Ruwi Toastmasters Club: 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.