Welcome to CHIC Toastmasters Club of Beijing, every Wednesdays from 7pm to 9pm!

We are the first Humorous Themed Toastmasters Club in Beijing, and the only Toastmasters club focused on Creativity in China.  CHIC stands for Creativity, Humor, and Imagination Club.

Our Toastmasters club members come from different backgrounds, jobs and companies in Beijing, and all cities in China, but have one thing in common:  We  work together to improve our public speaking and leadership skills, and to help others do the same.  That will help you with a promotion, close sales, and get more dates.  More importantly, you will connect better with others, make a positive impact to them, and our society.   The spirit of our Toastmasters club is "Celebrate Fellowship, Go Beyond Ourselves" (No, we do not have out-of-body experiences.)  So, you will find in our meetings:

• A strong learning environment with honest evaluations and pro-active mentorship.
• A people-oriented approach of achieving individual and club goals:  Everybody is somebody.
• A high sense of ownership:  Each member has the passion to contribute and improve this Toastmasters club, and other members grow.

Because this is a themed Toastmasters club, our meetings and activities are focused on Creativity, Humor and Imagination.  Being first such themed Toastmasters club in Beijing, we plan our meeting elements with: A high level of creativity that stimulate the participants imagination and encourage the use of humor through-out the meeting, and the members' daily lives.

If this is the first visit, please check the map of our meeting venue.  Guests need to pre-register. We hope that our meeting proceedings will not only benefit the members, but also the guests. 

Written by Coco

Theme of the Meeting: ROOTS

Our first meeting after the big Chinese New Year festival holiday was really very light-hearted. Like our former VPE Joyce, in her fresh red coat, said during the greeting session, most of us had spent the whole holiday eating and sleeping. Many of you may still be recovering from the after holiday symptoms. We Chicers felt lazy and soft as you in the first working week after holiday, but I believe many of us at the meeting (me a good example) felt reenergized after the meeting.

Tim was the role-model of February 1 meeting of Chic Toastmasters. He dressed handsome as usual. Yet this time, he was especially responsible, and made extra efforts to perform the role as the Toastmaster. He spoke to the guests voluntarily, asked the role-takers about their hometowns before the meeting and made the introduction of role-takers very personal and closely related to the theme. His body language also was more influential.

Our president Hubert was not at the meeting. Always-passionate-Gale was the ready backup, to open the meeting and arrange an extra and quite unique prepared speech and this had made the meeting very special, funny and educational. What’s more, Gale didn't lose any chances to show his care about others. This time, he asked Liu Xia to take the challenge to evaluate the very special prepared speech by TI's 1995 World Champion, David Nottage's speech, Get up. What a brave girl, Liu Xia. You are very relaxed and confident when evaluating the world champion.

Holiday seemed a good time of reflection. Two prepared speeches, Yi's Let this Journey Never Ends and Dancy's How to Keep Positive, were both very thought-provoking. Yi's narration of her life was plain in language and delivery, like heart-to-heart talk between two friends, but we still could feel her way of striving for a better life and self-improvement.  Dancy tried something new, on the other hand – a box of chocolate, to introduce the topic. With this, the audience couldn't refuse to come out of Yi’s journey and be attracted to a new personality, sweet and gently enthusiastic Dancy. Congratulations to Dancy on another Best Prepared Speaker award!

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2012-02-01 meeting minutes by Coco		86 Kb	02/02/12 14:29

Written by Coco

Theme of the Meeting: Young as Spring

We were just a few days away from Spring Festival holiday. While we were busy packing for our big family reunion of the year, Chicers still gathered on the regular meeting day to hold the last meeting of Chinese lunar year 2011.

January 18th meeting of CHIC Toastmasters features the efforts by officers and support by role-takers and members. Hubert was highly conscious of Chinese Spring Festival. The opening by him was still warmed up by greetings between participants, after which we found most members and guests prefer the festival regards 恭喜发财 better. Gale, our tireless VPE, today brought us a new resolution again, to speak English no matter during the meeting or the break. That's really a good appeal. He was loving person as usual too. As Vivian was leaving us for PhD study in Britain for at least one year. He lighted a small beautiful candle and recited a poem written by him to Vivian. It's really a wonder a person can be so relentless in both striving for improvement and caring for others.

Tim dressed still very handsome for the meeting, but the color was a little different, purple (kind of), which our TTE Xiuhua kindly reminded is perhaps the gay color in certain countries. Yet, seems Tim is going to have his honeymoon next year, so...haha. Ninan, long time no see. You've really done a good speech, especially considering this is your ice breaker speech and you just got your topic one day before the meeting. You were not shy at all on the stage.

TTM Lorraine arrived at the meeting venue just on time. Still, it's a happy surprise to see her at the back of the classroom, smiling very confidently, ready to go on the stage and announce her very tricky topics. This time, Lorraine, you succeeded in dragging all the table topic speakers into your scenario. All of them were so obsessed with thinking hard and weaving those little funny stories in the forest. We were enjoying the moment when people got cute and lovely by trying that hard.

We probably thought Lorraine created a difficult situation for Xiuhua to evaluate the session. For the topics for most of the time were kept as secrets from the audience. Still Xiuhua did a wonderful job. She won the Best Evaluator. (Aurally I thought she should be the most powerful woman at this meeting.)

The last meeting of Chinese lunar year 2011, we still kept our meeting very uniquely CHIC. Joke-master was here done by Jon. He really worked very sincerely for this special Chic role, by collecting all funny and shining points during the meeting and frequently using them in his unique personal story. He even got underwear as his prop. What a thought.

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2012-01-18 meeting minutes by Coco		82 Kb	20/01/12 06:58

Written by Alpha

Theme of the Meeting: Patience 

What a wonderful meeting! It was very cold outside, but our meeting room is packed with hot members and guests, around 40 people, We had a lot of fun!

Our first time toastmasters Andrew started meeting with two interesting stories and conveyed a very good message “ how patience works in the current fast and stressful society”. Nicely done, Andrew! Jon, Xiuhua and Yolanda delivered their prepared speeches full of creativity, humor and imagination. If you missed out these speeches, I strongly suggest you checking videos on our website. Congratulations to Jon, Xiuhua and Yolanda for leveling up in the CC journey!

Our prepared speeches evaluators “got a new husband” Jennifer, “knowledgeable with glasses” Vivian Li and “fashion icon” Tim delivered their encouraging and helpful evaluations to our prepared speakers. Thank you very much!

Michael hosted table topic session creatively by asking everyone writing down a question and name and select question randomly. It was a lot fun! TTE Dancy delivered an very detailed evaluation which helps TTM and participants a lot. Dancy has been very active recently which probably explains why she has made a lot improvement. This also applies on our Timer Ninan and Ah-counter Derek. Great improvements and keep up the good work!

It was a great Wednesday evening will be remembered for a long time and hope to see in the next meetings!

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2012-01-11 meeting minutes by Alpha		86 Kb	20/01/12 06:54

Written by Xiuhua

Theme of the Meeting: Job-hopping

Good time is always too short, another two hours of laughter and fun.

Highlights of the night:

1. Very well-prepared speeches

If you were not that, you miss the excited story of how Lisa and Ivy watch the world- famous musical “ Notre Dame de Paris” with an obviously wrong ticket which still cost 300 RMB after hard bargaining with the scalper（黄牛）;

You miss the chance to hear the how Tim tailor-makes a job for himself and brands himself into a “fashion specialist” in a foreign country within 3 months.

You miss it.

2. “Over-qualified” guests

Who are the “best table topic” and “most humorous” of the night? Our guests! More and more elites from the financial sector and multi-lingua are checking our club recently. We are facing the challenge of diversities! Let’s take Jeff as an example: he starts his conversation with Dan with “hi pretty girl!” and had to end up with a very upset “ Sa yo na laさよなら” after getting fluent Japanese reply from Dan to his flirt. 多么失败的人生…

3. Insightful evaluations

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2012-01-04 meeting minutes by Xiuhua		84 Kb	20/01/12 06:44

Dear CHICers.

Happy Chinese New Years.  Many of you have already left Beijing, or at your company’s annual party.  It made this today’s Toastmasters meeting quite special.  The small audience did not fail to provide the sense of belonging, and the warmth of fellowship.  I am glad to see that that more members have made their decision to be more passionate, more involved, and more giving.  Thanks to the burning passion of our excom team: your leadership and example has made all the members believers in our mission and values.

As always, I want to encourage every role taker, major or secondary roles, always to find ways to make the role shine, always to use the chance to improve a specific part of your speaking and leadership.  This is what will make us one of the best Toastmasters club in Beijing.  

I’d like to thank Coco to take on the Toastmasters role on a day that she knew would have a low turnout.  I loved the metaphor of Spring to bring out your point.  Although isn’t Spring still so far away?   I still would like to see you work on speaking with more power and confidence.

Andrew, the timer, able to control the timing of the meeting.  Next time, please give the detailed report.  Reading a list is a great opportunity to practice projecting your voice, pause, pace, and enunciation.

Michael, ah counter:  You have shown much confidence and power on stage.  Now it is time to soften the edges, so that your words are easily received by the audience.  For example, replacing “you should do this” with ‘it might be better to do this” in the evaluation is a great technique.  Not only for speech evaluation, but also for inter-personal feedback.  Speak with the intention of helping the listener with a positive emotion.

Tim:  What a polished speaker you are.  I hope you open the email to read this.  To improve to the next level, we’re talking about subtleties.  Jeff mentioned the purpose.  This is still key:  “If you want _____________ then you should ____(your message)”.  I still believe that this is the fundamental part of a speech.

Ninan: Yeah!  First speech!  I loved your story, how you escalated the conflicts and drew us to the climax…Thought I thought the ending could be more dramatic.  Note what Vivian said:  please pay attention to the purpose of the assignment in the CC manual.

Lorraine: sorry: I wasn’t in the room during the Table Topics.  I was having a heart-to-heart conversation with Tim and Gale

Jeff: Don’t be intimidated when evaluating a native speaker like Tim or me.  You have valuable experience to contribute.  I thought your point about lack of purpose was on the nose.  You could speak more about that.  What did you think the purpose of the story could be?  How would you feel about the story if Tim told you that was the point of the story?  This is valuable information.

Vivian:  We will just miss you….55555

Crystal: I hope soon you will be able to attend the entire meeting.  We really miss your presence.  I definitely would love to open the meeting while seeing you in the audience.  As a GE, it is a tough job to come in right after the break.  I think maybe you (and future GEs) can also evaluate the roles and the meeting operation on how well we accomplished our CHIC mission and fulfilled our CHIC values.

Jon: funny as always.  I’m glad you came again, even with your job being so far away.  We’re counting on your contribution.  By the way, have I told you that you sound better when you can slow down?

My final comment is on how well we engaged with the members during the break.  I saw Yi proactively talking to a guest: very good improvement.  Let’s all work to open up our hearts.  Welcome the guests warmly and treat one another with respect, care, and compassion.  Let them know that what CHIC Toastmasters is all about.  We are the place to be in Beijing every Wednesday evenings!

Have a safe and happy holidays, whether you're in Beijing or not.

Hubert, President

Dear CHICer,

 17 months ago, I came to CHIC to be a brave English Speaker. Several months this before this meeting I lost my bravery. Tonight, in the 1st meeting in the 2012, I try to find it from all of you and also myself.

 Dancy, our SAA, you have the brave to break though yourself. Every week you try your best to improve your service and the agenda. You do great effort to make the audience comfortable. Thanks for your extraordinary job every week.

Vivian.Li, our Toastmaster tonight, recently, I found you begin opening your mind to CHIC to all kindly and sincere member. I can feel your love to us and your bravery to challenge your- self. I am also grateful for your taking me back home! Toastmasters Spirit!

Ninan, our Toastmaster timer, you do a good timer job tonight even this is your 1st role take in CHIC. You voice is so graceful and magnetic. You have the potential to be a great speaker, expecting your Ice breaking speech.

Rita, our greeter, just as what you said in your touched application, you show your passionation and determination to change your life. You are brave and warmhearted girl. We love you so much not only your try your best to do everything, but also we can feel your love to CHICers deeply.

Derek, TTM tonight, I know you begin to pay more attention to your leadership skill. You devote yourself to CHIC now and take more responsibility in our club now. If you do your best and challenge yourself every time, you will grow fast.

Andrew, TTEV, you are more mature now, more confident and nature on the stage. I like your honest words and your unpretentious way doing everything.
Yolanda, Ah-counter, you are so smart; you always can got the key points of every work. It's show you can be a great leader in future. Every time you give a special effective and impressive feedback to us. "Try to speak slowly and peacefully, then you will not need to say so much unnecessary words, Ah, en, so, & The!"

Xiuhua, our VPM, you bring happy and warm atmosphere to CHIC meeting. We can feel your positive influence even you never take any role and just enjoy yourself in the meeting.

Lorraine, I like your laugh it like a princess silver-colored bell. We are so fortunately can here it often. Hope you will take a role next week because we look forward to you sharp and creative opinion for a long time.

Jennifer, our GE, your performance just like a diamond on a crown. We need you too much if we hope to keep the rise trend in CHIC. You are a totally toastmaster, you always show us the way to effort. 

Tim, I love your way to explain a topic so clearly and briefly. That shows your great communication skills. Hope someone will build their brand in 3 month following your suggestion. The most fashionable Toastmasters

Lisa, my hero, it's a kind of happiness listen to you tell story. You always can tell a common story to a wonderful one.

 Finally, feedback to myself, "Mr Gale, you begin to get back your bravery in the 1st meeting of 2012. I do hope your will be a brave English Speaker anytime and anywhere".

 Good night!

 Best,

Gale

Best place to be in Beijing on Wednesday nights!

Written by Hubert

Creative.  Humorous.   Imaginative.  Powerful and WOW!  This is why Beijing rocks!

 Slowly, we are injecting more WOW factor into our Toastmasters meetings, thanks to the wonderful preparation, performance, and new elements that you have all brought to the table.

 Tim: What a great job as a first time Toastmaster!  I’m sure everyone is cheering when they hear that you are going to be a committed member of CHIC.  As a founder, I have always hoped, but honestly disappointed, when you came once and then disappeared.  After you showed up a few times last month, I still expected that you would disappear again.  But this time, hearing your resolution, my hope has returned, and I have high expectations for and of you.  There is obvious so much you can bring us: not only your experienced communication skills, but also your humor.  I also have no doubt that you will learn a lot by participating more.

 Rita: Thanks for the creative use of music to substitute the bell.  Music is beautiful, but we can also be assertive and firm in its use.  I look forward to seeing it being used in the future.  You can still do better as a timer, when introducing the timing rules, and delivering a report (you didn’t do it).  I want you to take the next available timer role, to make an immediate improvement.

 Ceci: nice to have you back as the ah-counter.  It was so obvious that your enthusiasm was a notch higher tonight.  And it was infectious.  Too bad you’ll be on a business trip again.  I want to encourage you to find ways to connect with the club even when you’re away, even when you’re preparing for a test, even when you’re so busy with work.  There are ways to show that you still care, even when you’re not with us.

 Jeff:  Thanks for taking the Greeter role on behalf of Lawrence.  And I want to say how wonderful it was to see you send out the follow up email to the guests immediately after the meeting.  See how good you are?  See how much you can teach others?  You are a treasure.  I would like to see more even more warmth in your approach.  Perhaps this area of improvement can really make an impact in your life.  Maybe.  Give it a thought.

 Coco:  You are funny.  Yes you are.  Definitely.  We all have low standards?  LOL!  And more talkative now.  And more confident.  Amazing how you are transforming before our eyes.

Ludivine: You and Yucheng are a match made in heaven.  You both have so much knowledge to share.  I know that you don’t feel good with your speech tonight.  But I want to encourage you to find the golden nuggets in your speech, as I had.  There’s some good content in there.  If you can just pull it together under a very focused theme/message, to guide our thinking, then that knowledge would be more useful, and maybe you would feel more confident in what you have to share.  Continue to share with us.  And I have no doubt, the structure and the delivery will improve with practice.

Gale:  When normal people exercise, sweat come out of our pores.  When you work out, you sweat passion.  Keep it coming.  Infect everyone with it.  Channel it with the compassion for others.  Just one thing:  I wished you had shared more of your personal story.

 Vivian: Continue to bring your creativity to the meeting.  I loved the game.  I loved your 痔疮 pillow.  In the past 2 weeks, you have shown more progress than the past 3 months.  Unless I am crazy, I think you’re really trying harder than before.

 Crystal:  You also did something different with your evaluation.  I noticed.  Whenever there is something new, people notice.  Stay with us.

 For our evaluators:  Andrew:  What smile we have to see that you are finally taking your first steps.  Trying even more evaluations.  Terrific.  Don’t stop.  If you want to become a better evaluator, keep evaluating.  Keep listening.  And believe that you can be as good as Lisa and Yucheng.

For Yucheng and Lisa:  Well, you know you’re good.  Yes you are.  Now, how can you be even better?  How can you also inject creative elements into your role, no matter what it is?  Challenge yourself, and don’t let it become too easy.

 Joyce, the Oscar-winning Toastmasters GE:  Now we’re talking.  Too bad you will be taking business trips again in January.  Just after you jumped to a new level of expertise.  I totally love the whole ‘director’ metaphor bit.  If you could even milk even more out of that metaphor, the better.  For example, bring more prop.  Bring an ‘oscar award’;  etc.   And when you are away, please also see the comments I have for Ceci.

Melody: The play with your name was funny.  Really.  I think you can get even more jokes out of it.  You could have switched names with me!  See how that works?  But I didn’t really understand the part about Tim though.  You will need to explain to me next time.   Don’t ever say to yourself that you can’t be funny.  Putting a limit on yourself doesn’t help.

By the way…I would like to have a “DJ”, someone in charge of the music composition that we can use for our meeting.  Music seems to bring a WOW factor if we can use it correctly.  Who is interested?  And I assume Rita is now our official CHIC photographer?  Thanks Rita.

Dare to be different.  Dare to try something new.  That is the charge I want to give to everyone.

We can make this the place to be in Beijing every Wednesday evenings

Our CHIC Toastmasters Newsletter from Dec2011 was published on Dec31, 10pm, just meeting the deadline.  Before the clock hits the New Years in Beijing.

Thanks to our Alpha, our Newsletter Editor, for his Project management effort, to deliver the newsletter on time, and with high quality.  This is an example for all CHICers to emulate.

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CHIC newsletter Dec2011	CHIC newsletter Dec2011	2904 Kb	09/01/12 00:55