Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Participants in the Area 34 Contest of Division H enthralled the audience with their eloquence and oratory skills at a recent event here with the theme “Cultivating Diversity”.

In a pleasant ambience, members of the Toastmasters fraternity witnessed the annual contest for Area 34 in humorous, table topic, evaluation and international speaker categories. The event was a grand success and set a high standard in terms of its meticulous planning.

The chief Sergeant at Arms TM Assain Illikal introduced the contest chair, Area Director 34 Farhan Sohail Malik, who opened the event by welcoming the gathering and thanking the contest organizing committee for their efforts. He also thanked the members in completing their speeches and leadership projects and bringing more members to their respective clubs, which helped the areas to become one of the leading areas in the Division H of Toastmasters in the Western Region.

Inspiration speeches were given by DTM Basheer Ambalavan, DTM Rashed Ali, DTM Mohamed Kunhi and DTM Abdullah Flimban. DTM Flimban is the District 104 director who was also the chief guest of the evening. DTM Rashed Ali, former District 79 director, and DTM Mohamed Kunhi, program quality director, District 104 were among the prominent guests.

TM Farhan Sohail Malik, Area 34, director hosts of the contest gave the inspiration speech on the theme and expressed his best wishes to all. DTM Basheer Ambalavan, Division H director, too expressed the importance of soft skills in his address.

The area contest showcased the best talent of TM Amrina Qaisar and TM Dr. Khaja Yaminuddin who enthralled the audience with their eloquence and oratory.

The Area 34 contest commenced with humorous speech. This was a 5 to 7 minutes speech delivered on a humorous topic of speaker’s choice devoid of sex, religion or politics. The first place of this contest was bagged by Amrina Qaisar of Izhar Urdu Toastmasters Club, while Abdul Latif of Jeddah Malayam Toastmasters Club and, Mohammed Al Mohammedi of Izhar Urdu Toastmasters Club, took the first and second runner up places. The chief judge for the contest was TM Mohamed Sameer, and the contest master was TM Syed Nasir Khursheed.

The Table Topics Speech contest where the contestants had to deliver an impromptu speech for 1 to 2 minutes on a topic given on the spot. The topic given to all the contestants was "Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue". The contest was won by Amrina Qaisar of Izhar Urdu while the second and third place winners were TM Saji Chacko of Jeddah Malayalam Toastmasters Club and TM Dr. Khaja Yaminuddin from Izhar Urdu. The contest master TM Osman Bamasdoos ran the contest very professionally and TM Assain Illikkal was the chief judge for the competition.

Evaluations Speech Contest was attempted by five contestants preceded by a test speech delivered by TM Khurram Naseer, Area 24 Director. He spoke on the topic "Why Me?” The contestants evaluated the speech delivered by the test speaker. TM Dr. Khaja Yaminuddin from Izhar Urdu won the first place, while TM Amrina Qaisar and TM Saji Chacko won the first and second runner up place respectively. The contest was anchored by TM Saji Kuriakose and was judged by TM Abdul Sami.

The contest ended with International Speech contest. Five speakers from four different clubs of the Area 34 enthralled the audience with their inspirational and thought-provoking speeches. TM Dr. Khaja Yaminuddin bagged the first place while TM Amrina Qaisar and TM Saji Chacko won the second and the third place respectively. TM Mohammed Aslam Afghani was the contest master for International Speech contest and the chief judge was TM Abdul Sami.

Earlier a toastmasters pin for excellence and encouragement and a coin was presented to Area 34 director TM Farhan Sohail Malik by DTM Rashid Ali, former District 79 director.

Gift hampers were given to the chief guests, guests of honor, test speakers and master of the ceremony by the Area director TM Farhan Sohail Malik. They were sponsored by Legrand Co.

All the winners and runner-ups were given winning plaques. The winner and first runner-up have qualified to the division contest which will be held on March 13 in Jeddah.