Session 133

Our new venue is proving to be lucky. As the weeks pass by, more guests are showing inclination to become members at Ruwi Toastmasters.

We at RTC promise ourselves a Smedley ribbon soon. We have already taken our first steps at DCP points with all committee members having completed the first round of Club Officers Training (COT).

We were also happy to host Area Director TM KSN Murthy and TM Dinesh today.

SAA TM Vishwa kicked off the session about 5 minutes late considering the fact that we are still getting used to our new venue. He always starts in his vibrant voice and brings up all the positive energy that is needed on a Saturday afternoon. He welcomed the guests who introduced themselves well.

VP-E TM Chaitanya gave the Presidential address. He narrated a story titled 'I can sleep when the wind blows'. This story was about a farmer who was able to hire, with great difficulty, a farmhand who was not only hardworking but also had the foresight to prepare the farm and secure it from the inclement weather conditions. The moral of the story was that if you are mentally, physically, spiritually alert to everything that you can or do face in life, then you can sleep peacefully under any circumstance.

He also welcomed the guests with a welcome kit.

TMOD Sethuraman took us on a fantastic journey of Life through a book "The Art of The Good Life" by Rolf Dobenli that he had recently read and had been completely inspired by. He took us through a couple of chapters in depth and touched upon the others. He started his introduction by explaining to us how one can avoid a bad life to attain a good life. Throughout the session he kept the audience interaction on by posting them thought-provoking questions to ponder between the role plays. He explained how one's mental accountability can disturb a person  and talked about the Art of correction through examples. Extremely apt and relatable examples in each case. He also explained the importance of saying 'No' or the Art of Denial to move forward in life and the upsides and downsides of life. A well-researched and well-presented theme.

TM Vaishali had a tough role to play this evening as the timer since it was long session. She explained the criteria of the role players well.

Our Jokemaster of the day TM Vishwa, who was playing a dual role this evening, tickled our funny bone with a few jokes.

The word of the day "Metamorphosis" was introduced by TM Raja and was used a couple of times by other role players this evening. An interesting word for Ruwi Toastmasters Club members, being a relatively young club which has undergone metamorphoses with the help of many advisors both at the  area and division level.

TM Swati, who was an evaluator today, explained the criteria of the Pathways Icebreaker speech clearly to the audience. Just before the session started, she had undergone a training in the role of Secretary, conducted by Area Director TM KSN Murthy and TM Dinesh.

TM Rajat embarked on his Pathways journey by giving his Icebreaker speech "A Peaceful State" which was more than just an icebreaker. He took us on a journey of his peaceful state in a professional way along with a smooth PowerPoint presentation. He keeps raising the bar of excellence every time he is on the stage and sets a great example for the novices at the club. Congratulations TM Rajat on your excellent Icebreaker speech. You speech was emotive as well as humorous.

TM Swati did an excellent job of evaluating the Icebreaker speech. She had meticulously noted all the points to evaluate and also suggested that the speaker needs to bring in energy and concentrate on voice modulation.

Keeping the theme of the day in mind, TM Chaitanya brought in good table topics for the day. The topics were cracked well by the participants.

The role of Ah counter and Grammarian was reintroduced this session. TM Venkat pointed out the correct use of the language and also mentioned about the good use of vocabulary by some of the role players. He highlighted words like intrigued, torrents, abrasions, entirety, brooding grounds, which were used by the role players.

The highlight of the evening was an Education Session conducted by Past President TM Panna on "Meeting Roles and Responsibilities". She smoothly explained each role player's importance, stressing on how to select topics as TMOD and suggested visiting different clubs for varied ideas. She also  stressed how each role was important for the evening and encouraging club members to come forward to overcome fear of speaking.

The roles for the next session were finalized in the Business Session with a positive and quick response from most of the members. Next week's TMOD would be MTM Khathija and speeches would be delivered by MTM Panna and TM Bhaskar.

The session was concluded by the President by announcing the winners of the evening and later inviting the guests to give a feedback of the session.

Best  Speaker : TM Rajat (by default)

Best Evaluator : MTM Swati (by Default)

Best Table Topics: TM Raja

Best Role player : TM Venkat

See you all in the next session on 18th August 2018, at the same venue.

Session 132 - new venue

Last couple of sessions, we have been talking about summer and hibernation, but our numbers have slowly started trickling back at our new venue.

Our new venue is back in Ruwi, at Abeer hospital.

It's a very centrally located venue with all the in-house amenities, right in the heart of Ruwi and easily accessible for Ruwi Toastmasters. We were also happy to receive a couple of guests from Abeer Hospital who we look forward to being eminent toastmasters, with great potential in the future.

The session started 10 minutes late, but considering the change in venue, it was accepted by all.The SAA TM Vishwanath kicked off the session by introducing the guests and reading the mission statement for all.

President TM Rajat enthusiastically related the story of the boys who were asked by their father to do a good deed. The boys were over enthusiastic to help a lady who did not wish to cross the road and actually killed the essence of help. In reality one should be careful to understand a message with wisdom and win over people tactfully rather than forcefully. 
He also welcomed the guests with a welcome pack.


TMOD Venkat had chosen the theme "Friendship" in line with forthcoming Friendship day to be celebrated  on the first Sunday in August every year. He started the session with a story of Tamil Brahmin poet and his 1330 couplets about friendship. He tactfully introduced the role players assisted with his PowerPoint presentation and the meaning of friendship expressed through different acronyms for each role player personally chosen by him.

Timer TM  Bhaskaran explained the timing criteria for the evaluation and the project speech. He also reminded the table topics master to explain the criteria for the benefit of guest who could not join our session on time.

Joke Master Khatija who had just returned from her holiday kept the audience in splits with her rejuvenated jokes and proved that humor is a talent. TM Khatija makes every effort to keep her jokes general rather than gender biased, which was well-appreciated

Wordmaster TM Rita introduced the word TRUANT. The word proved to be an easy one for the group. She  came across it whilst she was attending her COT session when she realized some participants had played truant and disappeared before the end of the session.

TM Rajat explained the criteria for P10 speech to the club. Many of the members were going to witness a speech of this level for the first time and attentively listened whilst TM Rajat explained that the speech needed to be not only interesting but also needed to be emotional as well as have a take home factor or a message for the audience.

TM Arnold from Shinas club completed his P10 speech from his CC manual. His speech "Technology - Boon or Bane" was a good eye opener for each of us. He took us on a smooth path - intelligently reminding all of us that our mobile phones are devices and should not become vices. He kept the audience glued on with his dramatic opening and went on to explain how each one of us should not become victims of the phones which are a necessity in today's day and time but use it wisely. Congratulations TM Arnold!

Table topic master TM Panna repeated the time criteria for the benefit of our guests as mentioned earlier . Her table topics revolved around the theme and were cracked well by all the role players and our guest as well.

Evaluator TM Rajat as usual was very crisp and to the point with his evaluation. He appreciated the speaker for the data presented, the emotional story  and keeping the audience interactive as well. 

TM Saleem, our General Evaluator, suggested that the role of Ah counter and Grammarian that was being missed should be reintroduced for the benefit of all. He appreciated and thanked the hosts of our new venue Abeer Hospital director and staff.

VP-E TM Chaitanya conducted the business session, explaining the necessities of two speeches as well as an evaluators role once the Icebreaker speech is delivered. The TMOD for the next session was decided along with two speeches for the Pathways level one. An education session will be conducted by Panna.

President TM Rajat concluded the session by giving away the awards to the role players

The awards were as follows
Best speaker.       TM Arnold ( default)
Best Evaluator.      TM Rajat ( default)
Best Table Topic   TM Chaitanya 
Best Role player   TM Rita ( Wordmaster )

Next session will be at our new venue Abeer Hospital Ruwi on 11/8/18.