Have you ever wondered who etched their mark on the D'Utama Hall of Fame?
While on a recent visit back to Malaysia with his family, someone was willing to spill the beans on a bit of his D'U life, where he even met his beautiful wife, Chin Wee Kean.
D'U folks I'd like you to meet our fascinating ex-member David Ingram, ACS.
Originally from UK, he continued in the Education field whilst in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Asia. Eventually he moved on to become a humble Founding Headmaster of Dulwich College Shanghai Minhang.
Get a bit of a snapshot of history through his eyes. And I certainly believe once a Toastmaster...always a Toastmaster. We stay connected.
Discover more from the brief interview conducted while sipping cups of Boh tea on a little hill:
Q: When were you a member of D'Utama Toastmaster's Club?
2001-2004
Q: Which was your most outstanding achievement you accomplished?
When I was at D'Utama, it was a highly exciting environment - a wonderful combination of inspiration, competition and fellowship. I was really fortunate to learn and develop in this environment so while I was at D'U I was able to achieve a range of honours: District Speech Evaluation Contest Champion 2003 and District International Speech Contest 1st runner up in 2003 and 2004. But the biggest honour was winning D'U TM of the year.
It is such an amazing Club and I felt very proud and humbled to achieve this. Of course, I also met my wife at D'U and that was a rather special achievement as well.
Q: What's the best way to be the best speaker you can be?
I believe that getting better never stops. I see every speech and every meeting as an opportunity to learn. Seek feedback and practice, practice, practice!
Q: What has been the most memorable public speaking experience you've had up to this point?
I've been fortunate to enjoy a wide range of experiences as a public speaker - as a Toastmaster and as an educator. I have won lots of competitions but my highlight was probably making my ice breaker speech in Mandarin, which was really most challenging.
Q: If you could give some words of inspiration to the current D'Utama Club members what would you say?
One of my favourite books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A quote from that book is:
"A philosophy for life: I am an adventurer looking for treasure."
I would encourage you to approach every Toastmasters meeting, every speech with that philosophy.
Contributor:
Lim Bing Yee, ACS