Responsibility | January 7, 2015

RESPONSIBILITY

 

The first meeting of the year 2015 began on a spectacular note with informal hugs and greetings. The cordial salutation's session was interrupted by the acting Sargent at Arms TM Omar Khan who called the meeting to order and proactively took responsibility for this role. He also blended this role with his part as the presiding officer and congratulated the winners of last week. He then gave a heart-warming introduction of the Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD) TM Rayees and invited him to the stage with vigor.

 

TM Rayees in his usual charismatic and unique style began the meeting on a happy note and extended his felicitations of the New Year to all the attendees. He introduced the theme of the meeting "responsibility" and mentioned that responsibility is a duty that must be exercised at the right time. The idea of responsibility is applicable in every sphere of life as one has to assume responsibility at every level and failure to act responsibly can lead to devastating consequences. The notion of responsibility stretches beyond individuality and is relevant in teams and groups too. People often have to assume responsibility for an entire group and are accountable for every member's actions.

 

In the interest of time, the TMOD quickly allowed the meeting leaders to introduce themselves with TM Faisal Syed as the grammarian, TM Omar as the timer, TM Meraj as the ah counter, and TM Ahmad Yahya as the vote counter. TM Rayees very comfortably transitioned to the first segment called prepared speech session and introduced the first evaluator TM Omar who highlighted the objectives of TM Mohammad Alwen's third speech from the Competent Communication (CC) manual.

 

TM Alwen gave an enlightening speech about the practice of whale hunting and talked about various facets that are related to this topic such as the breeding of these mammals, their extinction, and what we as individuals can do to revive the whale community. He subtly talked about the political dimension of this issue and stressed that whales are an endangered species that should be protected and their use for food and entertainment should be eliminated. Research in this field should be promoted and we as individuals should donate to such noble causes.

 

The second speaker in the lineup was the ever humorous speaker TM Taqir who's speech title "a pleasant accident" created interest among the audience. He took to the podium and narrated a story of luck and adventure. He began by talking about an academy that he and his friends wanted to establish and how they collected the money for this cause. He jovially brought in the female students every now and then and lightened up the mood of his narrative. He then talked about an incident in which he was secretly being trapped by a gang of thugs in an unknown city. However, while on his way to the gang for the second time without knowing their real intent, he was hit by a motorist on his motorbike and broke a finger as a result. His persistence to visit his treacherous new friends forced TM Taqir's friends to accompany him, and this he says, saved his life as he would have been killed by the thugs had he been alone. Therefore, the motorbike accident was a pleasant encounter that allowed him to stand in front of the audience to deliver a message of hope and faith.

 

The prepared speech session was followed by the table topics segment that was brilliantly chaired by TM Dr. Fayez who asked the audience thought-provoking questions related to the theme. Each of the 6 speakers did a fantastic job in his own right and addressed the following questions:

1.       99% of failures are caused by people who make excuses –answered by guest Ali Adnan

2.       Greatness means a lot of responsibility-answered by TM Faisal

3.       Dreams translate to benign responsibility-answered by TM Naqi

4.       More liberty means more responsibility-answered by TM Sajid

5.       Assuming responsibility means that some people will be dissatisfied-answered by DTM Waqas

6.       Which between quality and quantity is more important-answered by TM Ahmad Yahya

 

TM Dr. Fayez with his witty personality and intriguing questions entertained the audience and his choice of particular speakers to address the chosen question added to the fun. He called for votes and handed the control to the TMOD.

 

TM Rayees then called the ever ready general evaluator (GE) DTM Waqas who called TM Omar to present his report for the speech of TM Alwen. The evaluator in his usual encouraging demeanor praised the speaker for talking about such a difficult topic and for outlining his speech in an understandable format for the audience. He also advised him not to show the audience if he forgets something on stage as that might negatively impact the speech. TM Omar gave valuable recommendations to TM Alwen and returned the control to the GE who invited TM Naqi to the lectern. TM Naqi also began by praising TM Taqir for his ingenious choice of the speech title and captivating story throughout the speech. He appreciated TM Taqir for keeping the suspense till the very end and for injecting humor every now and then. He advised the speaker to use appropriate pauses, more rhetorical devices to meet the speech objectives, and constantly link his story to the underlying point of his message about the pleasant accident.

 

DTM Waqas then called the functionary reports and presented his concluding remarks. He praised TM Dr. Fayez for his choice of questions and speakers but advised him to call senior toastmasters before the newer ones in order for the more recent members to learn from the more experienced ones. DTM Waqas also stressed that inactive members of the audience should be given preference over role players to allow everyone to get a chance to speak. He emphasized that meeting times should be respected and the agenda should contain time slots for each segment to adhere to the allotted time for every session.

 

Thus, another fun filled and informative meeting ended with the announcement of the winners with TM Taqir as the only qualified prepared speaker, TM Faisal and TM Ahmad as the shared table topics winners, DTM Waqas as the best evaluator, TM Faisal as the best meeting leader, and another shared award between DTM Waqas and TM Dr. Fayez as the big 3. The president announced the date for the annual club contest as January 14 and encouraged all attendees to be a part of the second club officers training the coming Friday afternoon. With another literal bang, the meeting was adjourned.