HUMOROUS SPEECH AND EVALUATION CONTEST’ minutes of meeting

TM Fathia

Used as ‘HUMOROUS SPEECH AND EVALUATION CONTEST’ minutes of meeting, as permitted by the author)

Contest time ... from a contestant's point of view....

Oh..it’s almost 6 pm. And I’m still on the way to Menara Imperium. I’m still quite far actually from Kuningan area. Called TM Vanessa already, to let her know that I’m going to be late….Oh…I’m hungry….almost breakfasting time. I’ve got some sweets and water with me already….

Finally I got there at 6.30ish…saw TM Matthew and visiting TM Nina and TM Cindy having their dinner. TM Matthew looks fresh after keeping his mouth shut for 10 straight days in a meditation course. I wonder should I go to one of those courses as well, maybe to get myself enlighten? Well, let’s think about that later…let’s think about dinner first, shall we?

CC Matthew and TM Khrisma (Unilever)

Dinner looks good. They prepare three different main dishes tonight; chicken, egg, and fish. Right after I grabbed my dinner box, TM Alistair came and asked me to name one of ABBA’s songs. I’m guessing that he’s the cash machine that night…so the right answer should be “Money Money Money”. Unfortunately I don’t get any prizes for getting the answer right.

Hm….the room looks different tonight. The chairs are set up in theatre style, rather like a formal classroom back in the college years. And…there are some ‘senior’ toastmaster people..some of whom I’ve seen. some are totally new…I know TM Nono, I know TM Patar…he once was TOM in our meeting last month, and mentioned that I was ‘similar’ like him…

So I decided to have a proper dinner first, because I know I’ll be so nervous when the meeting starts and I won’t eat in the room. And apparently all of the contestants are being briefed while I have my dinner. After all the contestants’ walks out the PB&Co offices, the meeting starts.

We start at about 7 pm. TM Matthew as the president opens the meeting, then TM Vanessa opens the contest. She is the Contest Chair.

Contest Chair CC Vanessa

Chief Judge CC Ivan surrounded by beautiful CC Cindy, TM Shabrina (British)

ATM Attie (The Innovators) and guest Anne Adijuwono

left to right :

Area I1 governor ACG/ALB Patar (JakAdvance ) , ACS/ALB Vina (Kebayoran) ,

ACS Mike (British), DTM Nono (JTC), CC Steve (British)

TM Ivan is the Chief Judge. Ooo…then there must be some other judges then? I’m really getting lots of big fat butterflies in my stomach…and who are those bules I’ve never seen? How come the air doesn’t feel ‘humorous’ in this humorous contest? It really does feel like ‘evaluation’ session only.

I always love seating at the back row. Now I have to sit at the front row. I’m glad I ate already. Me and TM Taufan looked at each other agreeing that it feel sooooo scarrrryyy……
TM Ivan reads us the rules of the contest. So after each contestant’s speech, we have one minute of silence for all the judges to mark ballots.

There are 4 contestants for the humorous speech. TM Robert was the first one to deliver his speech. He proudly admits that he is 60. He definitely doesn’t look 60 to me. And I do feel sympathy for him when he tells us that he really loves his wife, but his wife loves his children more. Even more ironic, the children love their facebook more. Wow…thank God I don’t check my facebook that often. At least my dad would feel I love him too?

The second participant was TM Taufan. I bet he is confessing his own thoughts when talks about “Single Male Skeptic View Over Marriage”. I really have to say I pity his girlfriend who sits behind him hearing all this. TM Taufan says in front of audience (and her!) that to buy a wedding ring, he needs to save 18 months, cause it worth’s of his 18 months salary. I hope his girlfriend is tactful enough to make TM Taufan digs his 18 month salary saving, rather than waiting for another 18 months?

Then it’s my turn. My hand is cold…and really I couldn’t remember my speech. Okay, I confess that I should’ve practiced more. I changed some of the content in the morning, then I didn’t look at it again before I went to the dentist. And again, I hate it when TM Alistair is right. Practice..practice. .practice. Since I didn’t do my practice, practice, and practice, there’s time when I totally forgot what I have to say. All I can do to get me move on is to look at those familiar faces, especially if they look enthusiast…and just talk. Phew, finally I finish with my speech. I thought it would be easy talking about something I’ve done for years, ballroom and latin dancing. Yeah, lesson learned. Practice, practice, practice.

TM Ronny is next. He is funny. He says that he has smile phobia. He smiled at a guy in an elevator long time ago, and then instead of smiling back, the guy seemed rushed to get out of the elevator. Surrounded by friendly people helps him to recover his friendly side. He finally thinks it’s okay to smile at strangers again, even in the locker room, when both he and the other male are wrapped in towels (only!). Maybe I should tip him off not to be friendly to guys in the locker room, especially when they’re not properly dressed? Or is it me starting to have this phobia now?

Then starts the evaluation contest. Again TM Ivan explains the rule. I thought the evaluation contestants are going to use our speeches to be evaluated. But it’s not how it works. We have visiting TM Steve Bowen from British Toastmaster Club, who gives a sample speech, titled ‘Achoo’.

As an expat, he has a weird new habit of going to the malls on weekend to find the most crowded spot there. Then he would sneeze very loud and voila…all those shopaholics would disappear in 5 seconds. Is sneezing some kind of magic?

I hope he’s lying when he tells that. But honestly, I could really imagine him doing it. His speech is very lively. His voice roars around the room, while he moves around the stage. A very very good speech nonetheless.

After his ‘achoo’, all of the contestants are escorted outside. They’re given 5 minutes to organize their speeches. TM Diah delivers hers first, then TM Robert and TM Henrietta.

Then while waiting for the ballot counter counts the judges’ votes, all of the contestants are invited to come up front and being interviewed by TM Vanessa.

And the winner is ...

Left to right ATMB/CL Henrietta, CC Dyah, ATM Robert, TM Taufan

Finally, the moments that we are all waiting for…TM Ivan announces the result. For humorous contest, the runner up was TM Robert, and the WINNER IS TM TAUFAN!!! ( I do pray hard that his girlfriend is kinda patient with him).
For evaluation contest, the runner up was TM Robert, and the WINNER IS TM HENRIETTA.

All of us receive a certificate. And this time, the winners keep the trophy!!

Finally we get to see who our judges are. TM Vanessa calls them up and all of them and the committee for that night were given a certificate too. They are Nono Sarwono, Harlina Indra, Michael Nicholson (British TC), Patar Simatupang (Jakarta Advance), Johan Setiawan, Samoati Siringoringo ( The Innovators TC) . The Tally Counters are Shabrina (Britsh TC), Cindy Resita (British TC). Acting as Timers are Roma Tampubolon (guest), Khrisma Fitriasari (Unilever TC) . Our SAA for tonight are Alistair New and Elbert Ludica.

TM Vanessa then closes the contest, and TM Matthew closes the meeting.

So guys…practice, practice, practice.
And look for a guy who has 18 months salary saving already!

Minuted prepared by JTC Secretary and humorous speech contestant TM Fathia
Edited by VP PR DTM Harlina