JUBAIL — It was a true depiction of an adage: ”Together we succeed” during a successful combined Division E&L Conference for District 79 at the Royal Commission Conference hall last weekend. Both the divisions were led by their respective governors DTM Periyanayaham and TM Abdullah Al-Harbi. The two-day conference was attended by Toastmasters and guests from all over Saudi Arabia that included International Director Khalid Matlagaitu, District 79 Governor Joey Villanueva, Abdullah Al-Sharif, District 79 chief Ambassador Syed Waheed Lateef and other division and area governors. The conference demonstrated true leadership and communication skills. Mark Brown — the 1995 world champion of public speaking, who came all the way from US to take part in this event — urged in his keynote address the leaders to “Know what they don't Know” and emphasized on “Building Relationships”. Brown was excited about the Toastmasters conference in Jubail, as his previous experience in the year 2009 was particularly a memorable stay here along with his wife Andrea Brown. He thanked the President of Farabi Petrochemical Company Mohammed Al-Wadi for sponsoring the event. Distinguished Toastmaster Aziz Ahmad Siddiqui was the conference chair, and he was assisted by Ahmed Al-Khaldi. The highlight of the event were the four absorbing contests each for the two divisions organized by contest operations team led by Area Governors Asif Ali Siddiqui and Sadagopan Natarajan. The first place winners for the International Speech Contests were Abdul Rahim and Zahid Saraf, with the second place going to Praveena Arvind and Vijay Kumar, while the third place was bagged by Ali Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Khalili. The contest chairs for International Speech contests were Meshal Al-Enazi and Kotteswaran. The first place winners for the Humorous Speech Contests, which were anchored by Abdullah Al-Nemer, Pramil and Elina, were Abdul Rahim and Sudheer Sadanand, the second place went to Asif Ali Khan and Jagadeesan Kumar, while the third place was bagged by Sundari Venkatesan and Mussallam Al-Tamimi. The first place winners for the Table Topics Speech Contests were Mark Villiano and TM Suresh Kumar, the second place winners were S Venkatesan and Jagadeesan Kumar, while the third place was won by Ali Al-Sanad and Victor Jabello. The contest chairs for TT contests were Saadia Siddiqui and Richa Tripathi. The first place winners for the Evaluation Speech Contests, which were anchored by Philip Cos and Imteyaz Ahmad, were Vijay Kumar and Zahid Saraf, the second place went to Faisal M. Al-Ghamdi and Essam Al-Ahmed, while the third place was clinched by Surendra Chari and Jagadeesan Kumar. The audience had a pleasant surprise when veteran toastmasters Yousef Abu Ghosh, stepped in as target speakers for the evaluation contest. Expert campaigners Jacob Kuriakose, Shakil Anjum, Abdullah Al-Sharief and Syed Waheed Lateef were the chief judges assisted by more than 20 other judges, majority from outside Jubail. Gavel club youth leaders Nitin Baalaji and Misbahuddin demonstrated their public speaking skills. All Toastmasters of Jubail who have so far earned the title of “DTM” (Distinguish Toastmasters) were specially felicitated on the occasion, and a special Award “Legendary Leader” was presented to Syed Waheed Lateef in a glittering function. The efforts of several teams who worked day and night on every minute detail made the conference a huge success. The teams were led by Area Governor Manivannan, Area Governor Asif Ali Siddiqui, R J George, Jamil Akhter, Palaniraj, Nawwaf Saif Al-Ahmadi, Biju CR, Abdullah Khalili, Huzaiffa Warorawalla and Abul Khasim. Contest Operations Committee Chairman Asif Ali Siddiqui, Master of Ceremonies Abdulaziz Al-Sharekh, and Safare Mohammed along with the Division Governors Periyanayaham and Abdullah Al-Harbi thanked all the organizing teams for their tireless efforts, in making the conference a grand success. The sponsors of the event were Royal Commissions for Jubail and Yanbu, Sipchem Petrochemical, Farabi Petrochemical, Sahara Petrochemical, Al Manar Arabia, Sofcon and Ralli Wolf. The first placed winners in each contest from this conference will now be competing with the winners of the Other Division during the District 79 Annual three-day Conference from April 23 in Jeddah.
