"DANCE WITH THE RAIN" - 3 December 2012

To see beauty through ugliness, to discover goodness through the badness are very much of the distinguished people’s skills. One of those distinguished people is the visiting toastmaster CC Ratu Gumelar (the President of the Essential Toastmasters Club), who yesterday was in control over the stage as she led the audience to “DANCE WITH THE RAIN”. With her usual limitless energy and wittiness, the audience were willing to throw themselves to the rain! (read: to have a blast!).

ToM was featuring the General Evaluator, CC Susanna Jahja. GE called up her dancers: TM VJ Nambiar as the Grammarian; TM Kusnawara as the Timer; TM Dwiardi Vergiawan as the Ballot Counter; and TM Arsy Trilaksono as the “Ah” and WoD (determination) Counter.

Before moving on to the prepared speech session, JTC's VPM, CC Susanna Jahja conducted induction for the new members. 

top: New members were being inducted; bottom: the existing members showed their support

Meanwhile, in the prepared speech session, there were 5 prepared dancers. First dancer was TM Dina Novita who delivering her BM #2 entitled “Tradilicious”. Her speech title cleverly represented her whole speech which was talking about the rich and delicious Indonesian traditional foods. She was evaluated by TM Arief Rasyad (from Sandoz Toastmasters Club), who complimented her structured speech and smooth transitions. He also advised TM Dina to add more emphasis in her speech.

The second prepared dancer was TM Syariful Alamsyah Lubis whose speech was intended to persuade (BM #9) the audience to “Keep Away from Junk Food”. Looking very much healthy and fit on his age, the audience believed TM Lubis was credible to advocate his idea to the audience about that particular subject. He was evaluated by CC Dinesh Vaswani who thanked him for the insights he brought through his speech. CC Dinesh also suggested TM Lubis to take more control of the stage as he presented the slides so that the audience’s attention was still drawn to him instead of his slides.

The third prepared dancer was TM Firman Setiawan (from British Toastmasters Club) who was determined to deliver his speech despite the vicious traffic. He presented his BM #8 entitled “Offshore Technology for Oil and Gas”. He was evaluated by CC Isyani Noviasellie (from Sandoz Toastmasters Club) who praised his thorough knowledge on the subject. To improve his speech, CC Sellie suggested him to consider eliminating unnecessary picture that was not related to his speech.

clockwise: TM Dina; TM Lubis; TM Firman; TM Benazir; CC/CL Kardinal (photos by TM Vergi)

The fourth prepared dancer was TM Benazir with her last project entitled “Greed to Succeed”. Through her speech, TM Benazir invited the audience to revisit their definition of “success” and whether that brings us a meaningful life. She was evaluated by CC Valeriya Alimzhanova who appreciated the values she brought through her speech. CC Valeriya also commented on the inclusion of drama and strong eye contact that could have made her delivery even more impactful.

Not listed in the meeting agenda did not stop his determination to present his AM #2. Yes, CC/CL Kardinal gave his speech entitled “Gain More What You Give” which gave a handy proposal on how to utilise the JTC’s website for maximum benefits of the members. He was evaluated by ACB/CL Imung Hikmah. ACB/CL Imung admired his sophisticated speech and his contribution to the club development through building up the website. She suggested him to size down the number of messages of his speech to avoid the audience being too overwhelmed by the information.

The so called the-most-fun-thing-on-earth, a.k.a Table Topics Session was then led by CC Neeraj Khiani. Below are the impromptu dancers:

TM Paksi Anondo spoke upon the statement “No rain, no rainbow, no pain, no gain.”

Guest Asni spoke upon the statement “Life is about dancing in the rain.”

Guest Eddy spoke upon the statement “The best dance is to dance in the rain.”

Finally the Ballot Counter, TM Vergi declared that TM Benazir, CC Dinesh Vaswani, and Guest Eddy won the Best Prepared Speaker, the Best Evaluator, and the Best Table Topic Speaker respectively.

left-to-right: Guest Eddy; TM Bena; CC Ratu on behalf of CC Dinesh (photo by TM Vergi)

Looking at the great atmosphere yesterday, the meeting has evidently left the audience more determined for their self-development then ever!

JTC Minutes of Meeting, 3 December 2012, prepared by Club Secretary 2012-2013, TM Bena.