BILINGUAL HINDI & ENGLISH TOASTMASTERS CLUB | DUBAI
CLUB # 6594893 | AREA 23 | DIVISION B | DISTRICT 105
BOLLYWOOD TOASTMASTERS CLUB
TM Amjad Ali, ACG, CL +971 55 202 0193 thisisamjadali@gmail.com
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
I
t’s my immense pleasure to receive the baton of presidentship of Bollywood Toastmasters Club (bilingual Hindi and English), which falls in Area 23, Division B, District 105 and Region 11 from a very talented, sincere and humble toastmaster, founder president TM Sudharshan Seshadri who has served this club with distinguished qualities and abilities.
It’s time now to take the legacy carried forward and maintain and raise the standard of club with the support of new Executive Committee and all members. Purpose of club is to motivate all members to step forward and take communication and leadership roles in very meeting in order to improve their skills to achieve purpose of joining Toastmasters fraternity and family. It will also help our club to achieve goals and have great track record from very first year of its journey 2018 started with bang and everyone is excited to take part in contests happening in this season from February till May and we, as club is very much enthusiastic to reach to above district level to make our club and members proud.
Beauty of Bollywood Toastmasters club is learning with full of fun, love and respect. “Do what you love and love what you do” seems it’s said for Bollywood club only. I have been to many toastmasters clubs around Dubai and UAE and never witnessed the energy and fun we have in Bollywood club, every member just wears smile through out the meeting and look forward for the next meeting excitedly.. We have proudly featured articles from Club Growth Director District 105 DTM VP Menon, Division B Director DTM Vinod Warriath and Area 23 Director, which will definitely help the member to learn and aspire from. I would like to thank all the Executive Committee and members for their great support in terms of taking meeting roles, paying on time, and share their valuable feedback where we lack in term of performance and abilities. This very first issue of Bollywood Toastmasters Club will make readers feel energized, inspired and motivated towards their journey of toastmasters and life. This clubs will leave great impression in very first year of its journey for other clubs too.
“ Great leader’s first language is ATTITUDE and great communicator’s first language is SMILE
” - Amjad Ali
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Up Close Menon, DTM and VP Club Growth Director, District 105 Personal With CLUB MENTOR Q. Tell us a little about your Toastmasters career (e.g. How long have you been with the organization, what clubs do you belong to, what made you join, etc.) A. It was the year 2002. I was 35, doing well professionally, working as a Senior Manager with a reputed organization in Dubai. Life was good, and I loved my job except for one challenge! I just could not muster the courage to speak to a group of people. When it came to one on one conversation or to speak to a group of friends, I had no issue. Be it within the organization where I worked or outside in the community, put me in front of an unknown audience and I would be tongue-tied. My memory would give up on me. I preferred to be uncommunicative at the management team meetings in my company, I am sure people thought I didn’t have much to say. But it was not that I didn’t have anything to say, it’s just that I was scared to face the audience. I suffered from, what is called in today’s world, Glossophobia. But I was greatly in awe of people who could! So, I nurtured this secret dream, to be a speaker & trainer, someday, some time. But I thought that it would remain just a dream, because to be a speaker and trainer one needs the guts to speak in front of people which obviously I didn’t seem to have. Those days I came across a gentleman who also happened to be the friend of our CEO . He would visit our organization occasionally on the invitation of our CEO to give us some coaching and education sessions. I loved the way he spoke. One day as he was stepping out of our office I gathered enough courage to ask him “Sir, I want to be a speaker like you. How can I improve my speaking skills?”. In reply he had just two words to say, “Join Toastmasters”. At that moment, I would never have had imagined, that those two words had the capacity to give my life a 180 degree turn. I had no clue what Toastmasters was all about, but he gave me the contact details of Dubai Toastmasters Club and that’s when the magic of Toastmasters began in my life. I joined Toastmasters in 2002, so its been around 15 years now. My home club is Dubai Toastmasters Club but I have been dual member with many clubs in and around Dubai like TGIS, BOAT, Creek, Kanoo, Dubai Advanced, SSY, Bollywood etc. I have also been involved with many clubs as its Sponsor & Mentor. In short what made me join Toastmasters was that inner calling to develop my communication skills and make my dream of being a trainer come true. And the Toastmasters program did not disappoint me because today I am a trainer by profession and speaking is what I do for a living and this has happened only because of this program. Q. What has surprised you the most about yourself since you joined Toastmasters? A. I never thought I could be such an extrovert. The Toastmasters program actually helped me to change from being an introvert to an extrovert and that brought about a big change in my life. I was always someone who spoke to people only if they spoke to me, today I don’t have that issue and I can build rapport with people very easily, thanks to the skills gained in Toastmasters.
Q. How do you think you can take what you have learnt in Toastmasters to other fields of life? A. This is something which I always speak about. What is important is not what you do within the club or within the Toastmasters forum. What is actually important is how much of these learnings that you get from the Toastmasters program you actually take and use in your real life, both personal and professional. As I say, the real game is not played in the club meeting, that is just mock practice sessions where you practice becoming better, and then equipped with these skills you go and play the real game out there in real life. Personally, a lot of what I have achieved in personal and professional life is due to the skills I developed while being in the Toastmasters program. There are thousands of success stories out there where this program has helped people to reinvent themselves and do things which they never thought they could ever do. Q. What is your vision for our District and what steps are you going to take to achieve the same? A. What I have been seeing in recent times is that member retention is a big challenge. As it used to happen in the past, today we don’t see members who have been with the program for more than 5-7 years because most of the members who come in have vanished in 3-5 years’ time. The fact of the matter is that in 3-5 years you just get the minimum benefits of the Toastmasters program, just the tip of the iceberg. This program has much more to give. The longer we stay with the program the better is the gains from the program. I would want members to stay back for longer periods so that they get not just the tip of the iceberg but the whole iceberg, in terms of the benefits from this program. We want more members who have been with the program for more than 5-7 years because that is when you start enjoying the real benefits from this program. One way to do it is to make the member understand the benefits of this program in the long run. Make them understand how being with the program for a longer period can give them amazing opportunities to grow and develop within Toastmasters as well as outside the Toastmasters forum. Also, it is important to give the members such an atmosphere of great fun and learning in the club that they don’t want to leave the club.
The second priority would be to extend the number of clubs in the District so that maximum people in the community can gain the benefits of this wonderful program. There are thousands and thousands of people out there who have no idea such a program exists and these are people who are desperately looking for something like this to enhance their life. We would be doing a great favor to humanity in general if we can take this program to more and more people. In any of the training sessions that I do in my profession as a trainer there is no training where I don’t speak at least for about 10 minutes about the Toastmasters program and there are so many of my training participants who have joined Toastmasters and thank me for introducing them to this wonderful life changing program. Q. What does it feel to be a champion leader and an inspiration to the Toastmasters fraternity? A. I am not that sure whether I fit that “champion” tag. There are much better speakers and leaders all around me. But I am happy with my progress, from what I was to what I am, and I know I will keep working hard to improve myself. One day I wish to be a much better speaker and leader than what I am today. As for inspiring people, I am happy even if one person gets inspired by me. One day in a club meeting I got a small chit in which it was written “one day I want to be a speaker like you”. Believe me that’s the best gift I ever got within Toastmasters. That was much sweeter than any of the trophies I ever got. I still keep that chit with me. There was no name, so I don’t know who wrote it. But I thank that person who wrote it because that small note had a profound impact in my life. I realized that I am able to, in my own small way, inspire at least few people around me. It’s a great feeling but also a greater responsibility because there are people out there who look up to you. Q. Do you have a mentor? If so, how has he or she contributed to your success? A. I have had many mentors within Toastmasters and outside Toastmasters in my life who has played a key role in shaping me to be what I am today. Within Toastmasters I have been mentored by many and each of these mentors have helped me in amazing ways. But within Toastmasters there is one Toastmaster who has been my mentor for the last 15 years and that is DTM Uma Radhakrishnan from my home club, the Dubai Toastmasters Club. Each mentor brings in their own perspective and knowledge and experience on the table and when we get access to such different perspectives, knowledge and experience our learning is that much more enhanced. Even today, after being in Toastmasters for 15 years I still use my mentor very regularly and I too enjoy being a mentor to many of my mentees. As they say, “once teaching is twice learning”. The more you mentor others the more you learn in the process Q. Each year many toastmasters step or are thrust into leadership positions for the first time. Do you have any tips on how they can build a cohesive team? A. One of the key aspect of leadership is trusting your team members. Trusting their capability to deliver. As a leader we need to be very clear with them about what is expected of them and then leave them alone to do it and make it happen. You need to be just there in the background to make sure that you are available to them whenever they need you. They should have that feeling in them that in case they need any help you are there. Believe me once you do this, what your team members will deliver will be much beyond what you expected from them. The moment you develop that trust element, the team will create magic.
Q. What else would you like Toastmasters leaders to know in order to succeed? A. Toastmaster leaders should know that these are “voluntary commitments” that we have taken. But it is still a “commitment”. Remember nobody has forced you to take it on, you have decided to take it on by your own wish. So now you better work hard on it and ensure you fulfill your responsibilities to the best of your ability. Another important thing is to learn the art of developing relationships with people. Building rapport with people and making that connect happen. Once the connect happens then everything else falls in place easily. Hence put that extra effort to connect with people and build a healthy rapport with them. Q. What is the best public speaking and/or leadership advice you have ever received? A. “Be the best version of you”. Don’t every try to be someone else. Each person is unique and each one of us should try to be the best version of yourself. In the initial stages I would get so carried away by good speakers and leaders that I would try hard to be like them and I would fail miserably. But today I try to be the best version of “me” and I guess I have fared quite well. Q. How do you brand or market yourself? A. I think they best way to brand or market yourself is to do everything that you do as sincerely as possible. Whatever you do, do it with 100% sincerity because when you put your heart and soul into whatever you are doing the final output is of very high quality. That automatically helps you to build your credibility and image. People notice you automatically and appreciate what you are doing. You don’t have to go out to try and sell yourself hard. Because of the credibility that you have created for yourself the branding and marketing happens automatically. Q. What are your interests and hobbies outside of Toastmasters? A. I like to read, watch videos, hear other speakers etc mostly about motivation and learning how to bring out the best in me and others. I try to continuously learn something new, do some new course etc very regularly. I believe if I want to add value to whatever I do, I must first of all add value to myself. I also like to take photographs although I am not a great photographer. I like to click people’s natural expressions especially when they are happy and joyful. I also like to read news, watch news and like to keep myself up to date with what’s happening around in the world. I love travelling and seeing places especially the countryside, away from the crowd. I also enjoy just spending time with family and friends. Q. What is a fun fact most people don’t know about you? A. It’s a fact which my close friends and family know but most people don’t. I can be quite crazy and unpredictable at times. Sometimes I can act so crazy that my kids and wife would say “who is this guy? We don’t know him, we are not with him”. But I think it’s that fun streak in me and that unpredictable nature in me that keeps me young at heart although physically I don’t feel that young now with age catching up and the physical body starting to keep pace with the advancing age. But young at heart, that I am, and I hope I will always continue to be the same and never change.
Vinod Raman, DTM
DIVISION B DIRECTOR MESSAGE Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Kem Cho, Nomoshkar When I first heard there was going to be a Bollywood club in town I’ll be honest – I was a bit skeptical. Would it generate enough interest? Would members who joined stay the course? How would they handle contest season? One visit to the club put all those doubts to rest. My congratulations to former Area Director Vinod Mettammel and Past President Sudarshan Seshadri on this unique offering to our Division and our Toastmasters fraternity. This club is a breath of fresh air to what can often become a routine and standard meeting format. The energy that filled the room was something that any club would and should envy. To see the members equally, if not more eloquent in their native tongue, than in Toastmasters’ preferred language was truly a sight to behold. So much so I too jumped aboard the band wagon with glee. After settling the nerves of consciously trying to shun the natural instincts that come with learning most of your Hindi in college, I delivered my very first General Evaluation role in another language – a language I was pleasantly surprised to see I could still speak. At the end of the evening, all I could think of was – “Why did we wait so long to form such a club?” I highly recommend that every Hindi speaking individual visit this club and revel in its effervescence. I wish all the members the very best in the upcoming annual contest season and look forward to watching this club grow in the coming years.
BOLLYWOOD TOASTMASTERS CLUB
Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. – Leonardo Di Caprio, Oscars Acceptance Speech, 2016 He is one of my favorite actors and for me that trophy was never a testament of what he is capable of, considering the movies he has done and the many nominations that he already has under his fold…but I am sure, with the way he said “I will not take this night for granted”, that Oscar trophy did mean something to him..I thought this was the right time to talk about this win because we have the Contest Season ongoing. When I see his journey, there are some key takeaways that we all can learn from: Each time Leo's been nominated, he's been pipped to the post by an actor's career best. That dint mean he gave up. He continued doing what he does and kept getting better at it.
AREA DIRECTOR MESSAGE
For a performer, it’s the art and his obsession with the craft that matters. He continued to perform and inspire others. He knew his time will come and it did… So all of you going up there on that stage to deliver, be passionate about your craft…your speech, give it your best shot, aspire for the trophy but don’t give up if it doesn’t land in your hand….for your time will also come…all you need to do is persevere and enjoy what you do. Effective use of the stage time that he got.. Use your stage time wisely, not to preach but to reach .. he spoke about a cause that’s close to his heart and linked the win , the movie and the cause together. Likewise when you draft your speeches, think of how you can reach your audience…tell your story and leave them with a message.. Push your limits, try to do something new, being the handsome hunk he is, it would have been the easiest to do the pretty-boy leading-man roles, but he used his star status instead to reject such roles and did movies like Django Unchained, Wolf of Wall Street and the Revenant. Likewise, strive to become better by venturing into territories you are scared to venture into….for an extremely animated person to be standing and giving a very centered speech. For a serious speaker to try a hand at humorous speech etc.. I am sure, with these learnings we all will not only grow as we flow, but also someday find ourselves holding our Oscar! Definition of that Oscar has to be yours!
TM Divya Raj, CC, ALB
BOLLYWOOD TOASTMASTERS CLUB
Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. 14
– Leonardo Di Caprio, Oscars Acceptance Speech, 2016
BOLLYWOOD TOASTMASTERS CLUB
It takes nothing to join a crowd. It takes everything to stand alone. - Hans F Hansen
sn’t it obvious, the reason I am quoting this? What other quote can better explain the status of the Bollywood Toastmasters Club? It takes devotion to the cause, dynamic thinking and hard work from a group of industrious people to come together and create something novel and new. Here we are, the first Hindi Speaking Toastmasters Club in the vicinity! There is something beautiful about such endeavors. It has created an enthusiasm among the myriad Toastmasters clubs functioning here. Subtle differences, even in the language of communication elicits excitement. We have seen curious toastmasters from all over, coming in with a lot of anticipation as to how the club is functioning. It drums up a lot of genuine glee and gusto among the participants. One lot looks forward to such meetings as an opportunity to polish their long forgotten public speaking prowess in their mother tongue, but for many others it is a foray into speaking formally in the language for the first time. The fact is that this club has elicited a lot of interest from non-Hindi speaking members as well. It is the coming together of all these varied segments of Toastmasters that makes this club so special. Proud to be associated with the Bollywood Toastmasters Club, the first Hindi Speaking Club in the District. Looking forward to see this club grow in strength & quality, having already jotted its special note in the Toastmasters’ diary! TM Nisha Varghese, ACB, ALB
CLUB SPONSOR MESSAGE
TM Nisha Varghese, ACB, ALB
BOLLYWOOD TOASTMASTERS CLUB
Standing alone doesn’t mean I’m alone. It means I’m strong enough to handle things all by myself.
Bollywood Club ki Kahani
TM Anushri Sharma
Toastmaster club hume netratv seekhata hai Bollywood club aise hi netratvo ke liye Hindi seekhata hai Jahan aap ko logo ke ‘Sudarshan’ milte hai Jahan aap ‘Hemant’ ritu ki si sheetalta paate hain Jahan aapke man hasya- ‘Vinod’ se bhar jaate hain Jahan aapke ‘man-deep’ prajjvalit ho jaate hain Jahan aap apne ‘Amzad’ ko chu jaate hain Jahan aapko Hindi bhasha ke saare ‘Raj’ samajh aate hain Jahan aap Hindi bolne me bilkul nahi sharmate hain Jahan aap pahle hi din se ‘Bollywood’ ke rang me rang jaate hain Jeevan me aise mauke bar –bar nahi aate hain jo samay gavan dete hain vo baad me pachtaate hain
GRAB EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO REACH YOUR GOAL s long as you are breathing you are still in the game� I was born and raised in a humble family in the early eighties. I went to school without knowing the reason why. But it seems I was born blessed with the qualities of persistence and consistency to rise and shine and to change the fate of my entire family. Since I was not able to enjoy my childhood and teenage because of financial constraints, I believe God had a surprise scripted for me due to my persistent attitude. I remained determined and successfully started my business when I was 31 and after few years of business success I became an accomplished man with everything a successful and rich person could have such as beautiful happy family, business, travelling and independent life.
TM Amjad Ali
The encouragement of my friends made me realize that I have latent public speaking skills and started searching for a platform to develop my public speaking skills. I got to know about Toastmasters International in June 2017, and as I experienced several meetings in different clubs I found it very much interesting, educational and a friendly environment. So I joined up immediately and started delivering my speeches and here are some of my achievements in last 4 months of Toastmasters experience.
1. Achieved (CC) Competent Communicator 2. Completed (CL) Competent Leadership 3. Completed (ACB) Advance Communication Bronze 4. Triple Crown Award 5. I have visited 42 different clubs and 108 meetings I enjoy Toastmasters a lot and take every meeting as an educational session and English class for learning. I find myself vastly improved in communication and leadership in such a short period of time and hope to continue the momentum for myself and to help the Toastmasters community and the world. One of my reasons to join Toastmasters is to become a world level motivational speaker to help the less fortunate around the globe and Toastmasters International seems to be the best platform I found.
CLUB CONTEST 2018 MEMORIES
MEETINGS MEMORIES
MEETINGS MEMORIES
MEETINGS FLYERS
MEETINGS FLYERS
THANK YOU