The Metro Manila Toastmasters Club (MMTMC) once again proved its competitive excellence by reaping awards during the Division A Speech Contest!

Photo above shows (from left): TM Maricel Onate, TM Josephine Mines, TM Freddie Dela Cruz, and Area 2 Governor, and MMTMC Immediate Past President Joy Gatdula, CC-CL.

Held last 20 March 2010 at Sutherland Global Services in Taguig City, the Division A Contest showcased over 15 of the best Area speech Champions. The MMTMC contestants garnered two Championship wins and a Second Runner-up trophy. These Division A speech champs are:

• Past President Maricel Oñate, ACS-CL - Champion, International Prepared Speech
• President Josephine Mines, CC-CL - Champion, Humorous Speech
• Past President Freddie dela Cruz, ACB-CL - 2nd Runner-up, Table Topics

 Area 2 Gov. Joy Gatdula and MMTMC Past President Tootz de la Torre, ACB-CL (photo above) gamely and expertly hosted the competition, with the help of the contest chairpersons.  International Prepared Speech Champs (from left): 1st Runner-up Edith Garde, DTM (I-Connect TMC); Champion Maricel Onate, ACS-CL; and 2nd Runner-up Jeffrey Yu, ACB (Camanava TMC). Humorous Speech Champs (from left): 1st Runner-up Eduardo Catayoc III, ACB-CL (Camanava TMC) and Champion Josephine Mines, CC-CL.  Table Topics Champs (from left): Champion Kirk Damasco, CC-CL (Leaders-Speakers TMC) and 2nd Runner-up Freddie dela Cruz, ACB-CL. The MMTMC contestants – including Membership Vice President Erick Llaguno, CC-CL, who gave a noteworthy performance in the Evaluation Contest – were given a big boost of moral support by the presence of other members who all became prouder that day because of the Club’s success. WAY TO GO, METRO!

One of the tests of a Club’s strength is its membership number. And the family called “Metro Manila Toastmasters Club” (MMTMC) continues to strengthen itself, as it is now numbering 38 members. MMTMC President Josephine “Sipen” Mines is pleased to report that almost every month she has had the pleasure and the honor of inducting one or two new members.

“Not to be boastful, but what’s wonderful with our growing numbers is that we are not even doing active marketing or recruiting. It’s all by word of mouth, and through the power of the Internet!” Sipen noted.

The rich 30-year history of MMTMC has proven beneficial to the Club today, as many new members cite the positive things that they’ve heard about MMTMC while they were still scouting around for a Club to join. The strategic location of the Club’s meeting venue is also a strong attraction. MMTMC has been meeting at Sulo Hotel in Quezon City for more than a decade.

“But I think the biggest boon to our Club is our very name. When it comes to word searches on the Internet, just type in ‘Toastmaster Clubs in Metro Manila’… and boom! MMTMC is number one on the search results list, whether for Yahoo or Google!” Sipen explained.

“That’s why I think that Clubs must have a strong ‘web presence’, especially nowadays when almost everyone and their mother is Internet-savvy. A Club website is important not just to keep members informed of events and news, but also as a marketing tool. But the website shouldn’t just contain static information; it should be dynamic and constantly updated. That way, people browsing your website will know immediately that your Club is also active and dynamic,” she continued.

“I always get a thrill when guests and new members recall that they learned about the Club through our website, and were so impressed by the articles and photos posted there, that they immediately wanted to attend a meeting. That’s the best compliment I could ever hear!”

 Of course, membership numbers are not the end-all and be-all of a Club. Members must also be actively participating, delivering speeches, and developing their skills not just in public speaking but also in terms of leadership. They must be ready to serve the Club so in terms of leadership. They must be ready to serve the Club when called upon to do so - whether as an officer, or even as a Timer or Ah-Counter during the program.

“What’s more important, for me, is that our members continue to learn and to have fun while in our meetings. That’s our number one goal in Metro: to provide learning and fun! Right now, I must admit that we are a bit slow in turning out Competent Communicators (CCs) or Advanced Communicator norms, but that’s because I really don’t want to push or pressure our members too hard. They learn best when they learn at a comfortable pace - at their pace. Rushing them to become CCs just to get Distinguished Club Points could be counterproductive in the end. Members might end up feeling ‘used’ by the Club. But, that’s just my point of view,” Sipen said.

“What’s important is that our family is growing, and we are so happy and thankful for it!”

On March 8, 2010, two new Toastmasters were added to the membership roster of Metro Manila Toastmasters Club (MMTMC), with the induction of Wilson Puray (left) and Ronnie Sy (second from left) by Club President Sipen Mines (right).

Toastmaster Wilson, who is connected with Citibank N.A., found MMTMC through the Internet, while Toastmaster Ronnie, who is the general manager of Psycubes Printer Corp., was referred to MMTMC by a Toastmaster from another club. MMTMC past president Tootz dela Torre, ACS-CL (second row, left) was the assigned mentor of TM Wilson, while Lee Sabarre, ACB (second from right) will mentor TM Ronnie.

Welcome to the MMTMC family, Toastmasters Wilson and Ronnie!

The Metro Manila Toastmasters Club (MMTMC) made a clean sweep of first place wins in all four categories at the recently concluded Area 2 Speech Competitions. Held on January 30, 2010 at the Meralco TSB at Pasig City, the event combined the speech contests of Area 2 and Area 5. Declared Area 2 champions were the MMTMC speakers in the following categories:

Impromptu Speaking - Past President Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB-CL
Evaluation - Vice President Erick Llaguno, CC-CL
Humorous Speech - President Josephine Mines, CC-CL
International Prepared Speech - Past President Mariecel Onate, ACS-ALB

Photo at top shows the MMTMC contingent posing proudly with the bemedalled champions. From left are: Past President (PP) Tootz Dela Torre, ACS-CL; VP-Publc Relations Lynne Gamboa, ACG-CL; Mica Carino, TM; Cris Aviso, CC; PP Cristine Gonzales, ACG-CL; PP Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB-CL; PP Mariecel Onate, ACS-ACB; President Josephine Mines, CC-CL; Vice President Erick Llaguno, CC-CL; Area 2 Governor Joy Gatdula, CC-CL; Stella Simbulan, TM; and Roland Fernandez, TM. 

It was a wonderful victory for the four MMTMC speakers, especially since they went up against equally good speakers from other clubs in Area 2. Photo below shows all the contestants from both Area 2 and 5 having fun as they are introduced and interviewed before the audience.

A number of MMTMC members were in attendance to lend moral support and vibrant cheers to the speech champs, while others helped Area 2 Governor Joy Gatdula, CC-CL in conducting the speech competition by serving as timers and score tallyers. Toastmaster Mica Carino even served as Test Speaker for the Evaluation contest of Area 5, and she certainly wowed the contestants and the rest of the audience with her eloquence and skill. (Another speech champion in the making!)

Next stop for the Area 2 Champions is the Division A competition set in March.

Congratulations Champions! MMTMC is proud of you all!

January 25, 2010 proved to be a lucky night for Past President Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB (below, left photo) and Membership Vice President Erick Lllaguno, CC-CL (below, right photo) as they respectively won the Impromptu Speaking contest and the Evaluation contest of Metro Manila Toastmasters Club (MMTMC).

The Impromptu Speaking contest (also known as Table Topics) was joined by twelve MMTMC members, who delivered their best response to the topic “Difficulties, not ease, bring out the best in an individual”.  These brave ones were: Cris Aviso, CC; Jojo Cabrera, TM; Mica Carino, TM; Tootz Dela Torre, ACS-CL; Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB-CL; Jean Paul Datuin, TM; Roland Fernandez, TM; Erick Llaguno, CC-CL; Jeff Llaguno, TM; Ervine Pangwi, CC; and Verchie Totanes, TM. Newly inducted member Ronald Bermudez, TM also joined the contest — talk about a baptism of fire!

Meanwhile, the seven contestants in the Evaluation contest had a tough job evaluating the test speaker, Lynne Gamboa, ACG, Vice President for Public Relations of MMTMC and a veteran Toastmaster. The 7 contestants were: Jojo Cabrera, TM; Mica Carino, TM; Tootz Dela Torre, ACS-CL; Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB-CL; Erick Llaguno, CC-CL; Ervine Pangwi, CC; and Verchie Totanes, TM.

District Lt. Governor Wilson Lee, DTM (below, seated, 2nd from right) served as the Chief Judge in the two contests, and he was joined in the task of identifying the speech champs by (below, seated, from left): Atty. Fred Calanta, ATM, Past President of CMA Toastmasters Club; Division A Governor Corazon Oliva-Rodil, ACB; and Immediate Past Division A Governor Eliza Paylago, DTM.

After these last two contests, MMTMC now has four speech champions: Maricel Onate, ACG (International Prepared Speech); Josephine Mines, CC-CL (Humorous Speech); Freddie Dela Cruz, ACB (Impromptu Speaking); and Erick Llaguno, CC-CL (Evaluation). These champions shall next compete against other club champions in the Area 2 Competitions, set on January 30, 2010. And if fate and fortune smile upon these MMTMC champions, they may even go all the way to the Division and District level competitions — and even to the International level!

Way to go, Metro!