Ruwi Toastmasters Club: Session 140

This was the last session in September, with a new 6-month period starting from Oct 1. Renewals were the word of the season flying around all whatsapp groups. VP-Es and VP-Ms were politely reminding all members to loosen there purse strings and hand over the fees.

RTC did well in terms of renewals. Barring 3 members who were having difficulty attending sessions, all others renewed.

We also added 7 new members to the club, ending up with a strength of 30 members. That is the sign of a healthy club and we would be sure to have adequate participation in all the sessions.

The session kicked off almost on time with the energetic roar of the SAA TM Viswanath who did a countdown.

President TM Rajat produced the Select Distinguished Club ribbon for 2017-18 that had just been received and had it pinned to the banner. He then related an amusing story of a cab-driver, who had till the day earlier, been driving a hearse, now causing a major accident because the passenger patted his shoulder. TM Rajat continued, saying all of us were carrying the dead - the dead past - with us and living our life through these memories. We will be more alive only if we keep on trying something new.

TMOD Chaitanya was in his element today (also in T-shirt and shorts) as he took us through a journey of "Recreational flying", that of gliders and parasailing and skydiving and all scary things under the sun. Very professionally presented with small video clips, he introduced each role-player by asking them what geographical area they would like to fly over.

Timer was played by TM Swati with her own confident self.

Wordmaster was played by TM Vaishaly who introduced the word HILARITY. The sentences produced during the round robin also caused much hilarity.

Jokemaster TM Kumar today related only two jokes but, with his usual skill in telling stories in an engrossing manner, he played with everyone's sense of fun.

The criteria for today's P-10 speech were laid out by TM Rajat, today's evaluator.

A P-10 speech titled "Gratitude is Attitude" was delivered by TM Venkat. Focussing on the deterioration in gratitude in our times, he proposed to the audience a number of ways to keep up this sentiment. A good theme TM Venkat and congratulations on completing your CC Manual.

Table topics were conducted by TM Shanavas whose topics were difficult in a simple type of way, if you know what I mean. They were a real challenge to some of the speakers. Yet, RTC speakers are of a never-say-die variety and fought back bravely.

There was a special Education Session today on "Mentoring" conducted bt TM Panna. For the next 20 minutes, we were taken through the importance and benefits of proper mentoring in clubs, ending with an interview with past-masters at the game - PQD DTM Robin Anand and TM G Kumar.

Evaluator's feedback on the P-10 speech was given by TM Rajat who expressed happiness at the choice of topic, praised the speaker's use of stories and his energy level and suggested that he look at the development of the speech so that it is more linear and focussed.

Grammarian role was played by TM Niral who pointed out usage of Ah's as well as instances where English could be improved.

General Evaluator TM Saleem was all praise for most role-players but decried the cross-talk and movements that take place during role-plays. Seriously people, have a heart...

Business session was conducted by TM Chaitanya, who quickly fixed up TMOD for the next session as well as two speakers.

"Toasting the Talent" was a new item on the agenda where a member would display some talent he or she has. Today TM Swati rendered a beautiful Hindi song. Sometimes we should speak tunefully as well.

PQD Robin Anand was invited on stage for his special mission, which included presenting TM Panna with pins for Level 1 completion as well as for having become the Mentor for a club. PQD presented TM Kumar with a pin for having become a Club Coach and thus rendering a special service. TM Chaitanya was presented with a pin for outstanding service to the District in terms of venue arrangements for the major functions.

President TM Rajat closed the session with a President's Report. He announced that with this session, where TM Venkat completed his CC, TM Panna completed her ALB and the club gained at least 4 new members, RTC gained 3 more points to take the tally to 5 and laid claim to being a DISTINGUISHED CLUB. For having added 5 new members in Aug-Sep period, the club was now eligible for the Smedley Award as well. Great going, RTC!

The session closed with snacks and tea.