Voice of Indrahanians - My 2 Cents

The toastmaster club was a chance incident that Patrick Daya over the course of a dinner spoke to me about. It was sometime in Oct’08. I have heard about Toast Masters Clubs long before this but had never had the opportunity of having one of my friend/colleague actually being actively involved in one. So out of curiosity I asked him if he could bring me along. He kindly did. As we were both from the same office building, I trailed him to the venue. It was a great first time experience – my first visit as a guest, in November 08. Besides Patrick was really a very solicitous host, Jen Wong, Jade, Choi Woon and Yeoh went out of their way to make me feel at home. The speeches that day was from May and Patrick. I remembered how supportive and nurturing the environment was. There was no sense of threat and comments/critique were given sincerely and received good naturedly. It was a very positive experience indeed. I attended another 2 sessions, this time bringing my husband along. The spin off from that was really energizing for both of us. So I decided to sign on while my hubby will come as a regular guest as his timing is less flexible.

Joining the club, was not a case of shopping for the best fish in the market. I felt good and right during my visit to Taman Indrahana, so I joined even though to be honest, there were many suggestions from my good fellow TMs to check out other clubs before joining Tmn Indrahana.

Thus far, I’ve been with the club for 3 months now, I’ve attended most meetings where I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It amazes me the wit and skill that the general evaluators exhibited. The jokes were really good. I now know why table topics are important. “2 minute Impromptu speech on SPEED in the face of a speeding ticket, to quote Stephen Joseph”. Amidst numerous hilarious and enriching sessions, the best and most memorable night was my Ice Breaker speech night – “38 years in 5 minutes” to introduce myself. I had Leann to thank for her input on the way to go around putting together the introductions and Han to remind me to start working on it. A gentle push but a very important step indeed. Post speech, the standing ovation is a one in a lifetime experience. If I am the blushing type, I would have turned beet root. The evaluation by Kay Wong uplifted my confidence and made me want to rush on for a 2^nd speech. People all around were very supportive, congratulating me for a job well done. One would think that I’ve conquered Mount Everest . That night, I felt 10 feet tall.

I don’t profess to have much experience being a TM. I’m only going on to speech no. 2. So I won’t give any advice. Yet. Hopefully 3 – 5 years down the road, I will be able to inspire the newbies as I am now inspired by my seniors in TM.

Lydia Wang, TM