Meeting No 239 - Minutes

Attendees

TM Siddarth	TM Shriram	TM Selvan	TM Bharathi
DTM Saro	TM Karthikeyan	TM Rajiv Menon	TM Srikar
TM Supraja	TM Anuj	TM Pratheema	TM Sowmya
Guest Nagaraj	Guest Nandhini	TM Kishore

The 239^th Chennai Speaker Forum meeting kick started on 29^th Jan’17, at Trust Conference Hall, Nungambakkam.

Meeting started on sharply on time at 10 am with a high energy and great vigour!

10.00 A.M. SSA CALLS FOR MEETING.

Meeting was called to order by the Sergeant at Arms ,TM Supraja, who explained the mission and vision of Toastmaters and control was handed to The President.

10.05 A.M. PRESIDENT ADDRESS.

President TM Siddarth delivered his address and declared the meeting open. The way he opened the presidential address was really interesting, he narrated a motivating story of how ISRO in spite of its humble beginnings , with a great vision and mission, is now a successful organisation sought after now by the then leaders in field of aerospace.

10:10 A.M. – PRECIDING OFFICER INTRODUCED THE TMOD.

Presiding office TM Siddarth introduced the TMOD – TM Anuj ,who announced the Theme and word of the day in style ! Yes , he was all suited up !

Theme of the day was – “Please Love!”

Word of the day was ‘emotion’ meaning feeling.

10:15 A.M. – GENERAL EVALUATOR INTRODUCTION.

TMOD introduced the General Evaluator for the meet, TM Srikar, Who explained his role and in turn announced the TAG Role Players of the day ,as below

Grammarian – TM Supraja

Ah Counter – TM Shriram

Timer – TM Pratheema

10:20 A.M. – PREPARED SPEECH SESSION

The much awaited prepared speech segment started with a great curiosity among the attendees , because we had two of the Toastmasters International veterans delivering their ice breakers once again.

First speaker of the day was TM Rajeev Menon attempting Project 1 from Competent Communication Manual , Speech Title : “ It’s a Boy !” . He delivered an dramatic speech on his childhood days and the how his pet loving family had one pet for every member and how his moms pet guarded him with great loyalty to its instructions. He also narrated his life journey through what he was passionate about – Marketing. He recalled how he gave his Ice breaker ten years back and his successful journey towards becoming a charter member.

Second speaker was none other than  DTM Saro Velrajan, who also attempted Project 1 from the Competent Communication Manual, Speech Title :”Lost and Found”. DTM Saro narrated his lifes journey which started with him being the naughty child and how his trip to the zoo, when he was ten years old ,turned out to be unforgetful, as he got lost for a whole day , only to be reunited with his family later that evening.He narrated how his journey proceeded from then and on ,and how his passion to be known out of his successful work life drove him to his successful Toast Masters Journey.

Our Third prepared speech speaker of the day was TM Selvan, he attempted Project 2 from ACB Speeches by Management Manual , Speech Title : “ Lead us Limitless”. TM Selvan in his speech pointed out that the evaluation is a necessary element and how a good evaluation would shapeup the person who is being evaluated , and that the good evaluation should also include constructive reviews. To make his point , he provided an instance by evaluating the previous Excom headed by immediate past President TM Vijay.

10:38 A.M. – TABLE TOPIC SESSION

TMOD introduced the TT Master of the day TM Kishore , who took control and conducted a TT session where everyone who attended the meeting was given an opportunity to perform an impromptu speech on a topic given to them. TM Kishore started the TT session on a positive note with an inspiring story , and chose some amazingly simple and interesting topics and pics for the TT contestants to talk from.

Some topics from the session are as follows

1.      The police arrived and did ..

2.      Situation – Convince that you have been living opposite to ISIS for nearly 10 years

3.      Three things I will change if I ruled the world

4.      When was the last time you tried something new

5.      If given a choice to be bachelor or to get married ,what would you choose?

6.      The age I would want to be in

7.      By the time I reached train station, she was gone..

8.      Wrong call , familiar voice

9.      Money is a blessing or curse

10.   When going gets tough , the tough gets going

11.   Lying is a necessary evil.

12.   Revenge may be thrilling but prison is not.

It was the flag end of this session, even the TTM was not spared , he was given a topic by DTM Saro ,which is as quoted – “ They Started beating me ,as soon as the session was over!” .

With a roaring laughter at DTM Saro’s quip, the session came to an end with TTM handing back the control to TMOD.

11:00 A.M. – EVALUATION SESSION

The General Evaluator called upon by the TMOD for a evaluation session. The GE and his team of evaluators presented their evaluations.

TM Siddarth evaluated TM Rajeev Menons speech ( Project 1 from CC Manual ) , He provided a detail evaluation report and appreciated TM Rajiv for his perfect vocal variety and suggested that his speech could have included some more specific facts .

TM Bharathi evaluated DTM Saros speech ( Project 1 from CC Manual ). She congratulated him for narrating his story with dramatic instances , high humour quotient , good vocal variety , proper transitioning and great body language. She suggested that DTM Saro could have improved some more on the smile quotient.

TM Karthikeyan evaluated TM Selvans speech (Project 2 from ACB Speeches by Management), The evaluator appreciated the speaker for positive word usages and appreciated the timing of the speech. The evaluator felt that the speech was brief and that while giving a feedback ,the action Items should be more specific. He also suggested that the speaker could have added some emotion while making a point or while asking a question.

By the end of thorough evaluation , the GE took control and presented his report.

11:20 A.M. – GENERAL EVALUATOR’S REPORT

GE gave good reviews on the hall arrangements and on time start of the meeting. Noted that there were 2 last minute drop outs and requested that a back up be arranged in case of drop outs.

Appreciated that the role players were well prepared and that the TT Topics were interesting. He recommended that the non role players could be called first ,rather than calling upon the role players first.

The tag role players when called upon, presented their reports.

11:38 A.M. – ANNOUNCEMENT OF BEST PERFORMERS

Control was handed over to the presiding officer TM Sidharth, who acknowledged the below winners.

Best Speaker –  DTM Saro

Best Evaluator –  TM Siddarth

Best Table Topics Speaker – TM Siddarth

Best Role Player – TM Kishore

Best Tag Role Player- TM Supraja

11:50 P.M. – M.O.M BRIEFING SESSION

The President handed over the control to The Secretory TM Sowmya, who briefed the previous weeks sessions M.O.M and the requested that the folks who have missed any of the sessions can always check the M.O.M. that’s are published on the Clubs Blog ,week on week.

Test The Listening skills was conducted and toffees ( Courtesy – TM Karthikeyan ) were given away for those who answered right.

The control was later handed back to the presiding officer.

11:55 P.M. – GUESTS FEEDBACK

Presiding officer requested for guest Introduction and meeting feedbacks from both the guests of the day.

Guests feedback was good, they seemed to like the TT session and loved the clubs young and lively environment. Although, one of our guests felt that the GMAP on the club’s website was not pointing to the venue precisely and that it delayed his presence at the session.

DTM Saro appreciated the clubs decision to include a M.O.M. briefing session and also said that the moments of truth scores briefed during the M.O.M. was exactly as he had estimated. He congratulated the club for having gone through a Moments of Truth workshop.

12:00 P.M. – MEETING ADJOURNED

Control was handed over to the presiding officer, who insisted every one to make it early to the session and requested everyone to be regular. He congratulated the role players and requested that everyone should experiment by taking up different roles every week.

Finally, the meeting was adjourned to 5^th Feb’17.