A 10-day personality development programme by Doha Toastmasters and Doha Advanced Toastmasters has been held at Doha’s Skills Development Centre.The programme was co-ordinated by Eswaran Natarajan, past president of Doha Toastmasters and Doha Advanced Toastmasters and Immediate Past Area 28 governor. Logistics support was provided by a team consisting of Dr MS Babu, president, Doha Toastmasters, Deepak Shivankar, VP (Education) and Vincent Mathews, Sergeant-at-Arms. The programme was specifically targeted for young students who stayed back in Doha during summer. Some 19 students from various schools in the 11-17 age group attended the programme, which was inaugurated by Manzoor Moideen, Division E governor, Toastmasters International (TMI).The session was also addressed by Area 28 governor Nasimudheen, Dr MS Babu, Suresh Nair, Eswaran Natarajan and Koka Prasad, three-time champion from Doha, who represented District 79 (Middle East and Jordan) as a contestant in TMI conventions in the US. The following led various sessions during the programme: Dr Sampath Sowrirajan (communication), Ajit Limaye (parliamentary procedures and debate), Suresh Rajendran (effective evaluation), Anil Nair (impromptu speeches), Singaraju and Deepak Shivankar (group discussions), Eswaran Natarajan (managing emotions & self esteem), Dr MS Babu (goal setting, decision making & problem solving), Gil Bangalan (panel discussions), Nisha Shivram (building self-confidence), Sameer Hassan Moosa (voice modulations, gestures and body language), Abhishek Chattopadhyay (etiquette) and Doha Gavels President Sana Britto (drama).As part of the programme, an “Open Day” was conducted for parents’ feedback as well as introduction of toastmasters to parents of the participants. Open day was graced and addressed by Subha Anupindi, lieutenant governor (marketing, District 20) Manzoor Moideen, Division E governor, N Raghavan, assistant governor (marketing, Division E), Nasimudheen, Area 28 governor besides Dr MS Babu.At the closing session, participants showcased their talents at a well-attended ceremony.The dignitaries included Manzoor Moideen and Rajeswar Sundaresan.Hima Payinadath, a Class VII student of MES Indian School and Ann Baby, a Class VI student from DMIS, were the masters of ceremony.The grand finale saw the prepared speech contest, table topics contest, debate on “Social Networks should not be banned” by classes VI and VII students (teams comprising Atharva, Dhananjay, Deepak and Dhananjay, Arathi, Tony), a 10-minute musical programme choreographed by Dhananjay Singh of Class VII from DPS-MIS as well as release of e-magazine ‘Mosaic’ edited by Nidhi Radhakrishnan, a Class X student of MES. In the prepared speech category, Deepak Sajikumar, a Class VII student from MES came first, Atharva Shivankar, Class VII student, DPS-MIS came second and Sanjay K, Class VII student from MES came third. Deepak was also adjudged the best debater. Nidhi Radhakrishnan won the impromptu speech category. Ratik Koka Prasad, Class VII student from BPS conducted the prepared speech contest, while impromptu speech contest was conducted by Nikita Shankar, a Class X student from TFSS, Canada. The debate was moderated by Rahul Kalyanshetti, a Class VIII student from DPS-MIS.