Showing posts with label EXPO 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EXPO 2016. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Ready for Influence

Written by Ranen Chan
Edited by Charis Chen
Photos by Coach Daniel

Greetings! Welcome to Ready for Influence, a training for ICC chapter members in Southeast Asia conducted by Dr. Teresa Moon, founder and CEO of ICC.

Eunice Au, the director of ICC's online academy, began by getting some feedback from the audience for the Influence EXPO, held the night before. 

Dr. Teresa Moon then shared some of her experiences as the founder and CEO of ICC. Some were light-hearted and funny; others touched your heart. One story in particular was especially moving.
Wendell, Dr. Moon's son, once did an interpretation of a story at a youth party. A person in the audience was inspired by his speech and decided that he would like to tell stories like that. His name was Raudy, and he soon became good friends with Wendell. Raudy began calling up businesses, schools, kindergartens, and many other places to see if he could present stories there. He soon became well-known in his community for this, and many people enjoyed listening to him. Tragically, he drowned not long after he had started doing this. 
Raudy's family held a memorial service for him after his death. As more and more people turned up to pay their respects, they realized just how much of an impact Raudy had had on the people around him.


Sometimes we do not realize that we have an influence on others, so it is always important to be ready for influence. We want to have a positive impact on the people we come in contact with, not a bad one.

After that, Dr. Moon talked about how millennials are the best positioned generation to influence the world. She went on to say that global organizations seek 5 things in employees - good communication skills, critical thinking skills, ability to collaborate with others, creativity, and a cultural mindset. She then split the room into 8 groups. Each of the groups was assigned one of the five aforementioned things, and had to come up with a mime to illustrate it in 3 different applications. After the prep time was over, each group had to present their mime to everyone. The audience subsequently had to guess that group's skill. We learned to think on our feet, be creative and work together, all while having lots of fun!


Dr. Moon then had a speech coaching session with Expo Influencers John Hoy and Abigail Shepherd, while Eunice Au conducted a portfolio session on the floor above. 



Next up was lunch!

The coaches and those who weren't student leaders went out to get lunch, while the student leaders had their SL reception over lunch. During the SL reception, several of the student leaders from different chapters shared their experiences being an SL in their chapter. It was really encouraging to hear all the stories from the various student leaders.

After lunch, we adjourned back to the meeting hall, where Dr. Moon elaborated on ICC's mentoring model of wise guides (those older than us), side guides (our peers), and surprise guides (those younger than us). Then we went around and thanked three people who had been a mentor to us.

And that brings Influence Expo 2016 to a close! Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post!

Friday, December 9, 2016

East Asia Influence EXPO 2016, Singapore

Written by Toh Jern Yoong
Edited by Charis Chen

Friday evening. People swarmed the church. They were participating in activities at different stations, each led by a young person.

What was so special?

Well, it was the first ever Influence EXPO in the East Asia Area! 
What is the Influence EXPO? The Influence EXPO is a free event where the community gets to experience what ICC is about. And, as an added bonus, we had Dr. Teresa Moon, the CEO and Founding President of ICC with us, along with Mrs. Eunice Au, International Director of the ICC Learning Academy!


 







 Ready for Influence!!!
Photos by Coach Daniel Toh


Each of the stations had a theme, explained and illustrated through different activities by the EXPO Influencers. The Influencers are a group of young leaders, trained to lead the event and facilitate activities and discussions. Most importantly, they stand by this motto, to be Ready For Influence! This year, we had Dr. Moon guiding the Influencers and also sharing great insights on being a effective communicator for Christ. We also had the honour and privilege of Mrs. Au's presence to coach and train our EXPO Influencers. 
       
The participants had the added challenge of collecting as many punches as they could on a card they were given. Each station visited would earn them one punch. At the end, all the cards were collected for a lucky draw, and the winners were presented ICC goodie bags!


 After an energetic hour of games and activities, everyone settled down for the rest of the program.


We began with a team greeting from the EXPO Influencer team, comprising of John T, Deborah, John H, Abigail, Jessica, Aaron, Charis, Noel, and Ernest!



        Photo by Coach Daniel
        We are the EXPO Influencers!

        Photo by Coach Daniel
        The Malaysians + Singaporean in action 
        From left to right, Charis, Noel, Ernest

We introduced Dr. Moon, Mrs. Au, and Mrs. Shepherd, our Area Coordinator, to the community.



 
Photo by Coach Daniel 

This was followed by Influence stories from the Influencers- testimonies of how they had been influenced and how that helped them to influence others, because they were ready for influence.

Photo by Coach Daniel 

Photo by Coach Daniel 

Photo by Coach Daniel 




This event had a major impact on me as I started out nervous and afraid of the challenges that were to come. However, with the support of the other Influencers and the ever-loving encouragements of Dr. Moon, Mrs. Au, and Mrs. Shepherd, I began to see myself as a vessel for Christ, and to stand up and be ready for influence in His name. Since then, through the coaching and the guidance of Dr. Moon and the team, I began to look at things differently. What seemed to be a major problem has become a major learning experience of how I can improve, to be an even better communicator for Christ. Looking back on how God has brought me so far in this ICC journey- from a shy and incompetent speaker, to a speaker who cares for the audience, stands up for God, and takes feedback graciously.  Like I shared in my Influence story, I've learned that through my actions, I can actually be a big influence to others, whether for the better or for the worse. I've realised how powerful words can be, especially on the platform. This entire experience has taught me way more than I asked for, and not even a huge sum of money could buy the lessons I have learnt. I am really thankful for Dr. Moon and the team for raising up young leaders like myself and the rest of the East Asian team to stand up for God and to do what is right in today's generation!




Photo credit: unknown              


                                          East Asia Area Expo Influencers 2016!!!