AIA Toastmasters Club’s First NFNF of the Term, 28th July 2022: When Three Speeches Turn into One Theme by Accident

On 28^th July 2022, AIA Toastmasters held its first NFNF meeting for the term.  Linda Lee served as Toastmaster of the Day.  Sandra Phua served as Table Topics Master.  Amos Yio Zhi Yan served as Ah Counter.  Rominia Leonard served as Creative Director of the Day.  Ariel Wu served as Photographer.  Eric Tan, Maria Abraham, and Eileen Chan delivered the speeches.  Frances Goh, Landly Sudjana, and I served as Project Evaluators.  Eric Tan, DTM, delivered the workshop.

Three Speeches, One Accidental Theme

Three speakers, without coordinating beforehand, all spoke about family.  Eric Tan spoke about his struggles with gambling when he was much younger, and how, with the support of family and friends, he overcame it, an emotionally difficult account of psychological turmoil met by the eventual triumph of family support.  That account is not merely a personal victory.  Research on gambling recovery estimates that only around 8% of people meeting the criteria for compulsive gambling ever seek formal treatment at all, and roughly one-third of those who do achieve long-term recovery, with family involvement consistently identified as a factor that meaningfully improves the odds.  Standing up and naming that struggle in front of a room, rather than carrying it privately, is itself a documented act of the kind that improves outcomes, not merely a brave anecdote.

Maria Abraham gave an amusing account of negotiating with her father about getting married when she was still young, a paradigm shift on the assigned project, Negotiate the Best Outcome.  Eileen Chan offered another perspective on the theme of dealing with addiction, this time as the spouse, speaking on the values of co-parenting and how to approach it properly when a family has already been tested by exactly the struggle Eric Tan described from the other side of it.

Part of speaking is having the courage to share pieces of ourselves, so that we can connect to the audience.  We are all part of that river of humanity, making its way through the canyons of time, until we meet that ocean of humanity.  It is our celebration of triumph, our commemoration of loss, and our understanding that we are all part of something greater than ourselves.

The Workshop

Eric Tan, DTM, gave a short workshop on evaluation ahead of the club’s Speech Evaluation and Table Topics contests, scheduled for 11^th August.  His workshop, “Evaluate to Elevate,” covered the intent of an evaluation and its application both within a Toastmasters context and a professional one, with twenty minutes of tips, concepts, and advice delivered by a serial contest winner for speech evaluation at club, Area, and Division level, who has also represented the club at District level.

Attendance and Celebrations

Attendance exceeded 20 despite the meeting running as an afternoon lunch event, with three non-Toastmaster guests present.  One has since joined the club.  The other two remain in process.  The club also marked birthdays for members born this month: Cindy Gan, Heny Chen, and Shirley Chia.

The Results

Best Project Speaker went to Maria Abraham.  Best Project Evaluator went to me.  Best Table Topics Speaker went to Reuel Sim.

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Terence Nunis, DTM | Division Advisor, District 80 Division M | Club Advisor, AIA Toastmasters | Past President & Founder, Awesome Toastmasters