Division E raises a toast to ‘Communicating Culture’

Banner parade ceremony at the Toastmasters Annual Conference.

Community Report

Toastmasters in Qatar, collectively known as ‘Division E’, created history on 25^th and 26^th April when they conducted their annual conference in a grand fashion with over 500 attendees from more than 40 clubs across Qatar.

Toastmasters Annual Conference Qatar 2014 (TAC-Q 2014) had a unique theme — Communicating Culture — proposed by TAC-Q Chairman TM Nasimudheen Abdul Hameed. Toastmasters clubs across the country had held their annual club contests under four categories, International, Humorous, Evaluation and Table Topics.

The club winners proceeded to the next round, known as area level, and the area winners competed in the grand finale at division level, known as TAC-Q.  Day 1 of TAC-Q 2014 was held at the state-of-the-art Dukhan Recreation Center and Day 2 at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Doha.

Chairman Nasimudheen A Hameed said, “We have more than 1400 toastmasters in Qatar made up of more than 25 different nationalities. Diverse cultures have brought diverse flavours to the Toastmasters movement in Qatar which made the theme Communicating Culture apt.

“In line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, we toastmasters focused on the development of nationals this year and successfully conducted the first ever International Arabic Speech Contest in the history of Division E, which also successfully launched the first Malayalam toastmasters club (Qatar Malayalam Toastmasters) and the first Arabic community club (Tamim Toastmasters Club).”

On Day 1, the opening act was a spectacular cultural dance by students of DPS-MIS School but what captured everyone’s attention was the music. The theme music was exclusively produced for this event.  The catchy six- minute tune was penned by the TAC-Q 2014 Entertainment Chair DTM Sameer Hasan Moosa, who was instrumental in bringing out the beautiful final product.

The first contest was Table Topics Speech Contest (English).  This was followed by Evaluation Speech Contest (English), Humorous Speech Contest (English) and finally, Table Topics Speech contest (Arabic).

Another attraction of the first day was the cultural fashion show by children showcasing various cultures from around the world. The curtains came down on Day 1 with a fantastic toastmasters-themed dance by tiny tots, who gave a fitting finale to the splendid event.

Day 2 was kick-started by a world class keynote speech by the World Champion of Public Speaking 2007 Vikas Jhingran, who had been flown in from the US to inspire and motivate the attendees.

Though the International Speech contest (Arabic)and International Speech contest (English) were the centrepiece of the agenda for the day, the attendees were kept on the edge of their seats throughout the evening with a variety of cultural shows including performers from IAID, members of Filipino Dance sport and Social Club and Gaveliers, who shown brightly at the star studded event.

The chief guests were Hasan Al Sai, Chairman creative Centre; Adel Abdulla Al-Abdulghani, Director Group Legal and Compliance at Barwa Group; and Ghanim Abdullah Al Mohannadi, Chairman of Cultural and Social Committee at Al Khor Sports Club.

Other dignitaries included Subha Anupindi, Lieutenant Governor for Education and Training-District 20; Yasser Suleiman, Lieutenant Governor for Marketing-District 20; DTM Sujit Sukumaran, Division J Governor; Sithara Khan, Deputy Chief of Mission of Sri Lanka, Qatar; Harry L. Hexie, official from Platinum Sponsor Huawei; and Bronze Sponsors IDRAK and Teyseer.

The contest results from Day 1 were announced along with contest results of Day 2. All first place winners will compete at the district level in Oman from May 15-17.

In the English International Speech category TM Koka Prasad from Dukhan Toastmasters was crowned champion; TM Nisha Shivram from Talking Matters was first runner-up; and TM Jayakumar Menon from Doha Advanced Toastmasters second runner-up.

Fathia Al Muhannadi of Barwa Toastmasters bagged the first place in the Arabic International Speech contest with Ahmed Mamma from Dukhan Toastmasters as the first runner-up. TM Singa Raju of CA Toastmasters was the Table Topics contest champion followed by TM Rukhsana Khan from Qatar Toastmasters and TM MouBera from ICC Eves as the first and second runners-up.

Arwa Kheder from Tamim Toastmasters was the Arabic Table Topics contest champion and TM Amr Ahmed from ICC Advanced the first runner-up. TM Nisha Shivram from Talking Matters was the Evaluation Speech champion followed by TM Singa Raju from CA Toastmasters and TM Mou Bera from ICC Eves as the first and second runners- up.

TM Jithu Koshy from CA Toastmasters won the Humorous Speech contest followed by TM Shaikha Al Nassr from Qatar Toastmasters and TM Latha Ramakrishnan from ICC Eves as the first and second runners-up.

The event closed with an address by the General Manager of Huawei, the event’s Platinum Sponsor. Devoteam and Bin Ghalib were the gold sponsors. Rumaillah Warehouse Equipment and Venture Gulf Engineering were the silver sponsors and Teyseer, IDRAK, UPS, Intertec Group and Trust Exchange the bronze sponsors.

QDC, Galfar, Mahindra Holidays and Al Balagh were the support sponsors and Al Mohsen Printers &Advertisers and WINK Advertising the print partners. All sponsors were acknowledged and thanked for being part of the event.

BELOW:

1) Achievers of the highest award in toastmasters - Distinguished Toastmaster.

2) Vikas Gopal Jhingran, World Champion of Public Speaking 2007, who was flown in from the US.

3) Winners of Arabic Table Topic Contest: First position Arwa Kheder, and second position Amr Ahmed.

4) Winners of first ever Arabic International Speech Contest: First postion Fathia al-Muhannadi, and second Ahmed Mamma.

5) Winners of the Evaluation Contest: First position Nisha Shivram, second Singa Raju, and third Mou Bera.

6) Winners of the Humorous Contest: First position Jithu Koshy, second Shaikha al-Nassr and third, Latha Ramakrishnan.