The Quest-Issue 3 - 2023

THE QUEST

Dear All

, When you set out to accomplish something, recognize that slow, steady progress over time can lead to big success” – Erica Hudson

It gives me great pleasure to announce the release of the THIRD edition of the ICC Eves Toastmasters Club Newsletter- The Quest This term (January-March) was the season of contest The contest season allows each of us to evaluate and learn more about ourselves The contestants' success has been achieved through consistent progress and practice

When you flip through the pages, you'll see success stories, club highlights, achievements, and activities

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to this newsletter despite their hectic schedules

I would like to thank the editorial team for their invaluable assistance in making this Newsletter a success

HAPPY READING!!!

4 th April ICC EVES 300th Meeting

2nd May

15 Years of Icc Eves Toastmasters Club Anniversary Celebration

Dear Fellow Toastmasters, Success, as we understand it, is not just about milestones and accolades but rather the ongoing development of our communication, public speaking, and leadership skills ICC Eves has consistently provided a supportive and nurturing environment for its members to learn, grow, and excel in their Toastmasters journey As the Area 18 Director of Division E, District 116, it fills me with immense pride to see the continuous growth, dedication, and enthusiasm displayed by our clubs, and ICC Eves Toastmasters Club is no exception

I have witnessed the exceptional progress made by ICC Eves Toastmasters Club throughout the year, as you have organized engaging meetings, participated in contests, and fostered a strong sense of camaraderie and collaboration among members As you continue to strive for success, remember that progress is a shared experience. By uplifting and empowering one another, we can collectively reach new heights and unlock our true potential of the members of our area 18 I encourage you all to embrace the learning opportunities, celebrate your achievements, and learn from setbacks

In closing, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of serving as your Area Director I am honored to be part of this dynamic club members and look forward to witnessing the ongoing progress and success of ICC Eves Toastmasters Club

Wishing you all continued growth and accomplishment in your Toastmasters journey

My Dear Eves

W j st started the year and with a blink of an eye are at the fag-end of it so soon, believe it’s our final newsletter – heartiest congratulations dear VPPR for all rd work and creativity that she put in, in each edition an eventful term where the Club Contests and the Area 18 contests were and the participation of the club with is usual zeal and fervor was beyond are We celebrated Spring, Women and are at the helm of success with 10 oints yet again, winning galore and adding and nourishing new members ng is always an achievement, but to enjoy and learn with our usual quota of aderie has always been the success mantra of Eves and I am happy that as a president, we could maintain our tradition

I am grateful to each and every member, my ever-supportive Excom and the District for all the help, I sign off with a message that is close to my heart – Listen, empathize and make this world a better place!!

Best wishes for TAC E and DTAC, dear girls!!! Stay safe and keep enjoying!!

12thMay

TAC-E2023

26-27 May

DTAC- 2023

SONALI GHOSH

MESSAGE FROM CLUB PRESIDENT

MUJEEB. C KANDY

MESSAGE FROM AREA 18 DIRECTOR

MY EDITORIAL TEAM :SONALI GHOSH , TARA ASHISH

SIBY RIPSON

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Annual Club Speech Contests Report

Speech contests are looked forward to by each toastmaster Each year, thousands of Toastmasters compete in the Humorous, Evaluation, Tall Tales, Table Topics, and International speech contests Competition begins with club contests, and winners continue competing through the Area, Division, and District level

ICC EVES ANUUAL CLUB SPEECH CONTEST 2022-2023 was conducted on 17th Jan 2023 for the Evaluation Speech Contest and Humorous Speech Contest The Table Topics And International Speech Contest was conducted on 31st Jan 2023 The contest Manager was TM Smita Manoj

HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST

TM Shyam Sunder was the Chief Judge of the Humorous Speech Contest supported with the Role players Latah Ramakrishnan conducted the humorous speech contest

There were 6 contestants 1 Chaitali Mehta 2 Sushma Harish 3 Tara Ashish 4 Rashmi Raghavendra 5 Jaya Majumder 6 Bindu Pillai

All the humorous speech contestants delivered their humorous speeches Chief Judge congratulated all the participants and distributed participation certificates to all the contestants

EVALUATION SPEECH CONTEST

Evaluation speech contest chair, Lakshmi Sarada, DTM Chief Judge Alar Mel Mengai, DTM along with the Role players conducted the Speech Evaluation Contest

Lornalyn Tallod presented her speech with the title “Gratefully MAD ”

The speech was evaluated by 6 contestants :1 Bindu Pillai 2 Mani Roy 3 Bindu Singh 4 Asha Shiju 5 Jaya Majumder 6 Usha Nagrani Chief Judge congratulated all the participants and distributed participation certificates to all the contestants

INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST

Contest Chair for International Speech Contest was Vinita Nangalia She introduced Chief Judge of the International Speech Contest, TM Philip Cherian along with the Role players

International Speech Contestants:1 Swapna Raghuraman 2 Asha shiju 3

Bindu Pillai 4 Chaitali Mehta 5 Sonali Ghosh 6 Sushma Harish All the International Speech contestants delivered their speeches very well Chief Judge congratulated all the participants and distributed participation certificates to all the contestants

TABLE TOPICS CONTEST

Table Topics contest chair, TM Beena Manzoor introduced the Chief Judge of the Table Topics Contest, TM Philip Cherian along with the Role players Table Topic Contestants :1 Anitaben Patel ,2 Siby Ripson,3 Bindu Pillai,4

Asha Shiju,5 Sonali Ghosh 6 Swapna Raghuraman 7 Sushma Harish Chief Judge congratulated all the participants and distributed participation certificates to all the contestants

AREA18ANNUALCLUBCONTEST

“Speakers may star, but contest functionaries play a critical role”

Close your eyes and imagine a Toastmasters club speech contest Do you immediately picturise a speaker, maybe enthusiastic, maybe a little nervous?

Perhaps he or she is using wit or an earnest tone to win over anonymous contest judges all while watching for the dreaded red light

But did you also think about the people who fill the contest roles, the ones who make the program flow and ensure that it adheres to Toastmasters International’s speech contest rules Volunteering to help run a speech contest offers a special opportunity to refine leadership and communications skills and can amplify the experience of simply being a Toastmaster Serving in those roles, gives you a broad perspective of what Toastmasters is all about”

One such role which I have performed during the Annual Club Contest 2022-23 as a Club Contest Manager The contest manger is essentially the event coordinator for a Toastmasters speech contest, overseeing all arrangements including budget, audiovisual and other equipment, publicity, venue, refreshments, and contestant eligibility etc

I am grateful to my club that they believed in me and provided me an opportunity to serve as a Contest Manager By doing this role I have come across my strengths and self-realization of my weakness too “

The amount of connec contest preparations b leadership skills Club but with help and exp with ease Of course, th comprehensive Speec There’s no sense in pla out part of your plan contest ruleHave all y ready before the con train functionaries Re the team understand to be an investment and emphasize teamw provides resources to including club contes Toastmasters websit including back-up pla event, is a must to ove So if you like the chall if you are looking to skills, contest manger club contest strengthens those connections” “It’s more challenging and we are in Toastmasters to be challenged”

A successful club contest is all about planning and teamwork

The secret of getting ahead is getting started

Keeping this in mind one fine day I joined ICC EVES toastmasters club to start my journey i always had a fear of public speaking and after joining ICC EVES,I felt the value of toastmasters with time As you keep attending sessions, you will see the change in yourself, you will witness your growth in terms of self-evaluation, understanding your speaking techniques, and most importantly the urge to express yourself and other technicalities that you may not have noticed otherwise, while communicating Toastmaster not only gives you the confidence to speak but it also enhance our growth by learning from others

My first winning experience!

I thought winning was my DNA till a certain date and then meeting failure in the most obnoxious way in high school had helped me to cherish the quote “Failure is the stepping stone to Success”

Participating in any toastmasters contest, be it club level or above is a learning curve on its own, falling and rising again is the mantra I too, took part in the contest this year without much preparation and the result was evident – need not say much!! But the thrill and the adrenalin rush are the reasons for my participation The arrangements and the preparations by the contest manager were unbelievably good I urge each Eve to keep participating, not just for the experience but to instill that self-belief “yes I can do it too” and keep learning from each nook and corner

Being a new member I was eligible to participate in humorous speech contest in the club level on Jan 17, 2023 My mentor motivated me to pen down on any of the topics or incidents in my life, that too humorous

At first, I did not know what to write about Then I thought for a while and decided to write on my own experience about beauty products and make upAgain with the help of my mentor I got my script edited and she helped me in adding some more humor in it And when the script was finalized, started preparing my speech I did work hard and even though was scared on the day of contest, especially after seeing all experienced senior members who were all so excited for the contestI did my best A lot of appreciations and genuine feedbacks poured in for my speech delivery and content I was already on cloud 9.And finally when the results were announced, I was surprised to know I won the third place, I was never expecting that My first ever contest in Toastmasters and winning the third place was really a great thing for me All credit goes to my mentor without whom I would not have achieved this I was overwhelmed with huge round of applause while holding the trophy and certificate I will always be grateful to the toastmaster fraternity for bringing out the best in me I would definitely participate in more contests in future and deliver my best

Progress to Success

TM Nadia Khan

TM Sonali Ghosh

TM Rashmi Raghavendra

TM Tara Ashish

Have you ever seen a caterpillar coming out of its cocoon? Have you tried to force it out? What do you think will happen? All right…

During my school days, I was good at studies but in department of public speaking, i was really weak My weakness was because of my lack of confidence Whenever I participated in any class competition, i was discouraged by my friends and mocked for my expression less face during speech However, under the teacher and parents’ pressure once I participated in poem recitation competition My mother helped me in that as she knew that I would not do myself. I won the competition. And the good thing was, now friends stopped laughing at me. Next competition was elocution and I really wanted to take part in it and wanted to win, so friends should not laugh at me ever So, I went to my brother this time and he wrote for me

When it was just about my turn, I started panicking I requested a boy behind me in queue to go before me. He said something which boosted my confidence and I gave a good performance. I still remember what he said to encourage me. He said, “are you going to get national award for doing good or jail for doing bad? Don’t worry just give your best After that I won again but with what my brother wrote So i was still the caterpillar who was trying so hard to make the wings strong and wanted to become an independent butterfly It went on and on till my adulthood.

Just 4 years ago I came here, and I joined this toastmasters club just because of my friend invited Again, have to give speeches Now who will write speeches for me My toastmaster’s friends and my mentor told me chaitali you have to write and deliver yourself. And they guided me saying write simple things about your life experience. Just come and share it in the club. Though it was way out of my comfort zone, I just wrote about myself and I delivered ice breaker And today I am already delivering my 12th speech, I am also the vice president of membership of this strong club So, I came out of my cocoon as a strong butterfly Growth always arises from the challenges Why don’t even we try to come out from our comfort zone? Why do we hide behind the obstructions and difficulties? Why do we become depended on others for our own success? Don’t be bogged down by the obstructions. Now I learnt my lesson. Friends, it is important for us to get out of our cocoon strong I am inviting all the caterpillars over here to become strong butterflies

Today the caterpillar in me is flying like a butterfly. Remember in school days my family members had tried to help me like pulling a caterpillar forcefully out of the cocoon. If we want to fly, touch the skies, be successful we need to come out from the obstructions like afraid of being judged, having less selfconfidence, negative feelings Otherwise, you will feel anxiety, depression which will result into your own failure

Now finds tell me what will happen if someone else tries pull the caterpillar out, it never can make its wings strong We have to fight with our own difficulties to become strong Don’t wait for the opportunity, create it by yourself

We have one life Give it the wings of self-confidence and fly high to reach the skies.

Stepping Stones to Success

Despite having brilliant ideas, thoughts and opinions, I failed miserably to express myself due to lack of communicational skills. Over the years I realized there was a considerable gap between mind and mouth which could not connect when in public and while facing a crowd. Emotionally drained and stuck, I was curious to re-invent myself, and then, I came up with the idea of joining toastmaster. I knew one of my colleagues was into it and had personally observed him growing

I decided to join and after few sessions, gained confidence to deliver my Ice -Breaker speech , slowly and steadily I started gaining the confidence to express myself I started communicating to connect and not to impress, delivered by speeches 1, 2, 3, completed my levels 1 and 2, started participating in table topics, as TMOD , Evaluators , role players and all activities which pushed me out of my comfort zone Slowly and steadily I started to develop the art of connection between thoughts, feelings and actions and gained emotional mastery in life and is able to remove all the limiting beliefs .Most importantly I have started believing in myself and able to relate and communicate well with friends , family and colleagues .

Toastmasters accepted me the way I am will all my flaws, thought me it is okay to fail, it is very much okay to stumble, fall if you are willing to take a step forward to learn, develop, grow and progress It has transformed my mind which has helped me transform my world and reshaped me to believe in myself and think out of the box

With every session I am only growing, learning and developing my soft skills with confidence and poise

I look forward to many more sessions and support of my mentors and fellow toastmasters to achieve my full potential and complete all my levels and pathways to become a distinguished toastmaster and a confident speaker and person

TM Chaitali Mehta

TM Bindu Pillai

BEYOND TOASTMASTERS

Toastmasters is a platform that can change you 360 degrees, make you confident and positive & exploit your potential to the maximum, you just need to stay glued to it.

Toastmasters galvanises you and the best example is our Distinguished Toastmaster and Past President , Asha Shiju

A passionate educator for past 25 years and at present working as Principal of Brilliant Indian International School a dedicated distinguished toastmaster for more than a decade and presently the District Gavels coordinator- the journey has been a great one of learning and as service leader

Past President ICC Eves, Past Area Director,Past Division Finance director,Past ICC Eves Gavels counselor,Mentor for Bhavan’s Toastmaster and charter member,coach and mentor for many clubs,have won accolades in contests and have taken up role of Chief judge for DTAC in Qatar and District 20 Kuwait.

She enjoys her role in the ICBF team of counseling for students. A sports enthusiast and a virulent traveler having visited more than 50 countries… She believe in keeping each day simple and live each moment with smile and positivity

Asha Shiju, DTM says Teamwork is my mantra in life and it has brought to me beautiful moments of joy and contentment Ialways believe that we rise in life by lifting others"

Awarded and Recognised for her contribution to the Society And when media captures you for the difference that you make

Invest In Yourself

- Asha Shiju,

Truly quoted life begins at the end of your comfort zone. My journey of toastmasters has been amazing and incredible. It has helped me to hone my skills as a service leader and educator.

I joined toastmasters in 2010 with an intention of discovering myself as a speaker and honing my presentations and PR skills Before joining toastmasters, I was a science teacher who was enthusiastic and passionate about my job but today I have grown up my leadership role as founder principal of a cbse school ready to take risks and bring paradigm shift in various areas All thanks to the tagline of Toastmasters Where leaders are made Personally, and professionally, I have learned to be an effective evaluator, good motivator, and encourager, confident at impromptu speaking, patient listener and to inspire and persuade others with effective communication. My skills of building teams with good inter and intrapersonal relationships always had an added advantage in my career The impact of toastmasters has been great and changed me and my vision in life

I am proud of the remarkable confidence that I carry today

Embark on this beautiful unstoppable journey of finding your best version and live an inspiring life out of your comfort zone reaching out to others

Club & Area Winner - International, TT and Evaluation

DTM

Asha Shiju, DTM

Balls & Goals

I hope you all have certain goals for 2023 If not, make 1 goal I too have one goal for the year 2023 . I will come to my goal later. During FIFA, when my husband got 10 tickets, DTM in me asked him online, offline DTM Daily toastmasters He said hybrid I Never liked football but social media pressureBefore stadium tour, I started YouTube tours About football, players, how many gold shoes they have, how many children, wives holidays

And then we went to a match First, we had to go through a long queue Metro this way, metro this way. Metro which way. 3 hours way. My knee injury aggravated.

Reached stadium, we had mountaineering The Lusail stadium In the large crowd I held his hand tight, spoke 5-7 min nonstop Then automatically DTM in me stopped. Disciplined toastmaster. And looked, I was holding someone else’s husband’s hand

My husband, a structural engineer- like a happy puppy was enjoying the stadiums He took more pictures of stadiums here than of statue of liberty while we were at NY. I dint see him so hyper even during our marriage

Inside the stadium, we had a top-level seating level 5 I climbed entire pathways upto level 5- on 1st gear limping with knee pain- others went on 3rd gear. So much hard work I did, and after the 90 min match 0 goals

22 players are all running after one big ball, to focus and kick it in one big net Can’t? sounds like a strategic management plan focus, goal.Bored of game, I evaluated the structure of their legs- variety tattoos, beautiful lotus, batman, - I zoomed took pictures of tattoos

I think because big football players keep tripping kicking themselves, falling. Sad. Some color cards are shown Yellow and red they have, no green card shown, dtm- desperate toastmaster- my son saidthere is a purpose why they show Of course I am not a fool- every 30 secs they will not show a cardBut I wonder why only 2 nets- why not 4 or just 1. Anybody kicks- gets points 200 points 300 points like cricket- ball to boundary 4 runs, ball to audience 6 runs not in foot ball

Well, all those who love football- this is my personal opinion. Please do not take it personally. Now, I always went to stadiums with TM magazine

Once I got rejected may be because DTM Sabeena was already featured Next time I came At stadium many people asked where this magazine was available. Maybe they were bored too. I presented impromptu education modules basics of TI Like any other open house guest they said, we will surely like to join and no news

That’s ok My brilliant mind told me- community service program- stadium cleaning, make DTM Rajesh proud- Distinguished TM- yes- but my team didn't have tickets on same match day , It didn't work Now, after the FIFA hype got over hayya hayya hayya-people started posting status- so depressingI too felt like DTM depressed toastmaster. But came contest season Every Friday contest- more activityfree breakfast, lunch, food is there and I get to play DTM detective toast master Judges- are they hmmmm - no not today- just saying, role playersrepeating- hmmm, chief judge…hmmmm Sushma- that’s how my inner voice awakens me

Focus – foot ball taught me-have at least 1 goal- 0 goals- life will give us free kicks-

My goal- 2023-to become DTM. Distinguished TM

When, What, Why, How

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. Never stop doing Little things for others.

When

4th March my mother surprised me by saying that she has registered my name for volunteering With blinking eyes I asked what time I should report and which venue we should go. I was totally clueless about what. She said 2pm to 8pm at Aspire Dome Indoors for Artistic Gymnastics. Till then I have seen gymnastics only in television. I was so happy to go as a volunteer because my services are useful for someone for something I felt.

What

First time I got a chance to become a volunteer and our coordinator welcomed us with smile and gave accreditation card, clearly mentioned as One day Pass Being a weekend, I could see lot of school boys and girls, sitting,cheering,yelling, running and giggling all over the stadium Prior to the matches I could see the participants practicing sincerely Many spectators were shooting pictures and enjoying with their groups

Why

Why I wanted to volunteer you may ask From the time Fifa taken place in doha, my mother and sister were praising so highly of volunteering,

I also wanted to volunteer in international sporting events and I do not want to miss this opportunity So I joined as a volunteer My coordinator Neil introduced me to Mr Hussain and he told me to manage one of the gate where I could permit only paid ticket audience to have their seats I felt so proud to check their tickets and allowed them to take seats prior to the show. Other volunteers were guiding all the other spectators to their respective seats like media, VIP’s, Free tickets etc. First time I learned how to manage the crowd and seating arrangements in the venue etc

How

Standing for a long time near the gate C6 was little difficult for me but I could manage I was amazed to see ball, ribbons, and rope stunts Aerobic gymnastics like dancing to music, floor exercises, parallel bars, high bar, high jumps etc. I could see players from Philippines, Japan, Ukraine, Morocco, Romania and USA. In the end the champions who created history were awarded medals There was a big coverage of media which was live in big screens

To conclude, Volunteering is more exciting, useful, learning and fantastic experience and I gained the courage to do the service by toastmastering Service to society is service to god, I realised May volunteer more In the coming days. Though I volunteered for few hours, it gave me immense pleasure which cannot be expressed with words, but to be felt So, keep volunteering and useful to others

TM Sushma Harish

TM Swapna Raghuraman

Club Meeting 299

Counselor Shanty Rose DTM

President – Aadarsh Nair

VPE- Nivedita Praveen

VPPR – Divneet Kaur Saini

Secretary- Hansini

Sgt@Arms – Rona Nibu and Rushda

‘We want our legacy to stand upon the youth!’ At ICC EVES Gavel Club we had some sterling meetings during Dec 2022 to March 2023 with a few more new members added to the bunch! The 159th meeting was one such with an alluring theme by our effervescent Gavelier of the Day Hansini “Opportunities don’t happen; we create them”! The kind of speech topics varied from ‘Black Holes’ to “Importance of grabbing opportunities” to a humorous take on “growing up with a big brother! Listening to these fine young minds gives me a ‘sneak peak ‘ into their teenage world and also makes me realize their motivation and commitment to bring in positivechanges!

Our new year 2023 kick started with a bang, our 160th meeting on Jan 7th on an apt theme “Every moment is a fresh Beginning”! While Gavelier of the Day Sheza navigated us through how to seize and make the best out of each moment, our speakers spoke on some relevant topics to ponder on and our table topics speakers aced with each one’s exceptionaltake on the topics given! This was followed by our subsequent meetings in January and February including an online meeting and each meeting was filled with fun and learning in equal amounts!

As the ICC Eves Gavel Club marches ahead slowly and steadily, it is indeed heartening to see how timid teenagers are transformed to vibrant confidant speakers and leaders in a short span of time! Faces change, meetings continue, yet the spark in their eyes and confidence in their words linger and that is inspiration ahead for us counselors!!

Meeting Moments

CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS

District PR CLUB AWARDSJAN-MAR 2023

POSTER MASTER AWARD

MEME MIRTH AWARD

Club Vision

We provide a suppo learning experien members are empo communication and resulting in greate and personal growth

CLUB

International empowers people full potential and realise

Through our member clubs, throughout the world can improve communication and leadership skills and find the courage to change.

GOLDEN LENS AWARD B

EGION 11

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