Toying with imagination

3rd December 2012

Theme: Toys

Word of the Day: Corrigible (adj)- capable of being set right or corrected

Imagination. It’s a wonderful thing. Imagination took us to the moon, it built skyscrapers and has enabled us to travel the world. It’s something each one of us possesses. Ever since I could remember, I would escape to another world with my toys and create imaginary scenes such as fortresses or have my toys processing magical powers. I didn’t have a lot of toys as a child so I’d grab whatever materials or furniture there was in the home to make a playground for my toys and imagination. A chair could be a slide, a box could be a car and a bed could be a swimming pool. Today my playground is this stage at Toastmasters where I can stand here and let my creativity run wild. For 2 hours we were transported to another world. Our Toastmaster this evening, Asta Lee,  is someone who definitely inspires and encourages us. She’s been in the club since before 2000 so no doubt, she was well prepared to lead our meeting. If she were a toy, she’d be Share Bear, always sharing her wisdom with us.

Our facilitators were Arthur Ting who was our Time keeper, Jenny Lam as our Ah-counter and Tanvir Singh as our Grammarian. Without them our meeting wouldn’t run as smoothly.

The first speaker was Steven Wong who always has us in stitches with his humorous comparisons. Tonight his CC6 Speech, titled Men Vs Women had our speaker comparing women to computers. Some funny quotes include, “Women are like hard drives, they remember everything.” “RAM, they have a random access memory.” “Internet, no connection, no access.” “Virus, she can affect you out of the blue, and when you try to uninstall, you lose everything.”

Second up to speak was Matthew Lee who also gave his CC6 which focused on vocal variety. The title of the speech was “A Can Do Attitude,” and he started with an engaging folk-tale on an older Eagle mentoring a younger eaglet graduating from flight school. The comparisons of how eagles are like humans remind us that we can all have a can do spirit.

 Third up was Jonathan Mok who again surprises us with his hidden talents. Tonight he showed us an array of different ways to recycle A4 paper. Boxes, egg protectors, packaging, darts, you name it, he can make it with paper. Amazing. This guy should have his own show.

Best Prepared Speaker: Matthew

Table Topics always delights us. Ben Fung talked about toys he’s kept from childhood and with any table topics speech, there should always be a message. His message is, games should teach you something. Ernest Mak told us about his favourite toy which by the way is the highly addictive game of Mah Jong. Vanessa also came up and told us the effects of children growing up without toys.

 

Best Table Topics: Ben

Evaluations are necessary so our speakers can receive valuable feedback on their performances. Our club is not short of seasoned evaluators. Vanessa gave feedback on Steven’s speech and highlighted the importance of using intonation. Rita Tsui spoke on the importance of pitch and pace of a CC6 speech. Michael Boynton evaluated Jonathan’s speech but reminded us that the message must be clear in whatever speech we’re giving.

Edwin Lui delivered his evaluation on our Table Topics session where he offered tips on how to present questions and how to buy time when coming up with content during a impromptu speaking.

Best Evaluator: Rita

The next meeting will be the last of the year on the 17^th of December so please try to make it as we will not be having a meeting on the 31^st of December as of course it’s New Years Eve so we wish you all a wonderful night with your friends and family. Plus it is a tradition of the club to have a feast at the last meeting of the year, you don’t want to miss out. Guests are welcome to join us.

Sandy Chan
President
Hong Kong Toastmasters Club