333rd Meeting: Football Phenomenon

Very timely for the ongoing World Cup, DTM Luis chose a theme that is fitting to the season: “The Football Phenomenon.” Thus, TM Leo, the Sgt At Arms for the night, opened the meeting with stirring questions of who they think would win the world cup this year. This was followed by DTM Luis giving information about Football, its history and significance.

Four brave Toastmasters kept the audience entertained with their Prepared Speeches. TM Afajal in his speech “The idiots inside the box”, talked about the dangers the technology is imposing, and inspired us to devote more time being productive, away from the TV. TM Diana, delivered an interesting speech entitled “I Don’t Know”, where she shared in bullet points, some wisdom in not knowing. TM Jessie with her speech “Today’s Generation”, discussed about the evolution of the generations and how amidst our differences, we can unite together. TM Rechell in her speech “May 14th 2008”, brought everyone to time travel back to when she took a big risk which became an astounding turning point in her life.

The Second segment was led by TM Anamika who admirably prepared simple yet interesting questions about life and, of course, football. The five impromptu speakers, guest Shareef, DTM Kit, DTM Luis, TM Ganesh and TM Leo took the leap of faith and amused everyone with their answers.

Finally, the evaluation session was conducted by General Evaluator TM Ganesh. TM Fouad, TM CJ, DTM Kit, TM Nadim evaluated the respective prepared speeches, and TM Arjay on the Table Topics. The role players, TM Leo as Ah-Counter, TM Vidal as Grammarian, and TM Khalid as timer, gave their reports.

For the Business Section, the ExCom delivered their report for the year 2017-2018, highlighting their contributions to the club. It was also followed by the awarding, TM Rechell bagging the Best Speaker award, Shareef on the Table Topics, and TM Nadim declared the Best Evaluator.

In general, the 333rd meeting was a success, a standard of a phenomenon known as Filcom International.

332nd Meeting: Everyday Fitness

In celebration of the Global Wellness Day, Viji, the Toastmaster of the Day, aptly chose the theme, Everyday Fitness, for the 332^nd meeting. She started it with a namaste hand gesture or “mudra”. “When we join our hands together in mudra position, our left and right brains connect which is crucial for our well-being, Viji explained. Then she went on to share some yoga poses and tips to healthy living throughout the meeting.

In the first segment, Prepared Speeches, Diana, CJ and Joseph delivered 3 compelling speeches. Diana delivered her first-ever speech project, the Icebreaker, entitled, My Ice Cream Story. She talked about how she used to believe that her achievements would make her happy until one day she saw two rugged boys on the street that changed her views in life forever. After seeing how the faces of the boys lit up with the ice cream she gave them, Diana realized that true happiness is found not only through our achievements, but more importantly by sharing and caring for other people.  It was followed by CJ who delivered his 3^rd speech (repeat of the 2^nd speech but incorporating the points from his previous evaluation). Entitled “Center Stage; Let Your Shine Through”, CJ did not only showcase his talent in ballet, he moved the audience from needing validation from other people to being enough. He concluded saying that we all are shining regardless of our position on the stage as we are all but parts of a whole. Lastly, Joseph delivered a keynote speech, an advanced project from the Professional Speaker manual. He shared 3 Steps to Accent Globalization anchored on his own personal story of a boy who grew up in a province with a distinct regional accent and how he conquered the city of Manila as a third grader who was laughed at and ridiculed in school to being the Oratorical Contest champion. These speeches were nothing short of inspiration!

Guest Adriana, Jessie, Anamika, CJ and Leo battled it out in the 2^nd segment, the Table Topics, conducted by the Table Topics Master, Dennis. All 5 speakers did answer their on-the-spot topics. They were all good that 2 speakers had to be proclaimed winners after getting same number of votes (a tie). (See winners below). These 2 winners did an amazing job in delivering their answers in a well-structured manner and with great delivery, almost like prepared speeches.

The last segment, Evaluation Session, was conducted by a veteran Toastmaster, Shyam. He first called in the 3 evaluators (Joseph, Luis and Leo) who gave analytical but motivational feedback.  Anamika (Ah Counter), Arjay (Grammarian) and Dale (Timer) followed with their respective reports. Shyam concluded his general evaluation by congratulating the team for yet another successful meeting.

Bravo!

Winners:

Best Speaker: Diana

Best TT: Leo and CJ

Best Evaluator: Luis