Flexibility With Communication

As the holidays are approaching, many have been busy holidaying away. That left the meeting on 24th November 2009 not much choice but to make last minute changes. Nevertheless the meeting was able to kick off on time with all role players sorted out.

The highlights of the evening were:

1. Five guests attended the meeting, Lee Yu Man, Donny, Moi, Grace Simon and Laura Simon.

2. Two manual speeches were presented. Lee Chye Ewe delivered his 10th CC speech - Excuse Me, with his husky voice. Elizabeth Goh prented her Conversing With Ease.

3.Elizabeth Goh was also the Table Topic Master.

4. Hj Yalah Munur stood in as Toastmaster of The Evening.

5. Other roles players were Grace Yong - Assistant Sergeant-At-Arms, Lynda Lee - Invocator, Table Topics Evaluator - Grace Yong, Grammarian - Lucy Lo with her word of the evening - Titivate, Rosslin Rosen - Ah Counter, Datin Betty Hiew - Timer.

Another Farewell

Members who have been with Tawau Toastmasters Club long enough will experience one very common phenomena, that members come and go. Well this is not the only club that observing such a phenomena. In fact clubs around the globe are experiencing it. That is also why two of the most important goals for any Toastmasters Club would be to get new members. Each club must maintain at least 20 active members at all time. This is what the Distinguish Club Program (DCP) is all about.

Therefore the after shock of Roselind Gan's announcement in her 10th ACG (Advanced Communicator Gold) speech that she is transferring back to Malacca was we quickly arranged for a farewell dinner. We had our dinner on 12th November 2009. It was just 2 days after her announcement. It sounds rather quick but that was the best time that we could afford before everyone starts flying off for holidays as school holidays were approaching fast.

Despite all that, we had a good dinners to share and laugh, not so  much on club matters but more on fellowship.

Tawau Toastmasters Club wishes Roselind Gan all the best in her future undertakings. We will definitely miss you, not forgetting all your love stories!

Life is Full of Surprises

It was all dark when we arrived at the meeting hall on 10th November 2009. No thanks to Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. for frequent power disruption. We were all prepared to start our meeting under the emergency lights when the lights came back. The meeting was nevertheless interesting and full of surprises.

The first surprise was the attendance of David Chong who drove 7 hours from Sugut to be with us. He has certainly earned the driving Toastmaster title! He used to drive more than 200km to and fro to attend the meeting when he first joined the club.

The other surprise was the number of guests at the meeting. There were 5 guests all together and all having very interesting characters.

To make sure everyone warms up and gets comfortable, Toastmaster of The Evening requested everyone to introduce themselves differently from what they normally do. That was when we got to know the Busy Busy Rosslin, Lucy @ Lucky Lo, Smiling Lady, Queen Elizabeth, Yesman and many more.

Table Topics Master Grace Yong conducted the session well with a special question for everyone. She even gave away prizes for best Table Topic Speakers. The two winners were Rosslin and Roselind.

Guests from Top clockwise, Richard Lim, Fatimah, Julia Lee, Marsha and Izzati

We broke for dinner after that. A very sumptuous dinner was sponsored by Roselind Gan. Everyone thought it was to celebrate her completion of her last ACG (Advanced Communicator Gold) speech but what a surprise we got later on.

We also celebrated birthdays for Grace Yong and Bernard Lee. Bernard brought her daughter Julia along. Our former member Victor Cagampang also has her daughter Marsha with us. Other guests were Fatimah and her daughter Izzati and Richard Lim.

Two speakers shared their personal experience during the meeting. Lee Chye Ewe spoke about Reaction about how what happens is just it but how the reaction to what happens is more important.

Roselind Gan was working on Speaking after Dinner with the Tribute To Tawau Toastmasters Club. So she was speaking after a dinner that she has sponsored. She started with telling us how grateful she was to have found and joined Tawau Toastmasters Club and went on to roast the various characters in the club.

Then the biggest surprise was when she revealed that she was on transfer as her application to go back to Malacca has been approved. Roselind is a teacher. Everyone was shocked and thought it was just her speech that she has dramatized but it wasn't.

The Club no doubt is going to lose another good member who has contributed much to the success of the club but definitely respects her decision and understand her reasons. We wish her all the best.

The sudden change of mood was lightened up again with the humour session. Lucy Lo evaluated the whole meeting as she was the General Evaluator. It was after all a very interesting meeting which everyone enjoyed.

First Timer Takes Charge

There is always the first time before the great journey ahead. Datin Betty Hiew did just that as she finally picked up the courage to take up the role as Toastmaster of The Evening on 28th October 2009. Her sexy voice charmed everyone and her cheeky looks and comments thrilled all those present. It was a successful meeting no doubts. Congratulations, Datin Betty!

5 club members lead by President Rosslin Rosen attended the recent District 51 Semi Annual Convention in Genting Highlands, shared their experience, joys and discoveries. The other members there were Past Presidents Patricia Chai, Grace Yong, Lucy Lo and the TME Datin Betty. Their sharing has definitely stirred up interests for more members to join the next District 51 Convention in Miri next year.

The convention experience were shared during the Table Topics Session conducted by Patricia Chai, Besides that she also put forward her favourite idioms to the members.

President Rosslin during her speech also informed the club that she has bought the DVD for the Genting Convention and will be available to all members to view it. Arrangement could be made through her office. Also available was a book written by a Toastmaster, Speak With Impact.

Other announcement was that District 51 will be officially covering only West Malaysia from July 2010 while Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Indonesia will assume a new district number, 87. Therefore the District 51 Annual Convention in Miri May next year will be the last convention before it splits.

The President also presented the Distinguished Club award to Immediate Past President Roselind Gan.

There were two speakers during the meeting. Lee Chye Ewe spoke on Files and Folders while Roselind Gan shared her vital statistics in Before and After. Roselind Gan who was also the Grammarian also introduced the Word of The Evening, Ubiquitous .

Dennis Yin from HSBC Tawau was our guest that evening.

Two notable role players were Catherine Sang and Ramnan Saidun. Catherine, the Sergeant-At-Arm was unable to attend the meeting because she has to babysit at the last minute. However she brought refreshment over. Her two gorgeous daughters followed.

Ramnan who took up the role as Invocator was supposed to pick up his wife from the airport at 7.30pm but instead requested her to stay on for a little longer for him to complete his role. His three princes were with him.

Thank you Catherine and Ramnan!

Toastmasters International 85th Anniversary

October 22, 2009

Fellow Toastmasters, Happy Anniversary! October 22 is an auspicious date for Toastmasters around the world. It marks the day that a small group of people, led by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, held the first official Toastmasters meeting in the basement of a YMCA in Santa Ana, California, USA. While the original intent of the group was to teach after-dinner speeches to young men, as we all know, Toastmasters has evolved to become a worldwide leader in communication and leadership development. This evolution was no accident; Dr. Smedley firmly believed that the improvement of a person's ability to communicate his or her ideas was a means of improving life in all its phases, personal as well as professional. It's a philosophy that resonates as clearly today as it did back in 1924. Since its founding, Toastmasters International has empowered more than 4 million people to achieve their full potential and realize their dreams. Our organization's long-term success and growth is a tribute to Dr. Smedley's vision. He understood that communication isn't optional and leadership isn't always natural, but both can be learned through doing. As we celebrate our 85th anniversary, the organization stands at a historic high point. Our membership is at an all-time high of 252,000 and growing, our programs are more expansive and our leaders have developed innovative strategies to keep up with advances and shifting cultural dynamics of the global age. The next 85 years hold even greater promise as we continue to adapt and evolve in an ever-changing world. Let us work together to build our organization by building our members -- with confidence, leadership and service. Thank you for all you do to support and serve Toastmasters. Sincerely, Gary Schmidt International President Toastmasters International

Twitter & Subtlety

Two speeches were delivered during the meeting on 13th October 2009.

Lee Chye Ewe spoke on Twitter which has been one of the new features in the club blog while Roselind Gan spoke on Subtlety about human relationship. She also revealed some secrets on her love story as well.

The meeting also celebrated President Rosslin's birthday. She was most unexpected and did not realise the cake was for her. Happy Birthday President.

Hj Yalah and Ramna were back after the Ramadhan month and Hari Raya. Hj Yalah was the Toastmaster of the Evening while Ramnan was the timer. Hj Yalah also brought some Raya cookies for a mini open house during the meeting.

Bernard Lee who has been more regular at the meeting after the meeting days were changed to Tuesday, conducted the Table Topics Master. Lynda Lee was his evaluator.

One very interesting topics posted during the Table Topics Session was if your children's boyfriend/girlfriend is very much older would you agree to it?

Other role players were Datin Betty and Grace Yong as speech evaluators. Roselind Gan was the Ah Counter and Patricia Chai was General Evaluator and Grammarian.

The meeting also saw two young pretty guest, Panny and Shan.

The next meeting will be on 28th October 2009 (Wednesday) instead of 27th October 2009 as many of the members would not be able to make it after returning from District 51 Semi Annual Convention in Genting Highlands.

Pretty Woman Won Area K2 Humorous Speech Contest

Pretty Woman captured the hearts of judges and audience in the Toastmasters International District 51 Area K2 Humorous Speech contest. Grace Yong from Tawau Toastmasters Club, who presented the speech entitle "Pretty Woman', won the contest. The second place went to Shane Ho from Sandakan Toastmasters Club.

Meanwhile in the Evaluation speech contest, Norman Chin from Sandakan Toastmasters Club came in first. Grace Yong, scored a double by winning the second place.

The Area K2 Evaluation & Humorous Speech Contests 2009 was held in Sandakan on 27th September 2009, hosted by Sandakan Toastmasters Club. Representatives from Sandakan Toastmasters Club, Sandakan Pidato Toastmasters Club and Tawau Toastmasters Club took part in the contests.

Past Area K2 Governor Luna Chua was the Organising Chairperson while the Present Area K2 Governor Eleanor Fabia Pang. Also present were Division K Governor, Datuk Hassan Alban Sandukong, Immediate Past Area K2 Governor Datin Grace Chiu, Past Area K2 Governor Lee Chye Ewe and supporters from all the three clubs in Area K2.

The winners in both contests will represent Area K2 to the Division K level contest expected to be held on 11th October 2009 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The club wishes to congratulate all the winners and wishes them all the best in the next level of contests.

More photos on Facebook here