On 7th September 2019, I was at
Clementi Toastmasters Club as Project Evaluator, my 53rd club visit
on the 69th day of the Toastmaster year. Hamsapriya Selvam served as Toastmaster of
the Day. John Sih, DTM, served as
Language Evaluator. Masafumi Inoue
served as Timer. Angie Ng served as
Table Topics Master. Alvin Ho, DTM,
served as Ah Counter.
Coffee, Taught Properly
Noopur Joshi Shrikhande gave a fascinating
speech on coffee and the process of extraction, educating the audience on
roast, extraction method, and geography, and how each factor shapes
flavour. A speech on coffee delivered
with this level of technical grounding turns a drink most people take for
granted into a genuine subject of study, the kind that changes how an audience
orders their next cup.
Why Women Live Longer, and What the
Body Actually Does about It
Diann Liew Chin spoke on why women live
longer than men, by four to eight years, and suggested, in jest, that women
should therefore marry younger men. She
explained the mechanisms behind the gap: hormones, diet, male competitiveness,
and men's greater involvement in high-risk activity. Science backs her up. Estrogen protects blood vessels, reduces
inflammation, and preserves telomere length, while testosterone accelerates
telomere loss and suppress immune function.
A 2012 study by Dr. Kyung-Jin Min, published in Current Biology,
examined the historical health records of 81 Korean eunuchs, men castrated as
children, and found they lived 14 to 19 years longer than uncastrated men of
the same social standing, a striking natural experiment isolating testosterone’s
effect on lifespan. The speech drew
active participation from both sides of the gender divide in the room, which is
what a well-argued, slightly provocative claim about biology should produce.
A Son’s Tribute, Ahead of a Milestone
Hiroshi Kaneko gave a moving speech in
praise of his father, who turns seventy-seven this month. He described his father as a public servant,
a focused and serious man, and, memorably, “a hermit living in a deep mountain.” It was poignant, funny, and insightful in
equal measure, a rare combination that only lands when the affection behind it
is unmistakable.
Overcoming a Fear of Authority
Hamsapriya Selvam gave a speech reflecting
on her Dynamic Leadership path, describing her own fear of authority and how
the public speaking programme within Pathways helped her work through it. A speaker willing to name a fear in her own
experience, rather than a generic public speaking anxiety, gave the room
something harder to fake than confidence.
The Evaluators and Results
Alvin Ho, DTM, Noopur Joshi
Shrikhande, Suresh A., Gareth Chin, and I served as Project Evaluators. Best Speaker went to Liang Shi Xian. Best Evaluator went to me. Best Table Topics Speaker went to John Sih, DTM. A meeting spanning coffee chemistry,
longevity biology, filial tribute, and personal fear gave the room four
entirely diverse ways to think about a single evening's worth of speaking.
Terence Nunis, DTM | Division Advisor, District 80 Division M | Club Advisor, AIA Toastmasters | Past President & Founder, Awesome Toastmasters
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