15th Annual District 51 Convention : PG2008

This year, the annual convention was much awaited by many Toastmasters from all over District 51, covering Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia ; but most importantly, by Penangites.

The organizing committee consist of merely less than 30 people, the convention marked as one of the largest delegation yet to the annual event. Driving and flying from all over the places, probably just to see the International President Chris Ford, DTM himself, many Toastmasters were too eager to even to think about where to go in the beautiful island of Penang!!

Held from 18th - 20th April 2008, Gurney Hotel was made the official hotel for the event. Therefore, it shouldn't be a left-out for any Gurney Toastmasters to join in the event!! Even, yours truly took part as the organizing committee to learn more about the event. What more can compare to James Leong's experience to stand in front of hundreds of Toastmasters in his quest to conquer the title of International Speech Champion.

It was an experience worth to note. James didn't take away the prize but he got a much greater prize, an experience to share and a note to learn for his future battles. And as for many other Gurney Toastmasters who participated in the convention, there's too much to share such as the trainings and the keynote addresses by speakers such as the International President himself.

Well, here's some pics to enjoy!!

Welcome Nite to welcome every delegates!!

Even the International President is enjoying himself~!!

District Governor, KK Chee and Organizing Chair, Shankar is indeed having a lot of fun, dancing with Nazri from Reneses Toastmasters Club.

Bali Convention promotion during the Welcome Nite.

"Bikinigirl" Joanne and "Spongebob" Micheal is the emcees for the Welcome Nite a.k.a Beach Party!!

It's pretty hard to get the Charlie's Angel to have a reunion since Ai Li (mid) is in KL now, and Eleanor (white top) is so busy with work..only yours truly is the free and easy girl in the island. :(

The 'highlight' of the night was our invited guest, professional Belly dancer, Joo Nee to grace the dance show..

She even managed to get all the 'big shot' on stage for a good dance!!

International President Chris Ford and Joanne Tan, Vice President Education 2007/08.

Sam gave Hooi Koon her "Gold Eagle pin' to mark her finishing her Competent Communicator manual.

CONGRATULATIONS HOOI KOON!!

James (2nd from left) on stage, receiving his recognition for participating in the International Speech Contest.

Even Toastmasters are good belly-dancers!! This is the dance performance by Toastmasters of IPG, INTEL, DELL, Sg.Ara and Farlim Toastmasters Club.

Pictures together!!

Gurney Toastmasters and Penang Adventist Hospital Toastmasters, the brothers and sisters of the same age Toastmasters Club (means, the club was established at the same time)!!

Gurney Toastmasters with Toastmaster Sue Chan (blue dress) from Penang Advanced and Toastmaster Joan Chan from YMCA Penang (marroon dress).

Dawn, Joanne, Melissa and Ai Li.

And the greatest pleasure of all throughout the Convention was to have a picture with the International President, Chris Ford, DTM. What a great experience!!

Gurney Toastmasters with International President, Chris Ford, DTM.

Welcome aboard!!

It was just 2 meetings and these two new members decided to join the big happy family of Gurney Toastmasters Club, the Most Happening Club!!

Introducing, Rudi Walter Herrmann and Derek Lee Thean Sung. Registered themselves as our new members in April 2008 and finally approved and accepted in May 2008.


Born in German but fell in love with Malaysia, Rudi finally gave up his business in his countryland and decided to stay in Penang with his wife and 3children. He owned D'Feringghi Hotel and runs it professionally for almost a year now. Learned about Gurney Toastmasters Club online, through the blog and came for a visit, only to find out that Toastmasters is an organization for him to learn more about communication and public speaking. Now, a new member but a very supportive picture in the house!!


Derek Lee is a professional teacher, currently teaching English for Form 6 students. Was in Toastmasters Club many years ago, and in fact, was a member of Penang MCA Toastmasters Club almost 10years ago. Now, he's back on track of Toastmasters and is ever-ready to blend to the top with his new found love and passion of public speaking in the Most Happening Club!

Cheers for them!!

From left : Dylan (Vice President Membership), Rudi Herrmann, Sam (President), Derek Lee, Joanne (Vice President Education)

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?"