TRYST WITH THE TRIO 2.0

Ray of hope

Let your hopes not your misfortune shape your future. Stay positive and be happy.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.. When we are hopeful, we are optimistic and believe positive things happen to us and the world. Psychologist Charles R. Snyder dedicated his life to the study of hope. He argued that having a hopeful attitude gives us a goal to work towards, and in turn we create a determined plan to achieve that goal. Hope is the driving force. Hope is powerful, It inspires us to explore. It can conquer the biggest roadblock. Hope can come in many shapes and forms, may be in different formats. It could be through our favourite music, or a good book, hobbies and listening to thought leaders. Hope is the awakening dream. Let your hopes not your misfortune shape your future. Stay positive and be happy.

The acronym HOPE is

H Harmony

O Optimism

P Perpetual

E endurance

That is Harmonising optimism and perpetual endurance.

Again in the contest of my hope, despite all the roadblock and hassles you have demonstrated. Whatever might is possible for you but in my assessment certainly the index could have touched loftier heights I am confident that there will be an escalated tempo for the remaining half so that we will be   enabled to attain dashing score, matching with our competency.

My whole hearted wishes to each one of you and your families. May this year bring you abundance of prosperity, cheer of happiness and miles of hope. A safe, healthy and prosperous New year 2021 !

#daretodream

Nirmala Lilly, DTM

District 121 Director

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The second quarter of this program there has been an extremely exciting 3 months for me and the PQD team. We hosted the Webinar series which had the who’s who of the world coming to District 121 and taking training sessions for our members. We also had those training sessions recorded and made available on the district website, saving this knowledge for posterity.

We hosted the first of its kind, initiative called Encore 2020, a series of events led by the students for the students organised by the educational institutions coordinator from my team Rohan Ravindra, DTM.The initiative aimed at bringing together the students across Karnataka and Kerala, not just of the 30 plus college clubs in our District but also of colleges which did not have toastmasters presence. We had a lot of students participating in 3 contests that we organized – The creative writing, Impromptu speaking and debate competition. We also organised workshops on topics to the student community – acing the interviews, writing the perfect resume, finding your passion, and mastering group discussions. These were conducted by our very own Toastmaster members who are HR  professionals, corporate trainers and experts in the field.

This quarter, the contest team comprising me, Chief Judge Girish Nagpal, DTM and the contest coordinator Arjun Sundar Raj, DTM put together one of the first of its kind series of speech analysis (SAW series), with an attempt to help members understand speeches better and participate in contests with a more holistic approach. We invited World champions and experts on the ISC and Tall tales contests to give us an idea of not just preparing for it, but also with a deeper understanding of the judging ballots. The final program was the training for judges and contest management where we prepared more than 300 members, to become better judges and know the nuances of organizing contests.  We will now be working closely with our district officers, in helping all our clubs to conduct quality contests and be effective judges in the upcoming contest season.

The upcoming quarter, we are gearing up for the second round of club officers’ training, and working with District officers to host their area and division events. We will also be working closely with the club leaders in reminding them of the goals they need to achieve to become Distinguished clubs and beyond.

As this year comes to an end, I wanted to express my gratitude for my pillars of strength – the PQD team members , all the Division and Area directors who work so diligently in supporting our district mission and the club leaders who take care of our members and ensure great quality and variety in the online meetings they conduct. Thank you everyone for #beingyourbest. Let’s hope 2021 brings us everything we ever wanted, and “quality” in anything we do, in Toastmasters and otherwise.

#BeYourBest.

Vanitha Rangarajan, DTM

Program Quality Director

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

These famous lines of Charles Dickens come to my mind as the year 2020 draws to a close. It is true that this has been a complex year beyond anyone’s worst nightmare and in some ways it has been no different for the Toastmasters movement in District 121. Despite the dwindling numbers and the groan of dissatisfaction, there is hope in the air as I see some clubs doing exceptionally well. Led by  excellent and encouraging presidentship they have made quick strides by beating the drums of “Let’s do it – Yes we can!”  It is a challenge we need to take up with a commitment to do our best! We have to double and triple our efforts. Nothing succeeds like perseverance therefore, we have to change our working style as our regular style is dated.

Christmas is a festival of hope & I sincerely hope that Toastmasters grows from strength to strength in the years to come.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Cheers!!

Savitha Salian, DTM

Club Growth Director