Media release (MB)

Mangalore, Mar 26: The Toastmasters of the City came together Sunday morning at the International Orientation Center, Valencia, for a programme during which they were able to upgrade themselves with a view to raising the standard of their club meetings.

The resource person was Naveen Frank, CTM, SNTTA Club, Sharjah, UAE. He is also a special correspondent at Sharjah for Daijiworld.com. He is currently on a visit to Mangalore.

Naveen Frank addressing the Toastmasters of the city

Naveen Frank touched on topics which could help better the one-hour meeting agenda. He summarized the invaluable work of the sergeant-at-arms and the president. He pointed out the importance of the Toastmaster for the day and the technical way of acknowledging him/her.  With anecdotes, Naveen Frank drove home the point that the time-keeping is no monkey business, but could be the deciding factor between winning and losing a contest. Hence, the rules of time-keeping need to be learnt and followed as closely as possible.

He dished out practical hints to general evaluators and speech evaluators to make their evaluations effective and forceful. He was also able to give the audience suggestions to make guests and new members comfortable through various impromptu speech ideas.  An interactive session followed where the Toastmasters discussed issues that come up during a meeting and clarified doubts.

Toastmaster Clubs are affiliated to the Toastmasters International. Mangalore city has three Toastmaster Clubs so far.   They, along with the Toastmaster clubs of Kerala form Area 9.  Dr Pramod Giri is the area manager.  Under his direction, Area 9 successfully conducted the area contest to select contestants for the division contest.  The contest was held in three categories on international standards.  The three categories were - prepared Speeches, impromptu speeches and humorous speeches.

The winners were:

Prepared speeches:
First Place: Samina Nayak, Winners Club
Second Place: Anita Cordeiro, Mangalore Toastmasters Club
Third Place: V T Monish, Kerala

Impromptu speeches:

First Place: Nivedita Mirajkar, Mangalore Toastmasters Club
Second Place: Krishna Prasad, Winners Club
Third Place: Suresh Nayak, Winners Club

Humorous Speeches:

First Place: Nivedita Mirajkar, Mangalore Toastmasters Club
Second Place: Capt V P F Pais, Winners Club

The winners of this contest qualified for the Division B contest held at Bangalore in the month of February.  The results were as follows

Impromptu speech contest:
 
2nd runner-up: Aaron Watson
1st runner-up: Dirish Mohan, Daffodils Toastmasters club, Bangalore
Winner: Nivedita Mirajkar, Mangalore Toastmasters club, Mangalore
 
Humorous speech contest:
 
2nd runner-up: Francis Gamma, Smedley Speakers Society, Bangalore
1st runner-up: Sridhar Ranganathan, Chennai Toastmasters club, Chennai
Winner: Nivedita Mirajkar, Mangalore Toastmasters club, Mangalore
 
International speech contest;
 
2nd runner-up: Sridhar Ranganathan, Chennai Toastmasters club, Chennai
1st runner-up: Mamata J, Deejays club, Bangalore
Winners Club: Samina Nayak, Winners Club, Mangalore
 
And soon these winners will be at Delhi in May to attend the Ovations 2007, an annual Toastmasters event.  There they will be up against the best speakers of other Divisions, since this is the District Contest. India is now District 82 P on the Toastmasters International Map. 

Mangalore, as it is widely known, has the best talent and potential. Toastmasters need the support and prayers for the best preparation to face the upcoming competition.  At the Division contest a strong message has been sent to Toastmasters all over - Mangalore may be a small place, but Mangaloreans are by no means small.  Their resources, talents and large-heartedness are worth commending.