JEDDAH — Toastmasters Area 37 of Division H of District 104 conducted its annual speech contest here on Saturday evening with a theme "TEAM Together everybody achieves more". The contest comprised of four different categories; humorous speech, table topics speech, evaluation, and international speech contests. Chief Sergeant-at-Arms TM Mujeeb Ahmed, at the area contest set the stage and read the mission of the Toastmasters while Area 37 Director and Contest Chair Khaja Mohideen opened the event and welcomed the gathering and thanked the entire contest organizing committee for their support in managing the mega event. In his keynote speech, he spoke about the theme and how important it is today to work with team members. "Every aspiring leader needs a team to become successful. And to fulfill any vision excellent leadership ability and communication skills are required. The toastmaster's organization has done a tremendous job in cultivating leadership and communication in the last few decades. We need to spread this message across in our community and provide opportunity to new members. We need to develop more members and continue this legacy," he said. Guest speaker DTM Abdullah Filimban, District Director 104, stressed on the importance of toastmasters and invited everyone to the Saudi Arabian Annual Toastmasters Contest (SATAC) in Taif later this year and requested members to register and make the event a grand success. TM. Basheer Ambalavan Division H Director wished the contestants the very best. The clubs which are under Area 37 are Wisdom Toastmasters Club, Hope Toastmasters club and Pace Toastmasters club, participated in the contest. International speech segment is the epicenter of the event wherein the champion can compete up to the international arena whereas the other winners will only be able to reach the district level. The Area 37 contest commenced with the humorous speech segment. The first place of this contest was bagged by TM Asker Ali Khan of Hope Toastmasters Club, while TM Ashraf Melveetil of Hope Toastmasters Club, TM Surendra Pal Singh of Toastmasters Club took the first and second runner places. The contest master for the contest was TM Sameer. The Table Topic Speech Contest was another interesting contest where the contestants had to deliver an impromptu speech of 1 to 2 minutes on a topic given on the spot. TM Ashraf Melveetil of Hope Toastmasters Club won the first place, while Mohammed Siraj of Wisdom Toastmasters Club and Riyaz Mohammed Ilyas of Pace Toastmasters Club won the first and second runner up place respectively. The contest master TM. Prabu Krishnan ran the contest very professionally. The contestants evaluated the speech given by the test speaker Fathma Khan of Jeddah Elite ladies club. The first place was bagged by TM Asker Ali Khan, while the second and third place winners were TM Ashraf Melveetil and TM Omar Khan. TM Rabiyah Mohideen hosted the contest. In the International Speech contest, which was a 5 to 7 minutes speech delivered on a topic of speaker's choice devoid of sex, religion or politics, the contestants from the clubs of Area 37 enthralled the audience with their inspirational and thought-provoking speeches. TM Waseem Ahmed bagged the first place, while TM Ashraf Melveetil and TM Asker Ali Khan won the second and the third place respectively. TM Seeni Ali was the contest master for International Speech contest. The contests was supported by various club members notably TM Ibrahim Maricar, TM. Bala Subramanian, TM Mohan, TM Yousef Asseri, TM Adam Issa, TM Adam Abulhassan and TM Abdul Rasheed. All the contests were judged by DTM Mohammed Ibrahim Maricar and TM Bala Subramaniyan. All the winners and runner ups were given plaques and the winner and the first runner up have qualified for the division contest which will be held on March 13 in Jeddah. The master of the ceremony thanked everyone for the support and their contribution.
