Emphasis on communication

Young Gaveliers hone their speaking skills at two meetings.
Shaheen Gavel Club, a part of Toastmasters, organised a demo meeting recently to allow members of the community to showcase their public communication skills.
A large number of people attended the meeting, where participants and role players demonstrated their public speaking and communication abilities on stage.
Chief Sargent-at-Arm Khawar Nadeem welcomed the guests while Sohni Dharti Chairman Rana Anwar Ali addressed the audience and presented the vision of Sohni Dharti.
“One of the visions of Sohni Dharti is to provide our future generations a platform to learn, enhance and practice their leadership and communication skills and there cannot be a better forum other than Toastmasters International and that is why our executive committee has decided to provide this platform to our young children,” said Rana in his opening speech on the first demo meeting conducted at Al-Waha Club in Al Khor.
He also thanked the co-ordinators and sponsors of Shaheen Gavel Club. Syed Abid Hussaini, Rauf Shehzad, Muhammad Azeemuddin, Ashraf Siddiqui, and Muhammad Riaz, Syed Abid Hussaini addressed the audience and emphasised the importance of communication and leadership skills.
The lectern was handed over to Shaheen Gavel Club for the demo meeting. Sargent-at-Arm Laiba Zainab started the meeting with remarks about safety and security. President Waqar Ahsan shared his personal experience and how the club has brought about changes in his personality and life. Master of Ceremony Shazza Riaz then took over.
Speakers Aania Shah and Saad Ahmed inspired the audience. Evaluators of these speeches were Laiba Zainab and Waqar Ahsan. The Table Topic session was conducted by Anood Abid and the general evaluator role was played by Rahema Faisal.
Following the demo meeting, the first meeting of Sohni Dharti’s Future Leader Gavel Club was conducted. More than 50 children joined the club. During the meeting, the first executive committee was also elected. Afifa Abid was elected as President, Rimsha Liaqat as VP Membership, Muhammad Ibrahim as Sargent-at-Arm, Areeha Mariam as VP Education, Awais faisal as Secretary, Haya Fatima as Treasurer and Muhammad Salaar as VP Public Relations.
“Learning to speak in public will build communication skills and confidence of our youth and will enable them to develop charisma and capture attention. Children learn hard skills like math and science in school, but speech training teaches them important soft skills such as leadership, creativity, persuasiveness and organisation,” said Khawar Nadeem the co-ordinator of Future Leaders Gavel Club, along with Sabir Hussain and Laiqat Ali.
The club is affiliated with Toastmasters International. It is sponsored by Sohni Dharti, AKC and supervised by Professional Toastmasters, Doha and Al-Khor Toastmasters.
Gavel clubs are run by young Gaveliers, guided by the executive committee members. Each session lasts for about two hours, and the meeting is scheduled every second and fourth Thursday of the month.
Gavel clubs are a way of providing the Toastmasters experience to groups who may be ineligible for regular membership due to age, inability to pay dues or other circumstances.
The Shaheen Gavel Club is open to 12-18-year-old students. Besides honing speaking and leadership skills, the students learn to overcome their inhibitions to speak before an audience; organise and present their ideas logically and convincingly; listen carefully to others’ ideas; offer advice that will help others improve their speaking and leadership skills; as well as participate in and even lead group discussion or meetings.