Ramona J. Smith from District 56 (Texas, USA) on finishing first place in the World Championship of Public Speaking® at the 87th Annual Toastmasters International Convention

The top three speakers in the World Championship of Public Speaking® at the 87th Annual Toastmasters International Convention

Congratulations to Ramona J. Smith from District 56 (Texas, USA) on finishing first place in the World Championship of Public Speaking® at the 87th Annual Toastmasters International Convention, held in Chicago, US recently.

Sherrie Su, District 88, and Anita Fain Taylor, District 47, finished in second and third place respectively in the World Championship of Public Speaking®. Congratulations to the top three speakers!

This is an annual event where Toastmasters International Convention culminates in the final round of the International Speech Contest, where the World Champion of Public Speaking ® is chosen. In this exciting event, 10 contestants from all over the world deliver 5 to 7 -minute speeches that are evaluated by a panel of experienced Toastmasters. After a year of competing in club, area, district and semifinal competitions, these contestants have advanced for the chance to win this prestigious accolade.

It’s like winning a World Cup trophy and once you become a winner, everything changes depending on how you plan yourself. Some champions become guest speakers in toastmasters’ conferences and other conferences outside toastmasters context.

I had the privilege to invite two World Champion of Public Speaking ® Dananjaya Hettiarachchi (2014) from Sri Lanka and Darren Tay (2016) from Singapore to Brunei back in 2016 for the Brunei Toastmasters Convention. Also that came to Brunei was the Past International President of Toastmasters International (2014-2015) Mohammad Murad who has such a lovely personality from Dubai.

Back in 2014, I had the honour to witness the Annual Toastmasters International Convention in Kuala Lumpur, the first time it was held outside America. It was my first ever toastmasters conference and I was just a new member then. Around 18 toastmasters from Brunei flew to Kuala Lumpur to support the convention as well as one of our club member who made it to the semi-finals of International Speech Contest, Chris Woo. He won the semi-finals and made it to the finals where he was up against the then champion, Dananjaya Hettiarachchi.

World Champion of Public Speaking ® 2014 Dananjaya Hettiarachchi was in Brunei Darussalam back in October 2016. He called Aziman Nasir, the current President of Brunei Speaker’s Club, to the stage during his educational session.

One of our Brunei Speakers’ Club member, Jidun Dollah, has been a toastmasters for over two years. He has accomplished himself being the first Pidato speaker and now a featured comic on Bruhaha Comedy show, entertaining hundreds in the audience. Toastmasters have definitely made him a better speaker.

Clovis Lai, the co-founder of Brunei Speakers’ Club (founded in 2001), Farhan Jafar Ali, past President of the Brunei Gavel Club and Stuart Lee, former President of Brunei Speakers’ Club and Brunei Advanced Speakers Club. Stuart was also a Humourous Speech champion and mentored many speech champions.

The time when Toastmasters International turned 90 years and we celebrated it back in 2014

Allen Ang (centre) is one of the leaders for toastmasters in Brunei Darussalam. During the Brunei Conference 2016, he won the Humourous Contest. He has been an active member for The Brunei Advanced Speakers Club and currently holds the position as Club Growth Director for Brunei, East Malaysia and Indonesia for the term 2018-2019.

World Champion of Public Speaking ® 2016 Darren Tay was in Brunei Darussalam and it all began when I FB msg-ed him hours after he was crowned the champion. The rest was history.

Chris Woo made us proud for Brunei Toastmasters where he became the only toastmasters from Brunei to be featured in the finals of World Champion of Public Speaking in Kuala Lumpur in 2014. His semi-final speech “Listen” still lingers in my memory. Such a powerful speech!!!

The time I joined the Toastmasters International Convention when I signed up as a member after a few weeks

It has been a while since I talked about toastmasters on my blog. People always think that toastmasters is just about public speaking. I would say that it’s only 50-60% of the component of toastmasters. Everything else is about leadership and building a support system for members to grow as an individual.

It’s always nice to hear incoming guests sharing their positive feedbacks on what they have learnt during our weekly toastmasters meetings. It’s also nice to see recurring guests which show their interest in wanting to improve their communication and leadership skills and not many associations provide these soft skills on a weekly basis like toastmasters do.

Being a toastmasters for four years have shaped me to be a better speaker and articulating the right message especially when you are giving feedback to another person. This is a huge lesson for me, giving authentic feedback and not offending the receiver even if I think my message conveyed is considered polite. Toastmasters allow me to redefine the tone of my message to a more receptive manner and this will help to bring a more supportive relationship among members and guests.

My biggest milestone was being the organizing chairperson for the Brunei Conference back in October 2016. It was rewarding but never short of challenges. The conference itself was a huge success. On a side note, it also tested my leadership skills and even friendship matters were also being challenged.

To be honest, I wasn’t keen in leading a team. I had my shares of bad experiences when I was a President of Western Michigan University Twinning Program Council back in Sunway College and I ended up creating more enemies than friends. It took me many years to once again revisit the fear that I’ve kept under the rug – to lead a team. This time, I would say I handled it much better than my college stint. A few bumps here and there but after two years, my friendship with my committee is still intact and never compromised.

I really thanked toastmasters that opened up my self belief and also to the friends who have been an awesome support system for me.

As I gained more confidence, I courageously took up executive roles as the Vice-President of Membership and Vice-President of Education, the following term, to further learn the ropes of being a leader. Being a procrastinator, I was able to shift that habit and learn to be more discipline and most of all, to plan and execute. I won’t say that I am totally out of the procrastinating habit but I have become more aware and able to make wise decisions and take actions swiftly.

I have been a toastmasters member for the Brunei Speakers’ Club since August 2014 and it is the best decision and the best investment I have made this decade. Now my goal one day is to be an educator (giving entrepreneur talks and maybe, being an emcee for an event).

So if you are keen to be part of toastmasters, you can drop me a line 8677773 or 8387773 or you can Direct Message us on instagram @bruneispeakersclub or visit our official website or simply attend our weekly meetings, every Tuesday 7:30pm at Seameo Voctech.

One reason why I reconnected and rejoined toastmasters. Thank you, Seng Yee, for believing how I can really grow as an individual.

A mentor who believed in me and supported me unconditionally. He pushed me to newer boundaries and I am glad I am more courageous than before. I miss you, brother, and you’re always in my prayers.

Toastmasters is not about communicating and leading. It’s also about bonding among members and friends and we do outside activities as well.

One of our guests, Zaki Mohiddin, who appreciates the toastmasters session

A workshop which is priceless and do sign up. Allen Ang always gives a good presentation/workshop 😀

Are you looking to identify, nurture and polish your communication skills? The right place has just opened for you. Articulation, a division of Rhymin & Partners (Coaching and Consultancy), is a training centre that specializes in communication courses and programs segmented for organizations, adults and youth.

All the courses are conducted by Stuart Lee, who is a seasoned trainer and Toastmasters member. Stuart has been training in Brunei for the past few years to government agencies and corporates. I attended his “Getting Things Done” (GTD) course before and I was amazed at how comprehensive he was in helping us understand how to be productive and I was quite moved, considering how unproductive I can be and a huge procrastinator. It’s not surprising since he is a speaker who has won many speech contests, the most significant being the first District (Brunei, East Malaysia, Indonesia) champion from Brunei in 2013.

Stuart Lee mentored two speakers,Pooja Shivanand and Allen Ang and both were successful, reaching the highest accolade in respective categories of Toastmasters contest. This contest was held in Brunei last October 2016 where they competed against Malaysia and Indonesia for the contest.

Since then, he has trained hundreds of speakers. He has an innate ability to identify potential in speakers and nurture their talents to proper skills. He has mentored a few international speech champions in Toastmasters, and one even made it to Finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. That’s one impressive record!

One thing about Stuart is he uses somewhat unconventional methods in his training, not just textbook theories. He understands the psyche of speakers who have stage fright or going blank during presentations, so his courses are suited to help nervous speakers overcome these problems. He also believes it takes meticulous trainings to convert ‘talent’ into skills, as he has seen many speakers who are even naturally talented, but are unable to channel the gift into proper, controlled skills. So being talented doesn’t mean you have what it takes.

An auditorium for training purposes

Over the years of training adults in government agencies and corporate companies, Stuart realized it’s best to start speakers early, especially during their teenage years. Good news is that he now even has courses specially catered to youth. Stuart believes the youth must be able to communicate to complement academic excellence. So among the many courses that Articulation offers, I find “Presentation Skills for Youth” to be of much value. I’ve seen many students in our local schools fear speaking and presenting in public. Even some of the smartest students are uncomfortable when asked to verbalise their thoughts in front of people. This could hinder not only their academic performance but also their future career opportunities. These are soft skills that are not taught in local schools. So this course is meant to prepare the youth to speak up in schools and tertiary to achieve their full potential.

Another flagship course is “Presentation Skills for Adults”, which is designed to help working individuals who are afraid to speak up at work and miss opportunities for growth in career. The course teaches them to deliver presentations, and articulate ideas during meetings among others. Both these presentation courses are over 8-weeks period.

There are also many other courses such as skills for interview, pitching, business English etc. that you might be interested in.

The courses will be conducted at Articulation Training Centre which is a customized stage to simulate public speaking experience. Speaking on the stage will definitely be a tough experience, but it will help to prepare the participants to battle stage fright. I think this is a great venture since communication is a life skill and being able to communicate effectively can take us places.

Personally I always learned a thing or two whenever Stuart gives his evaluations in toastmasters when it comes to speaking and presentation skills. It was also one of the main reasons I joined toastmasters so I have more opportunities to benefit from his sharing. I’m glad that he has ventured into training of his own. Congratulations, Stuart!

If you wish to know more, go to www.articulation.co or visit his Facebook Page or simply contact him at stu@rticulation.com

It’s contest season once again for the Brunei toastmasters and I’m excited because of the line up itself. To me, this is the real deal.. The Wrestlemania of speech contest for Brunei.

There are four participating clubs are Brunei Speakers’ Club (the mother club), OTTERS Club (Seria), Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club and UBD Toastmasters Club (UBD). Recently the three clubs held their respective club contests to determine the top two winners to represent their respective clubs.

The sole winner of Area K6 contest will then represent Brunei in the next round which will be held in Kota Kinabalu, sometime in April 2017.

Last year, the champions were Pranika Lama for International Speech and Julius Hong for Tables Topic Contest. This year, Pranika, chose not to compete while Julius is still in the running to retain the Area K6 title.

UBD contestants were dominant in last year’s contest. So let’s see we will have another representative from UBD or will we have new faces in this upcoming contest.

The Area K6 Contest will take place this Sunday, 26th April at 1:30pm at iCentre. All the best to all the contestants. I missed the cut again this time round but there’s always be a next time.

You can follow @ubd_toastmastersclub @bruneispeakersclub @otterstmc on their IG for updates.

The top 3 winners of the International Speech at UBD Toastmasters Contest. Nabil Abdul Kadir, the champion and Theressa Chong, the runner up, advanced to the Area K6 contest this Sunday.

This was the contest at the Brunei Speakers’ Club. Congratulations to all the winners and the top two will proceed to Area K6 contest

Let’s not forget the winners of OTTERS contest a few weeks ago. All of them will be contesting and vie for the champion of Area K6.

Theressa Chong. Kind and caring, Theressa is a nursing student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. A spicy food aficionado and a deft badminton player, she is always full of energy. She will be directing that energy in her first Area contest with her speech entitled “Insecurities”.

Allen Ang. The cute and charismatic Allen is the reigning Toastmasters District 87 Humorous Speech Champion. His speech “Take That Shot” for the Area contest is a detour from (or a means to achieve) his true mission – the Father/Husband of the Year award. Will this be his shot for the title? We shall see.

Nabil Abdul Kadir. The golden voice Nabil surprised many with his inspirational speech. He’s currently a a student of Health Sciences at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. A keen learner, he has been learning basic Mandarin on his own. We wonder if he’ll use his newfound knowledge in his speech entitled “Look At The Bright Side”.

Amran Jamaluddin. He’s been known as the Superman of Brunei toastmasters and he currently works at Butra Heidelberg Cement. He shows that an expert crane operator when seated in front of a computer can create wonders with words, with his speech entitled “The Making Of…”

With the guest of honour from the Ministry of Education and the graduates of Youth Leadership Program. Also in the picture were the management of Sports School and members of UBD Toastmasters Club

The happy faces of the graduates. We really gonna miss them

I witnessed something amazing and rewarding last night. It was the graduation of the Youth Leadership Program facilitated by Pranika Lama who chose Sports School to conduct the seven session workshop to 20 students of Sports School. The module is part of the Toastmasters program and more of an outreach program consisting of one to two hour sessions that will enable participants to develop communication and leadership skills through practical experience.

The 20 students were pre-selected by the teachers at Sports School and in this program, they were taught to
• Evaluate present speaking ability
• Organize and give speeches
• Give impromptu talks
• Control voice, vocabulary and gestures
• Give constructive feedback and more

So it was good to see students improving gradually in a space of seven weeks (the program started in February). I remembered that a few of them couldn’t say blurted out a few words or sentences but it was a different story as the weeks progressed. I’m just simply amazed by their growth and I believe this will have a positive impact in their education and also in their lives.

I also noticed how authentic and vulnerable the young students are and they are just no different from us too. Most of them showed their affection towards their families and this is something not are taught in schools especially in high school. This is something I’m happy that Toastmasters International can provide to the youth.

Last night was the graduation ceremony and I was close to tears, witnessing the growth on each of the participants. Parents and teachers were in attendance and they were pretty impressed with what they saw last night too.

A big shout out to Pranika Lama and her team from UBD toastmasters and not forgetting Rozana Yunos the advisor for the YLP. Some of the students craved for more sessions on the second intake of YLP which will happened pretty soon. However, the next batch will be a newer intake of students.

The late Shawn Cassidy Narcis will be proud of this achievement made possible by Pranika Lama and Sports School as they will help elevate the status of toastmasters in Brunei Darussalam.

Congratulations to all the graduates of the YLP and you have certainly made us proud. Keep on going!!!

The elected President of YLP Intake 1 – Syafiq bin Hj Ismail

Explaining the timer role by Md Amir Azri

The table topics session facilitated by Alanise Danishsya

The audience in attendance

Mohd Aniq Iskandar attempting table topics as he preferred a motorbike

He wants to be a famous football player and also a pilot

She shared about regrets

Congratulations Pranika Lama. I am proud!!

The final session before graduation as he shared about the different types of “miss”

This was taken in February, the third session of YLP

The students were already glowing by the third session

It’s happening today (Sunday, 19th February) till 5pm at No.21, Simpang 18, Jalan Anggrek

Mock plane models for sale

Waiting for guests to come

The Architecture Lego for sale

The Architecture Lego for sale

Check out the Coke collection and collectibles for sale

Even the Harley bike is up for auction

Macalister being the scenes and he has also been helping out in preparing for this event

Pranika Lama and Dalton Lim helping out with the Estate Sale for the past week or so

Hello Seng Yee :p

The 19th Consumer Fair (CF19) officially opened its doors to the public yesterday in a ceremony at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas, officiated by Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Mustappa bin Haji Sirat, the Minister of Communications.

The opening ceremony was initiated with the recitation of the Surah Al-Fatihah and a Doa, followed by a welcoming speech from Dato Paduka Haji Danial bin Haji Hanafiah, the Executive Director of D’Sunlit Sdn Bhd, who said that the event is especially intended to promote products and services from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to a broader market.

More than 400 booths have been set up at the ICC this year, with several entrepreneurs from Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Pakistan participating alongside local vendors.

With the uplifting theme of ‘The Year Is Yours. What will you do with it?’ CF19 is focused on giving back to society, and among the charities benefiting from the proceeds are the Society for the Management of Autism Related issues in Training, Education and Resources (SMARTER) Brunei, Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam (Pusat Ehsan), the Brunei Darussalam National Association of the Blind (BDNAB) and Children’s Cancer Foundation (YASKA).

Meanwhile, a number of fun activities have been lined up for the fair, where visitors can take part in hot dog and chicken wing eating contests, an ice-cream-making contest and a cupcake-decorating demonstration.

CF19 is open to visitors from 10am to 10pm till Sunday, while on Friday it will be closed from 12pm to 2pm, for Friday prayer. Text courtesy of Lyna Mohd of Borneo Bulletin.

The launch of the Brunei Conference 2016 with the guest of honour Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Hj Ali bin Apong, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism. Image courtesy of James Kon of Borneo Bulletin.

With the champions, Pooja Shivanand (Speech Evaluation Champion) and Allen Ang (Humourous Champion). Congratulations to the Brunei contestants on winning on the big stage against members from East Malaysia and Indonesia.

It has been two weeks and time just flew by that quickly. I managed to pull through a huge conference being the organizing chair for a toastmasters event involving over 100 international delegates plus inviting world champion speakers and a past International President of Toastmasters International. It was definitely the biggest toastmasters event to be held in Brunei Darussalam and I’m very proud of my young team for making this event a huge success.

There are so many things that I want to share about the Brunei Conference. What I went through… What the committee went through… The highs and the lows. My capability as a leader. Ahh, just so many things I want to express. There’s one thing though that I learnt from the Brunei Conference and that is gratitude.

After speaking to most of the committee individually, I began to be aware of deeper things that I missed out and I thank each of them for their trust and sincerity on how I have shown up as an individual and also as a leader.

The success of the Brunei Conference was attributed to the hard work from the committee members and even the volunteers from the Brunei Gavel Club. Thank you very much for the commitment and the contribution, not only during the conference but prior to the main event. Most of the key committee were appointed since July 2015 and all the handwork truly paid off.

Though the event was over 2 weeks ago, I’m still busy with some paper work and also with my post mortem of the Brunei Conference. Now I’m taking a break for a week or so and currently outstation. I won’t be blogging as much but we shall see during the course of the week.

Happy weekend, guys 😀

With World Champion of Public Speaking 2014 Dananjaya. You’re the man!!!

During the Gala Dinner at The Centrepoint Hotel

I’m so glad that Phylicia Liew kept her promise to make it to Brunei for the conference. You’re the bomb!!

Laurence giving her TACT badge to Dalton

Sometimes I wonder why they are not together.. They look good together :p

We had lots of fun with the photobooth from Kotak Senyum

Hello beautiful ladies

Half of the committee are from UBD Toastmasters. How they have grown so much 😀

Amran bringing the delegates from Medan around Kampung Ayer

Darren Tay sending off delegates from Indonesia at the Brunei International Airport

Celebrating Shawn and Nora’s birthday after the Brunei Conference

Taken during the DCM at Seameo Voctech

The welcoming party for the arrival of Dananjaya Hettiarachchi at Brunei International Airport yesterday

Each year, the Toastmasters Semi-Annual District Conference culminates in the final round of the Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest, where the District Champion is chosen. In this exciting event, 30 English & Mandarin contestants from Brunei, Labuan, East Malaysia and Indonesia deliver 5 to 7 minute humorous speeches and 3 minutes evaluation on a test speaker that are judged by a panel of experienced Toastmasters. After few months of competing in club, area and division these contestants have advanced for the chance to win this prestigious accolade.

This year, Brunei was chosen to host the event at Rizqun International Hotel from 29th to 30th October. As an integral part of the conference, educational workshops are conducted by renowned public speakers, trainers and industrial leaders. For the first time, the conference will feature 2 World Champions of Public Speaking, Dananjaya J. Hettiarachchi (Sri Lanka), and Darren Tay (Singapore) who deliver his semifinal speech and Past President of Toastmasters International, Muhammed Murad (Dubai). Other featured speakers include Soon Loo, CEO of Darussalam Enterprise and a local professional speaker Stuart Lee, a productive trainer and consultant. There are also two Mandarin speakers – Lu Li Ming (Sandakan) and Liw Hui Peng (Bintulu) for the Mandarin session. This is bound to be the biggest Toastmasters event ever in Brunei Darussalam

The customary of bringing our international guests to Brunei – Jing Chew

Thank you for hosting us, Pondok Sari Wangi. Both Dananjaya and Mohammed Murad loved the food last night.

Dalton Lim (left) helping out in welcoming international delegates for the Brunei Conference 2016. Around 110 international delegates will be in Brunei this weekend 😀

The event is jointly organized by local Toastmaster clubs namely The Brunei Speakers’ Club, Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club, Oil Town Talkers Toastmasters Club and Universiti Brunei Darussalam Toastmasters Club. “The Brunei conference hopes to inspire youths to be confident communicator and leader as part of their daily lives so he or she can empower others. These are the reasons why I selected such speakers to be part of the biggest toastmasters event in Brunei.” shared by Organizing Chairman, Rano Iskandar. In line of Rano’s vision, the conference is open to members of the public. Tickets for full day educational session are available at BND120 and BND50 for contest. While tickets for tertiary/university students are priced at BND50 and BND35 for secondary students. For more event, speaker and venue details, visit http://d87bruneiconference.com or view the agenda in the few pages pages.

When you are climbing a mountain there is a summit , in life all you find is an endless wall. You can take the easy way and slide endlessly into the darkness or take the hard way and climb into the eternal light. Either way, there is no end to how far you can fall nor how high you can climb – Dananjaya Hettiarachchi. Image taken of Dananjaya Hettiarachchi’s Facebook page.

He’s known as “Dan” by many and I’ve been following his journey on IG and Facebook and even on the internet. Though he was a champion two years ago, he still is one of the most sought speakers around the world. He has been traveling around the world and his next date will be Brunei before he heads off to Amsterdam (Holland), Hiroshima (Japan) and Richmond (USA) to cap off the year. Awesome!!!

If you meet him in person, only one word to describe him – charismatic (and super cool). He has been in a journey of toastmasters or public speaking for 10 years. He loves to inspire the thousands in bettering their communication skills and he is very popular in schools.

The Brunei Conference committee is very privilege to have his presence in Brunei on 28th October to 29th October. We are certain that his presence and his keynote speech will have a positive ripple effect on the audience and hoping for more youth to attend the conference.

If you are interested, please reach me at 8677773. Tickets are available and the prices are BND 120 and BND 35 for secondary students or BND 50 for tertiary/university students (29th October, Saturday session 9am to 4pm), BND 50 for the Speech contest (30th October, Sunday 8am). If you are interested also in attending the dinner, it will be BND 50 for Friday, 28th October and BND 50 for Saturday, 29th October.

This is slated to be the biggest toastmasters event ever hosted in Brunei Darussalam because we have three world champion speakers – Willie Jones, Dan the Man and reigning champion Darren Tay. So yes, sometime to look forward to and the target audience will be the youth, working class, teachers, parents, students, professionals, government officials and entrepreneurs.

A big thank you also to the sponsors, partners and supporters of this event – Brunei Shell Petroleum, Progresif, Brunei Gas Carriers, Brunei Tourism under the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, RYS Entertainment, Armtrix Enterprise, NBT, BIG magazine, AKK Design, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Rizqun International Hotel, Aiking (03), Royal Brunei Catering and many more. I would also like to acknowledge the Ministry of Home Affairs for approving this event.

So once again, If you are interested, please reach me at 8677773 and you can read more details here on our official website.

He has been a busy man with many cities he has visited this year alone

Dananjaya with Supatra Lee, a Brunei Speakers’ Club member

My photo opp with Dananjaya last year in Kuching.

Another champion making its way to Brunei is Darren Tay. Back in August, Darren Tay, was crowned the 2016 World Champion of Public Speaking in Washington DC and his story revolved around bullying. ’Im still amazed the fact that the past three winners of the World Champion of Public Speaking have come from Asia. Amazing feat!! First we have the charismatic Dananjaya Hettiarachchi (from Sri Lanka) who won in 2014 and he will be invited for the Brunei Conference in October. The following year was Mohd Qahtani from Qatar in 2015.

Looking at his resume, I’m pretty impressed for a man of his age (only 27) to achieve many things. According to his website, he is a prolific public speaker, debater and professional trainer. He founded the Public Speaking Academy in 2009 and has led the Academy to scale great heights in the school and corporate domains; including the successful organization of the annual National Public Speaking Competition since 2010.

He even won the Toastmasters International District 80 Speech competition in 2009, 20012 and 2014 for Speech Evaluation and Table Topics. Amazing feat indeed. He has also published his best-selling public speaking guidebook “Express to Impress” in 2012 and looks forward to subsequent publications in the future.

So it’s a done deal that he will be delivering a workshop in Brunei this October. If you are interested, please reach me at 8677773 or email at bruneiconference2016@gmail.com and you can read more details here on our official website.

That’s not all. In conjunction with the Brunei Conference 2016, we will be hosting the final leg of the Humourous Speech Contest and Speech Evaluation Contest on the final day of the Brunei Conference, slated for Sunday, 30th October. Another awesome news is that two of the finalists are members of Brunei Toastmasters (Area K6) as they won their rights when they became champion in Division level two weeks ago at Kota Kinabalu.

Allen Ang, a representative of The Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club, won for Humourous Speech Contest. With his winning speech ‘My Dream Job’, he told hilarious tales of the hardship of being a salesman and shared silly situations that induced fits of laughter from the audience. Pooja Shivanand, a member of Brunei Speakers’ Club, won in the Speech Evaluation Contest. She is one of our talented evaluators in Brunei toastmasters and it’s no surprise she made it this far. So both contestants will have to fight it out again in Brunei Darussalam to vie for the District Champion in Humourous Speech and Speech Evaluation.

On his victory and competing in the finals, Allen, a Permanent Resident in Brunei, said, “I’m blessed and grateful for the opportunity to speak in front of my hometown. The contest in KK was very fruitful, as I got to meet people who believe that contests stimulate progress, both in communication and leadership skills.”

Pooja, who lectures for the Microbiology course at the Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, commented, “I gratefully acknowledge the support and encouragement of Brunei Toastmasters… I consider myself fortunate to represent Division K right here in Brunei. I eagerly look forward to this opportunity to showcase Brunei talent.”

The District 87 Semi Annual Conference in Brunei will also see World Champions in Public Speaking conducting educational workshops on Communication and Leadership Skills, with networking opportunities at the Gala Dinner.

The conference, open to the public, will take place from October 28 to 30. For more information, visit www.d87bruneiconference.com.

Pooja Shivanand won the Speech Evaluation Contest in Division level two weeks ago and now the District Contest awaits her

Sophia came 3rd while Roselind came 2nd in the Speech Evaluation Contest in Division Level

Allen Ang won Humourous Speech Contest on Division level for the second time. He won it two years ago, also in KK. Now he will compete in the final leg in Brunei Darussalam.

Pooja and Allen with their mentor Stuart Lee. All the help really paid off 😀

The Brunei toastmasters members

The members of Brunei Speakers’ Club during the installation night at Parkview Hotel. A few members were not present.

The incoming Executive Members of Brunei Speakers’ Club during the installation ceremony. It was conducted by Stuart Lee, our Area Director for K6 (far right)

Finally after the three months into the term, Brunei Speakers’ Club had its installation night for its executive committee (Exco) for their members. This was the session where the Exco for the term 2016-2017 will be pinned (with their respective pins) on their suits to formalise their respective roles in the club.

This term Executive Committee for Brunei Speakers’ Club are:

President – Jordan Yau
Vice-President of Education – Gerald Goh
Vice-President of Membership – Rano Iskandar
Vice-President of Public Relations – Rahmat Tarsat
Secretary – Heidi Rahman
Treasurer – Aziman Nasir
Sergeant-at-Arms – Awfa Nawawi
Immediate Past President – Chris Woo

The ceremony took place at All-Seasons restaurant at Parkview Hotel and I was happy that this place is ideal for hosting corporate dinner events. Furthermore, the guests commented on the wide variety of dishes and they were tasty too 😀 So I would highly recommend if you have corporate dinner events to give this place a shot.

We were also privileged to have a visiting toastmasters guest from Kota Kinabalu, Laurence Dumling, who recently visited Brunei to deliver a workshop at Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club meeting and also at Sekolah Menengah Sayyinda Abu Bakar to inspire the students.

There were some light entertainment such as table topics on toastmasters members and a speech by Awfa on “Korean Madness”.

Incoming President Jordan Yau delivered a special roast to outgoing President Chris Woo who is now our Immediate Past President. Chris Woo also gave his remarks on his exco members (Macalister Mak, Jordan Yau, Supatra Lee, Gerald Goh, Pooja Shivanand, Aziman Nasir). Chis also awarded two BSC members – Dalton Lim (The most improved toastmasters of the Year) and Rano Iskandar (Toastmasters of the Year).

A big thank you to those who showed up last weekend especially members from OTTERS (Naj, Allen and Hazwan). Another shout out to Nur Ahmad, Donna Karen Balthazar-Lim and Derby Teo as returning members of BSC.

If any of you are interested to attend our weekly meetings, you can drop by Seameo Voctech every Tuesday 7:15pm and witness/observe how we run our meetings and be part of it too. It’s the best place to learn soft skills on communications and leadership in a supportive environment. Don’t worry, we don’t bite and I will be taking care of guests that attend our meetings. So you are in safe hands 😀

You can follow updates on their Facebook Page or their official website page and also on IG @bruneispeakersclub

Rahman Tarsat sworn in as Vice-President of Public Relations

Chris Woo, Immediate Past President pinning the incoming president, Jordan Yau and vice-versa

Around 40 people showed up last weekend. Thank you for the support.

Syatrah Roslan of BSC and Hilman Omar of UBD Toastmasters were the emcees of the night. Great job too 😀

Naj, one of a great supporter of toastmasters from OTTERS.

Dalton Lim being awarded The Most Improved Toastmasters of the Year and Rano Iskandar being awarded The Toastmasters of the Year

Dalton Lim with his family friend and mentor Shawn Cassidy Narcis

The group photo

Thank you UBD Toastmasters members for supporting our installation

The sworn in Executive Committee of BSC with Area Director, Stuart Lee

The guests having a great time last weekend

What do they have in common? They are all teachers. Thank you, Laurence (center), for touching other people’s lives