What to Bring to a Meeting?

Let's be honest to ourselves - we attend a Toastmasters meeting so that we can learn better presentation techniques and also present our speeches so that these can be evaluated by those who can point out our flaws and suggest how we can better present our future projects.

But, your Toastmasters-ly enjoyment can often be dashed by things that can be judiciously avoided...if you take the necessary precautions.

Trust me, some clubs have a habit of forgetting to provide enough pens, not having sufficient writing paper, refreshments that only just enough for the Club officers...and the list goes on.

To keep things simple, I prefer to lump these "things" together as "Things to Bring:

Things to Bring:

1. Yourself (this should be rather obvious)

2. Pen & paper (a working pen mind you!)

3. Meeting Programme (come on! Just printing one wouldn't suck the printer dry)

4. The Club's contact number (save it into your phone)

5. Your Introduction (somehow, even after emailing the club many times, the TME/VPE simply forgets to print it out and then ask you to write out your Intro just as the meeting is about to start. Arggghhhh!!!)

6. Light snacks (some clubs are so miserly they provide only raw vegetables at their meetings. Shocking but true! Plus, there are clubs that conveniently forget our multi-culturalism, multi-religious participants and lavishly prepare a buffet full of pork, beef, non-halal food etc. I feel like strangling the SAA sometimes!)

7. Water (a source of life...and also one to oil your parched throat before presenting a speech/evaluation. Don't hope that the club stocks up on water!)

8. Namecards (how else will the participants remember and contact you especially after listening to your power-packed presentation??)

With your meeting arsenal well-stocked, you will definitely enjoy the meeting!

Another Quality Class Event

This must surely be an amazing week for me! Just yesterday, I went to a superbly managed Friday prayers at Ahmad Ibrahim Mosque and just two days later, I was entertained to another fantastically-organized event!

What event was it?

A wedding lunch at Choa Chu Kang.

Unity in Colours!

The moment I arrived at the scene, I was struck by the colour-coded setting. Everything, from the wedding dais to the kompang (Malay drum) ensemble to the buffet table skirting to the decorations hanging from the ceiling to the table flower arrangement....was in various shades of green. It certainly made the event look unified...whatever that means.

Excellent Welcome

The welcome was extremely warm and in Malay tradition, the proud parents of the groom/bridegroom welcomed visitors. I felt included in the festivities and this probably allowed me to further enjoy the banquet. Ladies and gentlemen, warm welcome = happy guests = more $$$ in your green packet = make profit from the banquet.

"Tea-Watcher"

Even more amazing was that the organizers even had the foresight to arrange for a "tea-watcher". What's that? Simple, a tea-watcher sits near the hot beverages section and makes sure that the tea/coffee dispensers are adequately filled with coffee and tea and also keeps an eye on the milk and sugar cubes. I was filling my cup with tea and from the corner of my eyes, I noticed that the tea-watcher realizing that the milk was depleting. He bent down to the left side of the table and very casually took out a tin of evaporated milk and proceeded to pour it into the near-empty milk jug. Let me ask you, which other caterer would think of such important and many-times-sorely-missed details?

Sparkling Clean Plates Anyone?

So what about the plates? Surely, a wedding lunch is the occasion to stuff one's self full and today was no different. But a buffet featuring the most delicious of food can be horribly ruined by the presence of - urgh! - greasy plates and utensils. Fortunately though, the plates were sparkling clean - no trace of the ever-yucky greasy residues - and were strategically placed within the easy reach of the hungry hordes. Yes, even 80 year-old makcik can reach the plates very capably!

Great Food!

The food was absolutely scrumptious...I felt like I was in gastronomic nirvana chomping down on the fluffy bryani rice, chewing on the supremely tasty beef rendang, savouring on the black pepper prawn...oh, oh! Mama mia!

I Just Had to Compliment Them!

As someone who could not resist complimenting the organizers for their professionalism and dedication, I wrote a short sms to the caterer whose handphone number (on a namecard) I very conveniently found near the cakes section.

She personally called me back 6 hours later (about 8p.m.) to say how much she appreciated my compliments. Awww...how touching to know that someone actually did feel moved by my compliments!

This is definitely one wedding that restored my faith in properly and professionally-organized weddings!

How You Can Make Your Club Meetings Better

Toastmasters is supposed to be a place where you learn about public

communications in a safe and encouraging setting and also about organizing

meetings. Yet at the same time, there are many Toastmasters Clubs that fail

to provide a safe and welcoming place.

Why is that so?

Here's my list of theories on why many Clubs fail:

1. No warm reception when guests arrive. Chilly welcomes definitely

set the stage for cool meetings. Warm reception = feel welcomed =

want to join club = club has more $$$

2. No halal food. For goodness sake, be considerate!

3. Emcee not well-prepared. Stammering and chronically unsure emcees

make for a poor impression on the impressionable minds of guests and other

visiting Toastmasters.

4. Starting late...and ending late. Unless you have bribed the

Community Club management to turn a blind eye to your timing

transgressions, do not end late!

5. Unclear programme or the emcee did not inform the audience

of the programme in a clear manner. Being a blur-sotong at a meeting

is not an enjoyable experience.

6. Lack of proper transitions between meeting segments. Its like

eating char kway teow in separate segments - noodles first, followed

by prawns, then cockles and at last you pour down the soy sauce down

your throat from the bottle. Not a nice ensemble.

7. Having a meeting that is only half-filled. Or 1/3 filled for that

matter. Either way, it is distressing sitting in a meeting that seems

not-in-demand. It makes you feel cheap!

8. Not properly thanking guests and visiting Toastmasters for

their presence and contributions. Hey! I came down here specially for

you guys and you just "forget" to acknowledge me!

9. Having your own club members' conversations during refreshments

time. Just the perfect way to make your guests feel truly unwelcomed! I call

this the wallpaper-fication of guests; a common phenomenon at many club

meetings.

10. Not pampering me enough! (The ultimate non-no!)

Well, enjoy enlightening yourself!

Now That's the Way to Go!

I must say that my New Year wish did come true...on the very first day of the year! For the first time, I was impressed by the way Friday prayers were organized (I'm a Muslim by the way). Instead of the usual chaos and commotion that accompanies the holy prayers, I was startled and very secretly pleased that there were coordinators placed very strategically within and around the mosque compounds, directing the pious masses to their allocated praying places.

Usually, I could reliably expect silent inaction from the mosque management. It's something like this, "-----". Yup. Nothing but silence. Which inevitably meant that the congregation had to struggle their way in through the masses who were conveniently - I repeat, very conveniently - supplicating to the Lord Almighty right at the mosque entrance. Maybe they were simply subconsciously unaware of the presence of other people around them trying to get into the mosque. Ah, the bliss of prayers! It makes you unaware of the unholy things around you!

Today was a different case however. As soon as I arrived at the entrance, I could hear the "Friday prayers emcee" (I have no other accurate term to describe this unique appointment) reminding the congregation to fill in the empty ranks around them so that others can comfortably squeeze themselves in the mosque. Very important - but it seems that other mosques overlook this matter. Tsk tsk!

Another superb observation was that the entire prayers session (sermon + prayers + waiting...) started and ended according to schedule. Amazing!

On other less fortunate days, I can expect to wait up to 20 mins for the sermon to start. And after that, I would be entertained by the Khatib (yes, the same Khatib as in Khatib MRT; Khatib = person who delivers the sermon) who reads out the MUIS-prepared sermon in a boring monotone voice. Sometimes, if the Khatib feels that he is in a particularly multi-racial mood, he would read out the English version in a grating and tortured voice like as if he was made to eat boiled broccoli which always makes me cringe in ...well...cringe-worthy manner. And the English sermons would with nearly 100% accuracy be punctuated with DE (the) and DIS (this) and a whole lot of other horrible-sounding pronunciations. Urgh!

Back to the story, the sermon immediately began after the after the call to prayers were announced. The Khatib smoothly glided through the sermon in crisp, articulate Indonesian-accented Malay in just 10 mins and then promptly proceeded to start the prayers. More surprisingly, the Khatib-turned-Imam (Imam = prayer leader) read out loud only the short Quranic verses which in turn saved us from eternal damnation caused by dutiful snoozing through long-winded prayers.

The usual modus operandi was for the Imam to read out the loooooooong verses in perhaps the vain hope that the congregation would appreciate and reach spiritual nirvana listening to his accomplished mastery of musical Quranic recitation (most of the time it sounds as if he's got a fat frog clogged in his throat).

Even the after-prayers dismissal was brilliantly managed. The crowd was guided to the exit area where a huge donation box in the form of a large glass-encased silver dome (quite tacky!) was strategically placed to remind the congregation of their $$$ responsibilities. Ingenious!

To sum it up, I am impressed by the mosque's professionalism!

Ahmad Ibrahim Mosque, kudos to you!