New year, new beginning. Cliche, I know. :)

We had our first training meeting of 2008 last night. Held at a new venue, Mark Lodge, it definitely gave us a new ambience to fit in, with the bigger room, an actual stage or platform to talk , though a mini one, and everything was just so new, because the lodge was opened quite recent. All in all we had 16 presents including 2 guests; Adrian brought in by David Chong and Mr Chong brought in by Charles Chow. Toastmaster of the evening was none other than Dusun Chong, our immediate past president who did a great job earning the club President Distinguished Club for term 2006/2007 thus putting the pressure on the current President, Madame Datin Grace. However, sweat not as members of the club will be rooting her and assisting her to earn the award this year. As of now, we have achieved 5 DCP goals and soon 6 if we have at least four officers to join in the TLI Training on the 19th January 2008 in Kinabalu College.

Madame President presenting club's report

Back to the training meeting last night. As the table topic contest (club level) is drawing near, our Vice President of Education Norman Chin decided to take up the role as the table topic masters and posted various challenging topics that were at par with contest table topic standards. I reckon it was a good session, serve to gear up potential contestant for the contest.Again, the best table topic taker was Dusun Chong when he took on a topic "Love or Freedom" with his punch line "What's freedown without Love." Wahh.....:)

January babes were Amy and Kenny. Both wonderful people who have inspired me in some ways. Happy Birthday to you both! Amy, I hope your goal to be a housewife in 2008 materialized. Kenny, for a member who have been with Sandakan Toastmasters the longest, continue to inspire people around you by promoting Toastmasters. Hehe... You people rock the world!
In addition to what's been said, last night we heard speeches from 4 speakers ranging topics from Global Warming, Rich Dad, Poor Dad on how to be a millionaire, Coaching the right way, to Smart Parenting. How cool is that??? We were given a wake up call to start thinking about the environments and left to ponder on what are we going to do about it, on how to be a millionaire ( now this is interesting), on leadership and managerial skills, and on being a smart parent. Awesome.

A great way to retreat the day is to feed your idle mind with inspirations, positive calls and knowledge.

I tell you, perhaps Toastmasters are about improving your communication and presentation skills, but it is more than that. Really. We happen to be a bunch of people who are passionate for the society, environments and the whole well being. Most importantly, we're nice people. :) Right?

Anyway, cheers to our journey for 2008. May it be a great, fun filled, fruitful year for all of us and YOU!

Best Wishes,

Melissa, cc

Your Vice President Public Relations 2007/2008.