Celebration | 21.01.2015

CELEBRATION

 

After a jubilant event on January 14, the stallions returned to the regular meeting in high spirits and celebrated the winners of the annual club contest. The theme of the meeting (celebration) resonated (word of the day) with the overall mood of the proud stallions who qualified for the area contest.

 

The Sargent at Arms TM Rayees Syed opened the meeting on a victorious note and raised the spirit of the meeting with his resounding voice and demeanor. He invited the president/Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD) TM Omar khan to the stage and introduced him as one of the most likable and special members of the fraternity.

 

TM Omar welcomed the 4 guests and did a great job by explaining the proceedings of a typical meeting and the agenda of the present meeting. He touched on the theme and talked about the many blessings we have that we often take for granted. He articulately mentioned about the meaning of celebration in terms of a more subtle meaning that pertains to celebrating how we live our lives and how we as human beings have the same needs and basic ways of conducting ourselves all around the world. TM Omar also introduced the functionaries who were:

·         TM Naveed Hussain as the grammarian

·         TM Dr. Fayez as the timer

·         TM Rayees as the ah counter

·         TM Omar as the vote counter

 

The first segment of the meeting was an evaluation training session that was conducted by TM Naqi. He took to the stage and explained the audience about an evaluation based on clear-cut objectives and one that is done in a contest with general objectives. He talked about things that an evaluator must avoid and those that could add more potency to the evaluation speech. He touched upon several areas and told the audience that an evaluation is given to encourage and improve, not to bring a speaker down. He also shed light about the judging criteria and emphasized on analyzing the speech content, structure, and delivery.

 

An impromptu segment was conducted by the past president TM Majid Hafeez who had received his delayed shipment from Toastmasters International. He gave out some awards to the earlier term officers and handed the club some ribbons and other items that the club required.

 

The proceedings of the evening continued with TM Mohammad Alwan as the only prepared speaker of the evening. He delivered the 4^th project from his competent communication (CC) manual that deals with the use of language and rhetorical devices. TM Alwan's speech was centered on diamonds and talked about the process that makes them, their value in our society, and their uses for individual as well as commercial purposes. The informative speech shed light on the world's hardest substance and its use as a highly priced and valued gift between couples.

 

TM Rayees then took to the stage as the table topics master and made the guests feel at home by conducting the session in a lively manner. His first question was for TM Naveed and asked him to speak about "life without dreams is like a garden without flowers". The second question was jovially answered by TM Viquar whose topic was "hurt me with the truth but don't comfort me with a lie". The third in the line of speakers was TM Naqi who spoke about "silence is better than anything". The last speaker of the evening was guest Ismail who courageously accepted the challenge and spoke about "our busy lives make prayer harder but our prayer makes our busy lives easier".

 

Each of the speakers was applauded and the control was handed over to the General Evaluator (GE) DTM Waqas. He called TM Omar to evaluate TM Alwan's speech and share his analysis with the audience. TM Omar praised TM Alwan for educating the audience with his creative topics and recommended that any reference or fact should sound credible in order to resonate with the audience.

 

The table topics evaluator was DTM Waqas who encouraged all speakers with his tender and flattering evaluation remarks. He then asked for the functionary reports and evaluated the meeting in general. He commended the meeting for beginning on time and gave a constructive feedback to the club that he calls home.

 

The lectern was handed over to the presiding officer/TMOD TM Omar who called for voting and received the guest feedback. All the guest comments were encouraging and one gentleman remarked about the cordial and conducive environment of the club that made him comfortable.

 

The results were declared with TM Naqi as the table topics winner, DTM Waqas as the best evaluator, and TM Omar as the best Big 3. TM Omar also distributed the second and third place awards for the international speech contest to DTM Waqas and TM Naqi respectively.

 

The meeting was adjourned and another splendid meeting ended on a celebratory and triumphant note

 

By Naqi Rizvi,

Secretary,

Arabian Stallions Toastmasters Club

ARABIAN STALLIONS ANNUAL CLUB CONTEST 2015

January 14, 2015

 

ARABIAN STALLIONS ANNUAL CLUB CONTEST 2015

 

Another leap in the history of Arabian Stallions Toastmasters Club (ASTM) was witnessed on January 14, 2015 when the mighty stallions took to the stage and conquered mind after mind with their mesmerizing voices and captivating words. The lofty stallions participated in the international speech, table topics, evaluation, and humorous speech contests to declare winners in each category who will represent ASTM at the area level in February.

The contest Chair for the evening was TM Naveed Hussain who put up a great show and executed a great contest from start to finish. The proceedings began after the speaker draws had been picked at approximately 8 PM in Coco-Palm restaurant. TM Naveed opened the show with a bang and welcomed the attendees that included families as well as members of other clubs. He mentioned the ground rules and set the momentum for what was to be an enjoyable evening. He introduced the master of ceremony (MC) TM Faisal Syed who took the show to greater heights and hosted the event brilliantly. He invited the chief judge to mention some important rules with regards to the contest and also set the stage for the speakers.

The first segment that was conducted was the evaluation speech contest with TM Dr. Fayez as the Contest Master. TM. Dr. Fayez welcomed the target speaker TM Siva Ramalingam to the lectern for a 5-7 minute speech. TM Siva's speech was titled "Never ever assume" and his speech got the audience laughing with his humorous punches in the middle of his speech. He highlighted the importance of asking questions when things are unclear and emphasized how some actions might work in one situation but not in another.

The evaluation contest had 5 speakers all of whom evaluated the same speech. All of them presented their commendations and recommendations to the best of their abilities and demonstrated great evaluation skills to the audience. The speakers were TM Taqir Hussain, TM Omar Khan, TM Naqi Rizvi, TM Rayees Syed, and TM Jibran Mohiuddin.

The second segment was the humorous speech session that was chaired by TM Taqir who began the proceedings on a jovial note. This segment only had 2 speakers namely TM Naqi Rizvi and TM Viquar Hussain. TM Naqi's speech centered around his fears of getting married while TM Viquar's presentation chronologically and wittingly illustrated the milestones of his life in which he redefined history by being alongside some of the most famous men to walk on this planet. He was born in 350 BC and had super natural powers that made him such a famous and important man in history.

Next in line was the anticipated table topics segment that had 8 participants namely TM Jibran, TM Taqir, TM Omar, TM Mohammad Alwan, TM Naqi, TM Rayees, TM Dr. Fayez, and TM Sajid. As is the case, each speaker had to address the same topic which was "life without dreams is like a garden without flowers". The Contest Master was none other than the famous TM Viquar who conducted the session with ease and diligence. The speakers added more color to the session as the same question resulted in differing responses by various speakers, showing the diversity in perspectives and thought processes of every individual who addressed the question impromptu.

The fourth and final session was presided over by the Contest Chair himself (TM Faisal) who deliberately introduced himself very flamboyantly and got the audience giggling. His charisma and vigour made the international speech session more fun. This session had 3 speakers namely TM Waqas, TM Naqi, and TM Omar. Each of the 3 speakers was welcomed with a thunderous round of applause by the hungry but attentive audience. TM Waqas's speech was titled "words do matter" and was crafted with anecdotes, humorous incidences, and words of wisdom for the attendees. He passionately spoke about the power of words and how they can hurt or heal.

The second speaker TM Naqi talked about the importance of saving and giving to the needy. He related that to his own life and how ungrateful he was despite having countless blessings that had been bestowed on him. He urged the audience to help those in need and exited the stage with a resounding "yes we can; yes we will" from the audience.

The last in the line of speakers was the president of ASTM TM Omar whose speech titled "what's your account" began by listing his routine activities that appeared mundane to him but were events in his day that a fortunate few get to experience. He linked that to the destitute family of Latif, a poor man in his native Hyderabad in India. Latif and his family had to struggle every single day just to make ends meet and seeing the plight of his children made Omar's heart melt. He realized the countless blessings that he had been granted and changed his outlook towards life. He began to view his boring life as an existence full of happy moments and opportunities.

During the balloting process, some notable personalities in the crowd such as the Area 38 governor TM Sultan Patel, TM Zia Ur Rahman, and DTM Saud Alomair addressed the gathering and DTM Waqas delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of ASTM. The dignitaries took to the stage after some time and the winners were announced.

The evaluation session was won by TM Jibran in third place, TM Omar in second place, and TM Naqi in first place.

TM Naqi was declared as the winner of the humorous speech contest as there were only 2 speakers and TMI rules allow for the announcement of only 1 winner.

For table topics, TM Jibran bagged third place, TM Naqi second place, and TM Omar first place.

Again, only 1 winner was announced as there were only 3 contestants in the international speech contest. The award was presented to TM Omar for winning the international speech contest.

The president of ASTM TM Omar thanked the attendees and presented awards to the Contest Chair TM Naveed for his performance and the chief judge TM Thanga Swami for his exemplary role in the contest. The contest was adjourned and another chapter began in the history of Arabian Stallions Toastmasters Club.

By Naqi Rizvi,
Secretary,
Arabian Stallions Toastmasters Club