22 May 2009 - President's Statement @ AGM

Dear honourable members:

On 30 May 2008, I announced my theme for the term – Be The Change. On 2 August 2008, during my Installation speech, I promised to provide you the platform, support, encouragement and mentorship, with the hope that the ready infrastructure will help you achieve your goals. I reckoned that if I kept my promises, the aspiration to achieve President’s Distinguished Club would be realized seamlessly and we would produce champions of the world.

I am happy to announce that we are on track to be President’s Distinguished and although we did not quite have a champion of the world, we reached the District level of competition.

In greater detail, we started off the year on a marvelous note. Meetings were packed and funds kept rolling in. Meetings and contests attendances recorded an average head count of 25 per meeting. Financially, by the end of the first quarter, we had raised enough money for the whole term.

For the financial year under review, the Club recorded an increase in turnover of 240.5% year-on-year, thanks to Speechcraft progams with Western Digital Malaysia, Project Management Professionals and Shell Cyberjaya as well as our Youth Leadership Program.

We revived the Table Topics session at our meetings although this was occasionally sacrificed when we had more project speakers. We strived to go back to the grassroots of Toastmasters – quality speeches and constructive feedback. I believe we achieved both. This is justified by our ability to attract nine new members to date, six of whom are actively pursuing their education and leadership tracks.

Further to that, since we invoked Article III Item 1(b) of our Club Constitution and Bylaws, we have welcomed seven new Toastmasters. Of the seven, one has already obtained his Competent Communicator award, while three more are on track to achieve theirs.

The Club blog continues to be a hit. In only its second year, the blog recorded 2,000 visitors to the site. I personally think this is a truly remarkable achievement on the part of VPE Foong Weng Tuck who has gone beyond to learn a new skill and update the blog contents regularly. Congratulations to him!

Admittedly, I have no regrets during this term. While it was not perfect, my own learning and personal growth has made it worth my while. Indeed, I myself became the change. I shall look back on the year 2008 / 2009 with gratefulness, contentment and joy. I thank all on the Executive Committee for your patience, guidance and care for me on this journey, and to all who have contributed to the Club in one way or another. This chapter closes, but a new and exciting one awaits all of us. Take care, and all the best!


"Be The Change"


Best regards,

Deborah Hoe, CTM
President 2008/2009