Rauf Khalid (1957-2011) – A Tribute

I never imagined in my wildest dreams, that one day I would have to write an obituary piece about late MR Rauf Khalid. During my years of acquaintance with MR Khalid, I had never met a person, who led a fuller life. He was always bubbling with energy, full of excitement, for his existing and future projects. Whenever I met him, which was sometimes after very long intervals, he always greeted me with his radiant smile and warm embrace. He drank from the cup of his short life to the dregs, and achieved so much in such a short life span.

Late Rauf Khalid’s achievements in life are many, from a civil servant, to a pride of performance winning artist his accomplishments are known to all and sundry. In this short piece I would like to dilate upon his efforts, as an educationist, and a great motivator of the youth of our nation.

During the last phase of his life, as vice chancellor of national institute of cultural studies (NICS); MR Rauf Khalid’s burning desire and aim was the building of character of our youth, and preparing them for leadership positions in the future. It was his conviction that the future of our nation lied in the hand of our youth. He was always busy in providing motivational and capacity building forums to young people, to bring out, their full potential. I had the personal honor, to jointly conduct leadership, and public speaking classes with him, which were arranged, free of cost for young men and women, from different walks of life. Just before his tragic, and untimely death, MR Khalid had arranged a very successful youth leadership conference, which was attended by hundreds of young men and women, from all over Pakistan.

On a personal level, I was also a beneficiary of late MR khalid’s magnanimity, by being a member of the Islamabad Toastmaster’s club a pubic speaking, and leadership forum. The toastmaster’s club has been using the facilities of NICS, free of charge, in conducting its weekly meetings for the last four years. Many young people have benefited from the ITC, curtsey MR Khalid’s love of imparting knowledge and desire of capacity building of our youth.

On the very sad occasion, of his tragic demise, my condolences and prayers are with his wife and three children. It is a great pity, that this great life was cut short, by the cruel hand of fait, in its prime. I am certain had MR Rauf Khalid lived longer, he would have achieved more of his lofty goals. I am sure he died with the satisfaction, that he had lived his dreams, and had tried to provide a correct direction to the youth of this country. May his soul rest in piece.

by

Akbar Jan Marwat
(Past President)
Islamabad Toatmasters Club

 

The 163rd Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 163rd Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club (ITC) was held on Tuesday 22nd November, 2011 at 1830 hours at ITC-NICS- Lok Virsa Gate No.5 Islamabad. The meeting was called to order by reciting the mission of Toastmasters and motto of Islamabad Toastmasters Club by the TM Imran-ul-Haq.

President ITC TM Sajjad Ahmad welcomed the guests and members in meeting. He introduced the theme of the meeting “Success against Odds”. He asked the guests to briefly introduce themselves. TM Sajjad Ahmad handed over the control of lectern to TM Sahban Zafar Ali as Toastmasters of the Evening for further proceedings of the meeting.

Toastmasters of the Evening (TME), TM Sahban Zafar Ali brought the meeting on track with putting light on the theme of the “Success against Odds”. Further, He introduced the format of the meeting by explaining the objectives and importance of the three segments of the Meeting 1) Table Topics Session, 2) Prepared Speeches and 3) Evaluations. TM Sahban Zafar Ali introduced the Table Topics Master TM Usman Gulzari in a zealous way to take on the Table Topic session.

Table Topics Master (TTM) explained the purpose of Table Topics and reminded the members to use the word of the day “Doctrine” meaning set of guidelines or principle. TTM invited DTM Akbar Jan Marwat, TM Javed Iqbal, TM M Siddique, TM Waqas Ahmed, TM Tariq Mehmood, TM M I Asad, TM Mohsin Iqbal, TM Imran-ul-Haq and a honorable Guest, and gave them variety of simple and easy topics to speak. All Table Topic speakers responded very soundly to the topics given. Table Topic session ends with voting for the best table topic speaker.

After the short break of 10 minutes, the meeting was re-commenced by TME, TM Sahban Zafar Ali with the introduction of Prepared Speeches segment. First speaker TM Sajjad Ahmad delivered his speech from advance manual with the theme of Press Conference by Power consultant which was done wonderfully. TM Mohsin Iqbal was the second speaker on the board, he delivered his third project from CC manual on topic of “Information Technology”. Having completed the Prepared Speeches session, TME asked TM Waqas Ahmed to take charge of meeting as General Evaluator.

General Evaluation Segment was initiated with the concise introduction, objectives and proposed method of Evaluations at Toastmasters. TM Waqas invited the TM Tariq Mehmood to evaluate the Table Topics Speeches and TM Tariq evaluated each speaker in person according to the criterion. TM Javed Iqbal was invited to evaluate the speech of TM Sajjad Ahmad and TM Imran-ul-Haq evaluated the speech of TM Mohsin Iqbal. At the end of evaluation segment, TM Waqas Ahmed evaluated the overall meeting in general and asked the reports from Timer: TM Javed Iqbal, Grammarian: TM Akbar Jan Marwat, Word Master: TM Muhammad Siddique, Ah Counter: Guest

The meeting was ended with the awards distribution by President in coordination with Vote Counter TM Mohsin Iqbal. As per the results the awards went as Best Table Topics Speaker TM Muhammad Siddique, Best Prepared Speaker TM Sajjad Ahmad, Best Evaluator TM TM Imran-ul-Haq, and Big-3 TM Usman Gulzari.

The 162nd Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 162^nd Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on Tuesday 15^th November 2011 at 1830 hours at ITC-NICS- Lok Virsa Gate No.5 Islamabad. The meeting was called to order by reciting the mission of Toastmasters and motto of Islamabad Toastmasters Club.

President ITC TM Sajjad Ahmad welcomed the guests and members in meeting. He introduced the theme of the meeting: CHASING YOUR DREAMS. He asked the guests to briefly introduce themselves. TM Sajjad Ahmad handed over the control of lectern to DTM Akbar Jan Marwat as Toastmasters of the Evening for further proceedings of the meeting.

Toastmasters of the Evening, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat brought the meeting on track with putting light on the theme of the day CHASING YOUR DREAMS. Further, He introduced the format of the meeting by explaining the objectives and importance of the three segments of the Meeting 1) Table Topics Session, 2) Prepared Speeches and 3) Evaluations. DTM Akbar Jan Marwat introduced the Table Topics Master TM Nangar Soomro to take over the lectern for further proceedings.

Table Topics Master explained the purpose of Table Topics and reminded the members to use the word of the day REVERIE meaning day dream. TTM invited TM M. Siddique, TM Javed Iqbal, TM Saira Pervez, TM Mian Ramzan, TM Asad, Guest Anjum and Zunaira and gave them variety of funny proverbs to speak.

After the short break of 10 minutes, The meeting was re-commenced by TME, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat with the introduction of Prepared Speeches segment. TM Imran Pervez was requested to deliver his ICE-BREAKING speech which was done wonderfully. TM Mian Ramzan presented his speech from Technical briefings Manual and TM Sajjad Ahmad simulated the interview for Talk show as a requirement of an Advanced Manual. Having completed the Prepared Speeches, TME asked TM Bashir Khan to take charge of meeting as General Evaluator.

General Evaluation Segment was initiated with the concise introduction, objectives and proposed method of Evaluations at Toastmasters. TM Usman Gulzari evaluated the Table Topics Speeches and Speech of TM Mian Ramzan and floated few recommendations. TM Muhammad Siddique was invited to evaluate the speech of TM Sajjad Ahmad and TM Sajjad Ahmad evaluated the speech of TM Imran Pervez. At the end of evaluation segment, TM Bashir Khan asked the reports from Timer: TM Javed Iqbal, Grammarian: TM Muhammad Siddique, Word Master: TM Imran-ul-Haq, Ah Counter: TM Mian Ramzan.

The meeting was ended with the awards distribution by President in coordination with Vote Counter TM Imran Pervez. As per the results the awards went as Best Table Topics Speaker Guest Mr. Anjum, Best Prepared Speaker TM Sajjad Ahmad, Best Evaluator TM Usman Gulzari, and Big Three DTM Akbar Jan Marwat.

Attendance:

1) DTM Akbar Jan Marwat, 2) TM Sajjad Ahmad, 3) TM Muhammad Siddique, 4) TM Nangar Soomro, 5) TM Usman Gulzari, 6) TM Javed Iqbal, 7) TM Muhammad Bashir Khan, 8) TM Mian Ramzan, 9) Imran-ul-Haq, 10) Saira Pervez, 11) Imran Pervez, 12) TM Asad, 13)Guest Mr. Anjum and 14) Guest Ms. Zunaira

The 161st Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 161^st Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on 1^st November, 2011 at 1830hours at ITC, Lok Virsa Islamabad. The theme of the Meeting was FLY HIGH and word of the meeting was ZENITH meaning top, apex, and pinnacle. The meeting turned to be very interesting, funny and humorous when every participant enjoyed the meeting with the using different terms and jargons FLYING, FLIGHTS, AIRLINES and Aiming High in order to reach at zenith of one’s career.

The 161^st flight (meeting) of Islamabad Toastmasters Club took off on right on time when Sergeant at Arms announced the opening of meeting. He started the meeting with motto of ITC : For better listening, for better thinking, for better speaking, We learn by doing. Toastmaster Muhmmad Siddique being a Senior Captain of the ITC flight presided over the meeting and welcomed members and guests. He emphasized the importance of flying high and aiming high. (It is worth mentioning that President of Islamabad Toastmasters Club TM Sajjad Ahmad has taken flight to Malaysia last night on business trip and is now above the actual altitude of Islamabad Toastmasters Club). TM Muhammad Siddique introduced the Toastmasters of the evening and invited TM Soomro to take the flight to the speaking destination.

TM Soomro started the session with his inspirational story on EAGLE, CHICKENS AND FLYING HIGH. The opening remarks on the theme set the stage for all the toastmasters to be more energetic, lively and vibrant during the meeting. TME introduced the different segments of the meeting Table Topics speeches, Prepared Speeches and Evaluations. After brief overview on segments, He asked his Cabin Crew: Role players to introduce themselves and how they would be serving the members/guests like passengers on the board. TM Umar Farooq was controlling the words signals and played the role of Grammarian, TM Haleema was Word Master of word Zenith, TM Tariq Mahmood was controlling the traffic of Ahs, Ahms and crunch words as Ah-counter, TM Imran Pervez with different lights was guiding the pilot, captain and all the participants/passengers to manage time, TM Imran-ul-Haq was distributing and collecting the voting slips as Vote Counter to reward best performers.

Further, Vibrant and Dynamic TM of ITC, TM Muhammad Bashir Khan took over the control of the flight as Table Topics Master and amuse/entertain/give challenge of different topics to the toastmasters. He covered 12 TM under the challenge of table topics i.e TM Usman Gulzari, TM Muhammad Siddique, TM Haleema, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat, TM Ms. Saria Pervez, TM Imran ul Haq, TM Waqas Ahmad, TM Shan Muhammad, TM Tariq Muhammad, TM Umar Farooq, Guest Asad and Guest Usman. All the speeches were very enlightening and vivacious specially speech of Guest Usman who spoke on “Godforbidden, If you have one day before you die, who will you prefer to meet first and why”. Maintaining the tradition of networking and light refreshments on the board, TME announced the short break.

TM Soomro resumed the segment like connecting the flight towards destination of Prepared Speeches. There was only one prepared speech by a debut speaker TM Saria Pervez. She broke the ice, in very impressive and wonderful way by grabbing the attention of audience by sharing about herself, her inner power drawn in result of her zodiac sign Gemini. It proved as  striking opening of her speaking travel towards the destination of Competent Communication. As there were no more prepared Speakers, TM Javed Iqbal shared some thoughts on importance of Ah-Counter by referring the article in latest Toastmasters Magazine. TM Muhammad Siddique played the role of humorous of the meeting and shared a role on funny travel by an American, French and Pakistani. TM Mian Ramzan was inspiration master and shared the story behind benson & hedges success. He seemed very inspired and loyal to brand also by showing Benson & Hedges packet very dramtically taken out from his pocket of jacket.

Than it was time to pack and conclude the session with very fruitful Evaluation Session. TM Sahban Zafar deserved praise as he shared instructions and importance of Evaluations helping every member to land safely and happy. He evaluated overall meeting in very professional way and took help from TM Javed Iqbal to evaluate the Table Topics Session. It seemed very though for TM Javed Iqbal to evaluate 12 Speakers in 2 minutes but he did it efficiently. One and Only DTM, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat evaluated the speech of TM Saira Pervez very effectively and wished her to fly high on the journey of public speaking. Finally members of cabin crew/all the role players shared their reports along with findings and recommendations.

TM Muhammad Siddique distributed the awards to the best performers with the help of Vote Counter TM Imran-ul-Haq and declared Guest Usman as Best Table Topics Speaker, TM Saira Pervez as Prepared Speaker, DTM Akbar Jan as Best Evaluator and TM Soomro as Big-3. The Guests Asad and Usman shared their overall comments about meeting and Guest Asad took the boarding card for ITC and became the regular member for onwards.

Finally, a voting was done and was decided that the Meeting on 8^th November 2011 (Tuesday) would not happen due to Eid Holidays. The meeting ended with advance Eid wishes and vote of thanks to and from the TM Muhammad  Siddique, VP Education.

 

The 160th meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 160^th meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on 25^th October 2011 at 06:30 pm. The meeting was attended by 13 members and 3 guests (Attendance is given under). The theme of the Meeting was “MANNERS” and the Word of the day was “POLITENESS”.

Seargeant at Arms, TM Bashir Khan started the meeting with the mission of Toastmasters International and motto of Islamabad Toastmasters Club. President TM Sajjad Ahmad welcomed the distinguished guests and fellow toastmasters in the meeting. He emphaised the importance of Manners and its special relevance with Toastmasters. The role of Master of the Ceremony was played by TM Waqas Rajab.

Toastmaster of the evening opened the meeting with quite impressive remarks on Manners by linking with life of Steve Jobs and Mahatama Gandhi. Further, Toastmaster of the Evening explained the three segments of the meeting and introduced the assistants/role players for the meeting i.e Grammarian:TM Imran pervez, Ah-Counter: TM Haleema, Timer: TM Bashir Khan, Vote Counter: TM Javed Iqbal.

TME handed over the control of the meeting to TM Umer Farooq for conducting Table Topics Session of the meeting. He briefly touched upon the significance of Table Topics and guidelines for the TT speakers. TM Umar Farooq invited TM Bashir Khan, TM Usman Gulzari, TM Nangar Soomro, DTM Akbar Jan, TM Haleema, TM Imran Pervez, TM Waqas Ahmad, Guest Mr. Ibrahim and Guest Mr. Athar. The topics were relevant to theme of the meeting and had interesting touch like one speaker spoke on HUSBAND, WIFE and MANNERS. The table topics session ended with voting for best speaker and meanwhile the announcement for light refreshment was done. At refreshments, Seargent at Arms most of the time was busy in arranging the TEA which was successfully arranged.

Toastmaster of the Evening, Waqas Rajab resumed the meeting with Prepared Speeches segment. He introduced the segment and first speaker for Ice-Breaker Speech. TM Sana Naseer delivered her Ice-breaker in very inspiring and impressive manner. TM Javed Iqbal delivered the speech on Body Language: Use of Gestures, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat presented speech from Story Telling manual having characters like Frog etc. At the end of Speech session a Video Speech from Toastmasters International Competition with title Grandma-live fully – lessons of life was arranged and enjoyed by the audience.

As a third Segment of the meeting, TM Nangar Soomro conducted General Evaluation Session. He introduced the Evaluation and its importance at Toastmasters. After that, he invited panel of Evaluators to evaluate the different speeches such as TM Saira Pervez evaluated Table Topics, TM Waqas Ahmad evaluated speech of TM Sana Naseer , TM Sajjad Ahmad evaluated DTM Akbar Jan and TM Bashir Khan evaluated the speech by TM Javed Iqbal. Having completed individual evaluations with Commend, Recommend and Comment methodology, General Evaluator asked the reports from the role players i.e Word Master, Ah-Counter and Grammarian. The general evaluation took place with positive remarks about the meeting, appreciating duties of members specially SAA in arranging the room, banners, trophies etc. General Evaluator asked the members and guests to bring more guests to the meeting in order to spread the benefits of toastmaster to maximum people.

TM Sajjad Ahmad along with Vote Counter TM Javed Iqbal conducted the moment of truth session by awarding Guest Athar for best table topics speaker, TM Sana Naseer for best prepared Speaker, TM Sajjad Ahmad for best evaluator and TM Waqas Rajab as Big-3. The meeting ended with the remarks from the guests and appreciations for the club.

Note: It was decided that Table Topics Competition would be held in Last Week of November.

 

The 158th Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 158th Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on October 11th 2011 at 1830 hours at ITC, NICS, Gate no.5, Lok-Virsa Islamabad. The meeting was attended by TM Sajjad Ahmad (President), DTM Akbar Jan Marwat (Past President), TM Muhammad Siddique (VP Education), TM Usman Gulzari (VP Membership), TM Shahid Altaf Qureshi (VP Public Relations), TM Nangar Soomro (Secretary), TM Bashir Muhammad Khan (Sergeant at Arms), TM Javed Iqbal, TM Sahbaan Zafar, TM Waqas Ahmad, TM Imran-ul-Haq, TM Haleema and Ms. Sajeela (Guest).

The meeting was declared open with the mission of Islamabad Toastmasters Club and the motto “For Better Listening, For Better Thinking , For Better Speaking, We Learn By Doing” . President of ITC TM Sajjad Ahmad welcomed the guest and members in the meeting and highlighted the theme of the meeting “PEACE” and gave a word of the meeting “TRANQUILITY – FREE FROM FEAR AND STRESS”. After his opening remarks, Toastmaster of the Evening, TM Javed Iqbal was invited to conduct the meeting as Master of the Ceremony. TM Javed Iqbal oriented the participants on different segments of the meeting and their importance with special emphasis on start and end of meeting on time. Toastmasters Session includes segment 1) Table Topics – Impromptu/Extempore speeches, 2) Prepared Speeches: for already assigned speeches and 3) Evaluations: Positive feedback and creative criticism. Mr. Javed Iqbal was assisted by panel of role players during the meeting including Word Master: TM Sajjad Ahmad, Grammarian: TM Muhammad Siddique, Ah-Counter: TM Bashir Muhammad, Timer: TM Haleema, Vote Counter: TM Nangar Soomro.

TM Javed Iqbal handed over the control of rostrum to DTM Akbar Jan Marwat for Table Topics Session. Table Topics Master, DTM Akbar Jan very nicely and innovatively conducted the session by using variety of tools of Music, Chair, Numbers having random choices on topic of Personality, Place, Movie and Book. TM Sahbaan Zafar, TM Shahid Altaf, TM Waqas Ahmad and TM Haleema were invited to speak impromptu. The session was enjoyed and appreciated by the audience. TME Javed Iqbal conducted voting and invited all the members and guests to join on refreshments and social networking.

After the short break, TM Javed Iqbal initiated the Prepared Speeches Segment and invited TM Usman Gulzari to deliver his speech from Advanced Communication Manual , The Entertaining Speaker. TM Gulzari presented his speech on “bringing humor to work place” . After this speech, one of the speech “OPRAH TIME – SIX HOURS WITH FATHER AND FAMILY” from Toastmasters International Speech Competition was shown to the participants. The viewers appreciated the content, style and composition of speech delivery. The video speech was considered as quick learning of Toastmasters on forming content, adding emotions, style and all the possible ingredients of speech such as attractive opening, momentous body and meaningful conclusion. After the Prepared Speeches segment, TM Imran-ul-Haq was called upon rostrum to conduct the evaluation segment.

TM Imran-ul-Haq underlined the objectives of Evaluation segment and stressed on Commend, Recommend and commend methodology. Mr. Sahbaan Zafar evaluated the Table Topics Session by pointing out good and possible improvement areas in Table Topics speeches in general and speeches given by TM Shahid Altaf, TM Waqas and TM Haleema. TM Muhammad Siddique evaluated the speech of TM Usman Gulzari and emphasised all TM to prepare, prepare, prepare well before you deliever the speech and all the speeches should met the objectives. He recommended TM Usman Gulzari to repeat his speech keeping in view “Speech Objectives and Preparation” . Role players Word Master: TM Sajjad Ahmad, Grammarian: TM Muhammad Siddique, Ah-Counter: TM Bashir Muhammad presented their reports by highlighting the areas of improvement.

At the end of the meeting, Guest provided their overall comments about the meeting. The moment of Truth/Award ceremony was conducted by President TM Sajjad Ahmad with assistance of Vote Counter TM Nangar Soomro. Best Table Topics Speaker award went to TM Sahban Zafar, Best Evaluator TM Muhammad Siddique and Big Three award was won by One and Only DTM at ITC, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat. The meeting ended with vote of thanks and humor sharing and networking.

The 157th meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 157^th meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on Tuesday, October 4^th, 2011 at ITC, Lok-Virsa NICS Gate no. 5, Islamabad. The meeting was attended by 20 members and 5 guests. The theme of the Meeting was COMMITMENT. TM Sahiban Zafar started the meeting and recited the mission of ITC and the motto with all the participants “For better listening, for better thinking, for better speaking, we learn by doing” . President of Islamabad Toastmasters Club, TM Sajjad Ahmad welcomed members and guests in meeting, He put some light on the theme of the meeting and explained how commitment is meant for the Toastmasters and highlighted International Toastmasters: Where leaders are made and Islamabad Toastmasters Club: Where life is given to each word. He asked the guests to introduce themselves.

After the presidential address, The meeting was kick started by the Master of the Ceremony, young, energetic and upcoming bright Toastmaster Sahban Zafar as a Toastmaster of the Evening. He introduced the segments and flow of the meeting. He also introduced the team of role players assisting to all the Toastmasters as: Grammarian TM Sana, Ah-Counter TM Tariq Mahmood, Timer TM Saira Parvez and Vote Counter TM Imran & Usman Gulzari. Toastmaster of the Evening handed over the control of meeting to TM Bilal Khalid for the most exciting and enlightening session of the meeting Table Topics Session.

TM Bilal Khalid as a Table Topics Master put up the very interesting and funny questions to the floor and TM Shan Muhammad, DTM Akbar Jan Marwat, TM M. Siddique, TM Usman Gulzari, TM Sajjad Ahmad, TM Umar Farooq, TM Imran and Guest Sajeela very courageously participated in Table Topics Session of the meeting. After the timers report and vote counting, the control of rostrum was returned to TM Sahban, Toastmaster of the Evening. TME invited all the members and guests to join on the refreshment break.

After the refreshment break of 10 minutes, The session of Prepared Speeches was started, TM Shan Muhammad delivered his third speech from CC manual with title “BE BRAVE’ . TM Sajad Ahmad delivered his speech from Advanced manual as a speaking on special occasion. Both of the speeches were enjoyed and appreciated widely by the participants.

After the Prepared Speech Session, TM Imran ul Haq was asked to take over the rosterm as General evaluator. TM Imran-ul-Haq highlighted the importance of continuous feedback and evaluations at Toastmasters and in our daily life. He invited ex TM Asim Shahryar to evaluate the Topics Session which was very wonderfully done with nice recommendations for the upcoming toastmasters. DTM Akbar Jan Marwat narrated the objectives of speech given by TM Shan Muhammad and evaluated accordingly with his expert opinion on body language and postures. TM Muhammad Siddique evaluated the speech of TM Sajjad Ahmad and formulated the evaluations on CRC method by commending, recommending and commending on the basis of objectives set for speech in the manual. At the end Mr. Imran ul Haq provided his general report and report from role players i.e Grammarian (TM Sana), Ah Counter (TM Tariq), Timer (Saira Pervez) and voting was done by Usman Gulzari for best evaluator.

TM Sajjad Ahmad (President of ITC) with the support of VP Education TM Muhammad Siddique taking the advantage of time, entertained the audience with showing the Video Speech from Toastmaster International on projector. The speech title “Self Improvement  I need help” was very much liked and appreciated by the members and guests. The speech ended with a thunderous round of applause with a message in it to keep this feature continue at ITC as it provides learning and broaden the vision of Toastmasters in becoming competent leader and communicator.

At the end of the meeting, TM Usman Gulzari took over the moment of truth segement by announcing Best Table Topics Speaker, TM Sajjad Ahmad, Best Speaker again TM Sajjad Ahmad, Best evaluator DTM Akbar Jan Marwat and Big-3 award went to TM Sahban Zaffar. The meeting ended with the comments from guests. Meeting ended with smiles and applause for the club and members.

The 156th Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

156th Meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club was held on 27th September 2011 (Tuesday) @ 1830 hours at ITC – NICS, Lok Virsa Islamabad. The meeting was declared open by Active and vibrant Sergeant at Arms of the club TM Bashir Muhammad, He asked the members and guests to recite the motto of the club “for better listening , for better thinking, for better speaking we learn by doing” with him. TM Sajjad Ahmad, President of ITC welcomed the guests and members with him opening remarks on theme of the meeting “Fortitude”. TM Muhammad Siddique introduced the word of the day “ SPUNK” with suggestion to use it during the meeting whereas TM Bilal Khalid took the control of ringing bell to point out the Ahs and crunch word during the meeting. TM Sahban Zafar played the role of “Timer” and helped the club to manage time during meeting segments and TM Usman Gulzari was listening carefully the grammer and language part as Grammarian during the meeting.

TM Bashir Muhammad gave live to the meeting by performing the role of Toastmaster of the Evening, He introduced the various segments of ITC meeting and kick start the formal proceedings by inviting TM Tariq Mahmood to start the most interesting and exciting session “Table Topics Speeches”. TM Tariq wel prepared with the different interesting questions called upon DTM Akbar Jan Marwat, TM Nangar Soomro, TM Bashir Muhammad, TM Shahid Altaf Qureshi,TM Usman Gulzari and Two guests.

In prepared Speeches segment, TM Waqas Rajab delivered the quality speech on Gandhi’s life whereas DTM Akbar Jan Marwat presented the speech on Evaluations. Finally a Video Speech from the Toastmaster International Speech Competition with title “look beyond the clouds” were enjoyed by the Toastmasters and guests.

As a third and most important segment of feedback, TM Nangar Soomro played the role of General Evaluator. He invited Mr. Javed Iqbal to evaluate the Table Topics Session and speech of TM Waqas Rajab. TM Soomro asked the report from various role players i.e Word master, Ah Counter and Grammarian. At the end, General evaluator Mr. Soomro presented his over all report about the meeting with recommendations to make the roles more interesting and evaluations based on feedback and creative criticism.

TM Muhammad Siddique (VP Education) concluded the meeting with his flavor of humour and moment of truth by announcing Best Table Topics Speaker Guest Sana, Best Speaker TM Waqas Rajab, Best Evaluator TM Javed Iqbal and Big Three award to TM Nangar Soomro. The meeting ended with the comments and vote of thanks to and from members and guests.

The meeting was attended by four guests and all four joined the ITC on the same date, that was welcomed and appreciated by members.

The 155th meeting of Islamabad Toastmasters Club

The 155th meeting of ITC was held on 20th September 2011 (Tuesday) at 06:30 at NICS-Lok Virsa Islamabad. The sergeant at arms opened the meeting with warm welcome to the guests and members. The Presiding Officer, President of ITC TM Sajjad Ahmad set the motion for the meeting with opening remarks on theme of the meeting which was “MORALITY”. TM Javaid Iqbal introduced the word of the day “VIVID” with instructions to use it during the meeting.

TM Usman Gulzari very beautifully played the role of Toastmaster of the Evening/Master of the Ceremony. He briefly introduced the segments of the meeting and asked role players to briefly touch upon their role and its importance during the meeting. DTM Akbar Jan Marwat carefully noted the language used during the meeting as Grammarian, TM Waqas Rajab as a Timer kept his fingers on Time device to manage the time during meeting. Ms. Haleema kept on pressing the bell as a Ah Counter on crunch words like “Ah, hmm, I mean, You know” during the meeting, TM Tanveer Mughal distributed the voting slips and kept the track of votes and helped to finalize the results of winners as Vote Counter during the meeting.

In first segment i.e Table Topics Speeches, TM Shan M. Ali floated different interesting situational topics to the speakers like DTM Akbar Jan, TM Nangar Soomro, TM Tariq Mahmood, TM Waqas Rajab and two guests. In second segment of Prepared Speeches, TM Javaid Iqbal delivered quality speech on Affirmation and Self belief. The speech was liked by the audience and supported the contents with round of big applause. The next speech was delivered by TM Mian Ramzan from the Advanced Communication manual, His speech was based on the love story and Taj Mahal. TM Muhammad Siddique and TM Sajjad Ahmad arranged a Video Speech from the Toastmaster International Speech Competition which was appreciated by all the audience/viewers.

At the last segment of the meeting, TM Nangar Soomro played the role of General Evaluator and invited DTM Akbar Jan to evaluate the Table Topics Speeches, TM Sajjad Ahmad to evaluate the speech of TM Javaid Iqbal and TM M. Siddique to evaluate the speech of TM Mian Ramzan. All the evaluators made justice to the evaluation task as per the CRC method of Toastmasters International. At the end of evaluations TM M. Siddique shared the few joyous and humorous facts about the story of Taj Mahal. The reports from the role players were invited by the General Evaluator. As a final remarks in evaluations, GE TM Nangar Soomro asked all the members to bring more “ENERGY” and “ENTHUSIAMS” in all the roles and speeches at Toastmasters and that can only be ensured through “PREPARATIONS” before the meeting.
The meeting ended with the moment of truth, announced by President TM Sajjad Ahmad with the help of Vote Counter TM Tanveer Mughal. TM Nangar Soomro was awarded with Best Table Topics Speaker while speaking on topic ” If you were a Shoe”, TM Javaid Iqbal remained Best Speaker as his speech inspired the audience and TM Nangar Soomro won the Big Three award on playing role of General Evaluator.

The meeting ended with the comments from 7 guests and vote of Thanks to and from all the participants.

 

Table Topics Contest 2011

A Table Topics Competition was held in a very vibrant and lively atmosphere at ITC on the evening of 16th august 2011. Along with the members, a number of guests also attended the fun filled evening. A total of nine contestants participated in the contest. Toastmaster Nangar Soomro very ably performed the duties of the Contest Master.

A panel of three judges, led by chief judge Akbar Jan Marwat DTM, marked the participants, according to the rules laid down by Toastmasters International . The other two judges were toastmaster Shahid Altaf Qureshi and Mr. Waqar Azeem.

The following members participated in the contest:

1.     Toastmaster Mian Muhammad Ramzan

2.     Toastmaster Bilal Khalid

3.     Toastmaster Javaid Iqbal

4.     Toastmaster Sajjad Ahmad

5.     Toastmaster Naveed Zubair

6.     Toastmaster Waqas Ahmad

7.     Toastmaster Bashir Muhammad

8.     Toastmaster Usman Gulzari

9.     Toastmaster Shan Muhammad

According to the results marked by the Judges, Toastmaster Usman Gulzari was declared the Champion of the August 2011 Table Topics contest, the second place was taken by Toastmaster Sajjad Ahmed and the third position was won by toastmaster Javaid Iqbal.

The president of the club Toastmaster Sajjad Ahmed made the concluding remarks, and distributed the trophies and souvenirs amongst the winners, the judges and the contest master. The members and guests were then treated to a sumptuous Iftar served by ITC and tastefully arranged by Sergeant at Arms, Bashir Muhammad.