Gurney-Hydro Toastmasters Club

Most of us practically grew up with the television as our best friend.  In effect, we many many "best friends" through the shows that have entertained us throughout the years. Young or old there is definitely a TV show that has remained fondly in our memories, characters that have inspired us and stories that made us say to ourselves, "One day, this will be me." What is yours? Speeches for the night: Speaker #1: Cheong Xin Ni Xin Ni's speech gave us a reminder to treat our loved ones better.  It's amazing how we treat people outside our families with courtesy and respect yet treat those who should be closest to us like a second thought.  Very good effort for her CC6. Speaker #2: Hayley James Welcome back Hayley!  Our resident professional speaker gave a very insightful speech about the way our brains work.  We can see why she is such a sought after trainer. Speaker #3: Aw Win Chan Our guest for the third meeting in a row, Win Chan's spe...

Imagine this:   You’re on stage about to start your speech and suddenly, your mind just became a void of emptiness.   You can’t for the life of you remember what you were going to say or for that matter, what your speech is about. Sounds familiar? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us, even seasoned professional.   We’re all human, after all.   The nerves, stage fright and the pressure to perform well are the biggest contributors to speakers getting thrown off track all of a sudden. But fear not, we’re here to help =) Here are some things that you can do to prevent that brain freeze. 1) Organize Your Speech in Point Form When you flesh out your speech, get your points together first.   What are the things that you want to convey to your audience?   Then pick out the most important ones depending on the length of your speech.   Looking at your speech as points instead of a collection of about a thousand words will mak...

What an inspiring meeting we had!   Even though the group was considerably smaller than normal, nevertheless everyone contributed positively to discussions and we learned from each other. We all have voices in our heads.   This is our inner voice, our gut instinct or in other words, our inner guidance system, if you will.   But sometimes that voice gets drowned out by all the noise in the world like peer pressure, work stress or our own feeling like inadequacies.   Imagine how powerful we can become if we listen to that voice. We had three speakers for the night. Speaker #1: Michelle Lalitha Michelle did her ice breaker speech and what a refreshing take on this assignment it was.   Rather than doing a speech about herself, she told a story about hope and strength of bamboo that is stronger than steel. Speaker #2: Angelov Tan Angelov did the third assignment of his Pathways Level 1 which is the research project.   His speech about co...

There is no denying the connection between music and our moods.   There will be times when we need a little pick me up to go that extra mile and the first thing that we reach for, is that piece of music that reminds us of our worth, that we have what it takes to reach our goals. That is our fight song. Marathon runners certainly understand this concept.   Listening to empowering music helps them shut off the world and their pain as they push to finish their race. We had 3 speakers for the night. Speaker #1: Angelov Tan Angelov did his speech from the previous meeting on languages for the second time as part of his Pathway Project 2.   He certainly blew the crowd away with the revised version which was better.   This is the benefit of a good Toastmasters evaluation.   If the speaker takes advantage of a good evaluation, he can improve by leaps and bounds. Speaker #2: Win Chan Our guest speaker for the night talked about the different ...

Persuasive speaking is considered one of the most challenging in the art of public speaking.   Many people find themselves unable to speak in a way that is convincing enough to influence their listeners. Perhaps they think that persuasive speaking is “selling” because this is something that sales people need to master in order to sell their product. However, bear in mind that in every conversation that you have with someone, you are actually “selling” something.   Even if you are asking your friends to go for drinks after work, you are in effect, selling them the idea that it will be wonderful to get together and chill over beer after a long day. No doubt they don’t need much convincing in this scenario but you still need to put the idea in their head in order for them to make an effort to show up at your little gathering. But if you need to convince a tougher crowd like when you're making a pitch for your proposal to investors or a sales event, here are s...

It's football season with the FIFA World Cup being telecast live all over the world.  Even non football fans catch the fever and enjoyed a game or two, at home or at the local pubs and mamak. Therefore it is not surprising that we had a very enjoyable football themed meeting with our President and VPE coming in football jerseys. Our speakers for the nights: Speaker #1: Angelov Tan Angelov did Project 2 of his Pathways Level 1 on the topic f languages.  Not only was his speech interesting, his animated hand gestures made it come alive. Speaker #2: Sheryl Lee Sheryl also did Project 2 of her Pathways Level 1 speech on the struggles she faces as a banana Chinese living in Malaysia. For Table Topics, our President took up the challenge and put forward questions that are just as suspenseful as a juicy football game.  Even then, the participants gamely took up the challenge and provided their own creative spin in their answers. Thank you everyone who attended, ...

Before you even start thinking about what your speech is going to be about, there is one crucial factor that you have to take into consideration: Who are your audience? You see, it doesn’t matter if you have the best speech in the world.   If it is not relevant to your audience, if they have no interest or knowledge about your topic, then you have no speech.   Period. If you are presenting your speech at your own club, then it is safe to say you probably know your audience.   However, be mindful that you may have guests visiting and they could be sensitive to your topic. Therefore, to be safe, always treat your topic and your audience with respect. In the event that you are expected to speak in front of an audience that you are not familiar with, here are how you can get intel on them so that you can tailor your speech accordingly. 1. Ask the Organizer The organizer of the event is the best source for this kind of information.   ...