Toastmasters International Area 29 of Division H, District 20 had its annual speech contest held on 14 February 2020 at Rajadhani Palace Restaurant, Khaitan. The theme of the event was EDUCATE, EVALUATE and EMPOWER. The event started at 1 PM with registration. Members and guests put together more than 50 attended. The event chair was TM Nitesh Jacob Varghese who organised the event flawlessly from start to the end as his HPL (high performance leadership) project. It was aptly hosted by TM Faisal Jameel, Area Director 31, as the master of ceremonies. This event was the result of meticulous planning of all the core committees in close co-ordination with the event chair and the area director. While all the committees worked very hard to make this event a grand success, special thanks go to PR committee for their efforts in promoting the event from the start. The event theme and the logo are the contribution of TM Sayed Irshad Ahmed of Al Bader Anchors Toastmasters Club. The guidance committee included DTM Raymond Periera who is well versed with holding events of the magnitude of an area contest. The dignitaries included DTM Wafaa Salman, District 20 Director, DTM Mohammed Salim District 20 Program Quality Director and DTM Shilpa Reddy the District Admin Manager.
The event was graced by the presence of Division H Director DTM Shanta Maria James, Area 29 Director TM Srinivas Chelapathy, DTAC Vice Chair DTM Alifia, Area 21 Director TM Cajetan Barretto and Area 28 TM Kapil Kumra. The Chief Judge for the contest was DTM Mohammed Makhlouf.
The contestants from 4 different clubs namely Al Bader Anchors, Durrar Toastmasters, ICS Expressions and Inspiring Echoes put up their best performance for the event in all four speech categories namely, International, Evaluation, Table Topics and Humorous.
During the event TM Mariam Buisan, past President of Al Bader Anchors was honoured by the Area Director-29 for her exceptional leadership qualities in firstly supporting her younger siblings, back in her home country, to graduate from college with her earnings and empowering them with knowledge to stand on their own feet and secondly, to run the club successfully during her tenure to achieve distinguished status. The Area Director 29 also happen to honour the club patrons Mr. Esam Al Bader and Mr. Abdulrahman Ameen of Al Bader Anchors for their ardent support in funding the club to empower its members to achieve excellence through effective communication.
Towards the conclusion all the role players were honoured with participation certificates and trophies by DTM Anil Kumar Revankar and the event chair TM Nitesh Jacob Varghese
The winners declared are:
INTERNATIONAL
1.TM Sathyamurthy Ramanujan
2.TM Nasreen Karamat Sheikh
3.TM Suchandra Banerjee
EVALUATION
1.TM Sathyamurthy Ramanujan
2.TM Dilip Thomas
3.TM Nighat Ashfaq
TABLE TOPICS
1.TM Salom Philip Abraham
2.TM Sathyamurthy Ramanujan
3.TM Reena Manju
HUMOROUS
1.TM Suchandra Banerjee
2.TM Sathyamurthy Ramanujan
3.TM Aji George Panicker
The first and second place holders are qualified to compete in Division H speech contest which is due later next month. The event concluded at 6:30 PM on schedule leaving a different learning experience in the memory of the attendees.