KUCHING: All Toastmasters Clubs here came together to celebrate the 99th anniversary of Toastmasters International at a prestigious hotel last Sunday evening.
The event was to commemorate the founding of Toastmasters on October 22, 1924, by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley in Santa Ana, California, USA.
Jessie Chin, Division D director, thanked all the members for their participation in the celebration and acknowledged the unwavering support from all the clubs in Kuching.
She emphasised that Toastmasters was an organisation that provided a nurturing and constructive learning experience, empowering its members to enhance their communication and leadership skills.
“This transformation leads to greater self-confidence and personal growth, turning weaknesses into strengths and moulding individuals into capable, confident communicators and leaders,” she said.
Chin also paid tribute to the past Toastmasters leaders who laid a strong foundation for the younger generation.
District 87 Director, Hani Nur Zaihanirah, encouraged members to continuously practise their speeches at club meetings to refine their communication and leadership abilities.
She challenged all the clubs in Kuching to attain the prestigious President’s Distinguished Club status and Division D to aim for the Top Division Award in District 87.
Kuching Toastmasters at the 99th anniversary celebration of Toastmasters International
Hani added that 2024 would mark the 100th anniversary of Toastmasters and called for more members to take part in the upcoming celebration. She urged the members to charter more Toastmasters Clubs in Kuching.
Datuk Dr Lau Pang Heng, a former Toastmasters International President and a guest speaker at the function, shared valuable advices with Toastmasters leaders while emphasising the importance of maintaining consistent communication with members.
He stressed the need to ‘stay attuned to the ground’ to fully understand the communication and leadership needs of the membership.
Lau encouraged every club to utilise the Pathways, the Toastmasters’ interactive and flexible learning programme which empowered everyone to enhance their competency skills, benefiting not only their professional productivity but also enriching the quality of family life.
He also underscored the significance of choosing words carefully when crafting speeches as each spoken word had a profound impact on the speaker and society.
Lau believed that thoughtful word selection would shape one’s competency.Hani accepted Lau’s challenge to lead District 87, which included Toastmasters Clubs in Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste, in achieving the top global position as a Smedley Distinguished
District for the 2023-2024 term. Her acceptance was met with enthusiastic applause from everyone present. Lau also took the opportunity to acknowledge two significant figures who played instrumental roles in the formation of
Toastmasters during its early days, namely, Datuk Ling Lee Soon, a Chartered member of the Toastmasters Club of Singapore in October 1967, and Christine Liew, who played a crucial role in bringing Gerald Green to Kuching to initiate the charter of the Kuching Toastmasters Club in 1988.
Lau stressed the importance of showing gratitude to these early pioneers of Toastmasters in this region. He expressed his appreciation to Ling and Liew for their presence at the anniversary.
Lau also highlighted the achievements of two past leaders in Kuching who led the Toastmasters District to become one of the top two Districts worldwide — Dunstan Chan in 1996-1997 and Lau himself in 2002-2003. Both expressed their readiness to assist the current leaders toachieve excellence during the 2023-2024 term.
Lau also conveyed greetings from International President Morag Mathieson from Germany and Ivy Lau, a District 87 Past District Director, who was currently working in Jakarta, Indonesia.
