D'Utama Toastmasters recently conducted its Youth Leadership Programme (YLP) at Menara Mutiara Bangsar on 20 & 21 November 2010 to 17 participants to a resounding success. Jonathan Moh was facilitator and a mentor during these 2 days and here is what he had to say :
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| Levin with a participant |
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| Calvin Lim (above) was speaker for Listening/Evaluation and Alex Tan (below) was speaker for Voice and Vocabulary and kept the participants entertained throughout his 15-minute presentation. |
"Communication and Leadership. Two simple words but they can take a lifetime to master the ins and outs behind them. That is what the D’Utama Toastmasters Club seeks to instill within the younger generation. One of ways we pass down these skills is through our Youth Leadership Program held from the 20th to the 21st of November.
The mastermind aka the Chief Coordinator was none other than Hoo Sze Ling, the Vice President of Public Relations of the club. Gathering a team of young and able members, they put their hearts and souls into mentoring the 17 participants who attended the 2-day course. The team ran workshops centered around topics such as How to Organize Your Speech, Body Gestures and Vocal Variety. Moreover, no Toastmaster Program would be complete without its workshops on Evaluation and Table Topics. Experienced Toastmasters like Johnson Yike, Alex Tan and Nancy Liew took their time to share their experience with the participants during the program. Their expertise proved invaluable to the participants who will apply these skills in the future. In addition, it was an eye opener for first-time speakers like Jonathan Moh and Jamie Phuah who found the challenge exhilarating as it tested their public speaking skills.
D’Utama Toastmasters Club always believes that practice makes perfect. Therefore, we had the participants craft their own speeches with the assistance of their mentors on any topic they desire. It was an encouraging sight to see mentors such as Bell Xun, Hafidz and Zad Datu adopt their roles with passion and dedication. The participants presented their speeches to the best of their abilities and received feedback from various evaluators on how to further hone their skills. Coupled with the talks from the workshop, we incorporated both theory and practice for them and a marked improvement was seen within them at the end of the program.
Sometimes the greatest lesson one learns by discovering it themselves. On the second day, the participants had to prepare a short presentation based on a scenario they were given and utilize the skills they have learnt within the 2 days. That was the moment they had to practice their leadership skills as their mentors stood watch nearby. The task required them to brainstorm for ideas, lead the following discussion and motivate their teammates. The mentors allowed gave them free reign over their ideas and only gave tips when needed. In this way, the participants unconsciously exercised the skills which they will need when they take up leadership positions in the future.
The YLP workshop utilizes both deductive and inductive learning where skills are explicitly taught and the participants can also glean it from their speeches and the conduct of the mentors. It was a great relief and satisfaction when the program came to and end. However, seeing the faces and appreciation on the participants’ faces just gave us another reason to continue maintaining our passion in the future."
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| Jamie Phuah gave an amazing performance as mentor for this YLP |
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| Hafidz is a seasoned YLP mentor |
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| Gan Poh Lin also served as evaluator giving positive and helpful evaluations to the participants |
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| Ruth Ting was evaluator for the second day |
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| Leading by example, President Marcus Loi took on multiple roles during the YLP : evaluator, Food & Beverage coordinator, and ballot counter, amongst others! |
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| Nancy Liew was mentor, speaker and videographer |
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| Bell was mentor and facilitator for the fun and invigorating Group Activities |
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| Zad Datu also came on board as evaluator for the YLP for the second day |
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| Jonathan was faclitator and mentor for the YLP. He is also the writer of this article. |
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| Johnson working with his mentees |
For more photos of the Youth Leadership Programme, please click on the links below :
For photographs taken by Stevem Lai, click here
For photographs taken by Ian, click here