Afternoon of Reading

Real-world application of what we learned as Toastmasters. We helped the volunteers for Gawad Kalinga for an afternoon of reading. The event was held at the Fully Booked Bookstore in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig, Philippines. Kids from seven to 13 were treated to some of the most kid-friendly books available. You could see it in their eyes that they were having the time of their young lives, seeing all those books and being with people that cared for their education.

Maharlika Meeting

The return of Past Area Governor Odessa to the Toastmaster of the Evening role. She wanted a costume party so she selected the cowboy-inspired theme, “Wild, Wild East”. It’s like a rodeo with a twist, Maharlika Toastmasters style. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Maharlika Meeting

It’s a sad day for the Philippines and for democracy itself when President Corazon “Cory” Aquino passed away. As a tribute, the Maharlika Toastmasters Club held a meeting in honor of the late president. Another CA hosted the program, Competent Communicator Cecille Azarcon. Click on any of the photos to view the full size.

Maharlika Meeting

The Maharlika Toastmasters Club’s tribute to the king of pop, Michael Jackson. VP-Membership Mimi Maghanoy was the Toastmaster of the Evening and she donned her best MJ outfit to commemorate the passing of a legend. Everyone was in high-spirits, remembering the songs and the incredible dance moves of MJ.

Maharlika Meeting: To Infinity and Beyond

Second meeting for the new term for the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. Yours truly was selected as the Toastmaster of the Evening. I chose the theme “To Infinity and Beyond” to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing.

Snack Attack

First meeting with the new set of officers at the helm of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. VP-Ed. TC took charge of the proceedings with the theme “Snack Attack”. She provided everyone with a snack and got everyone’s mind spinning with her trivia questions about snacks and snacking.

Welcome the New Maharlika Officers!

Another year, another term for the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. I’m greatly humbled by the trust given to my by the club to head them into another banner year.

The Club’s Anniversary was once again celebrated at the Roof Deck of Hotel Kimberly last July 10, 2009. A lot of guests weren’t able to make it to the venue because of the heavy rains and floodings that plagued the Metro’s streets. Those who managed to escape the traffic were treated to a sumptous buffet and an evening of fun and surprises.

Click here for the pictures from Maharlika’s 29th Anniversary.

walk back memory lane

TM Ai’s first outing as the Toastmaster of the Evening for the Maharlika Toastmasters Club and she chose to bring the members back to the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and the 90’s. She had plenty of information and trivia about each decade and it’s significance to every Filipino.

CC Cecille was chosen as the Table Topics Master and she had thought-provoking questions regarding the Philippines’ past. For the first time this term, CTM Jess was chosen as the Table Topics Evaluator, to the delight of every Maharlikan. Jess has been known to be the “old reliable” Timer and to see him as TTE is a welcome relief.

There were five prepared speakers for the meeting. TM Paolo finally delivered his Ice Breaker Speech. The Monsanto sisters also followed up their fabulous first speeches with some well-organized Basic Speeches. TM Bobby once again proved he had the passion to be a successful businessman. CC Vivian then presented the award to Maharlika President Mely for her outstanding work as a church leader/servant in her parish.

TM Princeton was tasked for the first time to be the Grammarian. Also doing her first role was new member Weana.

Click on any image to view full size.

stuffs swap

Competent Communicator TC once again proved her creativity with her hosting of the weekly Maharlika Toastmasters Club meeting at the Jade Vine Restaurant on the last day of September. She chose the theme “Stuff Swap” and it was all about bartering items within the members of the club.

The saying “there is gold in garbage” could not be more true during the meeting as each member brought an item which he/she thought was invaluable anymore. But traded with another item of your choice, your once-forgotten token could be a useful item once again.

There were plenty of stuff to be bartered during the meeting. Some brought stuffed animals (toys) while others brought their old shirts. Everyone explained the reason behind their barter items and why they felt it was time to let it go. It seems like there was no love for CTM Jess’ Bureau of Customs t-shirt as there was no takers for his bartering item. I myself traded my 1 GB secure digital card for an organizer. Books and videos were also up for trade and everyone settled in on their item of choice.

Four new members were formally inducted to the club after the impromptu speech portion. TM January, TM Princeton, and the sisters TM Emna and Elsie are now proud members of the illustrious Maharlika Toastmasters Club.

The lone speaker for the night’s meeting was Area 12 Governor Ed as he delivered a talk about speech construction. It was useful for all attendees, including some visitors from Price, Waterhouse, and Cooper.

CC Peter had his first taste of the General Evaluator role. Despite being a little unfamiliar to the role, he proved that he had what it takes to be the over-all commander of the evaluation portion of the meeting.

After the meeting, the group decided to take the short walk to Max’s Restaurant for a night of singing and drinking. The Maharlika boys gave a tribute to Mr. Maharlika CC Edvil and gave their version of “Be My Lady”. Unfortunately, only two Maharlika beauties were at the videoke session so there was no rebuttal against the boys!

Click on any image to view full size.

Maharlika Electronica

In honor of the birthday of one of the founding fathers of modern day electronics, Lee De Forest, I decided to come up with the theme “Maharlika Electronica” for the weekly meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. Unfortunately, because of the heavy rains and the long weekend before the meeting, there were only a few members present in the meeting. In fact, if Kai decided to bail out of her speech on the last minute, I would be the lone prepared speaker, not to mention the Toastmaster of the Evening!

But the club carried on, true to its tradition. Long-time Maharlikan CTM Edwin Suson made a surprising comeback for the meeting. He brought along a guest and the Maharlikans were obviously excited to see their most prolific recruiter of members return. I brought a guest of my own and there was another returning guest making the total number of warm bodies present in the meeting was 14.

ACB Edvil started the educational portion with the Table Topics. He had four questions regarding electronics and our daily dependence on most electronic gadgets. The prepared speech portion was started by Kai when she delivered her 9th Basic Speech. She persuaded everyone (who has relatives or friends in the United States or Canada for that matter) to try the latest innovation in long distance telecommunications, the Magic Jack. It’s a VOIP device that connects right into our computers and allows the user to make telephone calls to anywhere North America for a minimal rate compared to conventional international direct dialing.

I then delivered my speech about the Filipino inventor who claims to have solved the fuel crisis by inventing the water-powered car. ACB Odessa acted as the GE in the absence of the pre-assigned GE. For the first time, TM Peter handled the Table Topics evaluation and by the reckoning of Des, Peter did an admirable job considering his experience as an evaluator. CTM Edwin then evaluated Kai while ACS Ed evaluated me.

All in all, the meeting was still successful in spite of the absence of the many members the club usually has.