A Memorable Evening

Memorable TV shows are like Toastmaster meetings. After much research conducted while musing over programmes from the past, here are my findings. First, top TV shows are addictive, much like our meetings are. They are gripping, often having you engrossed and glued to every word, much like a well-written and rehearsed speech. They create a loyal fan base and we have a loyal group of members. Our meetings are scheduled at primetime on the 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th Monday of every month at 7pm sharp. So as you can see, a successful show must have these factors but we mustn’t forget the host. The host plays a major part in getting the audience excited and interactive with the show. The slick and charming personality tonight was Steven Wong who was the Toastmaster of the Evening. We kick-started the night with our facilitators because where would we be without our supportive crew? Dodo Chau was our timekeeper, making sure we stayed on schedule. Alice Wong was our ah-counter, making sure we spoke eloquently without making any unnecessary sounds. The grammarian’s job was to make sure we stuck to the script and introduced the word of the day- “Tap” so we made sure we tapped into our good use of vocabulary and grammar.

Now onto the content of the show. We had 4 protagonists tonight. The first speaker is new to the scene, his name is Johnny Chui and he gave a very sincere performance of his CC1- Ice Breaker speech appropriately named “My 1^st Speech at Toastmasters Club.” Our next speaker, Jonathan Mok, provided comic relief with his speech, “Vanuatu- the place I want to be?” inspired by a commercial he’d seen where a little boy expressed his desire to live on the island of beautiful Vanuatu. Questioning the boy’s dream, Jonathan did his research as required of a CC7- Research your topic speech with hilarious results. If Jonathan is the comic relief, Alan would be considered his opposite. Alan Kwong gave his CC7 speech, “Why E-Learning?” with a detailed account of how e-learning not only keeps your company productive but how it also reduces costs. Celebrities are plentiful at Hong Kong Toastmasters Club and tonight we were fortunate to have Andrew Yeung deliver his competition speech to us where he warned about the threat of “Toastmonsters” overshadowing a bride’s big day. So brides-to-be, beware of attention grabbing Toastmonsters who may be more memorable than you. Our Best Prepared Speaker of the night was Jonathan.

The Table Topics sessions are like unscripted performances. Out of character, off the cuff and can make a speaker famous overnight. 2 minutes of fame is never easy but our speakers make it look so. Our Table Topics master, Vanessa Lau devised the questions with the first being, “A memorable TV series.” Alan Wong took up the challenge and eagerly told us his love of the serial drama 24 and the gripping performance of Jack Bauer. Next question, “What makes a series memorable to audiences?” and Aprana endorsed one of her faves, “The Mentalist’ citing that a good looking actor can draw audiences in. Ben Fung gave the last of the impromptu speeches with “Factors of a memorable TV series” and told us how TVB has at times failed to make shows a hit. Best Table Topics speaker was Aparna.

Evaluators are the critics and can make or break a speaker. They are the ones who review the performance and give feedback on how speeches can be more appealing. Our first critic/ evaluator San reviewed Johnny’s speech. Johnny had spoken about how he has learnt from failures. If so, San’s sage advice can help Johnny improve on his weaker areas. Seasoned evaluator, Arthur Ting, is well-known to many as very forthright and knowledgeable and tonight he shared his knowledge with us on Jonathan’s speech reminding us that connection through not only visually but through the speech’s content is equally important. Alan’s speech was evaluated by Aparna where we learnt that using anecdotes helps the audience connect to facts and figures. Ai Ai’s evaluation of Andrew’s speech was both comical and educational for Andrew and the audience. Last but not least, Clement Wong once again dazzled with his review of our Table Topics section. Best evaluators of the evening went to Ai Ai.

Who evaluates the evaluators? Why that would be the General Evaluator and tonight that was our voice of reason- Michael Boynton.

Our next meeting takes place next week on the 5^th of November at the same time of 7pm. Stay tuned for more memorable moments.