Toastmasters International's Division C of District 116 recently concluded its virtual annual conference, ‘Conquest of Champions’, with speech contests in four categories – humorous, table topics, evaluation and international, on Zoom platform.
Participants from Area 9, 10, 11 and 12 competed in each category.
The winner of the international speech category only gets a chance to reach the World Championship of Public Speaking, scheduled for August 2021, after winning the next levels of District and Regional annual contests.
The winners of other categories can only reach to the District level of the championship.
The contests were organised and conducted by the Division C conference committee, led by Division C Director Vimal Raj, and a team comprising members from participating areas.
The conference was opened by the Division C director. Raj explained the achievements of Division C as a team amidst all challenges posed by the pandemic.
Region 11 Advisor Sunil Kottarathil, District 116 Director Thayalan K, District 116 PQD Manzoor Moideen, District 116 CGD Rajesh V C, past District Director Raghavan Menon and District Parliamentarian and PDD Rajeshwar Sundaresan also attended the event.
Rich Hopkins, finalist of the World Champion of Public Speaking 2008, inspired the audience with his keynote speech. He exhorted listeners to go beyond winning or losing and find ways to celebrate because people are watching and get inspired by one’s performance irrespective of whether one wins or loses.
Pooja George, Madhu Nair and Grace Moran anchored the sessions as masters of ceremonies.
Contest chairs – Balkees Naser, Sudhir Gujar, Lornalyn Tallod and Nirmala Raghuraman – conducted each category of speech contests.
The judging of contests was done by Williams Antony, Anil Nair, Krishnamoorthy and Asha Shiju as chief judges for each category.
Sheeba Asokan, Seri Shailaja Kiran, Riyas Chengampalli, Lali Neshikumar, Ramarajan Selladurai, Thirumoorthy Anbazhagan, Ruban Devadas, Anandhakumar Palanisamy, Sruthy Mammen, Anthony Mascarenhas, Devika, Anwar Khan Patan and Noaman Niaz Kazi facilitated the conference in various roles.
TAC-C Chair Nazik Cader welcomed the gathering and Division C PQD Lesiley Mathew proposed a vote of thanks.
The meeting was managed by host Sreedhar Kuruba for the morning session and Benov Jacob for the afternoon session.
They were supported by co-hosts Asokan Karuvan Kandy, Girija Chari, Rakesh Chauhan, Waseem Ameen, Ranjith Sukumar and Sabari Prasad.
A virtual banner parade was organised and conducted by co-ordinator Bobby Mathew.
The stretch break session conducted by Bhavna Naik engaged the audience
In the international category, Nisha Shivram stood first, Manjusha Kale second and Swetha Raghuraman third.
In the humorous category, Michael Wader was first, Sreejisha Sreedharan second and Hithesh third.
In the evaluation category, Abhishek Chattopadhyay was first, Nisha Shivram second and Michael Wader third.
In table topic category, Abhishek Chattopadhyay won the top position, Sreejisha Sreedharan second and Sana Mustansir third.
The first place winners of each category will represent Division C in District 116 Annual Speech Contest scheduled to be conducted on May 20-21, 2021.
 
 
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