Journey to ACB Award

Here is a record of the ten speeches I have completed to achieve Advanced Communicator Bronze award.

INTERPRETIVE READING MANUAL

1 Read A Story (8-10 min) 
The Gift of the Magi 
evaluated by Conrade Yap on 09/05/2003 at NUS Alumni TMC

2 Interpreting Poetry (6-8 min) 
Simon Lee, The Old Huntsman 
evaluated by Frances Ess on 13/3/2003 at NUS Alumni TMC

3 The Monodrama (5-7 min) 
Thy Husband Is Thy Lord
evaluated by Clifford Ess on 13/2/2004 at NUS Alumni TMC

4 The Play (12-15 min) 
To Hatch A Swan
evaluated by Clifford Ess on 8/4/2005 at NUS Alumni TMC


5 The Oratorical Speech (10-12 min) 
Mother Teresa's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
evaluated by Michael Wee on 16/6/2005 at Tampines Changkat TMC




HUMOROUSLY SPEAKING MANUAL


1 Warm Up Your Audience (5-7 min)
Pleasing a Woman
evaluated by Ler Wee Meng on 11/11/2005 at NUS Alumni TMC 


2 Leave Them With A Smile (5-7 min) 
Libido: His vs Hers
evaluated by Clifford Ess on 13/1/2006 at NUS Alumni TMC

3 Make Them Laugh (5-7 min) 
How To Please Your Man
evaluated by Andy Okada on 26/10/2006 at NUSS TMC


4 Keep Them Laughing (5-7 min) 
For Better or For Worse
evaluated by Koh Chi Wei on 8/2/2007 at AIA Changi TMC

5 The Humorous Speech (5-7 min)

Silence of the Ma'am 
evaluated by Benjamin Gan 15/11/2007 at Katong TMC (2nd attempt)

AP4 A Dramatic Talk

AP4 A DRAMATIC TALK 

(from the Entertaining Speaker Manual 5-7 mins)

Objectives:

• Develop an entertaining, dramatic talk about an experience or incident.
• Include vivid imagery, characters and dialogue.
• Deliver the talk in an entertaining manner.

Intro: The speaker is a mother of two rambunctious boys who often wishes secretly that she could give them away.

THE PERILS OF PARENTING

How many of you think that babies are cute and adorable? Do you know why babies are so cute? They've got to be, otherwise parents would have long given up on the arduous task of caring for a baby!

In my previous speech about Parenting Part I, I shared about the sacrifices of parenting: sleep, sex and sanity.  Today, I will share with you about Parenting Part II: the perils of parenting.

There are perils you have to face as a parent.  This is encapsulated by the 3Ps: pee, poo and puke.  

Let's start with the first P: P for pee. Some of you may think there's diapers, what's there to worry about right? Wrong!!! Diapers do not cover all emergencies.  Even with diapers, your baby can leak.  If you don't do a night change, the monumental pee discharge can overflow.  I have lost count of the number of times I've had to change bedsheets in the middle of the night, stumbling and fumbling around, cursing and swearing most of the time. The next morning, I will invariably wake up looking like Oscar in Sesame Street - grumpy and grouchy.

Toilet training is also a nightmare.  I have lost count of the number of puddles I've had to clean up in various parts of my house.  Having read online that having a readily available male role model is key to teaching boys how to pee successfully, I arranged for the dad to have some pee bonding time with his son.

After accompanying dad to the bathroom to watch, little joel gives it a try next to the big guy at the big toilet.  To make the whole experience more fun and rewarding, we even threw in a few pieces of O-shaped cereal like Cheerios to help him perfect his aiming.

Pee is bad, but poo is worse.  Once when I lifted my baby out of the bathtub after his bath, before I could dry him, he promptly pooed all over the towel and my thigh!! I was petrified and panicking, and in a real dilemma: should I clean baby first or clean myself first?

When I was toilet training my younger boy, he took a long time to master the art of pooing in the toilet.  He preferred the standing position. Everytime he stands very still with this grimace on his face, you know, it's poo time. Once when I was out shopping at Centrepoint with him, he suddenly stood very still. 'Uh oh!' I thought to myself. 'Jayden,' I whispered, 'are you pooing?' He just remained like a silent statue, perhaps he was too frightened to answer me.  I touched his backside and felt a lump, hard as a rock. 'Aarggghhh!' I let out a scream in my head.  Quick as lightning, I took Jayden by his hand and quickly led him out of the shop towards the nearest toilet before any other shopper could smell something fishy.  

On some occasions, Jayden would tell me, 'mommy, tummy ache' and before I could react, the explosive smell of poo bombards my nose. I would throw away all his soiled underwear because I could not bear the thought of having to wash them. Once my mom caught me in the act of throwing away his underpants and soundly chided me for being so extravagant. 'You so rich ah, can wash and wear again, you throw away!' Then she proceed to soak the undergarment in a pail of water.  Soon you could see brown murky things swimming around in it, attracting flies. Disgusting!!  

Then there's the 3rd P for puke.  There are 3 things you need to know about puke: first, it happens without warning; second, it happens very fast; and third, you better clean it up very fast.  Twice when our family went to Genting for short trips, my two sons took turns to puke during the coach rides.  We scrambled around for tissue paper to clean up the mess quickly and thoroughly in case the bus drive came along and condemned us to cleaning duty.  

Another time, my son puked all over my car's front passenger seat without warning.  Even after cleaning up the  mess, the stench lingered for days.  I found it so intolerable that I sold off that orange Toyota Vios and replaced it with my current red Toyota Vios.

What is my purpose of sharing with you my wealth of experiences as a parent? It is not to deter you from Parenthood. I would not want PAP coming after me for insurgence.  It is to let you know that parenting is not for the faint-hearted. There are sacrifices and perils involved. Are you ready for these challenges?

There are two things in life many people rush into without being fully aware of what it entails. The first is marriage and the second is parenthood.  So, for all of you out there looking for love, I wish you happiness and awareness in finding your perfect partner and having cute and adorable babies, pee, poo and puke regardless.

*************************************************

This was the speech I had prepared for the Humorous Speech Contest but I did not get to present it as Jayden had fever on the day of the contest. So I decided to present it for AP4 A Dramatic Talk as the content lends itself to drama and exaggeration.

I felt rather rusty, having not presented a prepared speech for quite a while.  I forgot my line in para 5 but managed to recover quite fast. However, when I came to the conclusion, I just went blank for a rather long time! Awkward silence... Thankfully it come back to me, after like an eternity and finished it off nicely.  Leena was voted Best Speaker for the night. She did really well on her speech about "Everything I learned about networking, I learned it from my first job fair".

Evaluator Sam Kouk's comments:

"She used drama, humour and exaggeration. She had good eye contact, gestures and dramatic dialogue.  I felt that her best asset was her vocal variety.  I enjoyed the drama and the dialogue in her speech."

"She could have exaggerated her facial expressions more to add drama to the speech..."

He mentioned I was smiling a bit too much and could have looked more disgusted when talking about how disgusting the poo was. Good point!

District 80 Evaluation Contest 2010

Winning the District 80 Evaluation Contest in 2010 was a dream come true for me. When the contest chair announced my name, I could not believe my ears! Tears sprang to my eyes. And I am grateful to my club members Elaine, Benjamin, Nik and Ida who came to support me.

This was the evaluation speech that helped me win the champion trophy at the District 80 Evaluation Contest last year.  Kindly transcribed by Gerald Ong.

Contest Chair, fellow toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to all of you, especially to my dear friend here, Amelia.

The wonder of Toastmasters is that it can transform you from a mediocre speaker into a mesmerizing presenter and I have seen that transformation in Amelia. And this afternoon, her presentation is worthy of an A grade, which her name also starts with A. I am going to use the 3 As to expound on her strengths.

The First A is an appropriate topic.Your topic is about the pursuit of perfection and it is relevant to all of us. In toastmasters here, we are here to pursue perfection as well as communication and leadership
skills.

The second A is anecdotes. You were able to use anecdotes effectively and you drew them from your personal life, involving your son and daughter as well from your work life.

And the third A is for animated. You were very animated as a speaker. You were able to use vocal variety, as well as appropriate gestures. You also used the stage area very effectively. So those are the 3 As that helped you score an A for your performance today.

But how can you go from being an A grade performer to become an A* grade performer? This is where I am going to share 3Ps, which will turn you into a more poised and polished speaker.

The 1st P (you are supposed to take notes now) is to plan pointers in your speech content. For me, I am a very logical person. I like it to be numbered like 1,2,3 or in acronyms ABC, or all As or all Ps. That's my style. I found it a little hard to follow your speech. I would have preferred you to plan some pointers. For example, by telling us that to pursue perfection, there are 3 ways that you can do it. Like number 1 from your personal life, number 2 in your work life, and number 3 on a global scale. You go through these 3 points. On the first point, these are what we can take note of. On the second point, these are what we can take note of and so on. I felt if you had done that, it would help the audience follow your points more logically.

The Second P is to polish your language. There was a few pronunciation as well as grammatical errors in your presentation. You were able to polish that up, that will make you come across as a more poised and polished speaker. For example, you asked 'Is there a such thing called perfect?' when you should have said, “Is there such a thing called Perfection?” This is some of the little things that you may want to tune up.

And the third P is to plan a memorable conclusion, because the audience remembers best what they hear last. So if you want the audience here to follow your advice and to keep improving, keep innovating and keep pursuing perfection then you have to bring that message across strongly to them. And I would suggest in your conclusion, stand still and bring across that message in a loud and powerful voice, instead of pacing, which you were doing at the last part.

In conclusion, Amelia, 3As that helped score A, appropriate Topic, anecdotes and you were animated as a speaker – and finally worked on the 3Ps: plan pointers, polish up your language, plan a memorable conclusion. With that, you will become a very powerful speaker.

Back to you, Contest Chair.

Katong TMC Evaluation Contest 2010

Joyce, thank you for sharing the beautiful melody of your speech about cherishing our loved ones.
Tonight I would like to share with you 3 commendations and 3 recommendations.

Firstly, I would like to share about your strengths as a speaker using the 3 Ses.

The 1st S is for smooth delivery of our speech.  You were fluent and confident as a speaker and able to overcome any nervousness you may have felt.

The 2nd S is for sincerity. You shared with us heartfelt emotions in your speech and even admitted at one point that you were too busy for your grandmother.  Your honesty and sincerity as a speaker has certainly moved us.

The 3rd S is for stories. You used stories in your speech to effectively bring across your message, that we should learn to cherish our loved ones before it is too late. I especially liked how you used two different stories to show contrast between your friend's and your own attitude.

How could you have improved on the speech? Allow me to show with your 3 areas of improvement using the 3Es.

The 1st E is for expression.  You appeared rather serious and sombre most of the time.  Perhaps you could lighten up and be more expressive.  Vary your facial expressions to show impatience or sadness or disappointment to reinforce your storytelling.

The 2nd E is for energy.  The energy of your speech was a bit low, how can we lift up the energy level? Use vocal variety and dramatic gestures where appropriate to create more energy in your speech.

The 3rd E is for effective use of grammar.  There were a few mistakes in your presentation (forgot to note down the examples...) so do make an effort to rehearse more so that these can be avoided. Correct grammar will help you to appear more credible as a speaker.

In conclusion, continue to use the 3Ses smooth delivery, sincerity and stories to mesmerize your audience. Work on the 3Es expression, energy and effective use of grammar, and you will be able to become a more poised and proficient speaker.

Evaluation of Leena's P1 speech

Leena, you lead such a colourful life and you've certainly been to places! We are indeed very glad that Katong TMC is now one of the threads in the tapestry of your life.

I shall share with you the three strong points you already have as a speaker, using the letter S.

The first S is for structure. Your speech was well-structured with a clear opening, body and conclusion.
There were 3 main points in your speech and you indicated them clearly by using linking words such as 'the first thread is..', 'another thread is..' and 'the last thread'..

The second S is sense of humour.  You made us laugh when sharing about your role as a mother, how 'the pay is non-existent, the benefits are scarce and the hours are long' and on another occasion when you shared an anecdote about using the trump card against your husband.  You are able to weave humour into your speech and use it naturally.

The third S is for sensational use of language.  You are a polished speaker and you used a beautiful analogy comparing your life to tapestry.  Your theme was consistent with the use of words and phrases like 'the threads are vibrant', 'woven together', 'unfinished tapestry' and 'continues to weave'.

There are two areas for improvement I would like to suggest, using the acronym CD.

Firstly, C for create impact in  your introduction.  You started with a whole long list of activities such as 'riding in a jeep', 'hiking', 'biking' and 'trekking'. You can create impact by using dramatic gestures and vocal variety when talking about each of the activity.

Secondly, D is for dress to impress.  The toastmasters platform is a formal one and we advise speakers to dress formally.  Our audience form their first impression of us within the first few seconds they see us and dressing to impress as a speaker is as important as delivering a well-prepared speech.

In conclusion, you have many strengths as a speaker and they include structure, sense of humour and sensational use of language. Learn to create impact in your introductions and dress to impress and you will be on your way to becoming a sensational speaker.

Evaluation of P4 speech @ AIA Changi on 13 January 2011

Thank you for sharing with us a wonderful story entitled 'Bitter things taste sweet' about how little things can make a big difference.  Project 4 requires you to focus on the use of language to enhance your speech.

Today you performed well in three areas:
(1) simple, short and clear words were used;
(2) sentences used were generally short, simple and easy to understand;
(3) story-telling involving a personal experience was an excellent choice as it helped you to avoid jargon.

There is no shortcut to success in public speaking.  To become an outstanding, exceptional and brilliant speaker, you need to invest time and effort to write, re-write and rehearse your speech before you deliver it.

Allow me to share with you 3 areas of improvement in terms of your language use:
(1) Use vivid, descriptive words that create mental images in the minds of the audience.
For example, 'There was a tent outside the school. It was teeming with parents.  The whole place was abuzz with excitement.' OR
'The children were singing with great gusto while their parents looked on beaming with pride.'

(2) Use rhetorical devices such as alliteration, similes and triads.
For example, 'children with chubby cherubic faces', 'they devoured the food like ravenous wolves' and 'we were delighted to witness their talent, passion and enthusiasm'.

(3) Use proper grammar and pronunciation.
Some grammatical mistakes:
'quite further from the city', 'they have a tent outside the school', 'the parents are there' (instead of 'were there'), 'I didn't expect there to be that many'...

In this evaluation, I have focused on your language use.  I would strongly recommend that you re-do this speech.  Change the speech title, craft the speech, and learn to harness the power of words to give a speech that will move hearts.

I know some toastmasters feel it's such a 'shame' or embarrassment to be told to repeat a speech project. But I assured the speaker that the true objective is about learning and mastering the specific skill each project is focusing on.  There is no point in moving on to the next speech when you have not reasonably mastered the current skill.  I even promised to help her edit her script if she is willing. Unfortunately, that was not to be.  Most toastmasters seek the easy way out by breezing through the project speeches regardless of the standard of speaking or whether the objectives have been met. That is a sad, sad state of affairs.