The Galfar Toastmasters Club members pose for a group photo.
DOHA: The Galfar Toastmasters Club (GTM) conducted its Tenth Annual Speech Contest at the Oryx Rotana on Saturday. The enthusiastic members of the club, comprised entirely of Galfar Al Misnad staff, competed for the Club’s top honours with full enthusiasm.
The winners of the evening in each category were: TM John Henry in the International Speech contest, TM Abhijit Sinha in the Humourous Speech contest, TM Mohamed Imran in the Table Topic contest, and TM Muhammad Hashir in the Evaluation contest. These winners, along with the second place holders of each category will now proceed to compete in the Area contest.
In 2009, Galfar Al Misnad, an engineering conglomerate, instituted its own Corporate Toastmasters Club as a proactive initiative to develop leadership and communication skills among staff members. The club began with 23 charter members and since then, more than 150 employees have benefited from the program.
Within three years of its existence, members of GTM started participating in area contests, and by 2016, they were participating in division level contests. GTM has ensured its representation right up to the district level in the speech contest.
“There has been a marked improvement and progress in how our staff members conduct themselves in their professional and personal lives ever since they started participating in the Toastmasters program; which is not just beneficial to them, but to the company, the country, as well as all those who associate with us,” said Satish G Pillai, Executive Director of Galfar Al Misnad, who spoke at the event.
As an extra feather in its cap during its tenth year of existence, GTM recently achieved 10/10 Distinguished Club Performance (DCP) points in the current term, 2018-19, and now has the distinction of being a “President’s Distinguished Club.”
This is the highest recognition possible for any Toastmasters’ Club, and makes it the first club in Area 03 of the newly formed District 116 to achieve this feat, and the second club in Division A.
“This is a particularly proud moment for our club as we were able to achieve this feat within 6 months, thanks to the untiring efforts of our members and the support of Area Director TM Anil Prakash,” said Navaneetha Shetty, the current President of Galfar Toastmasters’ Club (GTM) and head of Galfar Al Misnad’s QHSE Department.
