Session 83

As I sat in the departure lounge at Kolkata airport, watching aeroplanes taxi down the runway and take off, I appreciated the aptness of the expression "Run to fly". Truly, to get anything to fly high, be it an object, a person or an endeavour, we need to build momentum before it can take off. So it is in Toastmasters. The club needs momentum of size before it can take off. The member needs momentum of a certain amount of stage-time before he or she can take off. While the EC ensures size through renewals and new members, the mentors ensure stage-time by encouraging members to take roles and give speeches. No wonder Elite Toastmasters flies high on both fronts.

Today's session started almost on time and our SAA TM Suvojit was back in his usal energetic self. He kicked off the session with an encouragement to all members to be a "Ringmaster of words", so that words do their bidding to build up splendid performances.

Acting President TM Rupasree, set the room alight with her usual enthusiasm. Perhaps in order to demonstrate the higher speed of today's session, she did not spend any time on inspirational stories but straightaway introduced today's TMOD.

TMOD Arijit Das introduced the theme of the day "Run to fly". It was an inspiritational theme and before introducing every role player, he gave us little nuggets of knowledge on running, putting effort and perseverence. His smiling demeanour and his detailed personal introductions endeared him to all listeners and gave a pleasant ambience to the whole session. Good job TMOD!

The GE TM Md Afzal was introduced, a seasoned evaluator with a smiling face, who can drive home the toughest point with a twinkle in his eye. He introduced his team of Timer, Ah-counter, Grammarian and Parliamentarian and switched position again with TMOD, leaving him to take the session forward.

Today the speakers would really be made to run before they could fly as it was a Speech Marathon, a bunch of five back-to-back speeches at all levels from L-1 to L-4. The audience were surely in for a treat.

The first speaker was TM Shaleen Basu, who delivered his Icebreaker speech titled "Let's break the ice". Almost expectedly, given the theme for the day, he introduced himself as a marathon runner! His love for cricket came to the forefront and he dangled his first love tantalisingly in front of our noses before pocketing it again for a future speech, leaving the audience clamouring. A heartfelt speech...

The second speaker was TM Stuti Agarwal, who delivered a speech titled "How do I tolerate my brother?", the content of which was self-explanatory. Full of funny incidents with her brother where he kept proving himself superior, much to her chagrin, the speech was humorous and sweet at the same time. All the audience smiled when she revealed how much she missed him on the occasion when he had gone away for a few days. A very well-scripted and well-delivered speech, TM.

The third speaker was TM Deoarshi Pradhan, with a speech titled "Discovering myself". Focusing on the need for finding our own passions and through his own example of his love for biking, the speaker exhorted everybody to be open to various experiences since we never know which will click as a life passion. A valuable message indeed.

The fourth speaker was TM Shrradha Mohhta, with a speech on "Nutrition", a subject close to everyone's heart. With the project objective of Research and Presentation, she gave various facts based on researches and focussed on fast foods, mindful eating and the habit-changing formula of 21/90. Great takeaways for the audience...

The fifth speaker was TM Rupasree Biswas, with a speech titled "United we stand", which had the objective of sharing a team-leading experience. She started by describing a family get-together being organised, the description embellished by humour, role-playing and dramatic situations. The icing on the cake was the final twist in which she drew the parallel to a joint session of two Toastmaster Clubs, and the co-operation and leadership required in organising the same. An entertaining speech indeed.

This being a speech marathon day, there were no table topics, and the GE was back on stage in order to share the evaluations of his team.

TM Ayushi Taparia evaluated the speech by TM Shaleen. Concise and to the point, she laid out clearly the commendations and recommendations and summarised the points. Very good evaluation done there, being in fact a project speech on its own.

TM Sutanu Bhowmick evaluated the speech by TM Stuti. He made relevent points in favour and suggested improvements. So pleasant was his whole presentation that we are sure that the speaker went away very motivated.

TM Sahil Sanghai evaluated the speech given by TM Deoarshi. Apart from very clear points made, TM Sahil's language was a pleasure to listen to and the speaker must have been happy at the quality of feedback given. This evaluation was also a project speech by TM Sahil.

TM Panna Rashmi Ray evaluated the speech given by TM Shrradha. Applauding the good use of powerpoint for presenting this project speech, TM Panna also praised the speech delivery. A seasoned evaluator, she presented all points, positive or negative with finesse and definitely enriched the skill levels of the speaker.

TM Varun Gandhi evaluated the speech given by TM Rupasree. He was, as we all were, very impressed by the dramatic quotient of the speech. A seasoned speaker himself, it was a pleasure to listen to his analytical feedback delivered with energy and sympathy.

The GE TM Md Afzal embellished each of the evaluators' feedback with some points of his own. He called for the reports from his team - Timer TM Fatima Ruqaiyah, Ah-counter TM Riti Wadhwa, Grammarian TM Geeta Raghani and Pariamentarian TM Sweta Bharti - and ended the feedback session with a few pointers regarding the session as a whole.

Acting President Tm Rupasree came back... no, ran back...rather, flew back on stage. After obtaining feedback from the guests, she announced the awards for the day and closed the session.

The day's awards were:
  • Best role player (aux):          TM Fatima (Timer)
  • Best role player (main):        TM Md Afzal (GE)
  • Best speaker:                         TM Rupasree
  • Best evaluator:                      TM Panna
  • Most improved speaker:       TM Shaleen
See you again on 14.9.19, same time, same place.

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