Chief Guest, CA Giridhar Kamath,
fellow toastmasters, family members, and guests,
Thank
you Sharmila for watering the ground, and making it fertile, before I got up to
speak. It makes my life easier and I like that kind of life! Sagnik, young, dynamic, irreverent and our
new area director of area 3, thank you for installing us in our respective
offices. It’s going to be a long
year with many challenges, but right
now, Molly, Savitha, Bharathi, Preetham,
Vidya, Sushil and the effervescent Dr. Ballal, all of us are euphoric, and
hopefully the euphoria will remain for at least some time to come, if not the
entire year. It’s wonderful to be a part
of such a wonderful gathering of toastmasters, let alone address them as the
president of an advanced club. It’s my first experience, and I am learning on
the fly.
Water,
is the source of life - 65% of our body is made of water, 2/3rds of the Earth’s
surface is water and we are desperately trying to find it on mars. But it’s
close to us... We are the Port Town Advanced Toastmaster’s Club. As a port town
we are on the water's edge, and as an advanced Club, we float on it and like
water, we find our own level that is often above the other clubs! We don’t need
what they call lift irrigation. That’s the connection with the theme of today.
My
research tells me that there are several clubs with water in their name, To name a few: Yarra Valley Water
Toastmasters Club, Clean Water Toastmasters club, Talk on the water
Toastmasters Club, Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters Club, Waters Edge
Toastmasters Club and interestingly one called Water Meeters (spelt Meeters) Toastmaster Club.
Public
Speaking originally started with the Ancient Greek Orators, and while society,
culture and technology have evolved the process tremendously, the foundations
of public speaking as a form of communication to a group of people remains
intact. A good speaker can deliver a bad
message well, and an advanced speaker can do it very well...while an average
speaker can manage to remain unnoticed despite a great message. Naturally the
purpose of chartering an advanced club is to create good speakers, but good
speakers with good messages.
The
Port town Advanced Toastmasters Club was chartered two years ago, and is among
the more successful clubs in Mangalore because it has stuck to its vision of
enabling speakers to pursue higher levels of speaking skills.
Some
of the benefits that have accrued to members in the last couple of years
include stronger evaluations, specialty speeches such as Panel Discussions,
Brainstorming sessions, Oratory speeches, and Roasting speeches with
equivalence in evaluations, diversity in membership, that bring their parent
clubs culture to the melting pot, a self-driven sense of purpose, where the
drive for goal accomplishment is from within and there is no pressure but to
improve, and most important of all in my opinion, Higher and tougher standards.
An advanced club is a community of self-driven highly motivated individuals
with common goals, and once in their midst, the world is your oyster.
Change
is the order of the world, from the day it began to the day it ends, for the
end is in itself a change, from the previous state of being. Today, is also a
day of change. When the previous gives way to the next. I don’t want to use the
words Old and new. They are passe. Change is endearing because it creates new
avenues for growth, for success and even for failure. But let’s not be
negative. My blood group is B+ and that’s what I am.
As I
take over the reins of the club, I rest assured that I have a great team to
back me up, for after all a captain is only as good as his team. Savitha, The
VPE, is strength and experience with a smile. My ask Savitha kind of person. The
VP Membership, DTM Bharathi Shevgoor, is the sagacious one and I miss her
sagacity today. But I love the idea that she is part of the team, and I can
pick her brains and her dictionary, any time I am stuck for progress. Preetam, the bubbly counsellor and trainer,
technically and psychologically savvy, is the VP PR. Excellent PR skills,
widely respected and very very erudite, she is the articulate jekyll to my
reticent Hyde!
Then
there is Vidya Shenoy, the secretary. Successful business person, efficient,
and a marathoner, she is in for the long haul - She will bring a sense of humor
to the role, which direly needs such humor.
Let me give you an example of her recent face book posts: "Don’t
worry about people think... they don’t do it often.
Sushil
Gupta, my good ol friend, indeed a friend to al in the TM fraternity is the
quintessential reliable guy. A man who
loves and understands figures, (the real ones) and a keen follower of Gandhiji
(he appears on all the notes) he is right man for the treasurer post. Tight
fisted, because his role demands so, he will keep us within our budgets,
without a need for a TM Kalyan Cess in the course of the year.
And
last but not the least, is Dr. CK Ballal, renowned neuro surgeon, the Sergeant
at Arms. I hardly knew him till very recently, and now that I have entered his
neurons, I will find it difficult to extricate myself - A powerful but
pleasant, busy but helpful, influential but down to earth personality like no
other I’ve met before.
The
Immediate past president, Molly Chaudhuri, has endeared herself to the entire
PTAT membership, the Division and the District with her outstanding leadership
last year, and I am glad to have her sage advice this year. Then there is our
Area Director, Sagnik, our Div. Director Poorvi and of course our very own
fountain of knowledge and wisdom DTM Malini Hebbar, who this year will be the
District Admin. Manager to fall back on in case we stumble....
With
this team and back up, and kind of family support that all our families give us
toastmasters, I am confident that we can face the many challenges that the Club
will face during the year which include the problem of the cost of dual
membership, which impacts the induction of new members and retention of
existing members, monitoring and persuading members to fulfill educational and
leadership goals, and making club meetings interesting. There is also the challenge of attaining the
required DCP points, winning the various awards that the club is eligible for
and the like. Whatever be the challenges
I remain confident that we will face them head on, overcome them and take the
club to newer heights. It is with this confidence that I want to handover to
the outgoing President a promise of leadership from the entire team which
states as follows:
We,
the office-bearers of the Port Town Advanced Toastmasters Club, Mangalore,
together promise to,
1. Prepare for and conduct the club meetings as per the
schedule decided.
2. Work towards securing for the club and its members the
maximum awards on offer by Toastmasters International.
3. Treat our fellow club members and guests with respect and
courtesy.
4. Ensure that the club maintains the positive, friendly
environment necessary for all members to learn and grow.
5. Provide new members with an outstanding new member
experience when they join.
6. Help members prepare their speech and leadership projects
in the best possible way.
7. Adhere to the guidelines of Toastmasters international in
all that we do.
8. Maintain high ethical standards during the conduct of all
Toastmasters activities
Thank
You.
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