	Aznoor Affan
TTE	-	Rema Paul	ACG
TTE	-	Daniel The
Humour	-	Sham Sunder	CTM
Game Master	-	Azril Haris Mat
GE	-	Chandran	CTM
Grammarian	-	Norhanifah
Ah Counter	-	Lucky	ATMB
Timer	-	Maureen	CC

Table Topics Speakers

Shanmugam, CTM

Helena Doreen

Iza Rahayu

Muhenderan, DTM

Speakers	C & L	Speech Title
Syaiful Riezal	# 3	“I finally got it”
Ranjani	# 7	“How to get home safely when you’re drunk”
Vanitha Rangganathan	# 10	“The return to innocence”
Mary Barton ATMB	Adv # 4	Dramatic Talk -
		“Life or death – how does one choose”

Evaluators

Muhenderan, DTM

Ahmad Fakhri

Ranjit Singh, ATMB

Mah Foong Hoh, CC

It was an evening of FUN & LAUGHTER, but not compromising on either QUALITY or PROFESSIONALISM!

It was a FIRST Joint Meeting, EVER, for our HOSTS, AmBank TM Club members, and they executed their roles magnificently, making us feel quite at home with their generous HOSPITALITY! The snacks were delicious, and the company was charming!

We were greeted as we arrived just outside of the meeting room, and the fellowship might have been cocktails, at a corporate gathering!

The charming SAA followed by the President started the meeting on the right key, with anticipation of FUN which was forthcoming and throughout the evening.

The Table Topics was very entertaining, and the participants quite readily met the challenging topics, with very dramatic deliveries. It was sheer pleasure watching and listening. First time I witnessed TWO evaluators take turns to deliver their evaluations for ONLY 4 participants – good TIPS from the evaluators, indeed!

The humour session by Sham Sunder was very entertaining.

Equally entertaining was the Game Master, Azril Haris Mat, with his, what I thought was “WIN, DRAW OR LOOSE”. It’s not surprising to see Toastmasters emerge with their hidden talents. It was a night of discovery to see quite a number of Toastmasters Artists!

4 assignments speeches were delivered - 3 from the C&L Basic manual and an advanced manual speech.

CONGRATULATIONS to Vanitha Rangganathan for completing her C&L Basic Manual by delivering her 10^th assignment speech. Vanitha is a very dramatic speaker. Looking forward to hearing advanced speeches from her.

Syaiful set the pace for the speeches – one expected the speeches to build momentum and that’s exactly what happened. You got to see Ranjani to really believe she can knock herself against a sold rostrum and jump to her feet and continue like nothing happened. The evening was quite complete with Mary’s account of her concern for her son as she fought her way...

The EVALUATIONS were justifying. Many helpful TIPS and suggestions were given / made for the speakers to incorporate in their future deliveries. I was quite impressed with Ahmad Fakhri, he has flair for the English, and he is was very dramatic. I am sure it will be a treat to listen to his speeches.

The General Evaluation session was very well handled by Chandran, the GE, together with his team of able assistants – the Grammarian, Ah-counter and the Time keeper.

The evening concluded with the announcements of the BEST performers -

BEST:
Table Topic Speaker	Iza Rahayu
Assignment Speaker	Mary Barton
Evaluator	Ahmad Fakhri

On behalf of the BANGSARIANS, many thanks to our hosts, members of the AmBAnk TM Club. They made the evening very pleasant and we look forward to having them as our guests.

Joint meetings are FUN, and you all should attend, whenever an opportunity comes your way.

We made many new friends, YOU should too!

By Lucky

Stage Fright Strategies

Stage fright Is Good and Makes You Better Looking Too!

Before you learn how to deliver your lines, it is important to be ready to deliver your lines. Stage fright is a phenomenon that you must learn to control. Actually, stage fright isn't the most accurate term for the nervousness that occurs when considering a speaking engagement. In fact, most of the fear occurs before you step on-stage. Once you're up there, it usually goes away. Try to think of stage fright in a positive way. Fear is your friend. It makes your reflexes sharper. It heightens your energy, adds a sparkle to your eye, and color to your cheeks. When you are nervous about speaking you are more conscious of your posture and breathing. With all those good side effects you will actually look healthier and more physically attractive.

Many of the top performers in the world get stage fright so you are in good company. Stage fright may come and go or diminish, but it usually does not vanish permanently. You must concentrate on getting the feeling out in the open, into perspective and under control.

Remember Nobody ever died from stage fright. But, according to surveys, many people would rather die than give a speech. If that applies to you, try out some of the strategies in this section to help get yourself under control. Realize that you may never overcome stage fright, but you can learn to control it, and use it to your advantage.



Symptoms of Stage fright

Dry mouth.
Tight throat.
Sweaty hands.
Cold hands.
Shaky hands.
Nausea.
Fast pulse.
Shaky knees.
Trembling lips.

Any out-of-the-ordinary outward or inward feeling or manifestation of a feeling occurring before, or during, the beginning of a presentation.
(Wow! What a dry mouthful!).


Here are some easy to implement strategies for reducing your stage fright. Not everyone reacts the same and there is no universal fix. Don't try to use all these fixes at once. Pick out items from this list and try them out until you find the right combination for you.



Visualization strategies that can be used anytime

Concentrate on how good you are.

Pretend you are just chatting with a group of friends.

Close your eyes and imagine the audience listening, laughing, and applauding.

Remember happy moments from your past.

Think about your love for and desire to help the audience.

Picture the audience in their underwear.



Strategies in advance of program

Be extremely well prepared.

Join or start a Toastmasters club for extra practice

Get individual or group presentation skills coaching.

Listen to music.

Read a poem.

Anticipate hard and easy questions.

Organize.

Absolutely memorize your opening statement so you can recite it on autopilot if you have to.

Practice, practice, practice. Especially practice bits so you can spit out a few minutes of your program no matter how nervous you are.

Get in shape. I don't know why it helps stage fright, but it does.



Strategies just before the program

Remember Stage fright usually goes away after you start. The tricky time is before you start.

Be in the room at least an hour early if possible to triple check everything. You can also schmooze with participants arriving early.

Notice and think about things around you.

Concentrate on searching for current and immediate things that are happening at the event that you can mention during your talk (especially in the opening).

Get into conversation with people near you. Be very intent on what they are saying.

Yawn to relax your throat.

Doodle.

Draw sketches of a new car you would like to have.

Look at your notes.

Put pictures of your kids/grandkids, dog, etc., in your notes.

Build a cushion of time in the day so you are not rushed but not too much time. You don't want to have extra time to worry.

If your legs are trembling, lean on a table, sit down, or shift your legs.

Take a quick walk.

Take quick drinks of tepid water.

Double check your A/V equipment.

Don't drink alcohol or coffee or tea with caffeine.

Concentrate on your ideas.

Hide notes around the stage area so you know you have a backup if you happen to draw a blank.

Concentrate on your audience.

Listen to music.

Read a poem.

Do isometrics that tighten and release muscles.

Shake hands and smile with attendees before the program.

Say something to someone to make sure your voice is ready to go.

Go somewhere private and warm up your voice, muscles, etc.

Use eye contact.

Go to a mirror and check out how you look.

Breathe deeply, evenly, and slowly for several minutes.

Don't eat if you don't want to and never take tranquilizers or other such drugs. You may think you will do better, but you will probably do worse and not know it.



Strategies when the program begins

If legs are trembling, lean on lectern /table or shift legs or move.

Try not to hold the microphone by hand in the first minute.

Don't hold notes. The audience can see them shake. Use three-by-five cards instead.

Take quick drinks of tepid water.

Use eye contact. It will make you feel less isolated.

Look at the friendliest faces in the audience.

Joke about your nervousness. "What's the right wine to go with fingernails?"

Remember nervousness doesn't show one-tenth as much as it feels.



Before each presentation make a short list of the items you think will make you feel better. Don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations. You never know which ones will work best until you try. Rewrite them on a separate sheet and keep the sheet with you at all times so you can refer to it quickly when the need arises.

Use these steps to control stage fright so it doesn't control you.




- by Tom Antion

Meeting Review (6th May, 2008)

Role-Players
SAA	-	Muhendaran	DTM
TME	-	Shanmugam Ganesan	CTM
GE	-	Lourdes Chandramohan	DTM
Ah Counter	-	Michelle Ong Swee Jin	CC
Grammarian	-	Ranjani
Timer	-	Maureen Ong Swee Kin	CC

The meeting started at 7.35 pm wherein the SAA called to the meeting to order. In the absence of the President, I gave the welcoming address and also highlighted the latest development of the club in terms of membership where 3 new members have joined the club in April.

Immediately after giving the welcoming address, I made a switch of hats in being the TME. We decided to do away with the introduction of role players as there were no guests for the meeting. As it was a short meeting due the office bearer’s election which was to follow suit after the meeting, we did not have table topics session. I am sure some of the members would have been eager to take part in it.

The meeting moved straight in assignment speeches where there were 2 speakers. TM Edina gave us her first maiden speech in her Toastmasters journey titled “Myself”. She was evaluated by ATMB Lucky. The second speaker was DTM Muhendaran who delivered his 2^nd speech titled “Inalienable Rights”. He was evaluated by CTM Chandran.

The General Evaluator gave a very brief report about the meeting yet pointed areas for improvement. The meeting ended at 8.50 p.m.

by Shanmugam, CTM