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| from left: OC Ng SK, DG Thannimalai,DTM; First Vice President Dr John Lau DTM, PTIP Ted Corcoran, DTM; PRA-Marketing Joseph Gomez, DTM; RA Dr A Arulnathan, DTM. |
"The 4-hour land-travel from Petaling Jaya to District 51 18th Annual Convention Penang (ACP) 2011 was undoubtedly worthy of visit!
I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped into the lobby of Bayview Beach Resort, Penang; it was 5 minutes to 9 in the morning. Outside the ballroom, there was a long queue of VIPs ready to be ushered into the ballroom. I quickly greeted one of our Past District 51 Governors, DTM Joseph Gomez who was in the queue, my high heel shoes did not deter me from rushing into the ball room.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped into the lobby of Bayview Beach Resort, Penang; it was 5 minutes to 9 in the morning. Outside the ballroom, there was a long queue of VIPs ready to be ushered into the ballroom. I quickly greeted one of our Past District 51 Governors, DTM Joseph Gomez who was in the queue, my high heel shoes did not deter me from rushing into the ball room.
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| First Vice President Dr John Lau, DTM delivering his keynote address, |
Dr John Lau, DTM, is a distinguished world leader who has earned 20 rounds of DTM award and spoke with deep-seated manifestation of Toastmasters. He shared with us his family and friends' stories, deciphered the beauty of "Inclusion"; the core of his keynote address inspired leaders who vowed to keep his words!
Our Past Toastmaster International President 2003/2004, Ted Corcoran, DTM who hails from Ireland, is also the author of "The Leadership Bus" and enriched leaders with the 10 things on "I Wish My Boss Would Do..". Those things include the 'big picture', 'support', 'my work', 'direction', 'team leader', 'opinion', 'show me', 'walk the talk', feedback' and 'appreciate effort'. All of us had a wonderful reciprocity during the session.
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| Forum homed in on "The Future Toastmasters" from left : PDG Sivanganam DTM, First Vice President Dr John Lau DTM, DG Thannimalai DTM, PDG DG Joseph Gomez DTM, Past International President Ted Corcoran DTM |
The morning session continued. Our Past District 51 Governor, Sivanganam Rajaretnam, DTM led the forum by inviting the forum panelists: Toastmaster International President Elect Dr John Lau, DTM; Past Toastmasters International President Ted Corcoran, DTM; Past Regional Advisor-Marketing, Joseph Gomez, DTM and current District 51 Governor Thannimalai, DTM. The forum homed in on "The Future of Toastmasters".
There were a few topics which had been brought up, such as 'New launch of policy', 'Re-branding of Toastmasters', 'Regional Advisor's role', 'Current Toastmasters' progress from the DG's perspective', 'International Convention to be conducted outside US' and 'Quantity vs Quality'. Other questions had also posted from the floor. The session went exceedingly well. It certainly provided great insight into the future of Toastmasters.
Last but not least, the most important thing I must say is a million thanks to the organizing team for having executed the vigorous event! I discovered, I gained and I learned more than before from each segment of the session! I would like to urge Toastmasters who have not attended convention, go for it!!!"
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| Group of delegates. from left : Nancy, Joseph, Lay Kun, Tanusha Nair (PWC), Bernard, Nimmie, Ivan Ho, Dr Choong (Tmn Indrahana) and Ramdas (Premier Advanced). |
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| District 51 Governor Thannimalai, DTM presented a token of Select Distinguished Club award to club members. from left : DG Thannimalai, DTM, AG Lim Lay Kun, ACB, PDG Low Yat Seow, DTM, TLI Chair Dennis Wee, DTM, Bernard Louis, DTM, PDG Joseph Gomez, DTM District 51 International Speech Contest 2010/11 Winners  Champion : Muthukumaran Kodiappen, Div S, Renesas Semiconductor TMC, Area S1 1st Runner Up : Stephen Fernando, Div C, MIHRM TMC, Area C2 2nd Runner Up : K Marcus Chee, Div H, Ipoh TMC, Area H1 District 51 Table Topics Contest 2010/11 Winners  Champion : Philip Wong Wan Ming, Division G, KL Advanced TMC, Area G1 1st Runner Up : Kishin Shan Mahtani, Division N, Achievers TMC, Area N3 2nd Runner Up : Selvaraj KS Maniam, Division H, Ipoh TMC, Area H1 |
Nancy Liew
