Meeting opening was done by TM Jagadish Rao who announced club mission with warm up exercises and called the meeting to order. The presidential address was done by TM Chandrashekhar Rao who mentioned the his life perception on spreading roamers. He handed over the podium to the TMOD, TM Sajid Koroth who explained Leaders are made, thereby made the theme of the meeting.

“Power of BRANDING”

There were 5 guests who introduced themselves.

The  word of the Day “Acumen” meaning ability to quickly and accurately understanding situation, introduced by TM Naveen Kumar Sadwani and was used for 2 times during the meeting.

The Round Robin Session was attended by all on Personal Branding qualities.

There were 3 prepared speeches.

P1 Speech

MTM Nifiya Sadhwani with title “My story”  Evaluated by TM George Jacob

P9 Speech

TM Mathew Philip Mathews with title  “How happy you are?” Evaluated by TM Mohammed Rashid

ATMG P35

TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar with title “Speaking Under Fire” Evaluated by TM Loy Machedo

Special speech  by TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar for his contest Winners Speech – My P1 evaluation.

The silent role players were TM Bilal – Timer,  Ah Counter + Grammarian MTM Sunita Nair. The Shoot Master – TM Muraleedharan Punnamanna

Greet Master MTM Sithara.

General Evaluation was done by TM Rakesh Dayal.

Best Speaker Award winner was MTM Nifiya Sadhwani

Normal meeting concluded at 9.30 PM. After which election for next Excom was conducted by TM Rakesh Dayal.

Following office bearers are elected unanimously

President: TM Santhosh Kumar Ramachandran proposed by TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar and seconded by  TM Mohd Rafi

Secretary: TM Natraj proposed by TM Ravoof and seconded by MTM Jessie D’Souza

Treasurer: TM Jagadish Rao proposed by TM Chandrashekhar Rao and seconded by TM Reghunath Nair

VP Public Relations: TM Muraleedharan Punnamanna proposed by TM George Jacob and seconded by  TM Mohd Rafie

VP Membership: TM Mohammed Rashid proposed by TM Bilal seconded by TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar

VP Education: MTM Raham Sithara proposed by MTM Jessie D’Souza seconded by MTM Sunita Nair

Sergeant-At-Arms: TM Sudhakaran T.K proposed by TM Chandrashekhar Rao and seconded by TM Reghunath Nair

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Rakesh Dayal the Area 30 Governor and the Immediate Past President presided over the elections. Members were asked to send in their nominations and the nominating committee selected them.

The list of the New EXCOM below as elected in the meeting.

Sgt at Arms – Sudhakar
Assistant – Bilal

Secretary – Natraj
Assistants -  Nifya, Prabhakar

Treasurer – Jagdish Rao
Assistant -  George

VP Public Relations – Muraleedharan
Assistant -  Sunita Nair

VP Membership – Mohammed Rashid
Assistants -  Mathew P Mathews, Naveen

VP Education – Raham Sitara
Assistant – Biswaranjan

President – Santhosh Ramachandran

The new EXCOM will take over the office from 1st July 2012, however the training and handover will happen during next two months (May & June).

Lagoon wishes the new EXCOM a successful year ahead.

It’s ‘Deja Vu’ once  again for Lagoon who will be witnessing yet another Emirati local who will be representing us at DTAC Bahrain in 2012. This time it will be the Most Eligible Bachelorette and Lagoon’s vibrant Toastmaster Shurooq AlBanna!

Shurooq AlBanna gave a masterpiece in the Division J contests. She had the audience in splits. Her humour was excellent and connected well with the audience. She was the clear winner from the start. Everyone loved her humour and we at Lagoon are really proud of her. She beat the likes of Gurpeet Singh, Nagarajan, Manish Shastri and Sudhir Menon. Lagoon wishes her the very best in her DTAC Bahrain competition. We are certain that this years DTAC Humorous Champion will be none other than our Shurooq! Go Girl!

We also had and still have a very promising Champ in Natraj our dear ‘Nattu’. His determination and his ‘Go for Broke’ attitude has taken him to the Division in one of the toughest competitions. The International Speeches are the most difficult to deliver because of the tremendous pressure it exerts on the contestants. His first year in Toastmaster and he has reached the Division level in International Speech! That itself will speak volumes in the effort he has put. He was awesome on stage. He made us at Lagoon very proud. You are a champ and winner to all of us at Lagoon. Gloves off to you! Natraj came in a close 3rd in the competition.

Congratulations to Shurooq and Natraj. You guys rocked!

The Division J event as a whole was excellent. Balaji Nagabhushan the Div J Governor made this event a huge success. Hats off to this wonderful man! Most of were wondering why he was not in his usual suit. On closer inspection, he had a horrible accident in which his whole right arm was blistered! A week back while in the kitchen cooking, yes he even cooks!, HOT oil burst from the pan and onto his arm and face. He survived blindness due to the fact he was wearing spectacles! The burns were horrible. Despite this, he managed to pull off one of the best events without any problems. A true leader. No complains whatsoever! Thank you Balaji for your dedication.

Our Area 30 Governor, Rakesh Dayal was a huge support to all of us. The Area governors of Div J have really worked hard to make Div J one of the best Divisions in the region. There were also so many other people who helped make this a grand success. Thank you all.

Lagoon this year had an amazing President in Chandrashekar Rao. He pushed the members to participate and helped them to reach their goals. His hard work paid and now has a member representing us in DTAC Bahrain! Well done Pres! The Lagoon members were also very supportive. Congratulations to all.

The winners of each category will represent Div J in DTAC Bahrain. Lagoon wishes the winners the very best and PLEASE bring back the winners trophy!

The winners of the competition are below.

Evaluation Speech Winners

WINNER - Nelson Menezes
2. Arnel Capili
3. Mohamed Javeed Khan

Humorous Speech Winners

WINNER - Shurooq Al Banna
2. Gurpeet Singh
3. Sudhir Menon

Table Topics Speech Winners

WINNER - Prasad Shetty
2. Hemlatha Thawani
3. Priya Ramachandran

International Speech Winners

WINNER – Priya Ramachandran
2. Rekha Suresh Babu
3. Nataraj T

Photos of the conference. Courtesy Ravoof , Reghunath & Santosh Kumar for some wonderful photos.

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The Division J Annual Conference is to be held this year on May 4th.

This is the day when the best of the best within the Division will be competing against one another to move forward to the highest level in the District. It is also a day for all of us to share our achievements for the year and to meet one another – remember that the Division has grown from around 350 members in the beginning to around 700 plus now – so there are many within our family for us to get introduced. Not only this, we have been crowned the PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED DIVISION and we are expecting to have all our Areas to reach THE PRESIDENT’S DISTINGUISHED AREA STATUS within the next one and half months – so it is time to celebrate.

Mark the following:
DATE – 4TH MAY 2012
DAY – FRIDAY
VENUE – ETISALAT ACADEMY, GHUSAIS

Sponsors:
Main sponsor – TRISTAR

Highlights of the Conference:

- Banner March – 22 clubs – President’s & V P Educations of all clubs to be present mandatory along with the Area Governors.

- Release of Division J Souvenir

- Competitions in four different categories – International Speech, Humorous Speech, Table Topics & Evaluations (Five contestants each)

- Key note – Praveen Armugham – check this link if you wish to know more - praveenmentalist.com

The Contestants are as follows:

Evaluation Speech Contestants

1. Arnel Capili
2. Beenish Zaki
3. Gangadhar Krishna
4. Mohamed Javeed Khan
5. Nelson Menezes

Humorous Speech Contestants

1. Gurpeet Singh
2. KL Nagarajan
3. Manish S Shastri
4. Shurooq Al Banna
5. Sudhir Menon

Table Topics Speech Contestants

1. Gangadhar Krishna
2. Hemlatha Thawani
3. Manish S Shastri
4. Prasad Shetty
5. Priya Ramachandran

International Speech Contestants

1. Manish S Shastri
2. Nataraj T
3. Priya Ramachandran
4. Rekha Suresh Babu
5. Shruti Sharma

The Contest Agenda.

1:30 Registration & Briefing – Contestants, Judges, Role Players

2:30 Call to Order Chief SAA – TM Navendu Rai

2:35 Emcee MTM Sunshine Gerodias/ Taariq Ba’alawy

2:41 Banner March

3:16 Evaluation Contest – Contest Chair: MTM Finali Fernandes

3:22 Target Speech – Mystery Speaker

3:31 Address by Lt Gov Education, District 20 DTM Alex Ginete

3:38 Evaluation Contest – Contest Chair: MTM Finali Fernandes

3:41 Evaluation Contest – 5 Contestants

4:16 Humorous Contest – Contest Chair: TM Reghunath Nair

4:22 Humorous Contest – 5 Contestants

5:17 Surprise – Praveen CA

5:52 – 6:12 20 mins BREAK

6:19 Table Topics Contest – Contest Chair: MTM Charity Madera

6:25 Table Topics Contest – 5 Contestants

6:55 International Speech Contest – Contest Chair: TM A. Hariharan

7:01 International Speech Contest – 5 Contestants

7:56 Division Governor Address – DTM Balaji Nagabhushan

8:02 Closing & prize distribution – DTM Balaji Nagabhushan

8:30 DINNER

Location Map (PDF) - http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/7989318/1031179103/name/Etisalat_Academy_location_map.pdf

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/318943768177482/

 Meeting opening was done by MTM Divya Nair who announced club mission in totally  innovative way and called the meeting to order by highlighting  the role of  scientist Mrs. Tessy Thomas’ involvement in successful test fire of India’s Agni V. The presidential address was done by club VP Membership MTM Raham Sithara who mentioned the Women’s vital roles all phases of life, in family, society, business etc. She handed over the podium to the TMOD, MTM Jessie D’Souza who started with Jawaharlal Nehru’s quote to educate girls to make a society healthy and wealthy. The theme of the meeting was “Woman! -  A MYSTIC, A MYTH & A MYSTERY”  She is God’s WONDER!

This was followed the introduction of 11 guests including family members of Lagoonites.

The  word of the Day “Audacious” meaning extremely bold daring, fearless, courageous introduced by MTM Sharon D’ Souza and was used for 9 times during the meeting.

The Round Robin Session was attended by all on positive & negative qualities of Women.

There were 4 prepared speeches.

P1 Speech

MTM Hind Sahoo with title “My Mother’s Dream” Evaluated by TM Santhosh Ramachadran.

P7 Speeches

MTM Wafa Al Naki with title “Margaret Thatcher & I” Evaluated by  TM Loy Machedo, and

MTM Raseetha Pravin with title “Life Cycle” evaluated by TM Regunath Nair

P10 Speech

MTM Sunita Nair did her milestone speech to get her Competent Communicator with title “Reach for the Sky” Evaluated by TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar.

The Table Topics session was done MTM  Lalitha Rao with different topics of romance and passion.

General Evaluation was done by TM MK Rajan.

The silent role players wereTM Ashraf – Timer;  Ah Counter + Grammarian TM Biswaranjan Samal and Fine Timer – TM Rakesh Dayal

AWARDS

Best Speaker - MTM Sunita Nair.

Best Table Topics  - TM Muraleedharan Punnamanna

Best Evaluator – TM Dr. Balan Vijay Kumar

Meeting concluded at 10.00 PM.

Photos Courtesy TM Muralee

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The competition was held between 4 clubs which participated, namely: Creations Gavel Club, Dubai, TKMCE Gavel Club, Sharjah, Chattering Monsters Gavel Club, Dubai and the SLP Gavillers, Dubai. These clubs were represented by Toastmasters Avinash D’souza, Jessie D’Souza, CK Jaidev and Tilak Weerakoon respectively.

Four contests namely Evaluation, Humorous, Table Topics and International were held with 8 Gavillers in each contest. The whole contest was held by the gavillers for the gavillers!

The Chief Sergeant at arms was Randanu. The Emcees of the day were Raunak Kapoor and Shweta Tripathi. The did a fabulous job of handling the entire contest. The Evaluation contest chair was Nikhil Vishwanathan, the Humorous contest chair was Osura Dissanayake, the Table Topics chair was Rahul Gupta and the International speech chair was Victoria Pereira.

The contest chairs did a fantastic job of conducting the contests just or even better than their older Toastmasters. Good show guys.

The contestants gave their best and performed well. We could just see how well they prepared and how seriously they took the competition. They were also smartly dressed. Even though only 3 winners were chosen for each event, it was clear that in all our hearts, each and every contestant was a Champion. Many had broken hearts, but willing took the advice of the adult Toastmasters and regained composure and am sure will do better the next time. It is not only about winning but  what experiences you take back with you that matters.

We also had a Key Note speen by fellow Toastmaster Sujith Sukumaran. The inspirational and adorable person most of us look up to. He gave us a memorable speech. Thank you Sujith.

Finally, last but not the least, the organisers of the event and DTM Balaji Nagabhusan (Div J Gov) who revived the Gavel competition and has promised that we will have the Gavel competition in the DTAC next year in Dubai. Thank you TM Balaji for all that you are doing and have done for the division. You are a true leader.

Results of the contest below.

Evaluation Contest:
Winner – Tania Gurdasani (Creations Gavel Club)
First Runner up – Rose Roy (TKMCE Gavel Club)
Second Runner up – Sanchit Ram Arvind (Chattering Monsters Gavel Club)

Humorous Speech Contest:
Winner – Pranav Shankar Subramani (Chattering Monsters Gavel Club)
First Runner up – Harshini (SLP Gaveliers)
Second Runner up – Anshul Raghuram (Chattering Monsters Gavel Club)

Table Topics Contest:
Winner – Simran Gurdasani (Creations Gavel Club)
First Runner up – Antara Jaidev (Chattering Monsters Gavel Club)
Second Runner up – Y.Sri Vishnu (TKMCE Gavel Club)

International Speech Contest:
Winner – Parantap Tripathi (Creations Gavel Club)
First Runner up – Gautham Lakshmi Narayanan (Chattering Monsters Gavel Club)
Second Runner up – Tania Gurdasani (Creations Gavel Club)

Messages from;

TM Jessie D’Souza (TKMCE Gavel Club, Sharjah)

Dear Children,

The long awaited contest is now over and all those who participated in the contests have certainly become better than what they were before. Those who came 1st 2nd and 3rd are slightly a cut above the rest, while the rest are still in the race and some day it will be their game to claim the glory.
Our children gave their best and two from our club emerged as runners up and for the others, it is not the end but the beginning of their challenge because all the winners are pretty seniors compared to our contestants. So there is time to mature and become more confident and next year we are going to have the DTAC (District Toastmasters Annual Conference) in Dubai and this Division Contest is further extended to District Level.

Our thanks to the main role players – Raunak as emcee, Rahul and Victoria as Contest Chairs – you made us proud. Other volunteers Kanisha, Deepika, Avinash, Prashasti – thanks for your leadership spirit.

Public Speaking is a knack you cultivate only by speaking to the public so children, grab every opportunity that you get at the club level and master the art of speaking and when you finally shine as a Public Speaker, only the fruits are visible and not the rough routes.

B/regards
Jessie & Sunita.

DTM Balaji Nagabhushan (Div J Governor)

The Gavel contest hosted by Division J was rolicking. Contestants were confident, committeed, enthusiastic and of course nervous. Topics and speeches were scintillating – can’t explain all of them here. Audience filled the hall – no space – was what I had to tell people who came in late.

Thank you to all the Toastmasters, Gaveliers, Parents and members of the audience – the contest was actually For the Gaveliers, Of the Gaveliers and By the Gaveliers. This was truly their contest because right from the MC, Contest Chair,Timer, Tally Counter, Sgt At Arms – every role except the judging was done by them in immaculate fashion. In fact, I have a comment as a very senior TM – if I were to learn how to conduct a contest as Contest Chair, yesterday was the day – the children were perfect, great language skills and the strictness in the tone!! Wow.

While every Gavelier who participated in the contest was a winner, the judges had to vote for the following. Congratulations to the super performers.

Photographs will be posted in a day or two. Great show.

Gavillers! You Guys Rocked!

Photos courtesy Murali Panchapakesan

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This once-a-year phenomenon will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the heart of Bahrain, on May 24,25 & 26, 2012 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and will be attended by Toastmasters leaders and members from across 6 countries around the gulf-including: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Jordan and Lebanon.

As per directive from the District, all registrations are to be done only through the Division Governors. So, anyone who wishes to register, the cost is US $150/- (since the early bird period is already over) and they have to send their registration forms with the funds to the Division Governors.

The District 20 is comprised of 12 Divisions, Divisions A, C and K from Bahrain, Divisions B, F, J and H from UAE, Division D from Oman, Division E from Qatar, Divisions G and I from Kuwait and Division N from Jordan and Lebanon. Together these 12 Divisions will send their respective champions to compete for the district’s representative to the world arena in the International Convention in Orlando, Florida on August 2012.

District Toastmasters Annual Conference 2012, is an event takes place every year. Entire Toastmasters from District 20, which includes Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordon and Lebanon. This conference is termed as DTAC. This 3 day conference brings the Toastmasters of District 20 together to select a champion to represent District 20 at USA, and also it allows Toastmasters, students, business professionals, and people from all walks of life to witness the following:

• Participate in the District level International Speech, Humorous Speech, Evaluation and Table Topics Contests. In these contests, winners of each division compete for winning spots. Winners will represent District 20 in the Toastmasters International convention which will be held in USA later in 2012. These competitions thus feature the best speakers in the region.
• Attend Keynote Speeches and Educational Workshops by World Champion Speakers, and professionals in the training and communication fields.
• Network with Toastmasters from all over the region.
• Toastmasters of District 20 can attend and learn from very important District executive committees and Council Meetings.
• Have a memorable educational experience together.

Date: May 24,25 & 26, 2012 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Manama, Bahrain

If you have any queries regarding DTAC-2012, please contact the organizers - dtacbahrain@gmail.com

DTAC Bahrain website - http://dtac2012.com

DTAC 2012 Agenda

This is the First Inter Gavel Contest to be hosted by Division J. Four clubs will contest with eight contestants in each category. A treat for the Seniors to watch and learn from the Juniors.

Gaviliers and Parents are requested to confirm their seats with the Gavel Clubs. Toastmasters of Division J, confirm your seats with your Area Governor. Toastmasters of Division B, F and H – do send the Div J Governor TM Balaji Bhushan a mail if you wish to attend.

Seats are limited. So, rush your entries.

Gavillers! Register with respective Gavel Club Coordinators

Toastmasters! Register with respective Area Governors

Date: 21st April 2012, Saturday
Time: 2pm onward
Venue: Skyline University College, Sharjah

Gavellier Rahan Kapor, from TKMCE Gavel Club practiced his contest speech “Our Neighbor”.

The meeting opening was done by SAA TM George Jacob who announced club mission and called the meeting to order. The presidential address was done by club VP Education TM Praveen K N  who highlighted Lagoon’s 2012 to be a DTAC winner and  congratulated our members  who won the area contest held on 6^th Friday. He handed over the podium to the TMOD, TM Balakrishnan Nambiar who started with TMI tag line “Where the leaders are made” and presented the theme of the day “Leading Minds”. He put more points on type of leaders like Direct, Non-direct and Institutional leaders.

This was followed the introduction of five guests.

The  word of the Day “FERVOUR” meaning intense & passionate feeling was introduced by TM Rodney Araujo and was used for 14 times during the meeting.

The Round Robin Session was attended by all on Leadership views.

There were 5 prepared speeches.

P4 Speech

TM  Jagdish Rao with title “Opportunities”  Evaluated by TM Sajith Koroth

Two P8 Speeches

TM Mathew P Mathews with title “Branding” Evaluated by MTM Sunita Nair and second P8 by MTM Sithara with title “Don’t waste the waste” evaluated by TM Reghunath Nair.

ACS 8  Speech

TM M K Rajan  done his ACS 8 with title “AC Engineering” Evaluated by TM Rakesh Dayal.

ACG 2 Speech

TM Dr. Balan Vijaykumar done Radio Show with MTM Divya Nair which is ACG 2. was evaluated by TM Santhosh Ramachadran .

The Table Topics session was done MTM  Divya Nair with different topics on leadership.

General Evaluation was done by TM Mohd Rafi

The silent role players were TM Biswaranjan Samal - Timer and Fine Timer – TM Mohd Rashed.

The Best Speaker Award winner was MTM Sithara

The Best Table Topics winner was TM Prabhakar Krishaswamy

The Best Evaluator was TM Santhosh Ramachadran

 Meeting concluded at 10.00 PM.

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It was a fantastic outing for Lagoon Toastmasters this Friday. Indeed it was a Good Friday! We had fantastic speakers in all 4 categories; International, Humorous, Evaluation and Table Topics. All participants did their best and did justice. We expected to bring home all 4 trophies, but unfortunately we missed out on 2.

Lagoon won the Humorous and International Speech Contests this evening. Shurooq AlBanna won the Humorous Speech Contest and Natraj won the International Speech Contest. It was a very good competition with other participants performing their best, but these two came out winners.

International Speech winner Natraj & Humorous Speech winner Shurooq

The Evaluation Speech Contest 1st runner up was our beloved Sunita Nair.

The winner of the Evaluation and Table Topics Speech contest was Gangadhar Krishna from City of Gold Toastmasters. The runner up trophies were won by Skyline University College Toastmasters.

Congratulations all winners and wishing them the very best in the next levels!

Sunita Nair, Natraj and Shurooq

Loy Machedo was fantastic in all aspects, but it is a mystery as to why he did not win any award. He delivered his best. Jessie was confused as to why she was given such a useless Table Topic! How dare they give such a topic! You two did your best (i dont know about Jessie!). Better luck next time!

There were a lot of toastmasters who put in their efforts to make this event a success. DTM Nagabhushan Balaji, CL Revathy Venkatratnam, CL Jayesh Ved and many more graced the occasion. Area Governors also attended including our very own Rakesh Dayal. Rafi and Sitara did a fabulous job and got everything arranged from top to bottom. They remembered they had forgotten to eat only when the contests were over. We should all appreciate their dedication and effort they put. You guys are amazing. Our President Chandrashekar was the silent helper and mentor.

The MC of the day, Reghunath, was at his best. He did a fantabulous job. Kudos to him.

In all it was a great evening with a lot of surprises, fun, entertainment, food, education and happiness!

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