750th Meeting : Presidential Address

(750th Meeting of Bangalore Toastmasters Club :16th April,2011)

Chief guest Fr.Francis Guntapilly,Region Advisor Marketing John Bosco Abraham,Founder president Robinson Dsouza,Founder member Siraj Ur Rehman,Past Presidents Umakanth,Aaron Watson,Rajdeep Manwani,Sumitra Manamohan, Debabrata Dutta ,Theresa Chinnappa ,Arun John Mathias,Pawas Chandra,toastmasters and distinguished guests.

At Bangalore Toastmasters, we have always lived by the concept of family. I am overwhlemed to see that huge family right in front of me. We are truly indebted for sparing your time to be part of this celebration. You are all the true champions for Bangalore Toastmasters club.I also wish to acknowledge our District Governor,Nagaraj Rao who wanted to be at this fucntion but could not due to prior engagements.He has given his wishes and blessings to us through his message in our newsletter.

By the factor of luck,chance or randomness, as I stand here to start the celebrations of our 750^th meeting, I have two thoughts.

Having a colourful 750^th meeting is definitely worth going for.However, I believe the heart and soul of our club lies in our regular meetings. As tall buildings cannot signfy the progress of a nation one outstanding meeting cannot make our club the best.And thats why we should excel in our regular meetings.I am grateful to my committee members who made this vision a reality.Every committee member have given their best and have done their tasks to prefection.I am proud of guys – Tony Simon,Aniket Singh,Ganesh Santhar,Elango,Arvind Dhar,Bikash Bansal and most importantly our SAA Ajay Pandey.We need to carry foward like this with the same vigour.

The second thought is on the progress we have achieved by these 750 meetings.How different are we from a club which is 25 meetings old?If we cannot show that difference these 750 meetings will become a baggage for us.In that endeavour to outclass ourselves we may sometime have to go beyond the boundaries of toastmasters international.Our theme EXPLORE_IDEATE_CHANGE talked in these lines We did exactly that for instance, when we conducted a story teling contest purely devised and modelled in Bangalore Toastmasters club.Way to go ,Bangalore toastmasters.This is just a start.

All in all , I envision the club to give maximum attention to the regualr meeting and to go way beyond the set rules so that we can raise the bar not just of Bangalore toastmasters but that of Toastmasters International as well.Toastmasters,let’s explore more.And for now let’s celebrate the moment of glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgo59z7cDOw

Installation Ceremony : Presidential Address

(Bangalore Toastmasters Club : Jan 8,2011)

Honourable Chief guest Mr.Praful Pillay, Region Advisor Marketing John Bosco Abraham,founder members, past presidents, toastmasters and most welcomed guests.

For few of us here, the committee members, this is a momentous occasion by the privilege Bangalore Toastmasters Club bestowed. But for Bangalore toastmasters club which has seen many committees it is just another installation ceremony. The only way by which this committee can make an impact would be by its functioning in this term.

Adding a golden feather to the cap of this club is nothing less than herculean given the high standards of achievement.All the more, our club is going through one of its toughest times. Starting from the change of venue; to reduced attendance to reduced quality of meeting we had to witness many hardships during the previous term. Under the unassuming leadership of Pawas it's commendable that we still achieved all the achievable 9 goals in the President's distinguished club program by December. We kept our record intact but not without struggles . I take this occasion to appreciate toastmasters Robinson Dzousa, Rajdeep Manwani, Sumitra Manamohan, George Timothy and Anil Rego for proactively helping the committee in addressing all challenges .We still need to address these challenges and keep them aisde sooner than later—and we are the committed committee.

We are challenged but we are excited as well-excited since we get the chance to take on these challenges head on. Not every committee is blessed with such glorious opportunities.

On our way forward, dear committee members, we should not falter in the regular functioning by the level of quality this club has set itself. We shall keep our focus on one meeting at a time -- one meeting--ensuring that the best toastmasters club produce the best toastmaster meeting. Even when we keep this as the bare minimum goal we shall not shy away from setting ambitious targets.The ambitious theme the committee wants to set forth for the term is EXPLORE; IDEATE; CHANGE. Explore into new horizons of life, gather new knowledge; ideate on the new knowledge gained and bring about changes in the world around us using our communication and leadership skills. This committee shall help its members in EXPLORING. We shall bring in eminent people from different walks of life at least one every month so that we can learn from their experience and explore into their arena. The onus to IDEATE and bring about CHANGE is on every one of us.

The committee has its promise not to let any one of us down, not just in this EXPLORATION but in any virtuous need you may have. YES, you heard me right-- any need. Because the seed of Bangalore toastmasters club germinated more strongly on the soil called family rather than communication skill or leadership skill. The founder members would vouch for it. This committee will try to uphold this tradition of family in Bangalore toastmasters club over and beyond anything. It is only in the equations of family love that any communication skill or leadership skill can be found.

Presidential Address : 725th Meeting : Shall We Dance?

(725th Meeting of Bangalore Toastmasters Club : September 10, 2010)

Region Advisor Marketing John Bosco Abraham,District Governor Nagaraj Rao, Founder members Robison and Siraj,past presidents ,toastmasters and most welcomed guests..

Today we are writing in golden letters a new chapter into the histroy of Bangalore Toastmasters Club.Today we are celebrating 725 weeks of toil and hard work.Today we have every right to celebrate.

Bangalore Toastmasters started its journey in the early 1997 with four gentlemen-Robinson, Siraj, Claudius and Anil Rego as it pioneers.Down the lane, the torch of leadership and communication was passed onto no less passionate people.In the true spirit of toastmasters “Leaders create Leaders” one leader led to the other with the club getting stronger and stronger by every succession.In every department we have made the flag of District 82 fly high.In leadership track, the first ever Region Advisor from the district comes from our club-our won John Bosco.In the communication track we have put our marks at the highest levels.Dr.Rajdeep Manwani was our cursador—be it humourous speech,evaluation contest or impromptu speaking.Nothing more could have been asked when the biggest achievement our district ever had was brought about by the essence of Bangalore Toastmasters—Aaron Watson.You and I have seen him grow.After the International Speech contest,California Aaron Watson has emerged as one among the top 25 speakers in the world.

The highly achieving Bangalore Toastmasters Club we heard about is the sweat, blood and passion of its founder members, past presidents and the past committees. The gratitude we show to their commitment is the promise that we shall never let them down. We shall not immerse ourselves in the sea of celebration and get submerged like the titanic. Nevertheless, this momentous occasion is an hour of merriment for us. We shall sing,dance and romance. If you have danced with your partner you would have experienced this—when the partners make those steps they look into each others eyes. They read the dreams out of each others eyes. At our dance floor today, we will witness toastmasters from all genres of life dancing together; looking into each others eyes ;reading the dreams. The past leaders of our club have the dream to see club achieving greater heights. The present members have the dream that the past leaders will hand hold them and would be there to guide them always.Lets acknowledge each others dreams.I also extend my warm welcome to our guests to hop into this chariot as we race onto the stars—singing and dancing.