Wish there was a Toastmasters Club in Guwahati. Let us create Leaders and Orators ...
Message me to plan the starting of the same.
This was the message that Ashutosh Agarwal, Secretary of Sanskriti the Gurukul, the prestigious school where my 5 year old daughter was beginning her educational journey, had posted on his FB page on November 29th, 2016. The term 'orator' grabbed my attention and I immediately googled Toastmasters Club. The tag line of the club, "Where leaders are born", at first dissuaded me from delving further into the website. But, then I saw a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.”
This was really my achilles heel. I lacked the power of effective communication. My interest piqued, I read further. And I liked what I read. Toastmasters clubs teaches its members public speaking and hones leadership skills. Members of Toastmasters clubs learn to tell stories, listen, give and accept feedbacks. They learn to plan and lead.
Reading this, I wanted to be a part of it. I responded to Ashutosh Aggarwal's message as did many others. And a date and place was fixed to take the plan forward.
3rd of December, 2016. The day dawned fine and sunny with the nip of winter in the air. I spent the whole day debating whether I should go or not; the reason being the stipulation that we should come prepared with a speech. Though I had prepared a speech on myself and why I wanted to join Toastmasters, I had developed cold feet and frozen brain. Ultimately, I forced myself out of the frozen state and went forward for the meeting at The Guwahati Address by Center Point in Zoo Road Tinali.
Out of the many who had responded to Ashutosh's clarion call for a Toastmasters club in Guwahati, 8 individuals, including myself, had presented themselves at this first meeting.
Ashutosh, Anil Saraf, Abishek Agarwal, Abhishek Soni, Dr. Saumendu Bhattacharjee, Rajeev Chandak and Rita Garg Harlalka.
Within a few minutes of my arrival, I realized that I was really glad that I came. The 3 hour Charcha that ensued was enlivening, thought provoking and educational. I shed my inhibitions and spoke a few words about myself and felt really gratified by the encouraging feedback I received. All the others present seemed to be professional speakers, they spoke so well. Besides interesting topics like, Bollywood in our lives, why should Guwahati be inundated with beggars, roti bank, stress management, letter from Harry Brown to his daughter, being a doctor, we also discussed about the best way to take our dream for Toastmasters club of Guwahati towards reality. That was the first step towards this goal. Since that first baby step, we had quite a few (8-10) extremely exhilarating meetings where some members showed enormous improvements and some exhibited great skills at public speaking. We also picked up a few more members along the way and now we are around 32 members strong.
Finally, on 9th April, 2017, Ashutosh informed us that our dream had finally materialized and Toastmasters International had accepted us as part of their growing fraternity. On 30th of April, a bright and sunny afternoon, The Toastmasters Club of Guwahati, the first of it's kind in the Northeast of India got chartered.
Finally, a platform for those who are afraid of speaking up. Toastmasters Club of Guwahati is the place to be in, to learn effective communication skills and gain confidence, effective communication being the key towards a successful career.
Am proud to be a founder member of such an eclectic club, which is going to become one of the finest social organization in the entire North east of India and, hopefully, in India too.
So Guwahatians, watch out for The Toastmasters Club of Guwahati.
Message me to plan the starting of the same.
This was the message that Ashutosh Agarwal, Secretary of Sanskriti the Gurukul, the prestigious school where my 5 year old daughter was beginning her educational journey, had posted on his FB page on November 29th, 2016. The term 'orator' grabbed my attention and I immediately googled Toastmasters Club. The tag line of the club, "Where leaders are born", at first dissuaded me from delving further into the website. But, then I saw a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.”
This was really my achilles heel. I lacked the power of effective communication. My interest piqued, I read further. And I liked what I read. Toastmasters clubs teaches its members public speaking and hones leadership skills. Members of Toastmasters clubs learn to tell stories, listen, give and accept feedbacks. They learn to plan and lead.
Reading this, I wanted to be a part of it. I responded to Ashutosh Aggarwal's message as did many others. And a date and place was fixed to take the plan forward.
3rd of December, 2016. The day dawned fine and sunny with the nip of winter in the air. I spent the whole day debating whether I should go or not; the reason being the stipulation that we should come prepared with a speech. Though I had prepared a speech on myself and why I wanted to join Toastmasters, I had developed cold feet and frozen brain. Ultimately, I forced myself out of the frozen state and went forward for the meeting at The Guwahati Address by Center Point in Zoo Road Tinali.
Out of the many who had responded to Ashutosh's clarion call for a Toastmasters club in Guwahati, 8 individuals, including myself, had presented themselves at this first meeting.
Ashutosh, Anil Saraf, Abishek Agarwal, Abhishek Soni, Dr. Saumendu Bhattacharjee, Rajeev Chandak and Rita Garg Harlalka.
Within a few minutes of my arrival, I realized that I was really glad that I came. The 3 hour Charcha that ensued was enlivening, thought provoking and educational. I shed my inhibitions and spoke a few words about myself and felt really gratified by the encouraging feedback I received. All the others present seemed to be professional speakers, they spoke so well. Besides interesting topics like, Bollywood in our lives, why should Guwahati be inundated with beggars, roti bank, stress management, letter from Harry Brown to his daughter, being a doctor, we also discussed about the best way to take our dream for Toastmasters club of Guwahati towards reality. That was the first step towards this goal. Since that first baby step, we had quite a few (8-10) extremely exhilarating meetings where some members showed enormous improvements and some exhibited great skills at public speaking. We also picked up a few more members along the way and now we are around 32 members strong.
Finally, on 9th April, 2017, Ashutosh informed us that our dream had finally materialized and Toastmasters International had accepted us as part of their growing fraternity. On 30th of April, a bright and sunny afternoon, The Toastmasters Club of Guwahati, the first of it's kind in the Northeast of India got chartered.
Finally, a platform for those who are afraid of speaking up. Toastmasters Club of Guwahati is the place to be in, to learn effective communication skills and gain confidence, effective communication being the key towards a successful career.
Am proud to be a founder member of such an eclectic club, which is going to become one of the finest social organization in the entire North east of India and, hopefully, in India too.
So Guwahatians, watch out for The Toastmasters Club of Guwahati.
No comments:
Post a Comment