Session 131

Muscat summer shows no signs on waning. The summer vacationers are returning home in a trickle and by next session, we hope that the attendance will be far improved.

SAA TM Viswa kicked off the session on the dot, with a motivating quote.

President TM Rajat reverted to story-telling, with a story demonstrating how those with a willingness to ask for help from masters progress much faster in life and are able to come out of problematic situations easily. Yesterday having been Gurupoornima, the full moon night when teachers and masters are remembered with gratitude, the message was appropriate.

TMOD MTM Panna had chosen as her theme "My Maiden Voyage", which related the story of her recent cruise holiday together with her daughter to Stockholm, Tallin, St Petersburg and Helsinki. We had the vicarious pleasure of enjoying a week-long holiday with her, totally free!

Timer role had been taken up by none other than our Thalaiva, TM Kumar. For a change, he asked the role players to describe their timing criteria, which they did of course.

Wordmaster MTM Shobha introduced the word BENEVOLENCE to the audience. It was a positive word and the audience, in the round robin, ascribed the attribute to various people in their lives.

Jokemaster was played by TM Chaitanya, who had to break the mold for this role. However, the jokes were new and good and raised laughter in the audience.

Pathways Icebreakers speeches were gathering momentum and there was a speech scheduled today for which MTM Rita was the evaluator. She explained the criteria in detail, especially from the new Pathways set of norms.

TM Saleem delivered his Icebreaker speech titled "Difficult Roads lead to Beautiful Destinations" once again as he was starting off on his Pathways journey. He took us through his early life and shared important life issues with us all, especially his work with NGOs. Good show TM Saleem.

Table topics were handled by TM Bhaskar, who presented relatively simple topics for people to speak on, and the members utilised the opportunity to the fullest.

MTM Rita presented her evaluation of TM Saleem's speech, with full appreciation of his efforts and a few suggestions for improvement, which TM Saleem would be sure to take into account.

General evaluation was conducted by TM Venkat, who in his usual motivating style, praised all role players to the hilt. Surely, GE, there was some scope of improvement?

TM Chaitanya conducted the business session. Although there was a COT scheduled for 3rd Aug (Fri), we would still be having our normal session on Sat. TMOD was fixed as TM Venkat, with the speeches yet to be stamped.

President Rajat gave his closing remarks, commending TMOD for very good time management for the session, which was about to end on the dot at 4.40 pm. 

TM Kumar was called upon to present the Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB) award to MTM Panna, who had completed the same tin record time.

The day's awards were:

• Best speaker:              TM Saleem (default)
• Best evaluator:          MTM Rita (default)
• Best Table topic:       MTM Rita
• Best Role player:      TM Shobha/ Chaitanya/ Viswa (tied)

See you all at the next session on 4.8.18.

Session 130

Summer hibernation continues and the club populace is still out of country. However the presence of the Area team as well as our Educator did ensure that the hall was decently full. We were also happy to receive a guest from Shinas Toastmasters.

The session kicked off 1 minute late, as noted by GE, but SAA TM Viswanath livened up the proceedings with an apt quotation.

President TM Rajat, just back from a holiday in India, applied his speech to question why holidays often felt like work, what would enable holidays to feel like holidays and finally what would make work feel like a holiday. While most of us are far away from the third stage, why not at least gun for the second?

TMOD Ramalingam has chosen as his theme "Humour and Health". Humour had always been his forte, although the extent he quips on husband-wife relationships may not be good for our health if we apply them at home! He took us through types of humour and gave a tutorial as to how to crack a joke successfully, something useful in the serious quiet evenings, no doubt, when wives knit and husbands watch TV.

Jokemaster TM Venkat, whose very appearance on stage stimulates laughter, presented a few jokes that lent some additional fodder to the TMOD's fire.

Wordmaster TM Sabu introduced the word CONFABULATE to the audience, which was a difficult word to digest after lunch. But the TMs made fair game of it and were not verbally challenged.

TM Vignesh explained the speech criteria for a Pathways P-1 speech being presented today.

The speech titled "Knowing the Unknown" was delivered by MTM Panna, who was giving a P-1 once again after completing her ACB manual. It was interesting to see a P-1 that incorporated all the skills of speech-crafting and delivery, something we did not see in the earlier P-1 as the speaker would be totally new to the project.

An education session on "Impromptu Speaking" was delivered by TM Subratesh Chakravarty from SBG Toastmasters. The 20 mins were well-utilized in expounding the goal, approach, techniques and preparation for impromptu speaking, or Table Topics as we call it. Moreover the session lent a lot of inspiration and motivation to club members to go up and grab the mike.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Shobha, who was happy to be on the other side of the table. Nevertheless, her topics were in the question style and not obscure debatable ones, and the speakers were all happy to speak on them.

Evaluation feedback was conducted by TM Vignesh, which was mostly laudatory. We all know MTM Panna as an accomplished speaker on all platforms and her P-1 had been exemplary.

General Evaluation was given by TM Chaitanya, who praised most of the role-players and today's session as a whole.

President TM Rajat gave the closing address and declared the days winners:

• Best speaker:         MTM Panna (default)
• Best evaluator:          TM Vignesh (default)
• Best Table topic:       TM Chaitanya
• Best Supporting:    MTM Rita as Timer

See you all at the next session on 28.7.2018.