Word of the Day - February 2010

procrastination
pro·cras'ti·na'tion n.
pro·cras'ti·na'tor n.

Definition:
the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time

Originates from the word Procrastinate (pro·cras·ti·nate)

v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·nates

Synonyms:
prolong, postpone

Notable Examples:
"Procrastination is the thief of time"
[Edward Young The Complaint: Night Thoughts]

- by Language Evaluator, Johnny Tan, CC (Fort Canning Toastmasters Club)

Workshop - Your Charisma, Uncover it.

Money Mastery Toastmasters Club is organising a workshop on 23 January 2010.

Here are the details of the workshop:

Presenter: Mr John Sih, DTM
Topic: Your Charisma, Uncover it.
Date: 23 Jan 2010 (Sat)
Time: 2pm to 5pm
Venue: Queenstown C.C.
Price: $15/ ticket (Tea- break is provided)

Kindly contact Raymond Ho from Money Mastery Toastmasters Club for the tickets.
Mobile: 90091122 or 91811000
Email: ray_ho1122@yahoo.com

Word of the Day - January 2010

Anyone who has resided in Singapore for a period of time would notice that conversations of local Singaporeans are often littered with phrases and exclamations derived from different languages and ethnicity; over time, such loose habits has turned our use of the English language into a cultural phenomenon known as Singlish.

One may agree that the use of Singlish has added much flavor and variety to the way we communicate but yet we should not ignore the synonyms which sums the beauty of the English vocabulary: synonyms which exists to replace exclamations like 'Wah Liau' / 'Wah Lau' as shared by our Langauge Evaluator, Loo Mei Mei, Competent Toastmaster (CTM).

Synonym [sin-uh-nim]
- noun

1. A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language.

2. A word or an expression that serves as a figurative or symbolic substitute for another.

Perhaps whenever you're tempted to exclaim 'Wah Liau' / 'Wah Lau', which could be grossly taken as an expletive. Why not try words like fabulous, fascinating or fantastic in the spirit of speaking good English in the year 2010.

Division U Achievers Day - 5 Dec

Division U Achievers Day this year is a special one as we have decided to throw in some gifts and incentives for all of you in this Christmas season to come and attend. We have invited 3 very experienced toastmasters - John Sih, Kristina Sharmini and Patrick Chang to share with you on some tips for Language Evaluation, General Evaluation and Project Evaluation. A 3-in-1 workshop!!! Free for Division U members!!!

Date: 5 Dec 2009 (Sat)
Time: 2pm
Venue: Whampoa CC Mini Theatre

For more details, please click here.

Word of the Day - December

Vicissitude [vih-SIS-i-tood]
- noun
1. A change or variation occuring in the course of something.
2. Interchange or alternation, as of states or things.
3. Vicissitudes, successive, alternating, or changing phases, or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs: They remained friends through the vicissitudes of 40 years.
4. regular change or succession of one state or thing to another.
5. The quality of being changeable; mutability

* Interesting word, where the plural form of the word has negative connotations.

By Language Evaluator Terry Teza, CC

District 80 Semi-Annual Convention November 2009

Dear members

It is an absolutely fulfilling trip to Macau to attend District 80 Semi-Annual Convention. We're happy to announce that Singapore bagged all the 6 trophies beating contestants from Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand. We made history!

In the photo above is the District 80 Evaluation Contest Champion - Darren Tay from Punggol Toastmasters Club. Not only is he the youngest contestant, he is a fairly new toastmaster of less than 1 year and his first time participating in the contest.

The day before the contest, the contestants drew their speaking slots and Darren told me that he was the first contestant. So I told him that either he impress all the judges and kill the rest of the contestants or risk the judges not remembering him at all as there were 9 very strong contestants. And indeed, he wowed the audience. The audience was unable to keep silent for one minute after his speech!

And his winning is truly amazing, considering he had only 5 minutes to prepare for his evaluation. If you calculate the time difference, the last contestant had another 36 minutes to organize her thoughts, so Darren's win was truly laudable and we're so proud of him.

I would like to encourage all of you to attend District conventions such as this and you will never regret what you have learnt.

Looking forward to the next convention at Bangkok on 28-30 May 2010. I've already booked my convention ticket at $220. Have you signed up yet? The tickets are running out!

Web 2.0

Conducted a workshop on "Build Your Club Presence ONLINE" organised by Division Z @ NUS campus Yusof Ishak House, Singapore. Though I was not feeling well today, the amount of enthusiasm and energy shown by the participants has made my day. Thanks to my partner, Chew Hoe, for setting up the participants' yearn-to-learn spirits before my presentation.

Special thanks to Joni and Sau Ying for the opportunity for me to conduct this workshop.

I have made some updates based on feedback and some from my notes on the slides.