Two weeks ago, Mars gave her icebreaker speech at our company's Toastmasters chapter. Most of her friends, Gen, Minnie, Owen and I attended as guests to give her moral support. For those who do not know what is Toastmasters, it is a worldwide organization that aims to develop someone's public speaking skill. Each venue has a chapter which is similar on how the Rotary Club is organized. To become a certified toastmaster, one is required to complete 10 speeches with different themes based from their handbook.
One of the guests that night as a general evaluator was Daniel Teh, who is one of the mentors from Toastmasters Maxis KLCC Chapter. He had worked in the Philippines before and had attended some Toastmasters meetings there. It is evident during our meeting that he has developed a fondness for the Filipinos. During our dinner, he only talked to the Filipinos (most of us attended as guests). In fact, the first thing that he asked that night was who are the singers in our group - Minnie and I. He then asked Minnie to sing the first stanza of Sana'y Maulit Muli, which is his favorite Filipino song. After hearing that, he mentioned that he would ask us to sing before a crowd. Before we parted, he asked for our contact number.
After a few days, I received a call from Daniel, who was preparing the Chinese New Year celebration for their chapter on Feb 27. He requested Minnie and I to sing Gong Xi and Sana'y Maulit Muli. We didn't think he was serious about what he said. Well, he's a persuasive speaker so we agreed eventually.
Personally, I don't think that I can pull the song Sana'y Maulit and I believe that it is one of the most overrated OPM songs since it was revived by Regine Velasquez. But since it was chosen by Daniel, we gave in to his request. Good thing that Agri went to Manila for the Chinese New Year so we asked her to buy a videoke collection of Regine Velasquez. It was only the night before the event that Minnie and I practiced the song.
The event was supposed to start at 7:00 PM. A few hours before the event, we need to attend a training (and we only found out that day that we need to attend) so the earliest time that we can leave the office is around 7:00 PM. Four of us - Minnie, Owen, Mars and I, hurried up to the LRT station to go to KLCC (near the Petronas Towers). We arrived at the Maxis KLCC towers at around 7:50 PM.
The Menara Maxis tower at KLCC (which is situated right beside the Petronas Towers) reminded me of the RCBC building in Makati - the automatic doors, the high tech security and the ambience. I missed the feeling of working in a commercial district once again because my current office is located at the suburbs. Daniel, who was wearing a Chinese KungFu master costume, met us at the lobby and told us that we only have 5 minutes to settle before he'll introduce for our song number. He was the Toastmaster of the Night in that meeting.
When we arrived at the venue, a warm crowd (who were all dressed in their Chinese costumes) greeted us. They were warm and were very accommodating. A few minutes after that, we were introduced by Daniel to the crowd. We sang 2 stanzas of the English version of Gong Xi and of course, Sana'y Maulit Muli. Unfortunately, the vocals in the CD was present and it did not play in the minus one mode so Minnie and I got distracted by it. We don't have a microphone so our voices was overpowered by our "background's vocals". It was good that at the birit part, it was not bad. Because of this, Daniel gave us ang pao as our talent fee hehe..
After our song number, 4 people gave their icebreaker speech. My comment is that most of the presenters were prepared as they successfully presented their speeches - with confidence, proper enunciation and right humor. My favorite among them is Benny, who I think is a natural comedian (he should become a stand-up comedian). A lot of good speakers come up at the podium to give their evaluation to the speaker (very encouraging) and feedback about the meeting. It was the first time that I attended a Toastmasters meeting and really enjoyed it. By the way, all of us were happy because we were given fortune cookie, ang pao (aside from what we got earlier) and a ponkan.
The meeting ended at around 9:45 PM and we had a picture taking. It was good to mingle with these people from different backgrounds and whose not working in the same company. I am now thinking of joining that club due to the diverse people who are attending but the only challenge is if I can find enough time to attend their meetings. I am looking forward on having my next meeting with them.
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