Qatar District 116 of Toastmasters International was recently declared the No.1 District in the world for the year 2019-2020. District 116 also won the honour of becoming a Smedley Distinguished District.
This was announced by Deepak Menon, president of Toastmasters International, during the international convention held online last month. The convention was telecasted all over the world. The event was originally planned to be held in Paris, France but had to be moved online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the second year in a row that Qatar District 116 became the World No1 and Smedley Distinguished District. On behalf of all the clubs and toastmasters of Qatar, the award was accepted virtually by trio of Raghavan Menon, District director; K Thayalan, District programme quality director; and Manzoor Moideen, District club growth director.
On receiving the coveted award, Raghavan Menon said: “We had a dream of making Qatar District 116, No.1 in the World. With the teamwork of all the members and clubs, we believed that we can make it but in March when the pandemic struck, members were a little confused because we stopped all in-person meetings and moved to the online platform.
With the support of members and the committed District team, we achieved our dream. It is the result of the meticulous planning and hard work of the entire team of leaders of District 116. Timely advice of Rajeswar Sundaresan, immediate past District director, was one of the major factors for our success. I always believed in the mantra: dream it, believe it, and achieve it.”
In Qatar, Toastmasters has been part of the social fabric for 23 years. The first club, Doha Toastmasters, was chartered in January 1997. This was followed by Qatar Toastmasters Club in November the same year. Currently, there are 87 clubs in Qatar. More than 2,000 members from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds utilise the friendly platform of Toastmasters to enhance communication and leadership skills.
Toastmaster clubs within Qatar operate in multiple languages: Arabic, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Oriya and Marathi. Arabic clubs in Qatar are Tamim Toastmasters, Hamad Toastmasters, Maharat Toastmasters and Asdiqa’a Toastmasters.
Toastmasters clubs can be found in universities and schools including Qatar Foundation, Qatar University, College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Shantiniketan School, Bhavans Public School, Birla Public School and Pearl International School. Clubs have been formed within the public and private business sector, such as Ooredoo, Qatar Airways, Qatargas, Qafco, Aspire Zone, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Galfar Al Misnad, Voltas, Larson & Toubro, Landmark Group, Abmak, McDermott, Jaidah Group, KPMG, KEF, EF, SLQS, KBPN, IIEE-SQC, PSME, PQASS, Mirqab Minds, Parsons, Care n Cure and Allwell.
There are many community or open clubs where admission is open to all. Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The activities of Toastmasters perfectly align with the key pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030. The communication and leadership training provided to members promotes human development and the multi-cultural environment within the clubs enhances social development by promoting a spirit of tolerance and openness.
Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, the membership of Toastmasters International exceeds 364,000 in more than 16,200 clubs in 145 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders. The Toastmasters’ mission is to empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Toastmasters’ core values are: integrity, respect, service and excellence.
Joining a Toastmasters club is easy. A listing of clubs by geographic area can be located on the Toastmasters website at www.toastmasters.org Visitors to the website can select the most convenient club, attend a meeting as a guest and apply for membership. For more details, please visit: www.d116.org or call Rajesh VC on mobile no: 31304533.
From left: K Thayalan, Raghavan Menon and CGD Manzoor Moideen.
