The MCs for the event is Calvin and Natalie (both my juniors) and they welcome and thank everyone for attending. First they pass the time over to current ELS president Puey Ru for her welcoming speech. In her speech, Puey Ru explains about the rules and regulations of the contest: Each participant is given 3 minutes to prepare his/her speech after selecting a topic and another 3 minutes to speak. A bell will be sounded once at 2 minutes and a green card will be shown. Participants have to try concluding their speeches within the next 1 minute. And at 3 minutes, the bell will be rung twice and a red card will be shown, meaning the participant has to stop wherever he/she is.
After Puey Ru ends her speech, the MCs take over and invite Mr Krishnan to deliver his welcoming speech. Mr Krishnan appreciate eveyone's attendance and wishes the participants all the best in the speech contest. Okay, the contest officially opens the first round with the 1st contestant (Raymond Ong) stepping up to the front and speak on his chosen topic for 3 minutes. While he's speaking, the 2nd contestant is doing the preparation at the same time. (This is to save time so that the event won't be dragged for longer hours.) The same goes for the following participants until the end of the contest. The judges for this round are Mr Krishnan, Mr Renu and Mr Paul.
While waiting for my turn, I listen to other contestants' speeches. There are quite a number of interesting topics as far as I can notice. One of them is The Most Interesting Movie I've Watched In My Life, where Roy Ong mentions about the trilogy of The Chronicles of Narnia. The extraordinary effects found in the movies really amazes him and he states that these things cannot be seen in real life. I agree with what he said because I love the Narnia movies too. Another topic is My Favourite Malaysian Food and Boo Lim (my EL junior) confesses his love for sambal belacan on two simple reasons: spicy and cheap. There's another one which goes The Most Embarrassing Moment In My Life and Chiam Chin Heng mentions about his embarrassing moments.
Well, as for myself, I'm 11th in line. When 10th contestant (Sanjay) is speaking about A Leader I Admire The Most, it is my turn to prepare my speech on my chosen topic. And guess what, I am dumbfounded after receiving the topic The Most Embarrassing Moment In My Life (the same one as Chiam's). Oh my goodness! What am I gonna talk about? I have no idea at all of what to say. Anyway, I gotta try my best since I'm in the contest and don't want to embarrass myself there.
And finally I manage to think of something to mention and after Sanjay finishes on the leader which he admired the most - the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, it's my turn and I calmly take my place to begin my speech. I define the most embarrassing moment in my life was when I fell in love with the wrong girl during form 6. This girl, Nicole, is one of my classmates while I was doing my form 6 in my alma mater SMJK Sam Tet Ipoh. She has a sweet and charming look which has captured my attention. Beside that, Nicole is a brilliant and lovely girl and she seldom get angry without any valid reasons. So I attempted to pursue after her and try winning her heart. In my heart, she appears to be the right girl but apparently she's not and cannot be because of two simple reasons: height and religion. First, Nicole is kinda short while I'm quite tall. There's a distinctive difference of height btwn hers and mine. When we're together, we look more of brother and sister rather than a dating couple. Second, our religions do not click at all. Mine is Christianity whereas she's a Buddhist. As a Christian, I truly believe in holy matrimony. And to fulfill this matrimony, I should get a Christian girl as a spouse. But Nicole's not one, therefore she is not suitable for me. I realised about this and decided not to carry on my pursuit since I knew this is not gonna work. Nicole knew that I liked her. She didn't reject me but neither did she accept my love for her. We remain as friends until present and still keep in touch with each other. I'm not sure if this embarrassed me or not, but the fact that my fellow classmates and friends knew about our love affair really embarrassed me a lot. Then, I rest my case and return to take my seat.
After myself, the remaining contestants go out one by out to deliver their speeches based on the topics they're randomly pick. But some topics are repetitive ones, with the ones describing certain moments in life (The Most Memorable / Embarrassing / Unforgettable Moment In My Life) being repeated at least 10 times. Perhaps the organising committee has ran out of topics and had to use the same ones for a few times. The first round comes to an end after the last speech by contestant Victoria Akiew of English Education course with her title My Favourite Malaysian Artist in which she mentions that local artist Nicholas Teo was her neighbour back in Sarawak.
Time for a short break. All the people adjourn outside the auditorium to have some light refreshment prepared by the committee. During this time, it's time for fellowship where everyone mingle around with one another. Then comes along the Dean of FAS Dr Sebastian K Francis. He is here to witness the flow of the whole contest. Later, everyone's back in the auditorium for the second round of the speech contest. And this time, the panel of judges are Mr Lim, Mr Lionel and one female Malay lecturers.
There are only a few contestants this time (6 to be exact). This time, more interesting topics appear like The Most Interesting Book I've Read, Why We Should Celebrate Teacher's Day and My First Day In Utar. Of course, two topics from the previous round - The Most Embarrassing Moment In My Life and A Leader I Admire The Most - pop out again. Leon James Gautier takes the topic The Most Interesting Book I've Read and guess what, his is the Bible. He informed the audience how he finds the Holy Word of God useful to him. Oh boy! I should read the Bible more often after listening to his explanation. Edward Chin (former SRC president) gets the same topic as mine and speak on several things which he feels embarrassed. Perhaps he got influenced when I revealed my topic when speaking to the Dean during the break. Ming Hen is the one who explains his first day in Utar while Sangeeta Kaur provide her reasons on why we should celebrate Teacher's Day. She even wonders if there's also Lecturer's Day. Good one, Sangeeta!
Hew Wee Ling is the very last contestant and she chooses the topic on the leader she admired the most. The person whom she admire the most is not any other leaders around the world but Yao Jia, her course rep. She explains how Yao Jia takes up the responsibility and carry out her duties well. At first, other coursemates of hers thought she's willing to be their course rep because of her name. But Yao Jia steps up to shoulder the burden of a course rep. Anyway, Yao Jia has been doing her duties well and Wee Ling praises her for all her efforts. I wish that Yao Jia was here, so that she can listen to her fellow coursemate's complements of her excellent service.
The contest is over after Wee Ling concludes her speech. While waiting for the judges to finalise their results, the MCs keep the audience entertained. And members of the floor suggest that both MCs Calvin and Natalie should do the impromptu speech too. Calvin agrees and he chooses a topic. The one he picks is My Favourite International Artist in which he has no idea at all of what to say. So he chooses another one, which is the one that I've spoken earlier. Calvin confesses that one of his most embarrassing moment was being kissed by a guy on his cheek. Later, upon request from the audience, he reveals his girlfriend's identity (which is Clara) and Clara is being asked what's Calvin's most embarrassing moment in her point of view. After this, Dr Sebastian is invited to give his speech and he mentions that he also experienced what Calvin has confessed but the only thing different is that Dr Sebastian was kissed on his lips.
Then, it's the moment that everyone's been waiting for: announcement of results. Mr Krishnan is invited to announce the results while Dr Sebastian is supposed to give away the prizes. Mr Krishnan reveals that some participants did well and the judges had a tough time to decide the winners. The 2nd runner-up goes to Sangeeta Kaur. I predicted her to be in the top 3 beforehand as I really impressed with her performance. Sangeeta isn't around and one of her friends receive a certificate and cash prize RM50 on her behalf. The 1st contestant, Raymond Ong, takes 2nd place and walks away with a certificate and RM100. And now, the winner of the speech contest is about to be unveiled and the crown goes to.... *drums roll* Victoria Akiew!!! Victoria is totally surprised that she has won the contest and believes that someone else deserves it better than her. Anyway, she receives her prizes (a certificate and RM200 cash prize) from the Dean and expresses her gratitude to her fellow coursemates for bugging her to enter this competition. The rest of the participants don't walk home empty-handed. Each of them receive a certificate of participation (which is printed on-the-spot). Mr Krishnan thanks everyone for attending the event and tells all the contestants that they're all winners as they have the courage to speak in front of public.
My brand new achievement
The certificate that I received in recognition of my participation in the Impromptu Speech Contest
Then, everyone is dismissed and return home while the committee members stay back for an exco meeting. But some people cannot leave for home yet due to heavy downpour and I'm one of them. While waiting for the rain to get smaller, I chat with some of the people who are still there. I leave the campus for dinner at around 7pm when the rain isn't heavy anymore. I even get the cert laminated to avoid the ink from getting smeared 'cause as I mentioned earlier, the certs are printed on the spot.
I am really proud of my new achievement as this demonstrates that I can overcome my stage fright. And this will definitely boost my confidence in public speaking. Of course, the reason that I was able to speak well is because previously I've been attending Toastmasters meetings at YMCA Ipoh during my long absence from campus. That's all the story I wanna tell this time. Signing off.
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