President’s Inaugural Speech on 26 July 2011 by Ramana Boyani
A splendid good evening to our district officers, my fellow Toastmasters and guests!
It is my privilege to be the President of Kowloon-Singapore Toastmasters club for the term 2011- 2012.
Being the President it has increased my responsibilities and commitments. But I am very happy that I have an excellent team who are more committed and enthusiastic than me. With their support, I am sure we will achieve our club success.
I always believe the value of team work. I always believe my members dreams…and most importantly
I believe myself. With the experience as a Vice President Membership for the last term, I am fully confident that I can overcome all the challenges in the future.
On 20 Sept 2009, I got a call from one of my friends, and he invited me to a Toastmasters seminar.
My immediate response was “I am not interested in toasting or baking courses. Because my wife does not allow me to cook” : ) He said,” it is not about the cooking or baking..It is about toasting your public speaking skills”… hmmm.. That sounded good to me. After 3 days, I visited Chai Chee Community Club along with my friend. As usual the guests were called on to participate in the Table topics. I didn’t dare to step forward. After the seminar I had realized the importance of public speaking in my life. This is the programme sheet for that day. It was so simple… there was no president name and there are no names of the exco team… But I still preserve this… do you know why?….that was the place I got enlightened. I realized about my fear of speaking ….But after 2 years from that day, I am standing in front of you as a President of one of the leading Toastmasters clubs in Singapore. I am very thankful to the friend in my story who showed me the way. He is none otherthan our club member TM. Rao. Please give him a big round of applause!
“People who take initiative and work hard may succeed, or sometimes they may fail. But anyone who does not take initiative is almost guaranteed to fail”.
Initiative is often the difference between success and failure. Initiative is the first step to anywhere you want to go. My message to all of you… “You don’t have to be good, to start: you have to start, to be good”. I repeat…”You don’t have to be good, to start: you have to start, to be good”
Start your Toastmasters journey … I am sure, you will become a better speaker, a better listener, a better thinker eventually a better leader. Continue reading →
Hi, The following is my contest speech. The title is “Pay it Forward and Make a Difference!”
I want to share the message with you and hope that you will like it.
Yetti
Join Toastmasters and find a club that you like to practise your speaking skills. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore.
——- KSTMC International Speech Contest 2011 Title: Pay it Forward and Make a Difference! By: Yetti Chiu
Do you know more than 22,000 children die every day around the world?
That is 15 children dying every minute…
The main killers are poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.
We are lucky! We live in a well-developed country. We have plenty to eat. We have clean water to drink. We have a good health care system. Our children here receive proper education and grow up in a healthy environment.
But in many poor countries, people are starving. They don’t have clean water to drink. They are forced to drink dirty water and may get diarrhea or other sicknesses. But they cannot afford to see doctors when they are sick. That’s why many of them die of preventable diseases and illnesses. Very few children can afford to go to school. Children begin working as garbage pickers as soon as they can walk. Waste dumps are toxic, but there is no other choice. If those poor children do not collect money by selling the rubbish, they would have nothing to eat. Quite often, gangsters force children to take drugs so as to control them. Some parents even have to sell their children into prostitution so as to support the rest of the family.
Yes, the world is unfair!
Don’t you want to make the world a bit better?
All children need love and care! They should have their basic rights and have the chance to receive a proper education.
Make a difference!
Some people may think…Yes, poor children are indeed very unfortunate. But it is impossible for just one person to change the world! Our ugly world is like that… It is a fact even though it is cruel. How can one person alone change the world? It is impossible…
Yes, one person’s efforts may not be enough to change the world…
But think about this statement: “I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do!”
The quote is said by Jana Stanfield at the “I Can Change the World Tour” in November last year. The tour was a program for a group of kind-hearted professional speakers to raise funds for homeless children by making use of their speaking talents. They want to touch lives and make a difference. They pay it forward, giving generously without asking for any returns.
You may wonder at the meaning of “pay it forward”. “Pay it forward” means somebody does a nice thing for you, and instead of paying them back, you “pay it forward” by doing a nice thing for other people. The words come from the movie with the same title.
The story is about Trevor, a 12 years old boy living in a small California town. He accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better. Trevor chooses 3 persons for doing those favours. Instead of having them pay back, he told them to “pay it forward” by choosing 3 other people for doing favours to. It’s like a human chain letter of kindness. The idea is to positively change the world and make a difference!
Have you heard of the organization “Doctors Without Borders”? The organization “rejects the idea that poor countries deserve third-rate medical care and strives to provide high-quality care to patients.” Some of the kind-hearted doctors, nurses and other volunteers make use of their professional skills to help people who are caught in crises around the world. They save thousands and thousands of lives every year. They pay it forward and make a difference!
If you have some kind of talent or professional skill, think about how you can make use of your talent or skill and make the world better. Make a difference!
But it does not matter whether one has a talent or possess a professional skill or not. Everyone can contribution if we have the “heart”.
We can all do our part.
We can donate some of our money to charities.
Why not sponsor a child? Build a better world for the poor children…
At World Vision Singapore, it costs only Forty-Five dollars per month to sponsor a child. I think most of us can afford that.
Every little bit counts, any amount is welcome.
My husband and I have been sponsoring a few children in the past 12 years. We feel happy when we see those smiling faces from the photos of the children. They can get a proper education and a healthy environment for growing up because of the money that we donate every month.
One person may not be able to change the world, but we can change the world by one person at a time. We cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good we can do!
What might this mean for Toastmasters?
We are Toastmasters and we can speak. You may consider choosing topics that can make the world a bit better for your project speeches. Maybe you can influence some of your audience and make a difference. And your audience may influence some others and make another difference!
Why not start now, Pay it Forward and Make a Difference!
Public Speaking Tips: The Secret to Inspiring Your Audience
Why do you do public speaking if not to inspire and move people? Question is, do you know how to inspire your audience? Check out the below article for more info.
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The Secret to Inspiring Your Audience While Public Speaking! By Peter J. Fogel
New speakers (as well as audience members) occasionally approach me after one of my keynote presentations and ask me how I knew I wanted to be a speaker. Well, that is certainly a good question that has many answers. However, the one resounding theme that percolates inside my head as to why I love public speaking is the thrill of inspiring my audience where I can make a profound difference in their lives.
I am not just talking about at the conference that I just spoke at. I am referring AFTER the event.
And you should know I’ve appeared on television, clubs, and concerts as a stand-up comic during my public speaking career. So I am used to getting applause, loads of laughter, (and yes, on occasion a standing ovation.)
I tell you that not to brag, but to make a point: And that after these events, or concerts, (or gigs) are over, people go back to their lives no different than when they came to my event. Comedy is like a little vacation for them. A reprieve from the stress of lives. That’s about it!
But with public speaking, I appreciate when people e-mail me later on ( or write to me on Facebook) to say that my presentation on humor and reinvention, along with my heartfelt stories I delivered, made a difference in their lives. I especially smile when they tell me my message inspired them to make changes in the way they look at life… well, that makes a major impact with me.
How Can YOU Inspire an Audience?
Your goal, I hope, as a public speaker is to inspire as well. In fact, that should be large motivating factor in your decision to use public speaking as a vehicle to boost sales, acquire more customers, sell more products, or gain expert status in their eyes!
So how do you accomplish that? Plain and simple: you need to move your audience. You need to have an audience relate to you and your vital message or content!
When you get down to it, you have achieved success when your audience is inspired to such a degree that they are ready to actually DO something about the problem they have.
You want to get your group to feel that they can do something because YOU made them feel that they could.
Bruno Pereira, DTM Project Evaluation for Anthony Sum’s AP2 – 20090922
Gary Haris – Table Topic Master 20090922
Bruno Pereira, DTM Table Topic 20090922
Yetti Chiu Table Topic 20090922
Practice is the key to helping you improve in public speaking.
If you are a Fearful Public Speaker living in Singapore, please come to visit our toastmaster club.
Kowloon-Singapore Toastmasters Club holds regular chapter meetings where members gather to improve their public speaking and communication skills.
Aileen delivered her project 10 “What a Journey”. It is a very good speech indeed! If you have not joined toastmasters, come to visit our club and see what toastmasters can help you to become a better speaker. If you are a toastmaster, the speech may renew your promise as a toastmaster.
Good afternoon Toastmaster of the day, president, district officers, friends and guests, especially to our guests,
In Apr 2008, the opportunity of personal growth came knocking on my door but I did not answer. I then was a guest at Kowloon-Singapore Toastmaster Club. I was too scared to take it up. After all, didn’t Edward make me a guest then, stand and do an impromptu speech – that’s table topics. Even though I appeared pretty normal, I was trembling all inside me.
But I found myself itching to come back again to give the club the second chance. I supposed it must be the ribbon that Edward bestowed to me as a “first-timer” to speak in the club. The ribbon certainly looked expensive. So this time round, I did not let the opportunity slip by.
For each and every one here is once a guest of some toastmaster club. We join the toastmaster club to improve our public speaking not just for our toastmaster journey, but for the world outside toast masters.
Having been a toastmaster for about a year, I have garnered 3 Cs in communication. Comfortable. In the past, I would avoid eye contact and speak at ultra-fast speed, often tripping over my words. Not so often now as I managed to control my nerve better now. Second C – Creative. I have learnt to use many different methods of speech delivery – as in the sound effect of the “opportunity came knocking”, the use of visual aids – first-timer blue ribbon. Competent – XXX, do you think I am a competent speaker? I shall stop at 3C as otherwise, I would become cocky.
Besides giving me 3Cs, the toastmaster journey is also an expressway for me to improve myself. This expressway is called PIE. Not Pan-island expressway. PIE stands for Profession, Individual, Emotion.
I am an analyst and in my line of job, I do need to make presentation about market trends and analysis. In the past, I always have butterflies fluttering in my stomach and I would have many sleepless nights before the presentation. Not anymore. Yes, the butterflies are still there. In fact, they are right here in my stomach – flying in beautiful formation.
Also as we need to draft speeches for our toastmaster projects, besides speaking skills, I am also improving on my writing skills.
The toastmaster journey has helped me not only conquer my fear of public speaking but also improve my writing skills, hence improving myself professionally.
I particularly like the feedback from our fellow toastmasters on our speeches. They can be our speech evaluators who will give us feedback so that we can improve on our public speaking, or our language evaluator. When I was doing my project 5 on body language, my speech evaluator asked me whether I was an introvert or extrovert. I was stunned. I used to think that I was an introvert. But not anymore. After joining the club, I have taken on a number of other assignments such as addressing to a 400-plus audience on stage, acting – cross-dress to be a man, flexing my muscle, as well. The toastmaster experience has made me a more open to new experiences.
I remembered a visiting toastmaster who was our language evaluator then. She commented that I reminded her of a friend who never failed to brighten up her day. Her friend would be every so cheerful and she would go “Hi, how are you?” even in the hot scorching sun. That stirred up my memory about 10 years ago that a stallholder made the same comment to me too.
A sports lover myself, I could add in my dictionary people like Cliff Young, a farmer who broke the record for the Syndey-Melboure ultra-marathon race at the age of 60 in 1983, team Hoyt – a father-and-son team, where the son is physically challenged but together they are team invincible in triathlons. Thanks to the speeches by Antony.
So you see, through the toastmaster journey, I am re-learning and improving myself as an individual. That’s the I in PIE.
Now what about E? E here stands for emotion. Emotionally, I have made a lot of good friends in the toastmaster club. I know that help is only an email away or a phone call away. When I first joined the club, Edward assigned Yetti to be my mentor. Her job was to help me start my first project, the Ice Breaker. She was also my first speech evaluator.
My fellow toastmasters are my inspiration not just in my toastmaster journey but also in the way I lead my life. I remembered Raymond who picked up opera singing at the age of 70? And went on to take part in speech contest and was conferred second-runner up. I was impressed by his courage but he told me it was nothing, he just “dare to try”.
We also have get-together session once a year. Last year, we had one at Mak’s place. We did our prepared speeches, followed by barbecue session. There was much fun and camaraderie in our club. It fulfils my emotional needs for friendship.
As what Mrs Ganesan wrote in our public speaking blog
“Being a toastmaster is a life-changing experience, it not only broadens your opportunities but gives you purpose in your life… Deep down in everyone lies a talent that can only be discovered when we stretch out in the dark. I encourage everyone to discover their passion and live their destiny by joining the toastmaster club.”
How true this is! Everyone here, do you think that our club is a Great club? I can’t hear you.
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“Hear from people whose lives were changed by the Toastmasters program!
Experience how Toastmasters can help you improve your communication and leadership skills!”
“World Champion Speaker Reveals his #1 Key to Overcoming Fear Eliminating the Negative Self-Talk, and & Delivering a Clear Message…Even If This is Your Very First Speech.”
