Public speaking has always been a challenge for me. I still remember… at the tender age of 10, I took part in my primary school’s speech contest. As I stood in front of my teachers and fellow students in the school hall, I experienced my first stage fright… I felt extremely nervous, my palms were sweaty and my hands shook like in an earthquake. I wish the stage would swallow me up.

Ironically, despite my fearful childhood experience, I became a trainer. I am also sometimes engaged to be master of ceremony, speaker introducer and facilitator. I have to confess… in spite of my profession and the advantage of speaking in front of people, whenever I am in front of an audience, I still shake, get butterflies in my stomach, heart pumps faster and sometimes my mind goes blank.

Luckily, over the years, with practice, I look confident and comfortable enough training in front of any new audience. I count my lucky stars when I joined Toastmasters because I finally learned proven methods to conquer my fears. I started my Toastmasters journey with the first project speech, “The Ice Breaker”. Then, during evaluation, my speech evaluator gave me valuable feedback and ideas on how to improve and that is when I knew, my Toastmasters training would help me become an even better trainer. We can overcome our fears with action.

Life is an adventure… every one of us will definitely have moments where we need to speak in public. When you want to do something, there will always have a risk. After all, if you never take risks, you will never experience change and growth. In fact, everything in life involves some form of risk. When you learn to ride a bicycle, drive a car or swim, you could fall, crash or drown. Though you should not take every risk, you should take the risk that will reward you in some way.

Carolyn Kerner Stein, author of the book “Delivering Powerful Speeches”, recommends the following 3 questions to help you check if the risk you wish to take is worth taking:

1. Will I regret not trying?
2. Win or lose, succeed or fail, will I be proud of myself for trying?
3. What is the worst thing that can happen if I try?

For example, for me to take the risk to take part in our club’s International Speech contest, I did check:
Q: Will I regret not trying?
A: Yes, I will regret if I did not take part in the speech contest. I will miss the chance to perform and better my speaking skills. This way, I get a chance to compete with other talented members to improve further.

Q: Win or lose, succeed or fail, will I be proud of myself for trying?
A: Yes, I am proud of myself to take part in the contest. Win or lose, at least I tried my best to get rid of the fear to do it.

Q: What is the worst thing that can happen if I try?
A: I may still get nervous, hands will shake and make a fool of myself in front of the audience but at least I try and even if I did not win the contest, I will never give up. I will keep on contesting because one day, I will win.

Another confession… I do not enjoy taking risks, but I learned that things will happen and when we take action to deal with them, we still come out standing tall.

So, remember to ask yourself these 3 questions whenever you endeavor to take risks. You will never know, once you practice answering these 3 questions every time, you will have no fear to do the things that you have never done before. So, take the risk, break the ice and break the barriers. Instead of letting fear conquer you, conquer your fears.

As Roscoe Drummond says, “The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute you are born, and never stops until you stand up to speak in public”.

Thank you for reading. If you want to get a copy of Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club’s newsletter, click the link here: http://www.victorwan.com/248/money-mastery-kl-toastmasters-clubs-newsletter-issue-no-1/.

Victor Wan

www.VictorWan.com

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Post tags: Money Mastery-KL Toastmasters Club, Newsletter, public speaking, speech contest, Toastmasters

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Why I took part in speech competition?

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of television programs. Until now, I still do. I listened to news programs and other programs related to speeches and standup speaking programs. I was amazed of the response with clapping and shouting given by the audiences to the speakers. And the speakers eventually…….looked like became a famous figures. Maybe that was what influenced me to stand up and speak in front of people. With that, I decided to take part in the speech competition.

However, I did not do well and I did not win any prize. Of course, I was not disappointed because that was my first time spoke in front of so many people and I was panic as well. It was not because I did not prepare or practice, maybe it was the first time I stand up in the stage there and this made me panic with red face, butterflies flying around inside my stomach, sweating, heart keep on increase pumping, voice tone becoming unstable and sometimes out of tone etc.

Whatever happened, I was actually proud of myself. I was proud of myself because I was able to take my first step to do things that I wanted to do. I wanted to stand up and speak up in front of audiences and I did it. My public speaking experiences started from there and until today, my profession is related to speaking in front of people. I am now a Trainer.

It is not easy to be a trainer. I have learned a lot from my others trainers and coaches to sharpen up my skills in training and public speaking. One community that I joined to allow me to improve further is the Toastmasters.

Toastmaster is not about toasting with champagne, beer and wine. It is where we can improve by presenting speeches and received feedback of what area need to be improved from the evaluators. I have completed my first 10 project speeches as required as a Toastmasters member with Competent Communicator rank and I am now continue to enhance myself further with doing Advanced Communication project speeches.

I have read a lot of books and listened to a lot of audio books. With new technology nowadays, there are eBooks available as well to download from the Internet and read further for any self improvement and self development.

I have this eBook that is FREE for you to download. This book is about Public Speaking with the title “The Art of Public Speaking” by J. Berg Esenwein and Dale Carnegie. If you are interested to read this eBook, get it free now by typing in your name and your email address and you will get this eBook free in your mailbox.

Everyone can learn to stand up and speak well. However, practicing first before standing in front of your audiences is very important to get rid of your fear and nervousness. Public speaking is like an Art. I have done it and if you also wanted to be like me, read this eBook or attend any Toastmasters Club meeting or email to me at victor@victorwan.com and I will gladly share my experience with you.

Thank you.

Victor Wan

www.VictorWan.com

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Post tags: eBook, public speaking, Speech competition, Toastmasters

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1. There are total 9 contestants for this Evaluation Contest and I have showed you the video of the winner in the previous post, Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest. The winner was MK Low.

2. In this post, it contains the videos of th e Test Speaker, Cheah Soo Chuan and the rest of the contestants. Here they are in no particular order.

3. Test Speaker Cheah Soo Chuan’s speech.

     The test speaker, TM Cheah Soo Chuan has requested me to remove his presentation video from the post here. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

4. Victor Wan’s Evaluation.

5. Aziz’s Evaluation.

6. Haji Naburi’s Evaluation.

7. Tan Ben Hoe’s Evaluation.

8. Khoshim Malim’s Evaluation.

9. Gean Lau’s Evalaution.

10. Paul Tan’s Evaluation.

11. That’s all the videos I shot during the Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest 2009 for Money Mastery Kuala Lumpur Toastmasters Club. Here I also show the photos of the winners of both contests and a token of appreciation to the organizing chairperson, TM Julia Leong from District 51 Peninsula Lieutenant Governor Marketing DTM Francis Ng.

If you have any comment, please feel free to leave some comments for this post. I hope you enjoy watching the videos. Thanks.

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Post tags: 2009, Evaluation Contest, Humorous Speech Contest, Kuala Lumpur, Money Mastery, Toastmasters, Victor Wan

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1. Aziz Yeop’s Humorous Speech

2. Paul Tan’s Humorous Speech

3. Khoshim Malim’s Humorous Speech

4. For the winner of the Humorous Speech Contest 2009 for Money Mastery Kuala Lumpur Toastmasters Club, you can go the my previous posts titled, Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contest, to see their winning videos.

5. Next, I will upload the contestants’ videos of the Evaluation Contest 2009 for Money Mastery Kuala Lumpur Toastmasters Club together with the test speaker’s speech for the contestants to evaluate in the next post. If you want to be informed of the new post added in my blog, please sign up for the e-mail alert for new posts available at the right side of this website. All you need to do is to key in your name and your e-mail address and click “submit”. However, you are required to confirm for signing up for this e-mail alert by clicking on a link which will be sent to your entered e-mail address.

I hope you like all the videos and do not forget to give comments to their speeches. Thanks.

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Post tags: Contest, Humorous Speech, Kuala Lumpur, Money Mastery, Toastmasters

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1. Here are the videos for the other contestants for the Humorous Speech Contest in no particular order. If you think the sound is soft, please turn to higher volume so that you can heard the speech clearly. Again, I would like you to give some evaluation to their speech by clicking on the comments button in the post title here. In Toastmasters, we give evaluations to speakers so that they can improve further and enhance their speeches to be more interesting and presentable to the audiences in the future speeches.

2. MK Low’s Humorous Speech

3. Victor Wan’s Humorous Speech – that’s me.

4. KL Loh’s Humorous Speech

5. That’s 3 videos at this moment. I will add in the last 3 humorous speech contestants’ videos in the next post. If you want to be informed by e-mail when the next post is added to my blog, please sign up for e-mail alert on new posts available at the right side of this website.

I hope you enjoy watching the videos and please remember to give comments to their speeches. Thanks.

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Post tags: Club, Contest, e-mail alert, Evaluation, Humorous, Kuala Lumpur, Money Mastery, Toastmasters, Victor Wan, videos

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1. There were 7 contestants for Humorous Speech Contest and 8 contestants for Evaluation Contest.

2. In the Humorous Speech Contest, the oldest members of the club which was also the Chartered President for Money Mastery KL Toastmasters Club, Haji Naburi Idin, won it with his speech titled “Those were the Days!!!” Below is the video of his humorous speech. Just click the “Play” button to start playing the video.

 3. If you have comments about his humorous speech and would like to give evaluation, please feel free to click on the “comments” at the Headline Post above and type in your comments, areas for his improvement etc.

4. For the Evaluation contest, the winner was Toastmaster Low Meng Koon, another Past President for the club. He was evaluating the speech of the contest’s test speaker, Toastmaster Cheah Soon Chuan from MIM Toastmasters Club. Below is the video of MK Low’s evaluation and please click on the “Play” button to start playing the video. Also, please feel free to give comments as well.

5. There are some more videos of other contestants for these two contests. I will insert them into my blog later stage by stage. If you want to be informed of the other videos to be posted here, please fill in your name and your e-mail address below to get e-mail alert from me of the new posts.

I hope you like the videos here. Thanks.

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Post tags: Contest, Evaluation, Humorous, Kuala Lumpur, Money Mastery, Speech, Toastmasters

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2. The new president, Liew Siew Yin, made her first official presidential address during the meeting and together with the new officers and committee members, they all pledged to ensure the club to continue with great performance to achieve the President’s Distinguished Club award again and to become the best Toastmasters Club in the Klang Valley as well as in Malaysia, if possible. Oh, yes, we can !!!

Money Mastery KL Toastmasters Club President 2009/2010 : Liew Siew Yin

Exco 2009/2010 (from left) : Wilson, Julia, EK Yeo, Siew Yin, Sook Meng, Haji Hashim, Gean & Aziz

 

3. The Immediate Past President, Haji Hashim, also presented his last speech as the president of the term 2008/2009 and he was very proud of his acheivement on the successful year of the club journey. He also thanks his exco members of 2008/2009 and presented a small token to them as an appreciation of their dedication and team effort for the club achievement. The small token is an umbrella which remind them of their commitment to run the club and still show up in meeting as usual even during raining season.

Immediate Past President : Haji Hashim Adnan

Previous Exco 2008/2009 (from left) : Haji Hashim, Siew Yin, EK Yeo, Haji Naburi, Gean & KH Song

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Post tags: Club, Kuala Lumpur, Money Mastery, Toastmasters

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My name is Victor Wan and I am from Malaysia.

I am a Certified Professonal Trainer and also a Microsoft Certified Trainer. Yes, I train Microsoft courses basically on courses like Microsoft Servers and Clients such as Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. Well, coming soon is Microsoft Windows 7 and I am looking forward to the release of this new version soon.

I also train other courses or programs such as Leadership and Motivation programs including Team Building. While doing these training programs, I am  not only able to train and motivate others but I can also learn more from the participants’ experience and problems.

I am also active in Toastmasters and I am a member of Money Mastery Kuala Lumpur Toastmasters Club. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya, starts at 6.30pm. If you are interested to come to experience Toastmasters meeting, let me know here.

Currently I am a Competent Communicator and Competent Leader in the Toastmasters ranking and on the way to upgrade myself to Advanced Communicator Bronze.

I like to watch TV and also watch sport programs and my favourite sport is Soccer or Football. Others are like Golf, Tennis, Badminton, Formula 1……., well, it seems like most sports.

My favourite football team is Manchester United and they are coming to Malaysia to play against Malaysian Selection team on 18 July 2009 at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. Well, I watched them play before twice when they came here last time. Face to face with some players such as David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Steve Bruce, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane but very disappointed that Christiano Ronaldo will not be here since he left to Real Madrid already. But, now, my favourite is Wayne Rooney eventhough he is like a “Bad Boy” sometimes.

Besides doing training, I also play Forex Trading. I am still learning how to trade efficiently so that I can be able to earn some part time income as well. Well, that investment is quite risky but I just have to be careful dealing with the forex market.

OK……….that’s about my introduction. I will try my best to add in more post into my blog here. If you have any comments, please feel free to write in. I will appreciate anyone that give feedback, comments or whatever you want to say in my blog here. But of course, please do not write things that could hurt and damaging other people’s feeling. There is no use to do that here.

Thank you for your visiting here and please come back to Victor Wan’s blog again all the time.

Your’s Truly,

Victor Wan

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Post tags: Certified, Kuala Lumpur, Microsoft, Money Mastery, Professional, Server, Team Building, Toastmasters, Trainer, Victor, Vista, Wan, Windows, XP

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