Division P TLI #1 @ Stamford College

While the world still mourns the sudden death of Michael Jackson (and emmm... you remember Farah Fawcett?), Division P decided to carry on still with the TLI #1 training. The event was held yesterday, Saturday 4th July 09 at the much-appreciated Stamford College as the sponsor for the venue.

Though both the District Governor and the TLI Chair are not able to join us due to work commitment, they still left us messages passed through the LGET. DG Ritchie in his note, mentioned about the dedication for excellence through individualism.

*But let me get this opportunity to congratulate the DG Governor, Ritchie and LGET, Thanni for recently achieving DTM and ACB respectively! It was indeed a great start to a wonderful year ahead for both of you, and US as well!

I was put in charge of Registration with a new-toastmaster, Gerard who seems very excited about his very first exposure to toastmaster. There were about 130 toastmasters who attended, a good number for us to manage throughout the day.

We started off with the Welcoming Speech by our Beloved Division P Governor, Dr Caren Lee who successfully launched our Division P blogspot and facebook, followed by a brief Ice Breaking handled by TLI.

LGET Thannimalai

Next was the Distinguished Club Programs presented by LGET, ACB Thannimalai who flew all the way from Penang and were given a 'not-so-friendly-tour' by the taxi driver before arriving on time to the venue. When he asked the members about the vision of toastmaster, one very active members who happens to be the President of Semarak TMC volunteered to recite the vision which he has memorised. I was simply stunned, cause this indeed describe the level of commitment he has on toastmaster. Well, do you know what the mision of a toastmaster club?

Ok, i cheated. I had to googled this up: "The mission of a Toastmasters Club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth".

Then, the excos were asked to break into groups based on their club respective positions. As the Past-VPPR, i was asked to coach the VPPR of the respective clubs and share with them my experiences as the VPPR of DDYPC. I've also managed to slot in some best practices that i've seen in other clubs i've attended and keep reminding the participants that as VPPR, we are the brand of the clubs! But it's true isn't it? VPPR does all the Public Relations work and we are the one heavily tasked to visit other clubs and promote our very own clubs, so however we portrayed ourselves, that is how people would see the club that we represent. Maybe i'll do a more detail write up about this soon.

The 1 hour session seemed just nice for the sharing session with some very good questions from the participants, but who can deter themselves from the sumptous mihun goreng & pisang tea-break that awaits us.

When we started again at about 430 pm, there were 3 electives to choose from. NK Valli is the facilitator for the Motivating Achievement session, DTM Sum Chee for the Competent Leadership session and DTM Dr Arul for the High Performance Leadership session. I decided to join the Motivating Achievement session as 3 of my club members are already attending the CL session, and HPL is something i'm already doing. So perhaps, we could just swap notes later and perhaps, i could just get the personal tutoring from Sum Chee about CL.

When we came back to the auditorium, DTM Francis was waiting to talk about Membership. His excitement and dedication is indeed a great asset to Toastmaster, as throughout the year, Francis is able to sponsor more clubs and attract more toastmaster members than any other Toastmasters i've known. At the end of the session, we had very interesting questions for the District Council Members (whom have pledged 24/7 availability for toastmasters).

Two announcements were made at the end -

• ACB Hadzrin (AG W2) - Come for the Papa Gerald and Siva's workshop. A session not to be missed by all!
• DTM Azmi - Toastmaster Convention coming up pretty soon, and KUALA LUMPUR is the host! It will be our very last semi-annual convention, so why dont we fill up the seats in Genting and use this opportunity to meet up more exciting toastmasters (or the way he puts it, if you are single, hey, why not meet other singles as well :p)?

Thank you Division P for a wonderful session. To those who have missed this session, dont forget to sign up for Div B training next week 11 July in Segi College. Earn the 1/2 points for your clubs (or none if you missed this last training).

Till some other time....

Myself with the Div P Governor

Attendees: Stef (DDYPC), Kuok Sum (TTDI), Hadzrin (Kelab Pidato), Syidi (AMbank), Ivan (DDYPC), Sum Chee (Telekom)

Myself with the lovely Munirah (MCOBA)

KL Convention Training with DTM Dunstan

The Genting Convention is coming up pretty soon, and I signed myself up as part of the Organising Committee. I feel like I’m too free nowadays, that all my free hours are spent mostly on either attending toastmaster meeting or doing my planning work for toastmasters.

So, yes, I dreaded the fact that I had to wake up real early on a Saturday afternoon, and that is to attend a training session with 50 other strangers. But hey, in the spirit of toastmasters, the time spent would surely be categorized as time enriching.

Besides, the opportunity to meet countless great speakers as well as some of the very legend of District 51 is indeed investment worth making. And then again, DTM Dunstan is one of those you’d be glad you spent the Saturday afternoon with indeed.

This would definitely be start to a wonderful team effort for the Genting Convention.

And hey, if you haven’t got a ticket yet, grab it quick!

District Officer Training (DOT) – June 12, 2009

What a better way to spend Friday night than with fellow toastmasters.
And what better gift to compliment that than looking at your perfectly spelt name tag lying on the table, awaiting for us to claim possession.
It was a great start to our toastmaster journey of as we take office cum 1 July 2009.

The District Officer’s Training concluded last Friday was a great success with about 50 Area Governors, Division Governors and Senior District Officers attending the session which was held in MAS Training Centre in Kelana Jaya.

The training kicked off with the opening speech given by DG Joseph Gomez, DTM. Joe, as some calls him, was the epitome of the typical modest leader. He started off his speech asking the governors to begin the journey strong and maintaining that momentum to make an impact up until the end of the tenure. Governors were also asked to enjoy the fantastic next 12 months journey and assist the current team to finish strong towards the end.

The DG-elect, Ritchie Chong, ACG, ALS then briefly talked about the incoming President, Gary Schmidt, DTM and the new motto for the year, ‘Confidence, Leadership, Service’. He then continues on to present the topic of ‘Achieving Success Standard’. Sharing from his previous personal experience as an Area Governor, he mentioned how the experience was a challenging but very fulfilling moment for him, and ensured us that it will be a journey that we will enjoy.

The LGET-elect was up next presenting the topic of ‘Building a Successful Team’. He went to explain that a super team must be mission-focused, service-oriented, know the goals, dedicated to quality, committed to overcoming barriers to success, visible and accessible and most importantly, have the quality to exudes energy, excitement and commitment. He even shared his personal experience of failing in his bid for the position of Area Governor, but determined to try again and successfully securing the job a year after. To him, the right determination complimented with a strong steam will indeed make the challenges ahead be a great journey all together.

Francis, DTM who gave one of the most powerful speech during the last convention to eventually earn his post as the LGM was the next speaker; sharing his passion in ensuring every club is a great club. In his presentation of ‘Maintaining Strong Clubs’, he shared the 4 key factors also as known as CARE (C-CCs, A –ACs, R-Retention of members, E-Extension of clubs) for toastmasters, and with his previous credentials of Area Governor of the Year and Division Governor of the Year, he was indeed one of the most committed toastmaster around.

We were swept away with the next presentation given by Leann, DTM with the topic ‘Building New Clubs’. She even gave away tips on the quest of prospecting new clubs. She mentioned that one must be able to do their very own research on current clubs, target a community with more than 10’000 people, pursue a major corporation with more than 150’000 employees and even use up any possible leads that they could gain. It was indeed a great inspiration to all of us listening to this very first TLI chair, who even shared with us her passion of speaking when she said, ‘Each time I speak, I learn something’. I think it was mutual.

Ramdas, DTM may have taken 10 years to complete his CTM, but the years were all well spent. We were all ears when he took us through the last topic of the evening, ‘Conducting Quality Contest’. With his vast years of experience serving as Chief Judge in many contests before, he shared his many encounters with problem contestants and even provided the many scenarios to test us (which we ace!). He even sound like one of the ones who actually memorize the Contest Rule Book from cover to cover! Well done!

The event may have well wrapped up at about 11 pm, but it was indeed a commendable session organized by the Senior District Council.

What’s more interesting was the fact that all the presenters talked about the Toastmasters mission, which is to enhance the performance AND extend the network of clubs. Even DTM Leann relates it to the story of Alice in The Wonderland. When Alice was lost and asked the white rabbit for direction, the only reply she got was ‘Any road is fine if you don’t have a direction to go’. See, how true it is coming from a ‘white rabbit’? So, start memorizing your mission and make it your toastmaster statement!

15 Division Governors.
79 Area Governors.
‘Confidence, Leadership, Service’.
Together we make it happen!

P Div & Area Governors (From left: Hakim, Sabariah, Suhana, Choi San, Dr Caren)

Reported by:
Suhana Sidik
AG P4 Elect 2009/2010
13/6/09