BTC MEETING August 20, 2009
In the spirit of the celebration of our Independence Day, the meeting was opened by President Ina with the salute: Merdeka!
Most members, true to form, wear red and/or white.
Cok Ratih opened the prepared speaker session with her speech:
First Trip Abroad. She gave amusing recollection on 3 main points:
Going hungry for 10 days in Mexico because there was not enough rice for the dance troupe members, climbing the stairs to her 25th floor hotel room tired from the trip and heavy bags hanging from both her arms, and living and smelling of cajuput oils for a month until New York. The project she was working on was 'How To Say It'. She had the audience in stitches with her stories and the way she said it. What she lacked in fluency she made up plenty in charm and humor.
Michele Cempaka was on the fast track with the delivery of her second speech in less than a month after her ice breaker. Her speech was titled 'The Power of Reiki', informing and persuading the audience to embrace Reiki as a powerful alternative to western medicine. Michele continued to impress us with her confidence and good speech. Her writing background definitely was an advantage.
Ina Jones, our president worked on her 2nd Advanced Communication Bronze project, an entertaining speech called 'Know Exactly What You Want'. An experienced and meticulous speaker, Ina showed the audience that even a good speaker continues to improve with Toastmasters.... Eloquence and confidence, combined with rich content designed to inspire, a great speech made.
Amran Hidayat spoke last and wowed all of us with his ice breaker speech, which he delivered smoothly and confidently, without using notes. His achievement was even more impressive due to his acceptance of the assignment (to give a speech) only a few hours before the event. Amran was called to replace Miranda who was supposed to speak but lost her speech on the very same day of the meeting.
Ina was voted Best Speaker of the Meeting.
The Table Topic Session was led by first timer Table Topic Master: Mei Fang. Mei Fang was applauded for courage and willingness a more difficult leadership role. For a chance everyone was allowed to draw a lottery, although only the 'lucky' ones would have a chance to do an impromptu speech. Cakra, Sri and Govinda won the 'lotteries' The topics revolved around the use of the words Independence and Freedom.
Govinda was voted Best Table Topic Speaker.
The four speakers were evaluated by Tjie Strong and Suzanne D'Angelo, who both did such great jobs as evaluators of two speakers each. Both gave strong performances that reflect excellent preparation and effective evaluations.
Suzanne was voted Best Evaluator.
Ida Wijaya as Toastmasters of the Meeting got to practice her rusty MC-in skills. She kept the pace and the mood of meeting vibrant and uplifting.
Reski did an excellent job as a General Evaluator, very through, very observant and able to offer constructive and motivating feedback. It's always amazing and fascinating to see how members transform and grow through taking on various leadership roles.
The Food was truly excellent. Our first all-vegetarian fare prepared by our vegetarian member Suzanne D'Angelo.
The meeting ended before 9 pm, after some announcement regarding members' progress and goals by Miranda as VP Education.
It was another quality meeting as usual, fast paced, interesting and fun. The length of time people hang out after the meeting was a direct indication of how good and fun the meeting was. Members lingered and kept talking about the meeting, and already planning on roles to undertake for the next meeting.
In Toastmasters one thing never stops: Personal Growth. There's always room for improvement. You never stop learning. Learning is SEXY, Growth is SEXY!
We, members and Toastmasters guests obviously benefited a lot from attending Toastmasters meetings.
What about you? Do you want to grow naturally, organically and effortlessly? Would you like to befriend and network with people who are positive, supportive, love to learn and fun to be with? Do you want to improve your presentation skills, your leadership skills, and impact people around you positively?
See you at the next meeting, Sept. 3rd, same time, same place....
MERDEKA!
Miranda
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