Gurney & MIA Toastmasters International Speech Contest and Table Topic Contest

Every fiscal year, Toastmasters Clubs around the world will be having their own club contest, namely Humurous Speech Contest, Evaluation Contest, Table Topic Contest and International Speech Contest.

Like last year, Gurney Toastmasters Club and MIA Toastmasters Club jointly organized our very own International Speech Contest and Table Topic Contest on 30th January 2008 in Gurney Hotel, Penang.

The contest feature some of very seasonal speakers and some very new speakers battling out to be their club's Champion and compete in the area contest. But it was not easy, seeing everyone every-ready and eagerly awaiting their name to be called, some of the members were anxiously practising their speeches while other were just enjoying their butterflies....

Gurney Toastmasters, had the competition and we're proud to announce that our ex-pilot is the winner for International Speech Contest, while yours truly, the Table Topic Contest champion. Both of us will be competiting against other champions of Area S in the area contest and the winner will then represent the area to the District, which will be happening in the coming District 51 Annual Convention or known as Penang Convention 2008.

Wishing the winners all the best, and here goes the pictures that painted the night out for memories~

James and his roller-skate, winnings on his speech entitled "He who think is able, is able".

The winners, James (1st) and Joanne (2nd), accompanied by Area S3 Governor Jessica Chan and Organizing Chair Toastmaster Lynx Chong for the International Speech Contest.

Winners of Table Topic Contest, 2nd Chris (in blue), 1st Joanne (in red) and 3rd James (in grey) together with Area N6 Governor SHLim and Organizing Chair Toastmaster Eleanor Ooi.

MIA Toastmasters Club International Speech Contest winner 1st Yeoh Pit Shing (in blue) and 1st runner up with Jessica and Lynx.

MIA Toastmasters Club Table Topic Contest winner with SHLim and Eleanor, Winner Pit Shing and 2nd place Andrew.

To the winners,

GOOD LUCK FROM ALL OF US AT GURNEY TOASTMASTERS CLUB AND MIA TOASTMASTERS CLUB!!

Reunion Dinner

While everyone else were busy preparing for their Chinese New Year spring cleaning and last minute shopping, we decided to have our own Gurney Toastmasters Club Reunion Dinner. It's a very important dinner as it represent togetherness..haha..well, it's not entirely 'togetherness' as it's a Sunday, so, we don't really expect all the members to flood the Berjaya Georgetown Hotels' Restaurant.

Anyway, we managed to get a few members and as usual, the chit chatting starts in no time eventhough there's a non-member around. Anyhow, she's kind enough to join in the crazy fun and happening thoughts we all crash into during the dinner.

A little recap..

1. The ONLY reason we choose Berjaya Georgetown for the Reunion Dinner is because of the free flow of Haagen Dazs ice-cream

(face it, President, it's your idea to get all of us hooked up!!)

2. The lamb chop was sssssssssssssssooooooooooo fine....Lincoln had 3-rounds of that!

3. Eventhough it's a Gurney Toastmasters Club dinner, Ahmad is kind enough to let us all see his other half, Gee.

(hi~~!!)

4. The ever-chirpy-big-heart Chris is so entertaining till all of us can't fill our stomach with food but with air due to the laughters...

(It's all your fault i haven't got enough of what i pay for, Chris!)

5. If i know earlier, i would've wore my cheongsam to get the President's Best Dress Award.. :(

Anyway, congratulations to Ai Li and Lynx for the prize...can share ?

6. It's an unlucky day for Lincoln to sit next to me, because most of the time, he's either nab by fork or tickled by the spoon..hahahha...

7. Knowing that there's another 2 pretty ladies sitting near him, Lincoln decided that every photo taken should 'have' him in it... so typical... :P

:)

8. President and his smile is every so enchanting.. (no wonder there's only a few girls in the club!)

Ok, since it's 2008 and 8 represent a good number, let's all just put in the 8 recaps...hehehe..

GONG XI FA CHAI!!

A New Resolution!

The first meeting of the year marked a great gathering and sharing session amongst members and guests of Gurney Toastmasters Club.

The meeting was held on 9th Jan and what interesting was, everyone was given a yellow card to write their new year resolutions. The card will then, be kept by everyone and as promised, a 'review' will be done at the end of the year, this December 2008.

The assignment speech session was well-done and everyone learned something from every speakers!

We learned that Eugene, our 2weeks-old member who presented his Icebreaker speech, is a person who love basketball and his new year resolution is to reduce another 10kg!!

(Now, can anyone tell him that I'm far visibly fatter than him~!! aaaaaaaaaaaaa~~)

Hooi Koon presented a research speech on "Fruits". And all of us learned that eating fruits after meal is not advisable as the nutrient will disappear faster than having food half hour before meal. Besides, drinking fruit juice is best replace mineral water as it provides vitamins to the body....oooooo......

Voilet presented her advanced speech on "A Role Model For Toastmaster". And the whole speech was impressive that our President Sam was so flattered having mentioned that an 'award' is given to recognize his commitment towards Toastmasters. (ehem ehem..)

And yours truly, presented a speech that even the men are pretty much interested, breast cancer movement, with the title "Wear It Pink". I even managed to get Lynx to assist me in breast cancer checking procedures. All members are given a pink ribbon, and i'm so glad, everyone learned about the important issue and are more serious into that threat now......

Besides the great assignment speeches, the table topic presented by Toastmaster Ying Ying was so much fun! Topics vary from new year resolutions to current issue involving the latest 'big shot affair' on the news. Members and guests were all participating with so much enthusiasm and indeed, the topics are something that everyone enjoyed the most!

Thanks to our guests, Angie, Irene, Yin Yin and Eleanor for joining us for the meeting...ehem..u gals should not forgot about the resolution too ya~!!

Before everyone is allowed leave the meeting, we need to read out our 2008 Resolution written on the yellow card. Here's the list of 2008 Resolutions;

Sam ~ to join and challange a triathlon event.

Angie ~ earn enough to buy a new car

Violet ~ to be a PR lecturer

Eleanor ~ to start her own business

Yin Yin ~ to get her 1st patient for her dental business

Eugene ~ to reduce another 10kg

Joanne ~ to reduce to 50kg

Kent ~ to earn more $$ in business

Irene ~ to let her passion leads her life

BEnedict ~ to maintain education goals and achievement

HooiKoon ~ to go to Turkey

Ying Ying ~ to start piano class for kids

Lynx ~ to stop smoking

Cindy ~ to bring her whole family and in-laws for a tour

and as a gentle reminder,

"Resolve to perform what you ought, and perform without fail what you resolve"

~ Benjamin Franklin

Christmas Cheers!

It was a day after Christmas and the spirit of yuletide still fill the air with of course, non other than presents presents and presents...wooohooo~

We had our Christmas Cheers themed meeting last week and what more can i say, i'm so touched! Everyone was there and once again, we're as HAPPENING as always~!!

Every members and guests are informed to bring along a present to exchange and everyone are encourage to wear their Santa hat, well, this was not successful though..many seems to forget their hats at home, while our President, Sam, happily announced that he 'borrow' his son's Santa hat..hahahaha...

The meeting was filled with potluck once again, and we had the best Satay in town, the best Fried Noodle (mamak style), the best fruits, the best cream puffs, the best cakes and most of all, the best music to fill the whole room. All thanks to all the members who put their effort and their love into the club, making it such amazing and fun!

Oh ya, before i forgot, we even have guest all the way from Saudi Arabia! He's non other than Ahmed Al-Ottaibi, Jeddah Club President. He was on his holiday and managed to found Gurney Toastmasters Club meeting from the blogs....hehee, ain't i proud of the internet!!

We even have Toastmaster TK Cheah, Ipoh Syuen President who came all the way from Ipoh to visit us on Christmas. Thank you so so so so much for your visit!!

Last but not least, Gurney Toastmasters Club would like to wish everyone, a happy happy happy Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year!!

Cheers~

In Mood For Raya

Another theme meeting, "In Mood For Raya" to celebrate the month of Ramadhan, Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It was a celebration of Malays, who fast for a month and in the month of Ramadhan, it's the celebration of life and appreciation. Though Gurney Toastmasters Club was not made up of Malay, we celebrate the festive season with the most of our proud feelings as a pure Malaysian.

The best thing of being a Malaysian is you get to celebrate a lot of festives season but yet, you're not th main race celebrating it ; you can wear any types of traditional costumes, though they dont belong to your culture ; you can learn a lot from other cultures and yet you can still practice your love to your own believes and culture and be extremely proud of it!!

We had this meeting and even encourage everyone to dress up in Malay costumes, namely Baju Melayu or Batik for the men, Baju Kurung and even Baju Kebaya for the ladies.

Benedict clad in his father's Batik, very patriotic, presenting his speech on "What Is Art, What Is Not?"~~

Chris, being our newest members, got a pin from our mentor, SH Lim. Chris even presented his speech on "Me, Myself & I", the Ice-Breaker project, only one week after joining us!

Together We Merdeka!!

The girls (left) and (below) the meeting attendances = Full House!!

The theme for the night was "Together We MERDEKA!!".

Choosing the theme was not an easy task, wanting everyone to come in their traditional costume indeed was a hard job. But it all paid off, when we saw all the members and even our guests came in their traditional costumes. I mean, it was so much fun to see the blend of colours and clothes and cultures!!

We prepared satay, a Malaysian delicacies of grill chicken with peanut sauce. We even had fried bihun and a lot more Malaysian food. You sure miss out when you choose to 'opps, i forgot to go to your meeting'!

Since Merdeka celebration fall on 31st August, we celebrate the Independent Day much earlier together, this was indeed a great gathering as everyone was sharing about their Merdeka experience. Some were even born before the Independent Day, so, sure there's so much to share and so much to learn from~

We had ....

Ying Ying presenting her Competent Communicator (CC) Proj #4 : Money For Nothing,

Hooi Koon presenting her CC Proj # 6 : Happy Life,

Benedict presenting his CC Proj # 7 : Soft Or Hard , and,

Joanne presenting her Advanced Communicator Bronze (Entertaining Speech) Proj # 3 : M Drivers.

Do enjoy the pictures, as we always say it, Speak More In Learning Environment!

Sam, our President, saying his piece of mind on Merdeka!

Benjamin Liaw, the Toastmaster Of The Evening, hosting the night well!!

Ai Li, clad in her pretty cheongsam, she's the grammarian for the night.

James, evaluating on Hooi Koon's "Happy Life".

Joanne, presenting her "Hollywood, Bollywood or HongKongwood?"

Humorous Speech & Speech Evaluation Contest 07/08

We had our in-house Humorous Speech & Speech Evaluation Contest last Monday. The event was a joint programme with the MIA Toastmasters Club. Held on 27th August 2007, the event was indeed an eye-opener...let me tell you WHY :

1. Our humourous speech contest chair, is the quiet and sweet Ying Ying. Wow, she'd done an extremely impressive job, coordination and programme was carefully planned with the MIA Toastmasters Club's Li Hoong, the contest chair of Evaluation Contest.

2. The programme was smooth and was so clearly planned, resulting in a successful event, with everyone enjoying the contest!!

3. The trophies were so pretty...hehe..

4. We didn't know our Past President, Tan was that funny when after he won the Humorous speech contest. And yea, as claimed, he's stil single....thanks to himself, unable to decide to be or not to be an 'animal'... :)

5. How to make everyone enjoy if we do not have guest and friends to join us? well, the event was attended by guests from Farlim, IPG, YMCA and even our very own Area Governor, Yoon Peng Yew.



Last but not least, we want to thank all the members of Gurney Toastmasters Club and MIA Toastmasters Club as well as all the helpers from other clubs who help out during the contest.















Ying Ying, Contest Chair for Humorous Speech Contest.
































Our Toastmaster Of The Evening, Tan Chia Lih, ACS CL, from Farlim TMC








































Jessica presenting 1st prize trophy to Tan for winning the Humorous Speech Contest of Gurney Toastmasters Club.



























Joanne, Winner of Speech Evaluation Contest.





























President Sam, 1st runner up for Speech Evaluation Contest.




























Eleanor, dua membership of both Gurney and MIA TMC, won 2nd in both contest.

























James, 2nd runner up for Speech Evaluation contest.




























Benjamin, 2nd runner up for Humorous Speech Contest.



























Li Hoong, Chairlady for Evaluation Contest, presented trophy for Violet, participant for Speech Evaluation Contest.

Division N & Division S ~ Joint Installation Dinner 2007

Date : 28th July 2007

Time : 7.00pm

Venue : Bayview Georgetown Penang

Theme : Blue & Silver

It was great!!

The Joint Installation Dinner was successfully held, finally!!

Organizing Committee of the dinner, which was consisted of members from Division N & Division S, has been gathering, meeting, discussing, arguing, head-scratching and heart pumping for the whole 3 months to fully prepare the dinner as the best ever arranged dinner.

Lead by our Nenek Joan Chan as the Organizing Chairlady, the committee worked hard for meetings over meetings for this event and it was so touching to see the event successfully ended on that very night.

It indeed a touching moment when Eddy and Lay Hoon (the emcees) said, ‘Thank You for coming and have a safe journey home’ that night. I personally don’t know how others felt, but it was a special feeling, after all that we’ve done, the bonding between the committee (which was once, unknown to each other) was so close and now, all of us has got ourselves a whole group of new friends, each.

BRAVO to the team!!

The organizing committee consists of :
Organizing Chairlady ~ Joan Chan, ACS CL (Nenek)
Co-Organizing Chairperson ~ Christopher Choong, CL

Division N Governor ~ Palaniappan Subramaniam, ACB CL
Division S Governor ~ Yoon Peng Yew, ACB CL

Andrew Low, CC ALB

Beh Ee Ling, TM

Cheah Ee Liang, CC

Clement Pang, DTM

Eddy Chew, ACB CL

Eleanor Ooi, TM

Eric Yeoh, CC

Heah Theng Chye, CC CL

Jessica Chan, ACG CL

Joanne Tan, CC CL

Johnson Tang, TM

Koay Kah Hin, CC CL

Lim Lay Hoon, DTM

Mah Siew Chin, ACB CL

Penny Ooi, ACB ALB

SH Lim, ACB CL

Sutharat Nai Charm, CC CL

Teh Li Lian, ACB CL

Yeap Ai Li, TM







President Sam Koay being installed as the President of Gurney Toastmasters Club.

Ai Li being installed as the Vice President Public Relations of Gurney Toastmasters Club.

Dylan and Clement being installed as the Vice President Membership.

Gurney Toastmasters Club with mentors from Farlim Toastmasters Club.

Gurney Toastmasters Club's eligible bachelors...

The 'Charlie's Angels' and the organizing chairlady, Joan Chan.

Joanne and Ai Li, crazy crazy....

President Sam and his 'i-eating-prawn-pose'...

That's Papa Gerald, the man who brought the greatness of Toastmasters to District 51.