Daijiworld News Network - Dubai
Pics: Xavier Arputharaj

Dubai, Jul 3: "I have a dream..." these are the words of the famous Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963.  Dr. King managed to influence millions of people and change a nation, not because he was rich, or in a position of power, but because he was an effective public speaker.  Dr. King and other highly influential people before him, like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln, just to name a few, mastered the art of public speaking and earned their place in history. 

Mastering the art of public speaking may not make you world famous, but it will most certainly help you to succeed in anything you do.
 

Leadership cannot be achieved in a day and an important tool to your success is communication. It has been said that most people fear public speaking more than death itself.  While this does not mean people would rather be dead than speak in public, as some authors would like you to believe, it does illustrate why communication of ideas through public speaking is often avoided by professionals.  Those who make it a point to embrace public speaking will have a major advantage over their co-workers and /or competitors.  Who knows, the next time an author writes about great public speakers, your name can be on that list.

The Toastmasters International which is a 75 years old organization helps people to improve their communication and Leadership skills.  It is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors elected by the membership. The first Toastmasters club was established on October 22, 1924, in Santa Ana, California, by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, who conceived and developed the idea of helping others to speak more effectively. More clubs were formed, and Toastmasters International was incorporated under California law on December 19, 1932.

For young budding toastmasters, below the age of 18 years, they form a Gavel Club.  20 young enthusiasts from all over Dubai met at Winny’s Restaurant along with the Senior Toastmasters Avinash D’souza, Anupama Parkar, Mallika Ramanathan and Vishnu Raut to demonstrate the conduct of a typical gavel club meeting. The Gavel club will be formally launched once the required number of members pledge support to the formation of this Club.  Meetings will typically be held once a fortnight at the conveniently located Winny’s Restaurant in Karama. The membership of the Gavel Club is open to all irrespectively of religion or nationality – boys and girls between the ages 12 – 18 who are dreaming of being successful in every sphere of their life.

Yesterday’s demo meeting of the Gavel Club was well attended by enthusiastic young toastmasters and their parents.  Ranjan Fernandes was the Sergeant-at-arms and started the evening’s session with his warm welcome. Irene D’Souza, a fiery speaker, was the Toastmaster of the evening and with her wit and humour livened not only the proceedings of the day but also the audience. She stated if she was given a choice to choose between Alexander the Great and Margaret Thatcher, she would definitely opt for Margaret Thatcher because to face an audience and give a speech is surely tougher than fighting a war.

Table Topics were given to 5 persons who had to speak on the spot. It was really amazing to watch the speakers speak so confidently and fluently. Their speeches were later evaluated during the session.

Toastmaster Avinash D’Souza, who has been involved in the Youth Leadership Programme at the St. Mary’s Church in Dubai highlighted the need to continue the learning process through a Gavel Club.  Today’s children are the young adults and need to take responsibility for their life - they need decide what they want to do and where they want to go in life.

Members of the Falcon Gavel Club (Ramya, Sheshadri, Abilash and Nandita) were special invitees to this meeting and shared their experiences and benefits of being in the Gavel Club. Nandita spoke on the “Weird English language” and the audience was spell bound with diction, modulation, use of humour and the choice of words to get her message across. Abilash spoke on “Smoking” and had a very powerful message vide his well delivered speech.

Mallika Ramanathan a senior Toastmaster with over 10 years of experience and having completed 40 projects (Distinguished Toastmaster - which is the acme of the Toastmaster’s Programme) said “A journey of a 1000 miles starts with one single step”.

Surely yesterday’s meeting was the first step in forming the Gavel Club. If you want to be a reputed speaker one day and be successful not only in your professional life but also personal life, here is the chance – rush and register your name to join the Gavel Club. For details and information – you can call / email :

Avinash D’Souza : 050  5588276 (avinashjd@gmail.com)
Vishnu Raut : 050 – 6445102 (rautvm@thermaxdubai.ae)
E. Fernandes :  050 7241023 (elferns8@yahoo.com)