Messages 

Associate LGET DTM Gea Ban Peng

26-10-2003

Bulldozers move mountains
Songs touch our souls, move the hearts and inspire greater achievements.
- Gea Ban Peng  
  
As a child I like storms
when it rained elephants and hippopotamuses
when the winds howled and the earth trembled
the thunder clapped and the lightning flashed.
 
I used to think
that the gods must be fighting 
the same way some of us now think 
that every member will become a Competent Toastmaster 
as a matter of course.    
 
Not true.
It does not come easy.
 
We need a helping hand,
we need a supportive environment and  
we need a lot of encouragement    
to help us move forward in our Toastmasters journey.
 
That is why
Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club
starts its meeting with a rousing singing  
of the VPE Theme Song.  
 
For those who wish to learn sing the song
and join in the sing-along
at the Toastmasters International
District 51 11th Semi-annual Convention
in the resort city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia
on 14, 15, 16-November-2003
 
 
please come for the singing practice session
 
 
Day       - Saturday 1-November-2003
Time      - 2.30pm
Place     - Braddell Heights Community Club
Address - 50 Serangoon Avenue 2, Singapore.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
District 51
Toastmasters International
Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don't come easy.
- Ringo Starr (The Beatles

 

17-10-2003

Dear Toastmasters,
 
 
In 2001
Jim Collins
formally from Stanford University Graduate School of Business  
and his team  
published the results of their 5 years research  
in the international best selling book From Good to Great.
 
He exposed  
the prevailing myth
that corporate greatness comes from
creating growth from acquisitions, 
using technology to leapfrog the competition, 
adopting sudden shattering revolutionary changes, 
offering high salaries, bonuses and stock options 
etc etc
 
The elite companies
that made the change from good to great
studied by Jim Collins included Coca-cola, Intel and General Electric. 
These companies
did not experience a magical moment
when the change happened.
There was
no blinding flash,
no sudden revelation and
no one single throw of the switch.
 
The change  
from good to great
came from a slow, gradual and continuous evolution
by adopting a  
down-to-earth, pragmatic and committed-to-excellence
process framework that kept each company
on track for the long haul.
 
I recommend
you read this book  
and learn
the type of leadership required to achieve greastness,
how to transcend the curse of competence,
how to combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship to achieve great results, 
how good to great companies think differently about the role of technology and
why launching radical change program and wrenching restructuring 
will almost certainly fail to make the leap to greatness. 
 
 
Either that
 
Or
 
attend the educational workshop  
From Good to Great
at Toastmasters International
District 51 11th Semi-annual Convention
in the resort city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia
on 14, 15, 16-November-2003
 
Our Immediate Past District Governor Dr. John Lau DTM
will lead a team of past district governors to explore
how to achieve greatness
at the club level,
at the area level,
at the division level and
at the district level.
 
 
For further particulars
please visit the convention website
http://www.borneo-online.com.my/kk2003
 
 
 
Register for the convention.
Do it now.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
District 51
Toastmasters International

13 -10-2003

Dear Toastmasters,
 
 
The prospect of being hanged in the morning
concentrates one's mind wonderfully.
-Samuel Johnson
 
 
In 1960
Anthony Burgess was diagnosed with cerebral tumor.  
The doctors said he will die within a year.
 
He was very concerned
that he will leave his wife without means 
after his untimely death.
He put a piece of paper into his typewriter  
and began writing a novel 
for the purpose of generating royalty income.
 
In the one year
he wrote 5 novels.
 
The diagnosis was wrong.
Anthony Brugess did not die.
He lived another 33 years.
He went on to write more than 50 books. 
The most famous of which is
A Clockwork Orange.     
 
There is an Anthony Burgess in each of us.
It takes an external emergency,
a sudden crisis
and a tight deadline
to bring out the genius within us.
 
But
we do not need a crisis  
to inspire us
to make the right decision  
to register for the
Toastmasters International
District 51 11th Semi-annual Convention
in the resort city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia
on 14, 15, 16-November-2003.
 
For further particulars
please visit the convention website
http://www.borneo-online.com.my/kk2003
 
 
For assistance
please write to the Sales Coordinator
Dr. John Lau DTM at johnlau@jlasc.com
 
Register for the convention.
Do it now.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
District 51
Toastmasters International

 

08-10-2003

Dear Toastmasters,
 
 
The critic holds up the mirror for you.
He reflects the impression you have made on him.
If you do not like the reflection,
you should take the hint to improve it.
 
The critic is not responsible for your speech.
He merely tells you
how he heard it
and
how it impressed him.   
- Dr. Ralph C Smedley
 
 
Public speaking is an art.
It is not a science
where there is a correct answer to a given question.  
It is not methamatics
where there is a correct answer.
 
Whether or not a particular speech is good
is judged by the effect it created.
 
The test is not whether or not
the speaker followed all the rules.
The test is whether or not
the speaker got his message across.
 
Your project speech evaluator
is there to help you better able 
get your message across to the audience.
 
 
I invite you
to the Toastmasters International
District 51 Evaluation Contest
to be held during the 11th Semi-annual Convention
in the resort city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia
during 14, 15, 16-November-2003.
 
For further particulars
please visit the convention website
http://www.borneo-online.com.my/kk2003
 
 
For assistance
please write to the Sales Coordinator
Dr. John Lau DTM at johnlau@jlasc.com
 
 
Learn from the better evaluators.
Register for the convention.
Do it now.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
District 51
Toastmasters International

 

 

03-09-2003

Dear Toastmasters,
 
In 1519
Hernan Cortes landed at Vera Cruz on the Mexican Gulf.
He was the commander of a party of Spanish conquistadors.
He had 600 men, 17 horses, 13 muskets and 10 artillery pieces.
He boldly set out to conquer the mighty Aztec empire.
 
The Aztec army outnumbered the Spaniards 1,000 to one.
It could have annihilated the invaders.
It could have cut off their escape.
It could have isolated and starved the enemy to surrender.
 
But
the Aztec emperor Montezuma
convinced himself
that Henan Cortes was the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl  
Because
the Spaniards had arrived
in waterborne houses with white wings,
they have magic fire
that burst from tubes to kill at a distance,
and their leaders ride on strange beasts.
 
And Aztec legend has it that
the party of the god Quetzalcoatl
would come to break up the Aztec empire.
 
The Aztec army waited in the hills.
The signal to attack was never called.
Believing himself doomed,
believing resistance would be futile, 
and believing the enemy could not be defeated 
the emperor Montezuma submitted.
 
The Spaniards put the Aztec emperor in chains,
they burned their captives alive,
they smashed the alters of the Aztec gods,
they exacted an immense tribute in gold and jewels
and they ruled the Aztecs for the next 300 years.
 
Today
484 years later
many of us are still shackled by our limiting beliefs.   
We tell ourselves
that we could not succeed,    
that we could not attend club meetings,
and that we could not do our project speeches.
 
Today
we break the chains that bind our wings.
 
Call your vice president education.   
Book a slot to do your next project speech.
Do it now.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
Toastmasters International
District 51

 

 

13-8-2003

Dear Toastmasters,  
In the battle of life,
it is not the critic who counts;
nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled,
or where the doer of a deed could have done better. 
 
The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
who does actually strive to do deeds;
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;
and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
 
Far better is it to dare mighty things,
to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure,
than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much
because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
 
 
We dare mighty things
when we take part in speech contests,
when we hold appointments
and when we do project speeches.
 
Let us get into the arena one more time.
Book a project slot at your next club meeting.
Call your club VP Education.  
Do it now.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training
Toastmasters International
District 51  
Toastmasters are educators, whether they realise it or not,
and Toastmasters is more than a club - its an education.
- Dr. Ralph C Smedley

23-07-2003

 

Dear Toastmasters,
 
 
My strenght can move mountains;
My ambition conquers the world.
But times are against me;
My horse can run no more.
O my fair lady,
What will become of thee?
 
 
More than 2,000 years ago in China,
all seemed lost when Xiang Yu composed the above song.  
He sang it to his beautiful concubine Lady Yu.
Tears streamed down their faces.
All who were present wept too.
 
More than 2,000 years later in May 2003,  
many felt that all was lost too in TI Distirct 51.  
We got hit by the Bali blast, the SARS outbreak and the Iraq War.  
And with that the economic slowdown, retrenchments, and pay-cuts.  
 
By end May 2003
we were ranked very far away from the top
we were running out of time
and our horses were dead tired.
 
Our District Governor Dr. John Lau DTM
did not stop work to compose a sad song.
He kept on encouraging every single member 
to charter more clubs,
to rescue weak clubs,
to recruit more members,
and to complete their CTMs and ATMS.
 
Toastmasters of TI District 51
rallied to the DG's call and encouragement.
We made an inspired dash to the 30-June-2003 finishing line.
 
And it came to pass
TI District 51 became the No. 1 district in the world
Again!!!!
 
Well done, Dr John Lau DTM.
Well done everyone.
I am proud of you.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gea Ban Peng DTM
Associate Lieutenant Governor Education and Training.  
Toastmasters International
District 51
Do not make promises lightly when you are happy.
Do not act on impulse.
And never leave your goal one step short of completion when you are tired.
- An Anciient Chinese Wisdom