The Magic Continues....

Meeting Commentary
Magical –Bali Toastmasters Club Meeting July 3rd.

The Magic Continues….


This meeting is actually the true ‘first’ meeting of the new club, and what an outrageous meeting it was, fun, dynamic, high energy.

Whereas at the previous meeting the meeting preparation and all the leadership roles were performed by the members of Bali TMC, its sponsoring/mother club, preparations were made so that as many roles as possible would be undertaken by Magical-Bali Toastmasters.

Miranda, MBTC President, opened the meeting. She confessed to still being in a state of disbelief that the number of attendants, over 25 people in three consecutive meetings, was becoming a norm rather than a fluke.

She introduced the five guests: Ana and Alexandra decided to come after receiving numerous invitations through Facebook, Erry, Yanti and Dina were invited by Melki and Verga, MBTC members.

The Word of the Day ‘Outrageous’ combined with the, yes, a mundane yet effective theme ‘Yes We Can’ helped set the mood and tone of the meeting.

The seasoned Toastmaster of the Meeting, Immediate Past President of Bali TMC, Ina Jones, led the meeting superbly, keeping the meeting upbeat.

The meeting was opened with the Table Topic Session, led by Yudha, our VPE Yudha who came to me twice to be mentored as Table Topic Master. His effort to prepare, combined with his jovial personality successfully drew eager volunteers from the pool of new members and guests to rise to the challenge of impromptu speaking.

Melki, our newest member took the first question: ‘If you were to win a prize for a trip to Tibet or South Africa, which one would you choose?’. He chose Tibet because he wanted to meet with Dalai Lama.
Eris, our VPPR took the second question: ‘Where do you prefer to take your vacation’, answering she chose the mountain as it brought back memory of the time she was a university student when she would camp every weekend and went straight to the university from the camping ground at the foot of Mount Merapi in Central Java.
Yanti, our first time guest, who came to the meeting invited by another guest answered the question: ‘If you could chose to be a president or a movie star, which would you choose’. With a obvious enthusiasm she answered she would rather be not a movie star but superstar.
To the question: ‘What’s the most outrageous traditional food you’ve ever had?’ Michele, an American and a BTC member said she couldn’t pass this question, and thus recounted her experience eating dog satays.
Grace, one of the newer members, and organic farming advocate answered the question: ‘If you’re given one hour to speak to President SBY, what would you tell him about Indonesia’. She said that Indonesia should be an agriculturist country and then proceeded to explain why with very convincing stats and facts.
Alexandra, a guest, took on the question: ‘What was your most unforgettable romantic moment?’. Being a car racer, her romantic moments all involved car races and male racers, whereby not only, once, but five times, five boyfriends had given her most unforgettable romantic moments.

Next, the Prepared Speech Session.

The first three speakers gave their Ice Breaker Speeches.
Diana, one of the young leaders in the vegetarian movement in Indonesia spoke about the benefits of being a Vegetarian and gave a highly persuasive argument on why being a vegetarian can save our planet and our pockets. Diana spoke with the ease of someone who is truly passionate about what she believes in. She was confident and has strong pleasant voice. She was evaluated by Strong who commented on her strong points and pointed out that the speech would be more effective if Diana could tell the audience what benefits she herself had experienced from being a vegetarian.

Dayu Sasih, the dog lover spoke about her best friend, Kriwil, her dog and what they have in common with each other; one of them is their love for Kerupuk (crackers). She spoke with a lot of enthusiasm and passion that the love and affection she has for Kriwil felt very palpable. Dayu prepared well for her speech as it showed in the organization and the flow of the speech. She was evaluated by Cakra who suggested that she used project more power through her voice.

Sri Fatmawati, gave a speech on her experience being a new student at John Robert Powers, a grooming and personality development school. She used proper gestures, vocal variety, facial expressions and purposeful movements so naturally, making her story very vivid and enjoyable to listen to. She was evaluated by Miranda who commended her for incorporating all the delivery tools so effectively. She suggested that next time Sri could forgo the notes - which she held in her hand the whole time, when it was obvious that she didn’t need it.

Rani, doing her second project in succession, gave a very inspiring and motivating speech titled 'Be 100% in Whatever You’re Doing'. Her speech was very affecting that the topic was adopted as the sub-theme of the meeting and was referred to often. She was evaluated by Michele who praised Rani highly on her confident delivery and superb organization, as well as the excellent examples used to support her main points. She suggested that Rani could have employed more questions to connect with the audience.

Miranda closed the prepared speech session with an Interpretive Reading project titled: A Jealous God. The project required that she utilize an array of vocal variety to interpret the various emotions and feelings the author tried to convey through the poem about a God who would not cease seducing and yanking His beloved back to Him until He is the only one loved. Noni evaluated her saying that Miranda had used the vocal variety very effectively, and that by listening to Miranda’s rendition of the poem she really ‘get’ what the poem tried to convey. She suggested that Miranda expanded on her introduction of the speech so that the audience was better informed about the intent of the poem, thus can enjoy it more.

Purnawan the ballot counter announced the most voted on: Alexandra – Best Table Topic Speaker, Rani – Best Speaker, Michele – Best Evaluator.

The Executive Committee was then introduced, Miranda – President, Yudha – VP Education, Purnawan – VP Membership, Eris – VP Public Relations, Rani – Secretary, Yuni – Treasurer, Ari Susanti – Sergeant of Arms. A friendly and laughter-filled banter ensued as the officers explained what their jobs are.

The meeting was concluded with guest comments that found the Toastmasters meeting extremely enjoyable and educative. Three guests will join as members.

The word of the day ‘OUTRAGEOUS’, was used a total of 32 times throughout the meeting.

The members had their first official photo taken. All in all, it was an outrageous, fun, exhilarating and exiting meeting.

To see more pictures of the meeting please check out our Facebook group: Magical-Bali Toastmasters Club.
Better still, join the group and invite others to join, so you will receive updates and news about our club.

See you at our next meeting, July 17th.

Toast!
Miranda Suryadjaja ACB ALB
President
Magical-Bali Toastmasters Club
Club no. 1505268 District 87