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View reports of ALL programmes Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme for Executives & Professionals For this round, registration was slow at first but it really picked up as the programme dates were fast approaching. In the end, I accepted 11 participants and had to turn away 5 others. I also had some problems booking the training room but fortunately our usual room at Crystal Crown was made available after another event organizer postponed his event date. So we went back to our preferred training venue. Amazingly, nobody pulled out before the class or on the second day due to work-related emergencies (despite the class being held on weekdays). So we had 11 participants throughout the course.
In this course, the key modules covered included body language (4 elements), vocal variety, speech organization and others. However, the highlight of the course was the personal coaching that the each participant received. During each round of practice, the participants were coached and directed as to which areas to improve.
A few more photos of personal coaching:
Besides going through the usual modules, the trainer Azmi Shahrin was always sensitive to the personal needs of the participants by providing opportunities for them to gain skills critical to their work.
The trainer also threw in some bonus tips for an effective PowerPoint presentation (not part of this basic course). In the following photos, another participant had the chance to practise with the flipchart.
In addition to ordinary speeches, we also had a discussion session where participants had to practise speaking while seated!
Here are closed-up photos of the remaining participants (those not shown above):
I believe this was one of the most active and happy groups that we have encountered! Everyone kept the energy level high till the closing session. Reported by Sandy Tan
It's difficult to believe that the Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme has been running for 4 years. This first session in 2013 marked the beginning of the programme's 5th year of existence. It is very important for us to maintain the interest while improving the programme so that more people can benefit from this highly effective course. For this first session, we faced some difficulties in getting enough participants but it was overcome with extra effort. In the end, we had 11 participants even though on the second day we were left with 10.
Right from the beginning, the effectiveness of this course lies in the extensive hands-on practice. It was no different in this round. The trainer Azmi Shahrin explained each module briefly and spent the rest of the time coaching the participants individually (after the module was explained). The modules covered included body language (4 elements), vocal variety, speech organization and others.
Here are some photos of the participants speaking:
For me personally, the most inspiring speech during this entire course was presented by Daniel Tey, who shared how he lost more than 20 kg in a short period of time:
In any case, all the participants presented interesting topics relating to their life and career and everyone showed a marked improvement over the 2 days. Although there were some inconveniences in the provision of meals over the weekend, the participants were well-fed. For tea breaks, I bought doughnuts for all. On the first day, we had lunch at Secret Recipe situated at the basement of Menara TM. On the second day, I ordered pizza. It was hard work but well worth it.
The programme ended with evaluations and certificate presentation. Reported by Sandy Tan
To close our 4-year run of this programme, I decided to have a change of training venue just to get a fresh breath of air. So I chose the Jaya33 Convention Centre which was very near our usual training location (Crystal Crown Hotel). Registration was a bit hard to come by probably due to the course being held on weekdays and towards the end of the year. However, I worked extra hard to get the numbers. Eventually, we still had a full class of 10 participants.
The training proceeded as usual with each module being covered and the participants undergoing many rounds of presentation and individual coaching. The modules included overcoming nervousness, body language, vocal variety, speech organization and correct pronunciation. I had a few errands to run outside and did not catch much of the action. But I could see that everyone was eager to learn and improve. And they did improve a lot over the 2 days.
Since we could not sign up for catering due to the small number, we decided to provide breakfast and lunch instead of lunch and teabreaks. On both days, the participants had a hearty and healthy breakfast at Coffee Bean and an enjoyable lunch at Georgetown White Coffee. Both were within the Jaya33 complex. In short, Jaya33 was a reasonable alternative and we would consider having more trainings there. Here are some photos of the trainer:
The programme ended on time and on a positive note. Reported by Sandy Tan
This was the penultimate session before closing a 4-year run of this programme. As I hoped for, the registration process was not too difficult. 11 people registered. From experience I knew that 1 or 2 would not be able to make it to the class, hence I allowed up to 11 people to register. And true enough, only 9 turned up on the first day and 8 on the second day. So we ended up with quite an optimal number of students for effective coaching. As planned, we went back to Crystal Crown Hotel after conducting the training elsewhere in July.
There was not much difference between this round and the few earlier ones. The trainer took the participants through the standard modules on overcoming nervousness, body language, vocal variety and speech organization. Of course, the participants had many rounds of practice while being coached by the trainer. One of the things I liked about this training (this round and all the past rounds) was the trainer's willingness to take seriously and answer questions from the floor. Though this took up additional time but it made the participants happy. On the first day, I was not around most of the time as I had another meeting to attend and a few urgent things to do. I didn't see much of the action. When I arrived on the morning of the second day, I was relieved when one of the participants said he was very satisfied with the programme so far. Not that I was surprised but it's nice to be reassured anyway. And judging from their performance that morning, I could see that they had improved a lot since the beginning of the first day (based on the little that I saw).
The class ended a bit late on the second day but everyone went home satisfied. Reported by Sandy Tan
Ever since 2009, we've been giving out "special offers" during Ramadan to Muslim participants. We did it again this year and the response was encouraging. In fact, I had to give away 6 instead of the originally planned 5 seats at the special price which constituted a 60% discount. Anyhow, response from the normal price segment was not far behind with 5 participants registering. As only half of the participants would be having their meals, we had to change to venue to the newly opened Telekom Malaysia Convention Centre which was located strategically next to the famous Menara Telekom in Bangsar. On the first day, however, only 9 participants could make it.
The training started off well. The trainer Azmi Shahrin asked each participant what was his or her greatest problem in public speaking and then gave a short encouraging response to each of them. Everyone was looking forward to overcoming their fears and worries. Participants were also asked to complete a simple self-assessment form which was found in the workbook. The core training was divided into 2 main segments of dynamic delivery skills and critical content, while dynamic delivery was divided into body language and vocal variety. Body language was further divided into 4 elements. The trainer gave a simple yet concise explanation for each skill that the participants were supposed to learn. The participants got 3 rounds of practice on the first day.
On the first day, we (those who're not fasting) had lunch at Secret Recipe on Level LG of Menara TM. It was a cosy gathering too. (On the second day, I had to take away food from Kenny Rogers as per requested by one of the participants as Secret Recipe was closed.)
On the second day, unfortunately one participant dropped out. The remaining participants had another 3 rounds of practice. The training ended with a module on correct English pronunciation before the usual certificate presentation and closing speeches.
All in all, it was a successful programme. However, we'll revert to Crystal Crown Hotel for the next round for more comfort and convenience! Reported by Sandy Tan
Although this training programme had been running for quite some time, I tried not to take for granted that I could easily recruit participants. Therefore I was thankful to receive as many as 11 registrations for this round. The participants found us or came to us through different channels but as always, they were keen to learn. The following were our 11 amazing participants:
The programme went ahead smoothly with an introduction to public speaking followed by the usual modules. Due to having a full class, the practice sessions were a bit lengthy. Perhaps the next time we should limit participation strictly to 10 persons, though it could be a bit "cruel" to turn away the 11th (I always turn away the 12th). Anyway, the participants managed to learn all the essential elements of public speaking including hand gestures, stance, eye contact, facial expression, vocal variety, speech organization, etc. Along the way, the participants presented on various interesting topics, simple or profound. During one of the practice sessions, they were asked to speak as their company's representative, which everyone found very useful. The class ended a bit late on the second day with a quick certificate presentation ceremony. I didn't even have time to give a full closing speech as everyone wanted to rush home and the trainer also had to head up to Genting for another training on the next day! Reported by Sandy Tan
As this programme was to be held on weekdays, we expected some difficulty in obtaining participants. However, thanks to Axis Anugerah Sdn. Bhd. which registered 3 participants, we had a good start in terms of registration. In the course of time, 6 more participants registered. The venue was again Crystal Crown Hotel, PJ.
After a short introduction on the importance of public speaking, the trainer went into the individual modules including speech organization, body language, vocal variety and correct English pronunciation. As usual, the module on body language took the longest to cover as it consisted of 4 separate parts. And this time, in response to the participants' request, an extra emphasis was placed on speech organization. There was hands-on practice after each module or section.
In total, each participant had 6 rounds of individual practice and of being coached personally. Besides the standard stuff, the trainer also helped participants overcome individual "unique" weaknesses such as unnatural intonation and others. Outside of class time, the participants also had to opportunity to mingle and network during tea breaks and lunch. It was good that we had no "dropouts" for this round. All 9 participants managed to stay till the end as no work or other emergency arose. The class ended with certification presentation and evaluations.
In my closing speech, I encouraged the participants to continue speaking.
Reported by Sandy Tan
We started off the year very well with the best ever programme so far, in terms of getting enough participants. 11 participants registered for the course. We're still loyal to Crystal Crown after having used their facilities for 3 years (since January 2009). Same course, same trainer, same venue... but with a fresh batch of participants!
After the opening session, we sailed full steam into unchartered waters (for the participants only, of course). The trainer Azmi Shahrin, always flexible with the flow of his delivery of the course contents, had chosen this time to talk about the 4 elements of body language and vocal variety under the heading of "dynamic delivery", before touching on speech organization under the heading of "critical content". As usual, after each round of short exposition, there would be a practice session where each and every participant had to go forward to speak.
With each round of practice, the participants' delivery improved noticeably. This went on for 2 days, so in the end they were all pretty good at it.
On the second day, we were left with 10 participants. The following photos were taken on the second day:
Before the course ended, there was just enough time to cover the module on correct English pronunciation. Those who wanted to delve deeper into this subject were encouraged to attend our full 2-day course on this subject. We ended with a quick certificate presentation ceremony and everyone had to "rush" home because we were 1 hour late in finishing! In short, this training programme had allowed the participants to catch a glimpse of and taste what it was like to speak confidently and interestingly before an audience. We very much hope that they would continue to practise and apply their new skills and achieve success. :) Reported by Sandy Tan
For this round, registration was quite encouraging. In fact, 10 people registered (full house); however, only 7 made it to the class due to last minute job assignments. On the second day, another participant couldn't make it due to an emergency. We were left with 6 survivors.
As this was our 18th session, I thought I had seen most of it. In any case, there were always some small innovations thought up by the trainer Azmi Shahrin to liven things up (for himself at least). As usual, at the beginning of the class, each participant declared his or her "alter ego" - the name by which he or she wanted to be called for the entire duration of the class.
* The other 2 participants didn't want their photos posted. Of course, we went through the key modules such as body language (4 elements), vocal variety, speech organization and pronunciation. The course was action-packed till the end with a lot of drilling and practice. All the participants had interesting ideas and stories to share, besides improving their delivery.
The programme ended well, however, I wished that more participants had turned up. Congratulations to ProSkills Trainers for having conducted 18 sessions of the Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme for Executives & Professionals without fail since January 2009 (once every 2 months). Now that the programme has quite a good reputation, we will work towards making the it even more effective and enjoyable. Reported by Sandy Tan
True to our Ramadan tradition, we offered staggering discounts (60%) to Muslim participants for this round. As a result, 11 participants registered (7 of them qualified for the discount). However, only 9 turned up on the first day and 7 on the second day due to a variety of reasons. Most of them were not feeling well. Anyway, the show went on... The other challenge was the change of room. On the second day, we had to move to a smaller room because the bigger room was being prepared for a grand buka puasa dinner that night. As it turned out, the smaller room was actually more cosy and had better acoustics.
As for the programme itself, basically, we focused on body language and speech organization on the first day and vocal variety plus pronunciation on the second day. All in all, the participants had 6 rounds of individual practice including a "graduation speech".
Despite the challenges, we produced good results as always. After the graduation speech, when asked about the most important skill they had gained during the 2 days, one participant mentioned clear purpose in her speech and another the ability to speak impromptu based on a few main points (no need to memorize word by word). Another participant told me (earlier, over lunch) that the trainer Azmi Shahrin was nice, humble and to-the-point as he didn't use his "power" over the participants to ridicule them or tell his own stories (as he experienced many times in other training programmes). These are the 7 survivors who graduated from the course:
The next thing for me to do now is to prepare for the next programme in November. :) Reported by Sandy Tan
Another successful programme concluded! Despite some initial problems, we managed to secure our preferred venue i.e. Crystal Crown Hotel and a full house of 11 participants. This included 4 college/university students who were transferred from the class on 16 & 17 July (for college/university students) which was also full!
On the first day, I did not have the opportunity to be present during the entire session as I had some errands to run. When I returned in the afternoon, I noticed that the participants were already much better than in the morning, especially in terms of their hand gestures and other body language. I also noticed that the trainer had modified his method slightly to accommodate the "large" class by reducing the length of his lectures and allowing more time for practice. On the first day, we managed 3 rounds of practice for each participant. On the second day, the trainer focused more on vocal variety and correct pronunciation while at the same time helping the participants reinforce what they had learned on the first day.
Some participants had a challenging time trying to enter the class:
We believe that in the end everything worked out optimally leaving no regrets to organizer, trainer and participants alike. After 2 "gruelling" days, the class ended beautifully and the graduates were eager to begin their new life of confidence. Reported by Sandy Tan
This was our 15th session since January 2009. We had 9 eager participants most of whom registered early. Among them were 3 college students while the rest were working adults in varous industries.
At the beginning of the programme, the participants were asked to name their "worst fear" about public speaking. By far the most common fear was "forgetting what to say". This problem was addressed immediately when participants were taught to speak sponteneously without using notes and wihtout memorizing. They were also taught to organize their content in an easy-to-remember format later in the programme. Besides this, the participants' delivery style had to be polished. Throughout the programme, the trainer "huffed and puffed" to ensure progress. The high level of energy emanating from the trainer also rubbed onto the participants.
I was surprised that we were the only group at the hotel on those 2 days. As a result, we were given a set meal for lunch instead of buffet on both days. The lunch and tea breaks provided an opportunity for us to rest and to chit chat with one another.
At the end of the programme, we had produced another batch of graduates who now had a brighter future thanks to possessing better communication skills. Congratulation to the trainer Azmi Shahrin and all the 9 participants! Bonus photo:
Reported by Sandy Tan
It's amazing how it could be so difficult to recruit participants at certain times, and so easy at other times. This round, the registration was encouraging from the start. In the end, we had 11 participants. This was after turning away several latecomers (12th person onwards) in order to maintain the effectiveness of the training.
What a group of students we had! On the first day, everyone was excited and arrived on time. Besides the high energy level, this group was interesting in a few other ways. The most obvious one was a high concentration of people working in pharmaceutical companies. 4 out of 11! 3 participants came from outstation - Ipoh, Kuantan and Seremban.
The class progressed smoothly, but not strictly according to the timetable; the trainer Azmi liked to “play by ear” based on the actual situation. Due to the large number of participants, he shortened the lectures to allow more time for practice. For one particular module, he didn't even lecture but right away drilled the participants on the required skills. To make the participants' progress even more dramatic, Azmi corrected each person's most obvious mistakes early on.
In short, all of us enjoyed 2 days of great and interesting speeches. Now that they "dared to speak", the participants unleashed their creative ideas in speech after speech! Witnessing this transformation made me feel glad to have organized this programme. Once again, the video of "I Have A Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. was played to provide the final touch before we closed with the presentation of certificates and "last words". So that's it, we did it again! Reported by Sandy Tan
This was our 13th session since we started running this course in January 2009. Again, I faced some difficulties in obtaining a sufficient number of participants. Ten days before the class, we had 3 participants only! However, cancellation or postponement was not an option. Some last minute action saved the day. In the end, we had 8 participants. Since it was too late to book our usual hotel, we ended up at Shah's Village, which was not too bad!
The next challenge was I fell sick! As a result, I couldn't pay full attention to the proceedings. Anyway, the class was good and progressed as usual. The small number of participants helped. It was fun too. In the first round of practice, the participants had to choose a character (real life or fictional, dead or alive) and introduce himself/herself as if he/she were that person. I discovered that the participants admired a range of interesting people, some of whom I had never heard of (due to my lack of general knowledge).
And so during many rounds of practices with simple yet interesting topics, the participants were directly coached by the trainer to apply more and more of the public speaking skills till finally they could put everything together. On the second day, I had to leave after lunch. The trainer concluded the session nicely. Some of the participants later sms-ed me to say that the course was beneficial and that they would recommend it to their friends. I hope it works so that the future rounds will be easier for me to organize. A note of appreciation to the trainer and all participants! Bonus photo:
Reported by Sandy Tan
Due to the Deepavali holiday and long weekend, we didn't get many participants for this round. Despite the relatively large number of early registrations, eventually we had 6 people only including one person on holiday from Bahrain. Since we had paid in full to the hotel, I found a way to "rope in" my sister to attend the course.
As expected, the small number was beneficial to the participants as each one received much personal attention. The trainer Azmi Shahrin was in his elements too. The course progressed smoothly.
I guess the interesting thing this time was the larger number of speech topics to choose from and the passionate sharing by participants as they presented their respective speeches. As I was also roped in to speak, I shared about "my best holiday" to Sabah which I planned and managed myself from beginning to end, and during which I managed to see some fishes underwater and a huge Rafflesia flower. Who's to know, my sister selected the same topic and spoke about her trip to Alaska where she saw beautiful glaciers and exotic animals. (Obviously, the audience thought her trip was better than mine.) Another participant had a somewhat different experience in Sabah where he had to flee a hotel after being threatened by some natives with a parang. Anyway, the speech topics were only the means to an end, which was to allow us to apply all the public speaking techniques to good effect.
We ended the class by watching a video of the most famous speech of all time - "I Have A Dream" by Marthin Luther King, Jr. Everyone was touched. All in all, the session was successful and achieved its objective. My sister said to the trianer: "I don't regret being forced to attend." I'm sure the rest also didn't regret. :) Bonus photo:
Reported by Sandy Tan
This session promised some peculiarities right from the start. First of all, it was to be conducted during the fasting month. Secondly, the dates were in the middle of a long weekend. As we could find no other dates, we had no choice but to go ahead. It turned out that many parents took the opportunity to send their children (college or university students) to attend the course, most of them taking advantage of the special discount for Muslims. Eventually, we had 11 participants, 5 of whom were college or university students.
There were other peculiarities. Firstly, the participants got more rounds of practice during the entire programme due to each speech being briefer than was normal. There were 2 impromptu sessions where each participant wrote a question or topic on a piece of paper for another to pick up (and speak on the topic). However, there was no debate session this time. In any case, the participants learned the same basic skills - how to overcome nervousness and speech crutches, how to use body language and hand gestures, how to stand, make eye contact, vary the voice, use correct pronunciation, etc.
Unfortunately though, 2 of the students didn't come back the second day!! I later learned from their mother that they felt the session was too serious and intimidating. My own view is that they hadn't reached the point (they were quite young) where achieving results in the shortest possible time would be a major concern (as for the working adults). Anyway, we'll be giving the mother a free seat to attend a future session. She should benefit better, so the problem is considered solved. In future, we have to advise parents that the training method is actually quite aggressive. Come to think of it! The trainer ruefully said it was his first failure in 9 years. Despite this minor hiccup, the other participants managed to graduate and I believe they were happy with the results! Reported by Sandy Tan
As wished for in my last report, we received a good number of early registrations and successfully moved back to Crystal Crown Hotel for this session. We had 9 participants including several interesting ones (all were interesting in their own ways). Some came from outstation (1 from Kuala Trengganu, 2 from Johor Bahru). There was even one who came from Kazakhstan! No, just kidding, actually she's been working in Malaysia for 3 years...
The course started and progressed in the normal way. The participants had to learn many public speaking skills and apply them one after another, or rather one on top of another. In any case, the trainer did a good job at pointing out errors early on so that the participants had more time to practise in the correct way even if the theory part of it came later. Practice is key! Basically, the participants went through all the modules from overcoming nervousness, to body language, vocal variety and correct english pronunciation. They learned very fast and became pretty good at it. One innovation this time was the impromptu speech session where each participant had to write a question or topic on a piece of paper and put the paper in a container for another to pick up (and speak on the topic). It was fun because some of the questions were very interesting.
For the group activity, we had a debate on the topic "Women are the cause of all marital problems" with the ladies proposing and the men opposing. Everyone enjoyed themselves speaking under fire (opposing teams were allowed to throw paper balls at each other). We also found the time to watch the video of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech, considered the best speech ever delivered in human history.
The course concluded with a final speech from each participant and the presentation of certificates. In my closing speech, I noted that this was the 10th session we had had since we started in January 2009. This means that we have consistently conducted this class once every 2 months since that time! Should give myself a pat on the back! Ok, we look forward to more classes and helping more people. Reported by Sandy Tan Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme for Executives & Professionals This was another challenging programme to organize as registration trickled in very slowly until the final week. In the end, we had 9 participants but more than half were late entries. All the same, we prepared ourselves to give the best to all who had registered. This time, we decided to check out a new training venue in Sunway ("new" = our first time using it).
The training centre was great as far as the facilities were concerned. There was even a prayer room at the ground floor of the block which proved convenient. However, food was a bit of a problem. On the first morning, we were supposed to meet at OldTown White Coffee at 8.15 a.m. but the shop didn't open till 9 a.m. It was tough trying to redirect everyone to 2 different restaurants - a mamak shop for the Malay participants and a Chinese coffee shop for the others. But we got wiser after that and found suitable eating places for lunch and on the second day. Finding food is always an issue as our maximum class size is 10 and it's difficult to cater for a small number. Food problems aside, we had a great time. Everyone learned quickly. Here are some photos of the participants in action:
The programme was every effective but since this is the 9th time I'm writing this kind of report for this same course, I've really run out of new words and phrases to describe how great it was. Please refer to earlier reports for more information. :) Anyway, what struck me this round was that the performances became more and more dramatic as the course progressed. During the final session, some participants thumped the table until I thought the table was going to break! According to the trainer, we had to exaggerate during practice so that when we leave the programme, we would still retain some of the impact. Well said! After the certificate-giving ceremony and singing our theme song "Friends For Life", the class was dismissed. Time to look forward to the next round! If many register and do so early, then we can move back to Crystal Crown Hotel. Bonus photos:
Left - Sandy in March 2010, Right - Sandy now Reported by Sandy Tan
For this round, we had 8 participants. However, due to many late registrations I couldn't get hold of a hotel venue at the "last minute", and we had to fall back on the Damansara Utama venue.
I guess everything went smoothly, though I was more engrossed with my new camera, the semi-pro Canon PowerShot G11. I bought this to overcome the problem of blurred motions during so many of our trainings. The camera proved very useful in capturing bright pictures with the motion frozen (less frustration involved). Anyway, enough about the camera. To begin with, the participants were already quite good. In this programme, they were taught to be more energetic and enthusiastic, besides some other basic stuff such as body language, vocal variety, correct pronunciation and so on.
The participants had many rounds of practice including an impromptu debate session. The topic again revolved around a variation of the "battle of the sexes" theme. Since there was a lack of females, I was also roped in to play the game. It was 5 males against 4 females, and it was hilarious.
Everyone was happy with the results achieved and the progress made. Before the class was dismissed, the participants were given the charge to continue practising and to seize every opportunity to speak up in the real world. In a way, it was just another programme. But hopefully we never stop being amazed at the life-changing power of these encounters. Reported by Sandy Tan
This programme was a first-time in 2 ways. It was the first time we organized this course on weekdays (Monday & Tuesday). Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), the response was equally good compared to when we had it on weekends. It was also very interesting that the participants actually arrived at the venue earlier than they did on weekends, despite the heavier traffic. Next, it was the first time that we got "delegated" to a bigger seminar room at Crystal Crown because our usual room was already booked by some other party. In the end, we found that the bigger room was better despite our earlier reservations. 9 participants registered but only 8 made it. 4 were sponsored by their respective employers, 2 paid for themselves, and another 2 were their own bosses. The females were outnumbered this time by 2 to 6. The programme proceeded smoothly. As usual, in the end, everyone could speak with confidence and style. Here are some photos of the participants delivering their speeches:
In any case, I think the most excited person was the trainer himself as the following photos show:
It took us a year to establish the credibility of this programme and we just hope that things will get better and better! Reported by Sandy Tan Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme for Executives & Professionals
This was one of the easiest programmes for me as the organizer due to the good response. Besides private individuals, several companies also sent their staff (1 or 2 staff per company) to attend the training. So it was "full house" with 10 participants and for the first time we had to turn down a few who came later. However, only 9 persons made it eventually as one was unwell on the first day of the programme. The most important skill that the participants learned on the first day, as is normally the case, was the use of hand gestures. Participants were taught to hold out their hands when speaking and to let the hands move naturally according to the rhythms of their speech. This made a big difference as the speakers now looked more confident, eager and sincere. They also said they felt more free to express themselves when holding out their hands. One participant commented that he had managed to "solve" his long-standing problem with the use of hands!
The other very obvious improvement was standing still while speaking. In the beginning, many of the participants moved around too much - some shifted their feet, some swayed left and right and so on. But eventually they stopped doing that. Then came the fine tunings in terms of eye contact, vocal variety, correct pronunciation, etc. For group activity, we had a debate with the usual "shouting" and noise making. This was to force particiapants to speak in a loud and clear voice and with emotion. For me personally, I enjoyed a "new" video shown by the trainer. It was a video of our current PM Najib giving a speech. He had great vocal variety and hand gestures! All these videos inspired us to become better speakers ourselves. Perhaps more interesting for the participants were the videos of their "before" and "after". It was encouraging for them to compare (at the end of the programme) how they were at the beginning and at the end of the 2 days of training. Everyone agreed that they looked much better now. Congratulations to all who attended and to the trainer Azmi Shahrin! Reported by Sandy Tan
We expected this to be our worst-attended programme but it turned out to be te best-attended. We had 12 participants in this session, which was the maximum allowed. This could be due to the huge discounts given to Muslim participants during this fasting month. The other reason was that we had 4 participants from Public Mutual. I got a scare on Day 1 when I arrived because the hotel forgot to set up our room! Luckily, they managed to set it up (though not perfectly) in 15 minutes.
On Day 2, I arrived earlier to check but the room was nicely set up already. However, one particpant fell sick and couldn't attend, so were were left with 11.
My feeling is that the class was a bit too big and we were always running out of time. Next time, I will insist on 10 participants only, though the published maximum is 12. (Initially I insisted on 10, but the last 2 were very keen to attend and were very disappointed when I said "no", so I let them in.) Anyhow, I was pleased with the progress made by each of the participants as I could see their obvious progress and they were happy about it too. Major improvements were made in the area of reducing verbal crutches, speaking louder, hand gestures and stance. The weather was good and I took a walk about the hotel. Hmm... wish I could be lying on the hammock instead of sitting in class!
The hotel also compensated our "uneaten meals" (due to fasting) with buka puasa vouchers. On Sunday, Azmi and I had dinner there. Unfortunately, he rammed into someone's car on the way home and the car was badly damaged! Aaarrgh! Thank God he was unhurt.
In conclusion, I am happy with the programme but sad about the accident which was partly "caused" by it. :( Reported by Sandy Tan
So finally, after a space of nearly 4 months, we have moved the programme back to Crystal Crown Hotel, PJ. It was a lively session with 8 participants from different backgrounds united by the desire to empower their lives through public speaking skills. Two came from outstation - Penang and Kuantan, respectively. One participant was sent by his company to attend the course to prepare for an upcoming major presentation. Another participant was invited to attend to preview the course fo her company. As usual, the participants learned a lot and were transformed by the trainer's magical touch as they went through rounds of practice. For me personally (who had sat through the programme many times), the most exciting part was when the trainer showed some new videos of our local politicians speaking. Yes, Azmi is always full of surprises and new tricks!
At the end of the programme, some of the participants expressed regret at not having attended the programme earlier. However, they were comforted when told that we had started to actively conduct public programmes only in early 2009. So they did not miss very much! As the saying goes, all's well that ends well. I guess it's true for this programme. We are just so glad to have met and impacted the lives of 8 precious fellow human beings. Reported by Sandy Tan
One of the most challenging programmes ever! It was initially called off due to the lack of participants but eventually we decided to go ahead anyway. We worked very hard to bring in more participants but most people couldn't make it on those dates. With one week to go, we had only 5 persons registered. That was when we decided to move to a less costly venue. In the end we had 7 participants.
It was a blessing in disguise as we found this very interesting training facility in Damansara Utama. It was just above OldTown White Coffee where we had our meals on both days. No need to worry about food. Free parking on weekends. Moreover, we had the entire place to ourselves. We certainly intend to use that venue again for some of our future programmes!
We had a great time as usual. We were glad we went ahead with the programme. Otherwise we would have missed the wonderful time and the wonderful people.
I think this programme underlined our commitment to our participants to go ahead with the scheduled programme rather than to cancel. This commitment will continue... Reported by Sandy Tan
If I could sum up this programme in a few words, I would say it was simply amazing! It didn't begin so well, though. 5 days to the event, I had only 4 participants. After working super hard, we managed to round up another 3. We also got 2 bonus (unexpected) participants out of the blue who just called to sign up. So we had 9 in the end. This time the results were even more amazing. "Soft-spoken" participants with numerous bad habits (when speaking) were transformed into brave souls who could speak their minds with competence and style. The highlight of the programme was the final session where participants were given a selection of topics to deliver a speech on. They could choose to be the leader of a political party, the CEO of a company, a headmaster/mistress, George W. Bush on the eve of the Iraqi invasion or Saddam Hussein on the eve of the same. Well, no one selected the last 2 topics and the trainer had to assign the topics to some participants. We had a good laugh.
The trainer Azmi Shahrin also received "unexpected" praise from one of the participants who had attended many training programmes in the past. He said that Azmi was able to infuse positive energy into the participants by gently coaching them compared to many trainers who made the participants feel disheartened by showing off what they knew. He summed this up with an interesting phrase: "I don't care how much you know until I know how much you care." He also commented that the programme was very effective as participants had a lot of real practice time and the trainer was able to tell them authoritatively step by step what to do. Ok, I better not go on and on or else Azmi's head will grow too big... All in all, like I said earlier, it was simply amazing!! Bonus photos:
Reported by Sandy Tan
The past few months had been a roller-coaster ride for me. In organizing this programme, getting in the participants was the most difficult part. Out of the many who were interested, (only) 9 eventually made it there. However, the positive outcome made the "hardship" worth it. The participants showed dramatic improvement. Initially, they spoke with many speech crutches ("ah", "um") and nearly no hand gestures. At the end of the programme, their speeches were smooth and stylish too! It was almost life-changing and made me feel like I had done something important! One participant told me, "This is what I expected, what I was looking for." I also overheard him tell another participant, "This is better than a motivational course where you get motivated only for awhile. Here you actually learn something."
This programme was also a milestone for the trainer Azmi Shahrin. While he had trained for numerous clients at various venues, this was the first time he had his own programme in a real hotel. Crystal Crown was comfortable and the food was good (only too much food). Yes, we will continue to use that place until we are ready to upgrade again! Reported by Sandy Tan |
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Determination is the key to success
Mr. Kennedy, our first Mat Salleh student...
A peek from outside... 
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