Journey to ACG

Here is a record of the ten speeches I have completed to achieve Advanced Communicator Gold award from Dec 2010 - Sep 2012.

ENTERTAINING MANUAL

1 The Entertaining Speech (5-7 min) 
Happily Ever After 
evaluated by Ler Wee Meng on 10 Dec 2010 at NUS Alumni TMC

2 Resources for Entertainment (5-7 min) 
OMG
evaluated by Lim Seh Leng on 28 Dec 2010 at Tampines Changkat Advanced TMC

3 Make Them Laugh (5-7 min) 
Forever Young
evaluated by Pradeep Kumar  on 10 Mar 2011 at AIA Changi TMC

4 A Dramatic Talk (5-7 min) 

The Perils of Parenting
evaluated by Sam Kouk on 20 Oct 2011 at Katong TMC

5 Speaking After Dinner (6-8 min) 
Free Facelifts
evaluated by Coen Tan on 12 Jan 2012 at Katong TMC 


SPECIALTY SPEECHES MANUAL

1 Speak Off the Cuff (5-7 min)
Benefits of Joining Toastmasters
evaluated by David Kow on 31 Jan 2012 at Tampines Changkat Advanced TMC 

2 Uplift the Spirit (5-7 min) 
Steps to Excellence
evaluated by Vincent Lim on 16 Feb 2012 at Katong TMC

3 Sell A Product (5-7 min) 
To be Determined...
evaluated by Daisy Neo on 20 Sep 2012 at Katong TMC

4 Read Out Loud (5-7 min) 
Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic
evaluated by Paulin Chan on 7 Jun 2012 at Buona Vista TMC

5 Introduce the Speaker (duration of club meeting)

Introducing the Speakers
evaluated by Nik Chua on 20 Jan 2011 at Katong TMC 

AP3 MAKE THEM LAUGH

THE ENTERTAINING MANUAL

AP3 MAKE THEM LAUGH: 

FORVER YOUNG

  

It was the usual supper routine after our club's chapter meeting.  As my club members and I were walking to the carpark, Mike, the youngest member from my club who is in his early 20s, spied a spiffy red car with sports rim and pointed to it. "Cool!" he commented. 

I broke into a wide smile and said, "Good taste. That's my car!"

"What? But but but you're an auntie!" he spluttered in disbelief.

If I were a volcano, I would have erupted and spewed lava all over this tactless young chap.  What? You mean "oldies" cannot be young at heart?

How many of you here are in your twenties? Thirties? The rest of you, I'm sorry, you're aunties and uncles whether you like it or not.

Unfortunately for ladies, our auntie status is often hastened with childbirth. Once I had kids in my thirties, I already became an auntie.  But that didn't stop me from being young at heart. I mean, look at me. Do I look like I'm forty? Please.

Remember in the 1980s there was this pop song "Forever young, I want to be forever young... " How many of you here would like to stay forever young? Come on, own up!  We are living in an anti-aging culture.  Nobody wants to look old or admit they are old. Well, I don't have the elusive elixir that will help us retain youth and longevity. But I do know 3 ways we can stay forever young. 

The first way to stay forever young is to beg Fernando to adopt you, then you can change your surname to Young.  And ladies, you have the extra option of marrying a Young man since Fernando has two sons.  Hopefully they are handsomer versions of him.  Then you can become Mrs Young and that will stay with you forever.

The second way is to stay forever young is to go under the knife  The options available nowadays for cosmetic plastic surgery are varied and truly mind-boggling.  There are all kinds of lifts like brow lift, face lift, even other sagging body parts.  You could also go for rhinoplasty, cheek fillers, lip augmentation or chin surgery. Or how about a few shots of botox to erase  wrinkles - the tell-tale signs of aging.  In a recent issue of 8 Days, Nicole Kidman finally admitted to having used Botox which explains why her forehead stays expressionless even when she's frowning.  Of course this option is only available to those who are filthy rich since plastic surgery is exorbitant.  A simple procedure like cheekbone implants would set you back by 8k dollars.  Unfortunately I don't belong to the filthy rich category so this option is definitely out for me.

The third and easiest way to be forever young is to stay young at heart.  How do we do that? Follow the 3Cs that characterize young people.

The 1st C is curiosity.  Young people are curious, they naturally want to find out about things they don't understand.  This started in their childhood days. Parents, remember the days when your toddlers or kids started asking why? why? why? and almost drove you crazy? Let's keep this spirit of desiring knowledge and it will help us have an active mind.  There is a saying, "Use it, or lose it." Studies also confirm that too little mental stimulation can hasten mental decline. So use your mind constantly to keep it agile and you will stay forever young.

The 2nd C is carefree.  Young people are carefree, they seek out friends, fun experiences and basically know how to enjoy life.  As adults, we are hassled and bogged down by too many responsibilities so when we allow stress and worry to become permanent residents in our lives.  Let's learn to cast our cares aside to enjoy time with family and friends, to pursue our hobbies and interests whether it be public speaking or singing or dancing in the midst of our busyness. Recently I took up kickboxing at a gym and it has done wonders for me.  Put me on an adrenaline high.  So go ahead, do something you really enjoy once a week and see yourself become more airy, animated and at ease, see yourself feeling young again. 

The 3rd C is courage - courage to dream, courage to experience, courage to try. How many times have you backed out of something with the excuse, no lah, I'm too old for this?  Why should we be too old for anything? In Kansas, USA, a 95-year-old woman will become the world's oldest college graduate.  In UK, 49-year-old Susan Boyle who became an overnight sensation was awarded the record for being the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album.  The list could go on and on.  Don't ever tell yourself I'm too old for this.  If you want to do it, just go for it. That's the spirit to staying young at heart.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the secret to staying young at heart, be curious, be carefree, be courageous to pursue your dreams.  And don't let anyone tell you: "you're too old for this!"  

WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE EVALUATION?

When I won the Division Z Evaluation Contest in 2008, I was elated, but when I was not even placed in the District 80 Evaluation Contest a few months later, I was deflated.  I had made two fatal mistakes: (1) I had packed too many points in my evaluation speech (and was probably one of the two contestants who went overtime) and (2) I had insulted the test speaker.  Nevertheless, it was an educational experience as I had learnt an invaluable lesson.

After observing the more proficient evaluators and evaluating many project speeches, I have come to realise that the key to effective evaluations lies in 3Ses: Structure, Sincerity and Sensitivity.

Structure

Some evaluators include a mishmash of points randomly put together, which makes the speech difficult to follow.  An effective evaluation speech must have a clear structure that is easy to follow. I use the basic structure: Introduction + 3 commendations + 3 recommendations + Conclusion.  The commendations and recommendations should be clearly delineated using numbers, acronyms or alliterative triads (i.e. a group of 3 words or phrases beginning with the same letters).

I must give credit to Wekie Tay, the Division Z Evaluation Champion in 2009 who impressed me immensely with his effective use of alliterative triads in his evaluation speech.  Thereafter, I tried using alliterative triads in my future evaluations and found that it worked like magic every time.

Sincerity

An effective evaluation should not be a plethora of platitudes or an exercise in whitewashing.  If you did not find the speech inspiring, do not say that it was inspiring. Be true to yourself.  If we glorify the speaker, we are doing him a great disservice.  An effective evaluation serves as a mirror image to help a speaker realise his strengths and areas for improvement.  

Sensitivity

Speak the truth in love - that's a good rule to follow.  While we want to be sincere and truthful in our comments, we also want to sensitive to the feelings of the speake and avoid being tactless.  During the District 80 Evaluation Contest in 2008, I actually told the test speaker, "Your conclusion is so forgettable that I can't even remember what you said." On hindsight, that might have been more positively re-phrased as "Ending your speech on a strong note will help you leave a deep impression on your audience."  Now I learn to use positive language to explain how the speaker could have improve on certain aspects of his/her speech.

In conclusion, an effective evaluation  has a clear structure, sincere comments and is sensitive to the speaker's feelings. The end result of which is that the speaker is motivated to improve his speaking skills.

AP5 Speaking After Dinner

AP5 Speaking After Dinner from The Entertaining Speaker Manual

Timing: 8 - 10 minutes

Objectives:

(1) Prepare an entertaining after-dinner talk on a specific theme.
(2) Deliver the talk extemporaneously, using the skills developed in the preceding entertainment 

Evaluator: Coen Tan from Tampines Changkat TMC

FREE FACELIFTS

Look at me? What do you see?

You don't see my dazzling mega-watt smile?

You don't see my sparkling white, perfectly aligned front teeth?

Do you know why I have such beautiful teeth?

Because I use Sensodyne! No, I was just kidding.

It's because they are all fake teeth! This is a secret I have kept for many years, please do not tell anyone!

I see some of you shaking your heads and gaping in disbelief. Fake teeth belong to tottering old ladies with wrinkled faces! Why would a young lady like Joni in her 20s have fake teeth?

I know I look like I'm in my 20s but actually I've already hit the 40s. That's another secret, please don't tell others.

Well, you see, something happened years ago that totally changed my...

teeth!  Let me share with you the story.

After my A levels, I went to relief teach at River Valley High School. One day some of my colleagues planned an outing during a public holiday.  We went to East Coast Park to cycle. It was a bright sunny day, with a bit of a breeze. We will happily cycling along when we spotted a group of children cycling towards us. My group was going in one direction, and the children in the opposite direction.

Suddenly, a small, dark boy came out from behind the group of children.  He was hell bent on overtaking the group of children who were going too slowly for his liking. He was pedalling fast and furious, going like a whirlwind.  He came straight onto our lane and before I could react, he was in my face, literally!

Wham! Bang! Collision. I was knocked right off my bike and I was seeing stars.  There was a commotion around me but I was too dazed to realise what was happening. All I could feel was pain in my mouth and wetness on my shirt. I looked down and saw BLOOD!!  Not drips of blood, not trickles of blood but pools of blood! I think I almost fainted.  

What happened was my teeth had made contact with the boy's forehead.  Other than teeth marks on his forehead, the boy survived the accident unscathed, while I was lying on the grass patch, bleeding profusely.  Two of my teeth had been knocked out on impact.  One colleague frantically called for an ambulance, while the other attended to me.

After what seemed like an interminable wait, the ambulance arrived and I was placed on a stretcher and ferried to the SGH.  Fortunately for me, my colleague's aunt worked in SGH dentistry department so after some string pulling, I was able to see a dentist without having to wait too long.

The dentist examined me and shook her head. "You will have to wear dentures for now, while we arrange to have crown made. But that will cost at least one thousand dollars."  With my mouth wide open, I could hardly say anything to express my shock and dismay.  I could only utter 'ah' sounds while lying there helplessly.  Any ah counter would have had a field day counting my 'ah's!

After several visits to the dentist, I finally had crowns to fill the gap in my teeth. That Christmas, the song All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth took on a special meaning to me.

That's the end of Part 1 of the story. Part 2 of the story happened 10 years after the accident.  I began to notice that my smile was somewhat crooked. It bothered me a lot! That made me self-conscious and unwilling to smile. My teeth were not aligned straight, instead they were overlapping.  One day, I came across an advertisement about smile makeover.  It promised to solve all kinds of dental problems and give you something to smile about.

Intrigued, I called immediately for an appointment. Dr Ong was very warm and effusive. He showed me all the before and after photos of previous customers and I was sold.  I underwent two sessions of measurements, customisations and fixtures, and several thousand dollars later, I had fake teeth or more correctly, porcelain veneers to correct my teeth alignment. My smile makeover was complete. Finally I had something to smile about!

Did you know that smiling lifts the face and make you look younger? So if you want a free facelift, smile!  Smilng is also contagious, which explains the saying "Smile, and the whole world smiles with you!" Research has also shown that smiling releases endorphins and helps you stay positive. It also makes you appear successful. 

So if you want to look young and attractive, SMILE.

If you want to feel happy and positive, SMILE.

If you want to appear confident and successful, SMILE.

And you know what's the best part about that? Something that all Singaporeans like.

It's FREE!

Time taken: 7 mins 50 secs 

I was 10 seconds short of the timing of 8 to 10 minutes.  Evaluator Coen suggested that I could dramatize the story further to up its entertainment value. For example, show a crooked smile and pose it for exaggerated humour.  Or play up the scene about the dentist.  Put all inhibitions aside!!

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.