Back dated to the first meeting of the new term, Toastmaster Kameles delivered her speech for Competent Communication Assignment No 2. Although it is a little bit too late, but still, I would like to share her speech with all of you out there, because I personally feel that her speech was informative. And, I hope that you will be benefited from her speech too.

She is a student of Law Studies. So, she shared with us about the rights that consumers hold in our daily life.

Kameles told us about
the true stories of the complaints from consumers

Below is her full speech’s script:

All or us should know what are the rights that we should hold while we receive any bad service from the service companies. Kameles has shown us the effective ways to go to while we have any problem on the services that we receive.

Toastmaster Kameles, I truly enjoyed your informative speech, and I believe the rest of our club members enjoyed it too! You have done a good job! Keep it up in your future assignments!

Toastmasters Kah Moey completed her Competent Communication Assignment No 3 on 20th July meeting. She delivered a very touching speech, where she shared how her late grandmother made her life a success and how she influenced her throughout her growing journey.

…I decided to jot down all the stories told by her. Now, she has left me, and I managed to jot down 15 chapters of her stories. Those are truly grandma stories, which are the stories about a great wife, a great mother, and a great grandmother. She will always be in my heart, and I will always miss her.

- Kah Moey

Jessica Tan, ACS, CL, delivered her evaluation for Kah Moey's speech

Here is her full speech…

When we are done for an event, we usually have appreciation session for the committee members to appreciate the efforts they put in to the event to make it a success. Today, I would like to have an appreciation session for a person, who made my life a success. She is none other than my grandmother, who had influenced me a lot throughout my growing journey.

She was the person who educated me when I did anything wrong while my parents were not around; She was the person who taught me the China Hokkien Language, which most of my friends don’t really understand; She was the person who told me all the incidents that she has gone through since the Ching Dynasty, until the establish of the Republic of China, until the World War II, until 26 June 2010. Yes, she has just completed her life of 100 years, a century. It was a long journey for her, but it was a short journey for me to be with her.

Since I was born, she baby-sat me until the last moment of her life. Every time, when I went out with my friends, or went out for any event until late at night, she would sit in the living room and wait for me. No matter it was 8pm, 10pm, 12am or 2am, she just sat there and waited for me to return home. She just wanted to confirm, to make sure that I returned home safely.

And, every morning, when I woke up at 5am, I saw her sitting in front of the Buddha statue. She prayed to Buddha, she prayed for us, hope that all of us have safe journeys to work, to the school and back to home. She prayed for us, hope that everyone of us meets kind people outside, so that our work could be done smoothly. I know, the care and love that she has towards me, and even my family, can be endless mentioned.

I thanked her for the care and love, and I thanked her for the understanding and encouragements. When I was in Standard 1, there was once the nurses came to the school for an injection. I was very afraid of injection at that time, so I appealed to her, saying that I didn’t want to go to the school because of the injection. She didn’t scold me, but she explained the purpose of the injection, and she told me that, I should go and face all the difficulties and fears in my heart by myself, because she and my parents will not always be there for me.

When I went to secondary school, I got the first for the whole academic year. She was so proud of me, although I was not from the famous schools like Jit Sin and Chung Ling. When I graduated from the university, she was so happy until she even called up my relatives in China to inform them about the news of my graduation. When I bought a car, she felt so glad of me and asked me to fetch her everywhere. When I bought a house, she was so excited to pack her things and wait there, to move in to my new house.

From her expressions, from her actions, I know that, she was truly happy for all my achievements.

I still remember, when I just finished my SPM, she fell sick. A very serious illness until she couldn’t even wake up. However, she still managed to teach me how to cook lunch and dinner for my family. I personally don’t like to cook, even until now. At that time, because my parents were working, so I took care of her day and night. During that period of time, when I was free, I would sit down beside her, chit chat with her, and listened to her stories, again and again.

I knew that, she may leave me one day. Therefore, I decided to jot down all the stories told by her. Now, she has left me, and I managed to jot down 15 chapters of her stories. Those are truly grandma stories, which are the stories about a great wife, a great mother, and a great grandmother. She will always be in my heart, and I will always miss her.

I can tell you loved her very much, Kah Moey. I’m sure she heard you from where she was and very proud to have listened to the lovely speech about her.

Well done, Kah Moey! Looking forward to your speech No. 4.

Toastmaster Justin Noel Manikam completed his Competent Communication Assignment No 9 on Tues meeting. Club members and guest were greatly impressed with the information shared and quality of his speech. Awesome feedback was given by his evaluator – Sue Chan, DTM. Well done, Justin!

The objectives of this speaking project are to “persuade with power” and the title is Stop Sitting Around!.

Here is his complete speech:

Don’t worry I am not going to collect the survey forms I passed out earlier.  You can keep it.  But if your answer for question no.5 is YES, I seriously suggest that you reconsider your lifestyle.

Let us now review what are the excuses people give for avoiding exercise?  “I am happy the way I am”.  “I feel pretty good already”.  “I don’t have to worry I have good genes”.  “I don’t like to sweat”.  “I don’t know where to start”.  And the most common excuse is of course “I don’t have the time”.  You know what? I think all this are just lame excuses.  The President of the USA Barack Obama, who without a doubt is one of the busiest men on earth, even he finds time to exercise.  So I believe these people who avoid exercise, their real excuse is, “I am lazy.”  Full stop.

Fellow toastmasters and guest, the effects of not exercising are tragically horrifying.  According to studies, an estimated 250,000 deaths occur each year due to a lack of regular physical activity.  It is true that most of the 250,000 deaths are people who are overweight or obese but please remember slim people are not necessarily fit and healthy.  According to a survey published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which followed nearly 22,000 men over a period of eight years, found that men who were overweight but fit had a lower death rate than those who looked slim but were actually unfit.  This shows that it is fitness and not how much you weigh that really determines your health status.

That is why I liked to urge all of you today to start getting fitter by exercising regularly.  Exercise has got immense physical health benefits.

1. When we exercise, the heart becomes stronger, blood pressure drops, HDL (good) cholesterol increases, LDL (bad) cholesterol decreases.  The risk of heart attacks may also drop by 20% in those who exercise regularly.
2. Exercise also boosts our immune system, which means fewer infections, and therefore fewer visits to the doctor.
3. Exercise helps us manage our blood sugar levels therefore preventing the occurrence of type 2 diabetes.
4. Exercise improves our blood circulation and in doing so it improves our skin complexion.
5. Exercise improves our digestive system.

Exercise also has got tremendous mental health benefits.

1. Exercise relieves stress.  After a mentally strenuous day at the office it would be a good idea to sweat it out by exercising.
2. Exercise triggers the release of endorphins.  Endorphins are the body’s natural feel good chemicals which gives us an overall sense of well-being.
3. Exercise also boosts our self-esteem.  With improving fitness you begin to look and feel younger.  And for the older gentleman who wants to have a romantic evening with his wife to rekindle their youth, you don’t need artificial stimulants like Viagra to ignite those feelings; no you don’t; all you need is regular exercise to improve your blood flow to all regions of your body.
4. And to those of you who after hearing me mention all the benefits of exercise still think you don’t have the time.  I got a bargain for you.  According to studies, as fitness levels increase, quality of sleep also increases.  This means fit people need lesser hours of sleep.  And with lesser hours of sleep means you have more time to do whatever there is you need to do.  Fantastic bargain right?  The fitter you get the lesser sleep you need.

So let’s get started.  It doesn’t matter if you are young or old.  All you need for a start is 20 minutes 3 times a week.  You can take a brisk stroll, a moderate jog, cycle around your neighborhood, a swim in the pool or even dancing for fun.

And to those of you with families of your own, get them involved.  If they understand how important your exercise program is for your good health, they would want to be involved as well.  You can do all those activities I just mentioned with your family.  It will not only boost your health but also strengthen your family ties.

Another alternative; try out a gym.  Gyms nowadays are different they are not just the boring treadmills and stationary bicycles that go nowhere.  Gyms today have yoga, pilates, kick-boxing, aerobics and other exercises to keep it lively and interesting.  Trainers at most gyms today are also quite well-trained and knowledgeable.  They are able to tailor make suitable exercise programs for you.  Besides exercising and keeping fit in the gym, the gym is also a good place for single people to meet other single people.  It’s like killing two birds with one stone.  So, single people go join the gym.  It’s perfect for you.

In conclusion my fellow toastmasters and guest, we must not allow excuses to control our minds and keep us from reaching our fitness goals.  It is ultimately we ourselves who have the power to improve our lives.  I also earnestly want to stress here that exercising is not a chore but a fun activity that we should all enjoy.  And remember this, everyday you give an excuse not to exercise, is a day lost in getting closer to your fitness goal.  But if you follow your workout program everyday; everyday would be a day closer to your fitness goal.  So stop sitting around.  No more excuses.  Just Do It! like Nike.  Start exercising immediately!

Thank you.