75th Platinum Session April 29th 2017

After a long time it feels great to be the interim blogger for our clubs 75th Platinum session. This session had high levels of energy even though there was only one member who did not have a role and no guests were present. So back to the main course

The 75th session was kicked off by TM Ramalingam in his unique style with a quote on how one needs to develop an Attitude for Gratitude a very apt one in line with the theme of the day. His memory is creditable as he has memorized the mission statement.

The Welcome Address by Acting President TM Panna Ray in her usual suave style delivered a lovely story about Paula and Gracy and  how one must make sure that others experience  a feeling of happiness by highlighting and appreciating their excellence.

The TMOD of the day TM Mathen had a very soul searching theme of Gratitude.  The themes rendering left many of us wondering how there are so many different ways a person can express and inculcate Gratitude. A wonderful quote by Ralph Waldo. The humorous story about the positive attitude of a woman losing her daily , choosing the right word while expressing gratitude, to the quality of being thankful, to the psychological challenges of being thankful all the time was so wonderfully essayed by TM Mathen.

The Time Keeper of the day role was  meticulously carried out by a sudoku crazy atheletic runner and Chartered Accountant TM Nagesh. The humorous way in which he highlighted that need of a time keeper for a time keeper was cheered by everyone.

The word of the day was introduced by the self exclaimed CEO of her house who is also celebrating her 5th anniversary in Oman, TM Kaviya. The word she introduced was ironically more of a phrase, the words being Sort Out. This phrasal verb was well explained and an effective round robin was conducted. TM Kaviya also suggested that the Wordmaster of the day  should participate in the round robin.

The Joke-master of the day TM Ramalingam has such a fun filled personality. One may miss the contents of his joke but one will end up in raptures just watching the way he emotes and delivers a humorous anecdote.

The P 1 speech criteria was explicitly explained by TM Rita who self exclaims that she is a Lady of Leisure. This aspect of her has never been fully accepted or digested by her husband and many find it amusing as well. She encouraged the P 1 speaker to break the ice and introduce himself to all members.

The Ice breaker speech Change is only constant in life was delivered by TM Sabu who hails from  Kallumala in Kerala and who completed his engineering from KVG college in Manglore Karnataka with  specialization in electronics and telecommunication. His life has seen a series of changes in different forms. His work tenure of 11 years in the middle east and his nucleus family  was vividly described  as we could easily associate with him.

The P 2 speech criteria was efficiently explained by the ever energetic multi tasking TM Kaviya
who never fails to amaze the ease in which she handles every role entrusted to her. She explained the necessity of Organizing the speech and making sure that the time criteria is observed.

The P 2 Speech Make the World Your Home by TM Vishwanathan was an absolute heart affecting social message. The incidents of how his Grandmother Krishnaamma would always rush to help the neighbours in their time of need setting aside the needs of her family was  well delivered by a lovely metaphor of "A chicken dish tastes vegeterian at home". Kudos to both the grandmother and the grandson in their own respective ways 

TM G Kumar is a natural entertainer and conjured excellent table topic messages which were simple yet thought provoking. While conducting this role he did not forget to mentor the Toastmasters who were struggling to speak. That is an excellent attribute and kudos to such an rare ability.

The P 1 speech evaluation was clinically carried out by TM Rita who gently yet assuredly acknowledged the strong points of the speech and highlighted areas of improvement. She made sure the speech was applauded by all and motivated him to move towards the next level.

The P 2 speech evaluation was accurately dissected in  an efficient and thorough manner by TM Kaviya. She congratulated TM Vishwa in the way he unfolded the mystery of both his title and the metaphor used. The body of his speech and the conclusion reached were appreciated. With words of encouragement she ended the evalaution with crisp areas of improvement in style of delivery.

The smiling assassin TM Vaishali marked the alertness of the members and did find some of her questions being answered by those who were already in the subject of the question. Thank you for catching us napping.

The Ah counterian and Grammarian TM Alma is one efficient and knowledge person. She cautioned those who did not  use  the grammar well and she balanced the same by praising those who did. Lets not call this role a mother in laws curse.

The Gerneral evalautor used crictical acclaim as a strategy for the day. Suggestions to the role players to use the mike provided irrespective of ones vocal ability was stressed and minor corrections to the method in which some role players carried out their roles was suggested.

The session came to an end with G Kumar suggesting that we celebrate our 75 sessions on the 6th of May 2017 by inviting members from other clubs as well as senior and distinguished Toasmasters.
The role of TMOD for that day was entrusted to TM Chaitanya. With a final request from TM Panna encouraging people to come forward and take on roles for the coming weeks, she ended the succesful completion of 75 sessions of the club

Best Speaker Award TM Sabu
Best Evaluator Award TM Kaviya
Best Table Topic Speaker Award TM Chaitanya




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74th session

Something was different this session.

There were 3 guests - true.

TMOD had an innovative approach - true.

And... our President Aji was in town and attended this pre-platinum session. We were once again treated to the same widespread hands, the same inspirational story, the same exhortation to improve ourselves - in short, the classic presidential speech.

But first things first.

SAA TM Ramalingam started off the session bang on time.

President Aji, who had come to the session straight from the airport, had a big smile on his face at addressing his favourite club once again. He told the story of a guru who gave his disciples three dolls with holes in their heads and a piece of wire. With the first doll, the wire went in one ear and out the other, meaning such people could not retain any knowledge. With the second doll, the wire did not go into any ear at all, meaning such people do not hear anything at all. With the third doll, the wire went into the ear and out of the mouth, meaning such people retain what they learn and apply them. Like we Toastmasters, said Aji.

TMOD of the day was MTM Kaviya, who, though she had picked up the role just a few days ago, chose the topic Inspirational books and came up with concept of collective knowledge. She had asked every role player to bring his or her favourite inspirational book. Her introduction of the role player was in the form of a story that had intriguing names like "Swami starts to run" or "Two breads and a cheese". At the end of the role play, the person handed over his favourite book for displaying on a table, which, at the end of the session, became a lending library for inspirational books for the club. A truly innovative idea TMOD, that not only formed an interesting theme but also gave birth to a library.

Timekeeper TM Kamil introduced the time criteria with his usual elan.

Wordmaster TM Nagesh had chosen as his word TRIVIAL, which was well-understood by all and the round robin found no one floundering.There is a visible improvement in round robins in that no one makes a trivial sentence any more; they are all meaningful.

Jokemaster TM Mathen entertained us with a number of lovely googlies that slipped between the bat and pad and hit us on the ribs, tickling them thoroughly.

There were two P-1 speeches scheduled today and TM Ramalingam laid out the criteria for the Ice-breaker quite succinctly.

The first speech "Go with the flow" was delivered by MTM Vaishali and she described the many junctures in her life where her path had been derailed by fate yet she had chosen to go with the flow and take life as it comes. A very candid and natural presentation, MTM Vaishali. We learnt so much more about you.

The second speech "Who am I" was delivered by MTM Usha. She had started with the philosophic question and gone on to describe the various roles she had played in life that could answer this question. A very mature Icebreaker speech, MTM Usha and we look forward to great speeches from you.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Alma, who, in keeping with the theme of inspirational books, obtained inspirational quotes from books and pasted them on bookmarks for presenting them in her role. Where else other than RTC will you find so much innovation in so many roles? Kudos MTM Alma. 

TM Ramalingam and TM Rajat presented their evaluation of the two speeches. Their feedback was mostly inspirational, with a few suggestions that might help them in their immediately next speech.

Grammarian role was played by TM Vishwa, who pointed out a few grammatical mistakes and possible better usage of English.

TM Saleem played the role of General Evaluator and pointed out a few improvements possible in the session: (a) SAA to nominate the session photographer(s) beforehand, (b) TMOD/SAA should ensure smooth mike exchange, (c) in table topics, guests should be called before role players, (d) more role players should use the word of the day. We shall keep them in mind GE.

TMOD announced the RTC library open and TM Vishwa volunteered to keep track of the books.

President Aji announced the awards and announced the session closed.

The day's awards were:

• Best table topic:    MTM Kaviya
• Best evaluator:      TM Rajat
• Best speaker:        MTM Usha

Next Saturday is the Division D contest at Bank Muscat head office. There will be no normal session.

So please come and cheer club members who are competing:

• TM Rajat in International and Evaluation
• MTM Panna for International
• MTM Kaviya for Table topics.

72nd session

The contest fever had not died down yet and the spirits were still high at having won 7 out of 12 trophies in the Area 60 contest. 

SAA TM Ramalingam flagged off the session at 3.17 pm sharp.

Acting President Panna congratulated all on the good performance of the club at the Area level. She then went on to relate the story of Japanese fishermen, who , when challenged with their fish rotting on the long journey back, tried in succession keeping the dead fish in on-board iceboxes and keeping the live fish in on-board tanks. The fish started reaching port fresh and lively only when some sharks were also kept in the tanks to provide a challenging atmosphere. Therefore TMs, please enter contests (the tanks) and grow livelier through facing sharks (top contestants). We will, we will.

TMOD Saleem had set PERSONALITY as his theme. He had been pursuing all the role-players for the last few days to participate in a personality test. Only in the session, when he started changing their seating positions, we came to understand his hidden agenda, which was to reveal to us our true nature, our animal identities, our personality traits. We quickly learnt that we were either Panthers, or Peacocks, or Dolphins or Owls, knowledge that made us wiser but more thoughtful. We had had no idea that we were so dominant, or such exhibitionists, or so gregarious or such perfectionists.

The timekeeper TM Viswa (panther) introduced the rules efficiently.

Wordmaster TM Kaviya (peacock/dolphin) had introduced the word PURPOSEFUL (not to be confused with purposely). TM Kaviya had initiated the daily word of the day, which was much appreciated and the group was committed to continuing the same.

Jokemaster TM Chaitanys (peacock) reeled on a series of rib-tickling one-liners.

There was a P-4 project speech scheduled today and the criteria were explained by evaluator TM Rajat (owl).

P-4 speech was delivered by TM Rita, titled "Second Skin", that talked about the joys of motherhood. A very heartwarming theme and TM Rita dealt with it in a most poetic way, showing us How to say it.

Table topics were conducted by TM Ramalingam, on the theme of personality, and all speakers spoke confidently on the same.

Evaluation of P-4 speech was carried out by TM Rajat, who appreciated the speaker's language while requesting a strengthening of the speech through a more meaningful conclusion.

TM Shobha (dolphin) played the role of Grammarian, diligently pointing out points of improvement, though not at personal levels.

TM Vaishali (panther/peacock) played the role of Harkmaster and questioned us all on every front. Luckily, we had an answer for every problem.

The General Evaluator was TM Swati (dolphin), in a maiden role, and she gave an insightful feedback. Among notable suggestions were (a) not to leave the stage empty, (b) to keep the body-mike switched off when attaching or detaching. We shall keep them in mind, GE.

TM Panna distributed the awards and declared the session closed.

The day's winners were:

• Best table topic:     TM Kaviya
• Best speaker:         TM Rita

There were extra sweets and savories at today's snacks to celebrate the club's good performance at the area contest.

See you all on 8.4.17.