With two highly enthusiastic & Creative Toastmasters viz.,TM Preethi and TM Subhasini it is not difficult to get our275th Milestone Newsletter in time for the meeting inspiteof the short time-frame and in the process also trying toexperiment with content and presentation.

We have an amazing line-up of articles and I urgeeverybody to read, enjoy and discover for yourself.

When I first heard about Toastmasters, it was all aboutpublic speaking and once I came in I realized that it wasalso about Leadership Development. While there is aseparate leadership track and opportunities to takeleadership roles in the club, Division and then in theDistrict, I also realized an indirect benefit the ToastmastersPlatform offers.

Abraham Maslow in his article “Theory of Motivation” talksabout self-actualization - ‘a desire to become more andmore of what one is, to become everything that one iscapable of becoming’.

In a way the Toastmasters platform offers an opportunityfor self-actualization. Invariably, most of us come and talkabout our personal experiences and the lessons we havelearnt. By giving a speech, it helps us in internalizing theselessons so that it becomes a part of ourselves. Essentially,we just don’t talk; we gradually learn to “walk the talk”.That is the power of Toastmasters. If we really make use ofToastmasters Platform well, it will not only make us intogood speakers, but will also help us in transforming intoLeaders and better human beings.

We are starting a New Year and at Medley’s it will be onemore year of achievements for a club which is alreadyflying high. Aptly the theme of this newsletter is “Raisingthe Bar”. The outgoing Ex-com team has already raisedthe bar and I could see that the new Ex-com Team isalready geared up with plans to have extra meetingsduring Sundays so that members get more opportunitiesto use the Toastmasters Platform.

I wouldn’t being doing justice if I didn’t mention thecontribution of TM Amit Kumar and TM Krishnapratap whochipped in and helped the editorial team when we wererunning against time.

We the editorial Team wish all the Club Members a VeryHappy New Year and a wonderful 2015 to look forward to,and in the process help in “Raising the Bar” of Medley’s togreater heights.

Best Wishes

Balamurali

Editorial Team(lef-right)– Subhasini, Preethi, Balamurali,Krishna Pratap and Amit

From the Editor’s Desk

The New Ex-Com-Speaks

All achievements start from a single point...aspiration!

Your strategy, plan, action, review and finally reaching the goal...all depend onhow much you aspire for it.

Aspiration gives you great powers to reach the unreachable, conquer theunconquerable, and win over the unmanageable, because you feel a sense ofaccomplishment once you attain that state which defines your aspiration.

I would like to quote the famous dialogue from the movie, The Pursuit ofHappiness - "You want something in life, Go get it. Period."

We all decided to join Toastmasters because we had that aspiration to become somebody and do somethingwhich is unique to every one of us. But we gained confidence wading through various Toastmasters practicesthat prepared us, enabled us to be fit and ready to reach our ambitions. In that process, as a byproduct, wemet a great number of people who interacted with us and became friends, forever. We are fortunate to meetgreat personalities, get involved in various events, have lengthy discussions even arguments that enhancedour skill sets and matured us further.

Our Past District Governor DTM Kumaran Pethi used to say, "We all joined Toastmasters because we have apurpose but continue to stay because of friendship"

Dear Toastmasters, Medley has achieved this feat with profound dignity. Medley has a great history of 6 years,a list of accolades, leadership talent and a huge set of friends.

I congratulate all the members of Medley Toastmasters club on this great occasion and wish a continuedjourney with the same kind of friendship, camaraderie and satisfaction.

ALL THE BEST!

Distinguished Toastmaster Guruprasad

Message Corner-from Division

Guru PrasadGovernor, Division I, Dist 82

A Toastmasters club is formed to serve its members; all leaders are servant leadersof Toastmasters International. Only when we raise the bar and reach newerheights we inspire the members of the club. This is a collective responsibility. Whenthe leaders of the club follow the guidelines set by Toastmasters international, theclub achieves its goals, which is nothing but its members achieving their goals inleadership and communication track.

I joined Medley Toastmasters Club in 2012, since then I have seen continual progress in the overall functioningof the club. The club has been offering consistent support to District 82 - be it in the form of District leaders,Contestants, supporting in Annual conferences and most importantly, achieving all educational records asstipulated by Toastmasters International.

The current membership strength, which is 70+, shows guests are interested to join the club and membersrenew the membership dues with Toastmasters International. When you see your fellow members take upadditional roles, participate in contests, extend their support beyond the club activities and consistently deliverproject speeches, you get inspired and motivated to do so. This is the differentiating factor of an average cluband a good club.

The last one year has been a remarkable year for Medley’s. The club has raised the bar from performing tosuper performing - 2 DTMs, District Contestants, highest educational awards in the District.

“When you lower the definition of success to such a level that any person can reach it, you don’t teachpeople to have big dreams; instead you inspirit mediocrity and nurture people’s inadequacies.”

Shannon L. Alder .

This is exactly the same approach followed by Medley in the past one year.

On the occasion of celebrating the 275th milestone meeting, I wish Medley Toastmasters club anothersuccessful year ahead. I hope Medley will remain as a beacon of hope and inspiration for Toastmasterfraternity, as they are now.

Message Corner-from Area

Toastmaster Alex ACB, ALB

Alex JacobArea Governor, Division I Area 2

Message Corner-from club

Firstly, I would like to wish the members of Medley Toastmasters Club a VeryHappy and Prosperous New Year 2015.

After a short while of silence (off course, 18 Months) in my toastmaster’s journey, Ientered Medley’s executive committee as a Sergeant At Arms during the Januaryto June 2013 term. Past President of Medley Toastmasters Club, TM Varadarajanhad identified the leadership talent in me while nominating me as the SAA.Personally it was a jubilant journey for me. I didn’t know that I will end up beingthe president of Medley, but for the support of many able toastmasters and myurge for learning and leading. It’s like a dream come true when I completed thisterm as a President of Medley.

It was a proud moment, when I signed off as a president on 31 Dec 2014; we as a club have achieved a lot.Following are the few achievements during these six months and also in the previous year:

- Golden Gavel Plus awardees for 2013-2014- Maximum number of educational awards – 20 Awards within 120 days (1 July 2014 to 30 Oct 2014)- Distinguished Club Status within 12 days of new term ( on 12 July 2014)- Select Distinguished Club Status within 90 days (two out of 168 clubs achieved this feet on 30 Oct 2014)- Our member TM Ramalingam (VP Education) has represented the Humorous Speech Contest in District

Level Conference – Reverberation 2014.- On the leadership front also, we are having Division I Governor DTM Guruprasad, Area I2 Governor TM

Alex Jacob and I representing from Medley Toastmasters Club- We have added 22 new members in a span of 6 months

This would not be possible without the able support from my wonderful team of Ex-com Members.

SAA – TM Kruthika; Treasurer – TM Seenivasan; Secretary – TM Ramalingam; VP PR – TM Ilangathir;VP M – TM Mohan; VP E – TM Parandaman

List will not be complete without mentioning about this person, TM Sarathy Srinivas – Immediate Past Presidentwho gave me the confidence and opportunity to try and execute my plan even it was tiny. It wouldn’t havepossible to achieve these many awards without the benefit of his meticulous plan / strategy.

Yesterday is always history. Medley Members and Ex-com team also believe the same. Hence, the plan for thecoming years will supersede all these achievements. I am sure we are going to have new dimensions to ourperformance in the upcoming year.

I wish good luck to the new President TM Parandaman and his team!

As always, I will be there to support and perform as a member of this club. I do expect all other fellowToastmasters to come forward and help the club by which we can grow in our Communication andLeadership Journey.

Toastmaster Sateesh CC, ALB

SateeshIPP Medley Toastmasters ClubDCP Chair – Dist 82

Why?

Joe learnt the art of storytelling andused it in a compelling way to turnboring memos into interesting ones. TheCEO took note of these developmentsand the effect and reach of thesememos and appointed Joe as the firstCorporate Story Teller. The CEO alsorealised the power of Joe and hisstories – He came to Joe when heneeded to communicate a new ideaor change across the employeesthrough Joe’s memo.

Welcome to the World of Story Telling.An Art which lost its identity in adocumented world and over the lastfew years finding its way back and it isdefinitely here to stake its claim andstay forever.

As a new Research Scientist in a largefirm – Joe had a task of publishing amonthly memo to all the employeesupdating R&D activities every month –and any key idea or point that R&Dwanted to communicate. Joe did thisboring task for many years – a reporteven fellow research scientists won’t beenthused to read.

One day he struck an idea – Hecreated a character as the researchscientist and also named him. He wrotethe same memo as set of interactions

between this character and fellow R&Demployees – Though the final messagein the memo is what they needed toconvey – he changed the way thememo was written. This became hugelypopular among employees –readership improved. He also startedcreating characters which are verysimilar to actual employees in otherdepartments and also start writingthose interactions as well. His memosbecame hugely popular.

“In every speech orsituation, stories come inhandy and a well toldstory helps bring theclarity in your message”

A teacher narrating astory to a group ofchildren.

“Stories appeal to allkinds of learners –Visual, Auditory andKinesthetic learners.”

Art of Story Telling

“Introduce thehook or conflict – ahurdle which ispreventing the heroin achieving thegoal”

What does themain character donow? Will attemptsomething and fail– this is the firstescalation

or in any environment to add valueto your speech andInfluence/inspire/persuade theaudience. Stories are invaluable tolay a platform before you conveyyour idea or message – it could becorporate values or persuade ateam to adapt to a new process ortechnology.

From a content perspective – asimple format for a story will be

1. Set the timeline, context(Remember CC4 – vivid descriptionswill transport the audience to theplace of the story)2. Describe (Launch) the character– set the attributes of the character.3. What does the main characterwant to achieve and why4. Introduce the hook or conflict – ahurdle which is preventing the heroin achieving the goal

Why story telling is so powerful?It appeals to emotions of theaudience quite naturally and aWell-told story is the secret ofconnecting easily and effectivelywith any audience. Stories appealto all kinds of learners – Visual,Auditory and Kinesthetic learners.That’s the reason why it isconsidered one of the best ways toconnect with any type of audience.

Toastmasters has a story tellingmanual which has 5 diverse andinteresting projects to hone yourstory telling skills. In every speech orsituation, stories come in handy anda well told story helps bring theclarity in your message. We, aschildren love stories. We gotvaluable messages, moral values,and interesting incidents all thrustories. As we grow up – we tend tolose touch with this invaluable tool.You can use stories in a work setting

5. What does the main character do now? Willattempt something and fail – this is the first escalation.6. To introduce another escalation to make the storyinteresting and keep the audience keenly involved.7. Then finally the climax – and also re-emphasize themessage you want to convey.

Most of the stories or movies would follow a similarformat. You can introduce your own twist – but thisbasic framework will serve any kind of story.

All of CC5 (Body Language) and CC6 (Vocal Variety)is needed to deliver a well written story in a powerfulway.

How do we get stories?

We get stories from personal experience and byreading regularly. It will help to create an index ofstories which will come in handy for any kind ofspeech or presentations.

You can start with time line – Go back as far as youcan remember and for each year/month – list a keyincident which has impacted you.

Toastmaster Mohan CC, CL

Document the following questions:

1. When did it happen and what happened?2. Who were the main characters and what werethe emotions?3. What was the sequence of events (Please referthe format above) and what happened finally?4. Why did this story impact you?5. What message did you learn from this?6. Finally – very important – why would theaudience care about this story?

Once you qualify with these questions theparticular story is ready to be added to your listand indexed. Of course – don’t forget to update itevery week – as stories will continue happeningaround you.

Happy Storytelling!!!

How long have you been atoastmaster and what made youjoin Toastmasters?I am a toastmaster from 2012.Myprofession demanded me to deliverspeeches. So I joined Toastmastersto develop my public speaking skills.When I walked in to the club as aguest, I understood the tremendousopportunity for my communicationskills. On the same day, I paidmembership fees and became amember.

How did your Toastmasters Journeycontribute to your personal andprofessional growth?

Initially I joined to develop mycommunication skills. Later, Irealized the leadership opportunityavailable.

An Interview with Toastmaster Ramalingam-Dist. 82 District Level Humorous Speech Contestant

Toastmaster Ramalingam CC, CL

TM Ramalingam CC, ALB, isa prominent member of the MedleyToastmasters club. A native ofSivakasi, Ramalingam did hisschooling in Tamil medium. He saysthat English used to be a nightmarefor him those days. But hehas traveled a long way from thenand now, he is the winner from theMedley Club and participated inthe district level humorous speechcontest. Professionally, Ramalingamis working as a Financial Plannerand Investment Advisor to SeniorCorporate Executives and NRIs. Heis running his own investmentadvisory company for the past 15years and he has received “BestFinancial Advisor Award – SouthIndia” from CNBC TV 18. He answersa few questions about hisToastmasters Journey.

Communication skills learned at toastmasters helpedme communicate better with my colleagues andclients.

Leadership lessons learned at toastmasters helped melead my team in a better way. Though I had an MBA,Toastmasters gave me a lot of practical and workableleadership strategies.

You were the winner from the Medley Club andparticipated in the district level humorous speechcontest, how do you go about writing and developingyour humorous speeches?

To be frank, I am not a humorous person. Most ofspeeches are motivational or inspirational.

So I wanted to learn humor. So first I watchedhumorous speeches and humorous movie scenes andunderstood the logic or formula or science behindeach and every joke. As I learned the formula, Iapplied it and created my own script.

After writing it I sent to my mentor and seniortoastmasters for review. Based on the feedback, Irevised it. I have reviewed by script with more than 20persons. Revised or improvised script more than 30times. Because I believe in “Best speeches are notwritten; they are all rewritten”.

What is your worst fear when you get on to the stage atcontests?

At the club level, my fear was “Whether people will laughat the jokes or not” because I was testing my script in frontof an audience for the first time.

At the area, division, and district, I had the fear of facingthe unknown audience and the number of audience. AfterI faced these fears at every stage, I realized that thesefears are just an illusion.

How can new members to the club fully capitalise theToastmasters platform?

To get the maximum out of the toastmasters program,- The first step is to attend regularly to all the meetings andparticipate in the meetings actively by taking up roles orspeech slots.

-Next try to be part of sub-committee to ex-com andbecome part of ex-com and continue in ex-com for 3 to 4terms at least, playing different ex-com roles

- Go beyond your home club and visit other clubs andattend programs like OTP, JTP, conferences…You need to make use of the unlimited opportunitiesavailable in toastmasters to become a bettercommunicator and leader.

Mother -The epitome of Love

Today in the daily newspaper, I read an article where Swami Parthasarathydefines attachment as the most distinguishing characteristic of humans, unlikeanimals. He defines attachment to wealth, power and family (spouse, children) asa disease that is worse than AIDS and cancer. Attachment is typically mistaken forlove, but actually it is love along with selfishness.

This article made me think about the meaning of love in the context ofmotherhood as I always believed that mothers are the ones that are capable ofloving their offspring and not be selfish about it. Is mother’s love truly selfless? Or

All through my childhood, my mother was right beside me during all my asthma attacks, and bronchitis,relentlessly trying to find that magic cure by taking me to various doctors and naturopathy practitioners.Although she knew she will be left all alone in India, she let go of me and my brother to pursue higher studiesabroad. When we decided to move back to India, it was she who said we should think otherwise, not reallythinking about herself during her old age. Even now, she can detect if I am sad, ill or unhappy just by talking tome on the phone. That is the magic of mother’s love that is irreplaceable.

Being a mom myself with my own family to provide for, seldom do I notice that nobody really cares as much asa mom does. For example, only when my mom is visiting, I get asked whether I had my coffee or my breakfastbefore I head out to work. I get my lunch packed with a variety of fruits, salad and nutritious snacks along witha sumptuous menu. Sometimes, she will not shy in literally feeding me from hand to mouth, my breakfast if I amin a hurry getting out the door. It is a simple truth in that, a mother’s heart goes all out for its offspring, and shedoes this out of pure love, no strings attached.

One of my colleagues quoted an example of mom’s love as he saw it unfolding in the train tracks of Mumbai.It was pouring rain, and three rag pickers had only 2 cups of tea. The mother was holding on to a full cup whilethe son was sharing his entire cup with his son (her grandson). All the while, the mother was muttering and inthe end scolded her son to have shared all his tea and urged him to drink her cup before it gets cold, not evencaring if her tummy goes hungry.

Providing for your offspring in a selfless manner, at the cost of your own health is a universal characteristic ofmothers in general. My servant maid’s sister recently was hospitalized for a week for kidney stonecomplications. She had grown so weak and staying at her sister’s would have helped with her recovery.However, after one day of her discharge, she heads home to cater to her 10 and 14 year old sons who wereactually taking care of themselves quite well.

How many times have you gone without breakfast in the morning, only thinking about your kids, and spouse’sneeds? Another friend once told me that only when she was diagnosed with cancer that her dying friendrealized how much she missed out of life, for she hardly took care of herself, multitasking as a mother, wife andthe VP of a company at the same time.

A very senior colleague of mine once praised his wife as the person who is the center of his family’s strengthand unity, without whom he or his family wouldn’t be what he/they are today. He elaborated that they live ina modest two bedroom apartment with their two sons, two daughters in laws and 1 grandson. I was awestruckfor I thought my three bedroom rental was just enough for us and any guests who will visit us. My colleagueand wife sleep in the living room with the grandson, while the bedrooms are given to their children. Thegrandma cooks for the entire family, makes their lunch boxes, and provides for their every need, while thedaughter in laws worked during the week. I am sure they help out, however, when he told me that the day shefalls sick, dinner is ordered from outside, I realized how important her role is in the family. She was indeed theepitome of love, her selfless service towards her family truly was the reason they were all living under one roof,a rarity not found in many households of today.

As children grow up, and start having a family of their own, mother’s love is actually depicted in manycomedies as the unwelcome thorn in any married couple’s life. Classic example is that of the Americanseries, “Everybody loves Raymond” where the story revolves around the Italian mom who loves her sonRaymond so much that she practically lives in his house or he in hers (they are neighbors). Soap operas inregional languages in India have one common theme and that is to make fun of the never ending dramabetween “Mother in law and daughter in laws” in general.

Toastmaster Vidya CC, CL

I've heard about Toastmasters. I was close to enrolling myself to a Toastmastersclub in the US few years back. I didn't muster the courage as a sense of doubtcrossed my mind. A missed opportunity, I would say. If I had enrolled then, I couldhave gained a lot over the past few years, purely based on what I learned in thefirst month as a Toastmaster at Medley. Albeit not a professional public speaker, Iwas a seasoned speaker sans the fear of the stage.

Jarod Kintz in $3.33 quotes that “99% of the population is afraid of publicspeaking, and of the remaining 1%, 99% of them have nothing original andinteresting to say.” I came to know about Medley around September 2014 and Ifinally crossed the first hesitant hurdle and rolled up my sleeves to join Medley.

Over the next 3 weeks I noted quite a few nice things, I shall take the liberty to quote Aristotle, “These are thethree things—volume of sound, modulation of pitch, and rhythm—that a speaker bears in mind. It is those whodo bear them in mind who usually win prizes in the dramatic contests; and just as in drama the actors nowcount for more than the poets, so it is in the contests of public life, owing to the defects of our politicalinstitutions.”

I saw that speakers used eloquence in their speeches (paraphrasing William Shakespeare) to give a uniquemeaning to the primary objective of TMI and what we learn in CC Manual. I also learnt – as a first time “AhCounter” TAG team member, the number of fillers, pauses and irrelevant messages we use, given English is notour mother tongue. I learnt a lot while I watched the YouTube video of my table topic speech for areas I needto improve on.

Whilst preparing for my speeches, I remembered the famous quote by Dale Carnegie – “There are alwaysthree speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one youwish you gave.” Post my speech – I felt Dale Carnegie was absolutely right.

I believe, man is a social animal and no one is perfect. I also believe that learning is a lifelong process. What Ilearnt in my first month’s experience as a TM is what JRD Tata mentioned once “One must forever strive forexcellence, or even perfection, in any task however small, and never be satisfied with the second best”.

I do feel that the Medley TM members never start with diffidence; they always start with confidence in any taskthey handle. I do feel each week’s task is important for all the office bearers, executive committee anddesignated team members to propel the club to next level.

The keenness to give 100% is openly seen with the energy and commitment by officers running the club. I dothink joining a corporate club may have the following disadvantages compared to a community club

• “Birds of a feather” mentality may exist and “diversity and inclusion” of thought leadership may not be aswide in terms of types of people attending, wealth of wisdom and experience they bring in.Community clubs draw a wide cross-section of people.

• Gives a better vista to show-case leadership skills.

Personally I feel that for Medley Toastmasters to be helpful, Rapid assimilation of new members and guests intothe mix is required as this is a community club.

I would like to conclude by saying, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But, we have promises to keep andmiles to go before we sleep; Miles to go before we sleep” by drawing a parallel to Robert Frost’s poem that Iused for my CC1 speech.

Toastmaster Kalilur Rahman

My First Month- in Toastmasters

Looking Back- reverbs’14

A Toastmaster’s conference gives you opportunities to learn and to grow. You’ll be exposed to people andexperiences that may very well positively influence the rest of your life, personally and professionally. Considering this,Toastmasters International recommends all its districts to conduct a minimum of two conferences per year; One inthe Jul-Dec term and the other in theJan-Jun term.

Every conference is an experience in itself, for people with a purpose. It has all that a communication & leadershipforum can offer to its members, listening to dignified officers, invited speakers, attending training sessions on variousconcepts, watching seasonal contests, networking with fellow TMs and last but not the least, have lot of fun!

The first season conference (aka Semi Annual Conference) consists of Humorous Speech finals and Evaluationcontest finals, where participants from various divisions showcase their abilities, entertain and enthrall the audience.The second season (Annual Conference) comprises of International Speech Contest – district level contest and TableTopics finals. The winner of the International Speech Contest in the district gets the opportunity to participate in theultimate finals of World Championship in Public Speaking and get the coveted award. Also, business meetings tomanage and review the district’s activities are also conducted. Annual Conference holds an election to elect itsnew set of officers and conducts change of guard.

The recent Reveberations 2014 that happened in “Namma Chennai” had all the typical flavors of a Toastmastersconference. Declaring the theme as “Revitalizing Ambitions” the enthusiastic organizers geared up right from theprevious Annual Conference Ovation 2014 at Goa. The organizers had created unique ideas to capture theattention of the members and get them registered. Small size cut outs featuring various specialities of Tamilnadudepicted along with a cartoon of Rajinikanth was placed with a headless human image in a corner, All those whohave registered would be allowed a photograph with their heads affixed in the top of that caricature. There was ahuge rush at registration with people thronging in queues to get oneself photographed.

The heat picked up right from May along with the summer, preparations were in full swing, The venue was one of themuch sought after hotels in Chennai, the Greenpark.

At this moment, it is heartening and a matter of pride to recognize that a good number of Toastmasters from ourDivision ‘I’ and particularly from Medley Toastmasters Club have played significant roles in the conference andsupported the entire team to make it more memorable.

Starting with TM Vijayalakshmi, who was the conference chair (from Division I) and co-chair M Ilangathir from MedleyToastmasters Club & Chennai Communicators Club, we have a big list of around 27 toastmasters of Division ‘I’involved in the conference. Nine members of Medley Toastmasters club played designated roles in the conferencewith many others supporting ad-hoc during the conference days.

Also, it was a proud day for Medley which was showered with awards and recognitions.

Magical Moments of Medley:

The conference commenced with the District Council’s business meeting on Day 1 morning. All the district leadersshared their messages and strategies to the members present. All division governors presented their semi-annualreport about their respective performance.

For the first time, live blogging of all the events of the conference was presented in the district website. A team ofbloggers headed by District Webmaster performed wonderful work by instantly updating all the happenings of theconference with apt photographs.

Afternoon started with a colorful parade of the district officers, called Flag March, with the Division Governors leadingtheir team of Area Governors and presenting themselves to the audience amidst fantastic musing and fanfare.Audience thoroughly enjoyed the parade by applauding and cheering their leaders.

An artistic inaugural ceremony with music, dance and percussion ensembles added charm to the event. Thedrummers’ event was especially full of energy and entertainment.

Looking Back- Continues...

Educational session on Professionalism and Excellence by Dr. LS Ganesh of IIT was really educative and emotional. Itwas about giving your fullest to the nation and participating in its development. The speaker quoted from the IndianConstitution, where it expects every citizen to have as his duty – “to strive towards excellence in all spheres ofindividual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement.”He emphasized on our full adherence to the requirements of the constitution to take our country to greater heights. Itwas an inspiring speech applauded even by the people from Srilanka and United states.

Followed by the speech, was a keynote address cum educational session by World Champion of Public SpeakingDTM Jim Key. He captured not just the minds but also the hearts of the audience through his performance. Heexplained certain specific traits required for delivering effective speeches. He also advised on how to be observantand create a repository of our observations so that such information could be used in our speeches.

He also reiterated the need for servant leadership by enacting a small demo with his hand towel as a prop. That wasboth mesmerizing with respect to the content as well as learning with respect to public speaking skills. As a persona,he was down to earth in his behavior and approachability. The Audience felt that they were communicating with anoble human being rather than with a world champion, while talking to DTM Jim.

As a fitting climax, he also performed his world championship speech that left the audience spellbound. Well, theday ended with another sweet beginning! The fun night!

Delicious food along with drinks both for liquor fans and teetotalers were served. Added attraction was a captureyourself fun photography stall where everybody was allowed to photograph themselves, individually or in a groupwith various makeups and the machine delivered a collage of photos nicely. The Fun night turned out to be reallyhilarious and ‘fun’tastic.

The next day 16th November 2014, started with anxiety filled moments as the district finals was about to begin.Evaluation contests commenced as the first event for the day. Division ‘I’ member from Infosys SholsToastmastersClub, TM Akansha was the target speaker. One more accolade to our Division. Division I was represented by TMShreedevi Ramesh in the evaluation contest, who did justice to her presence in the finals.

Following the contests, there were a series of educational sessions, first one by Shri Babu Vittal of Flipkart aboutLeadership qualities required for a job change. He presented various scenarios during a job change and gave tipson how to adapt to those situations. With the current trend of people focusing on career growth by migrating tovarious organisations, it was a very useful session.

Next speech was by enterpreneur Mrs. Patricia Narayanan, who grew amidst tremendous challenges in her life tobecome a successful enterpreneur today. Her emotional life story really moved the audience.

Pre-lunch session was handled by Shri Sujith Kumar, Head HR Infosys and an eminent speaker who had delivered agreat number of speeches before large audiences. His talk was about being compassionate with fellow humansand supporting destitute children pursuing their educational goals. He explained about an organisation calledMaatram that he is running, which he helps a lot children in their educational goals just by referral programs. Due tohis oratorical skills, he managed to hold peoples attention even though the session was scheduled right before theLunch break.

Post lunch was recognition of various clubs members for their achievements. Medley was showered with numerousawards in this session. Various leaders and TM dignitaries also spoke and all role players were given their duerecognition. Then began the climax of the event, Humorous Speech finals. A set of 10 speakers, brought us to ourknees by making us laugh uncontrollably. TM Ramalingam of Medley, who was a district level contestant, did aexcellent job with his hilarious speech about his baldness. The hall roared with laughter thorough his entire speech.

The contests were conducted with military discipline as well as with apprecible skills by contest chair TM RahulShankar, also a Division Governor. TM Arun Sridhar, contest master of Humorous Speech contest, did a fantastic jobadding flavor to the contest.

Before the end, all the role players of the conference were invited to stage and honoured. Finally the results wereannounced.

Evaluation contest:

Winner: TM Sridhar RanganathanRunner-up: TM Sandun Fernando2nd Runner-up:TM JehanPerinpanayagam

Humorous Speech Contest:

Winner: TM Arfath SaleemRunner-up: TM Suseela S2nd Runner-up: TM Keisara Perera

The conference ended on a high note with the reverbs committee also contributing INR 200,000 for the next Distrcitconference in Chennai, out of the funds accrued during this conference. This shows the meticulous way theorganising committee had planned its activities and performed.

Just before calling it a day, there was a surprise show. All the reverbs committee heads along with the District leaders,presented themselves in Royal Attire, to make the conference end on a high note.

Overall, it was two days well spent educating, entertaining and enthusing our spirts with fellow toastmasters. Wewatched fantastic contests, great speeches, shared achievements and parted with a smile waiting for the nextevent Ovation 2015 to arrive soon at Sri Lanka.

Hope all of you will be present for the next important event at Sri Lanka !!

Looking Back- Continues…

-Guru PrasadDistinguished Toastmaster

Reverbs ‘14

MedleyMoments