Newsletter Jan – Feb 2014

When we combine both Active Listening and Reflective Speaking, we are at the peak of the Learning Map, which is the top right hand corner. In this quadrant, we learn both Active Listening and Reflective Speaking. This learning is through playing different roles, like being evaluators (project, language, general), Toastmaster-of-Evening or Table Topics Master. In these different roles, we have to listen actively and speak reflectively in order to communicate effectively to our audience. It is also in this quadrant where we hone our leadership skills, which is the ability to listen attentively to others, to express our thoughts clearly, and to inspire our audience.

Therefore, in this article, I’d like to challenge you to shift your paradigm of becoming a Public Speaker to the paradigm of a Public Communicator. It’s through this shift that you will become an effective communicator at work and home, with clients and friends. Only with this shift of paradigm will you be able to become a better leader, and an influencer of minds.

In your learning journey at the Toastmasters, I’d like to challenge you to always ask yourselves this question:

“Am I at the Toastmasters to chase after ribbons, titles and trophies; or am I here to learn to influence minds and to change lives?”

Your answer will determine your course of action (attitude and behavior) and also your learning development (mental and emotional) at the Toastmasters.

Enjoy your journey to become an effective Public Communicator!

Written and contributed by:

When you buy groceries, do you pay attention to the expiration date? Most people do, but a distracted group oversees its importance. I used to belong to this second group until one when day I learned my expensive lesson. My recent ample purchase of on-sale organic produce went rotten much earlier than I could enjoy their pricey taste. Despite them being on sale, I lost my money and, inevitably, my vegetables.

This lesson taught me that the time to enjoy our food, and our life, is limited. A reminder of this lesson arrived during my last TMCS meeting on January, 6th, while delivering my table topic speech. That night, the bell buzzed sharply at 2 minutes 30 seconds: your have overshot your time limit! What a shame! I mourned on my way back to my seat. My last speech, and I missed my last chance to be qualified for the voting as “best table topic speaker”.

Fortunately, this thought captured me for only a few seconds, after which I immediately switched to focus on something better. I considered my whole time in Singapore and TMCs, and I could see that being aware of my deadline – of staying in Singapore – encouraged me to give my best. I acknowledged that even the whole night wouldn’t have been enough for me to express everything I wanted to. It was inevitable that I overshoot my given time. At least – I thought – my last 17 months have been fully worth the while.

In fact, since joining the club, I have committed myself to taking any chance to practice and learn. I assumed a few leadership roles (TME, TTM, GE, VPPR, Evaluator, Mentor, Newsletter collaborator, etc.), I participated in and won the 2013 International Speech Contest Table Topics, I completed the Competent Communicator and Competent Leader programs and even started the Advanced Communicator manual on Story-telling. “Admirable and incredible achievements” was how people often congratulated me for my accomplishments. Was I a superhero? Definitely not: I was just willing to learn every time and from everyone and remembering the positive value of deadlines.

I might not be the most reliable person at buying groceries, but I learned my lesson well. Deadlines arrive intransigently but we can manage them with what I call the “4 Magic M’s: Make every Moment and Meeting Matter”. It worked for me and I wish it can work for you as well. We might not have all the time we want, but we always have enough time to give our best.

The greatest achievements for me were not just the awards or personal congratulations. What I enjoyed even more were the opportunities I had of meeting plenty of interesting people, listening to inspiring stories and learning many lessons on life, friendship and public speaking. This is what motivates me most and the reason I am still committed to continue on this path. Public speaking is a great journey, a journey full of deadlines and, consequently, of chances to give our best.

In conclusion, this is my encouragement to everyone who aspires to become an excellent speaker. Be committed in every moment, be mentally present during the meetings, participate, volunteer, share ideas, contribute to the newsletter, help the Executive Team, interact with other members, and do whatever you can to make your experience more powerful. No matter your age, language, culture or experience, I believe everyone has a lot to share, to teach and to learn.

Unfortunately, today, my life and profession have led me further afield, far from Singapore and TMCS. However, although I cannot be physically present, I can tell that my mindset and commitment to improve will remain the same. What will my next steps be? I am indeed taking the chances for new ambitious projects. Among these, I am finalizing my book on my professional experience in Asia, blogging on the topic of innovation at www.inowaction.org, and collecting stories from around the world.

Finally, will I miss TMCS and my friends in Singapore? Definitely. Will I continue practicing public speaking? Absolutely. Will I be back in Singapore? No doubt. When this will be? I still don’t know, but I promise…. it will be on a Monday evening.

PS. My last wish about deadlines: might Boredin forgive me for sending him this article at the very last moment!!

Jan 2014

Hi Toastmasters! I am Teh Suk Yen, the Club’s new Secretary for 2nd term of 2014. I am a Malaysian, coming from a beautiful hometown where some of you may have gone for a weekend getaway —  Johor Bahru.  Having worked in Singapore for nearly 8 years, I am currently in the construction industry.  To make it easy to remember my name, I always ask people to call me by my nickname – YENN.

I can’t deny my excitement over the role that I have assumed since 6th Jan 2014! Having been with TMCS for about 1 year, I received a lot of assistance and support from the existing EXCO members and other Toastmasters. To me, now is the time for me to contribute back to the club.

What is the most important skill that a good secretary is supposed to possess? Some interesting answers that I have obtained from my working background include flexibility, attention to details, being organized, or maybe using all these skills to help the superior. This is fact makes perfectly sensible. For instance, club documents need to be kept in an organized way for ease of future referencing, while the detailed recording of meeting minutes requires strong listening skills and attention to details.

Have you ever wondered what the perfect trading strategy in the stock market is? Why great investors like Warren Buffett and George Soros consistently make money while the rest of us end up losing? There are multiple approaches used by different investors when trading in the equities markets. These approaches can be broadly categorized into Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis. This article will aim to give you a brief introduction to the Fundamental Analysis approach of investing in the stock market, more specifically using the Price Earnings ratio.

Each market participant, whether a Technical Analyst or Fundamental Analyst, transacts in the marketplace with the common objective of making money by purchasing a stock at a lower price and selling it at a higher price. Traders that follow the Technical Analysis approach, use past market data of mainly price and volume, to forecast the future movement in the price of a security. Some techniques used by Technical Analysts include Candlestick analysis, Bollinger Band analysis, Exponential Moving Average analysis, Support and Resistance lines, etc. Technical Analysis is speculative by nature and seeks to read market sentiment.

Fundamental Analysts on the other hand are in search for favorable future returns. They are considered to be investors rather than speculators due to their longer-term trade horizons. Fundamental Analysis is the method of evaluating a security by attempting to measure its intrinsic value through the examination of the company’s related economic, financial and other qualitative and quantitative factors. Common techniques used by Fundamental Analysts include P/E ratios, net current assets per share, earnings per share trend, competitive advantage analysis, etc. This article will be focused on covering the Price Earnings ratio in more detail.

The Price-Earnings ratio, also known as the P/E ratio, is a number that represents the company’s share price to its per share earnings.

This ratio tells us how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings in the company. Higher P/E ratios relative to competition indicate that the market is purchasing the security at a premium relative to its competition, indicating an expectation of high growth from the company in consideration and as such favors it relative to its competitors. When businesses mature however, P/E ratios tend to drop. An example of such a company is Microsoft, whose historical P/E ratio was 100 and whose P/E ratio is currently at 13.

Low P/E ratios however, do not signify great bargains in the market. A company with a decreasing year on year earnings per share trading at a low P/E multiple indicates that the value of the shares are decreasing on an ongoing basis, making it a relatively poor investment hence driving prices down further.

For a company to be considered a worthy investment to many Fundamental Analysts, it has to fit 2 main criteria. Firstly, the EPS (earnings per share) of the company should be consistently increasing, indicating that the company is generating more and more money per share outstanding year on year. Once this criterion is met, the company’s P/E ratio should be considered. Blue chip companies traditionally trade at a P/E multiple of 15 – 25 while medium-cap companies trade at 10 – 15 and small caps at 5 – 10.

In conclusion, there are 2 main trading strategies implemented by market participants, Technical and Fundamental strategies. Technical traders look at market data, mainly price and volume, to forecast future price movement. On the other hand, Fundamental traders are in search for favorable future returns. They study the quantitative and qualitative elements of a business and base their analysis on a combination of both.