Monday 17th June
Theme: Memory
Language point of the day: Acronym/ mnemonic
We’ve had a fulfilling year where many members continued to
make progress within the programme. Let’s take a look back at some of these
memorable events and achievements with a quick quiz.
1) How many members will achieve their CC awards this year?
2) How many contests did we have this year?
3) Who were the contest chairs for those contests?
4) Who gave a speech on how to make better use of waste
paper?
5) Who gave a speech where she used a remote control as a
prop?
6) Who gave a speech where she lay on the floor?
7) Who gave a speech called Plus One?
8) Who gave a speech on the phone app: Evernote?
9) Our Toastmaster of the Evening has over 10 years of
Toastmaster experience, a competent communicator and a seasoned evaluator. Who
is tonight’s TME?
Asta Lee, as our Master of Ceremonies, was energetic from
the get go. She had asked each facilitator, prepared speaker and evaluator to
describe something about themselves as a way to bridge us to them. Let me
introduce our facilitators with our very experienced time-keeper Rita Tsui
stepping up first. Following Rita was our new member, Melinda Luk and let’s not
forget the job of our grammar guru, Paul Breen. Paul’s introduction of mnemonic
devices enabled us to remember what these devices do- they act as memory hooks.
KPMG- in the Breen household, that means Keys, Phone, Money and Glasses.
Remember that.
Going first as our first prepared speaker was new member,
Echo Lai, who delivered a fantastic example for an ice breaker speech. In her “My Family” speech, we were introduced to
her supersized family. Imagine having 10 siblings. Hard to imagine nowadays
when the average birth rate is much lower. You can imagine having to wait for
the bathroom or having no privacy but there are plenty of positives that Echo
presented such as companionship, developing social skills and budgeting which
must help her in her adulthood and in her job within the education sector. Up
next was Lawrence Wong who in his speech, Benefits
of Sleeping, woke us up to how memory can be improved through the
simplicity of just getting to bed a little earlier. His use of the computer as
a metaphor for our brains hit home the message of not letting our computers
shut down. The way to do that is through sleeping which improves our ability to
retain information, consolidates and digests information and how our
associations in what we’re learning becomes clearer. Who needs a psychiatrist
when you can sleep? Alan Kwong deserves a round of applause for working his way
towards achieving his CC10, which means Alan is now a Competent Communicator.
By working hard and stepping up, Alan has shown great progress. In his speech, “Stop Complaining and Start Gaining,” we
were made aware that complaining really doesn’t change anything. How many
complaints does the average person make a day? Believe it or not, 15-30
complaints are made by each one of us. It might start as soon as look at
ourselves in the mirror in the morning and complaining about our wrinkles or
how we are never tall enough. We could empathise with Alan’s message. To make a
negative into a positive, we can take 3 easy steps with the first being:
1. Think before you speak
2. Change your perspective and show empathy
3. Express gratitude
Well done Alan on your achievements this year!
Best Prepared Speaker: Echo Lai
Table Topic sessions get everyone’s attention. These
sessions take us out of our comfort zones but we can be comfortable in knowing
how supportive members are. It’s also a
way to play with our theme- Memory. We either shy away or wave enthusiastically
for us to be called. Michael Boynton took the role of Table Topics Master and
as usual, he was prepared and remembered his questions. Going first was Aparna
Sachar who told us about her memories of her father. Matthew Lee told us about
a memory he’d soon like to forget. You’d never know it but Matthew was a victim
of bullying in Australia but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and look
at him today! Third TT speaker was Martin Wong who was asked to tell us some memorisation
tips but as we know in impromptu speeches, we often go off on a tangent. Good
job to all, we know it isn’t easy so we applaud you for getting up there.
Best Table Topics Speaker: Matthew Lee
Evaluations are our feedback sessions where experienced
members pass on their expertise in how to elevate value to our presentations and performances.
Vanessa Lau, who recently completed her CC10, evaluated Echo’s speech and
creatively used the word “supersize” to describe Echo’s family. Vanessa’s
attention to detail and diplomatic feedback will encourage Echo to continue in
developing her skills. Arthur Ting, who like Asta, is very experienced and
contributes a wealth of knowledge gave feedback on Lawrence’s speech. We learnt
to check that our speeches are consistent from our gestures to the words in the
speech and the title. Little details such as this can easily be forgotten but
Arthur was there to remind us. Edwin brings a little something extra to our
meetings with his “magic”. Edwin’s
message was to end speeches on a high, make sure the equipment is set up and to
use a mnemonic to help the message sink in. T- Think E- Empathy and G-
Gratitude. The role of the Table Topics evaluator is to give feedback to the TT
master and speakers. Ernest Mak had the job tonight praising what went right
and what could be improved. Tip for the next TT master- make questions more
specific. Noted.
Best Evaluator: Arthur Ting
Our members’ experience may range from new members to
seasoned but everyone gives 100%. Andrew Yeung was our General Evaluator
tonight. We’re always looking for seasoned members to give feedback on the
overall running of the club. The assessor checks for areas that most of us
easily miss but if all those missed areas are made obvious, our meetings are
much more efficient. Suggestions range from where to stand on stage to
impressions of the club and our interaction with guests.
This is the last post for me. A year has flown by so quickly
and I have enjoyed these blog spots after every single meeting. Many of you say
you join Toastmasters to improve your English. My tip to you is to continue to
read the blog. Not only do you learn new words but you can reminisce over the
fun and memorable moments from your development at Hong Kong Toastmasters Club.
Sandy Chan
President
Hong Kong Toastmasters Club
Answers to quiz: 1) 4 2) 4 3) Ai Ai Ong and Arthur Ting
4)Jonathan Mok 5)Aparna Sachar 6)Vanessa Lau 7)Andrew Yeung 8)Alan Kwong 9)
Asta Lee
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