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View reports of ALL programmes Dare To Speak™ Public Speaking Programme for Executives & Professionals 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:
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 (Sandy) 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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