March 10th 2012 was chosen as the date for the curtain raiser of the event Communique 2012 - Chennai Wordsmiths Toastmas-ters‟ International Speech and Table topics Contest. It was a day

that I awaited with curiosity and nervousness.

7 International speech contestants and 14 table topics‟ contestants

were the centre of attraction. A good amount of crowd had gath-

ered and the stage was set

for a formidable fight to en-

thral the audience. At the end

of nearly 4 hours, I was left

with evergreen memories

that I would re-collect any

time in my life if someone

comes up to me and says

Communique 2012!

A Contest to Cherish.

Division Governor’s pat!

This contest was highly competitive - both inter-national speech contest as well as the table topics contest.. It was tough for the judges to rank these contestants to decide the winners. Above and be-yond one thing that I no-

ticed is the hall was full and people did not even have chairs to sit. This is the first time in the his-tory of Wordsmiths this is happening - the hall is getting full, people stand-ing at the back to watch what is happening here.

Fantastic show. I am very thrilled by the enthusi-asm of Wordsmith Toastmasters. Wishing

them all the best!!!

- Saro Velrajan

AlphabetZ March 2012

Issue # 7

Divn Governor’s pat 1

President’s Special 2

Rocking Role Players 3

Contestants Speak 4

Terrific Talents 6

Photo Gallery 7

LGET’s Advise 8

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Special issue:

Dedicated to all partici-

pants of the club contest

for International Speech

and Table Topics contest

2012.

Chennai

Wordsmiths

Toastmasters

Club

TOASTMASTERS

INTERNATIONAL

ALPHABETZ

Here are some of the moments that I would always treasure and be proud

to say that I was there when Wordsmiths did it.

First things First:

There were two important milestones that Chennai Wordmsiths Toast-masters achieved for the first time and for many more times to come in

the future.

The 14 contestants who turned up for the Table topics were the highest that has been produced in Chennai Wordsmiths for a contest and I sin-

cerely hope that this record is shattered in the ensuing contest season itself. The audience strength of more than 50 for a contest in Chennai Word-smiths Toastmasters for the first time clearly signifies that we as a club are growing and this achievement was simply possible because of „YOU‟

– the loving members of Chennai Wordsmiths.

Speeches:

Variety was on offer in the 7 speeches that were presented with élan by the Wordsmithonians - Strange laws in different countries (TM Bhaskaran), avoid discriminating others (TM Anand), belief in yourself (TM Dhanalakshmi), hope is the biggest strength (TM San-thosh), failures are not final (TM Sabapathy), compassion (TM Ro-hit) and Learning from mistakes (TM Bharath). It was a wholesome feast for the audience as every speaker tried their best to be the best as the battle with oneself was intriguing and worthy to watch. Though at the end we had only 3 winners, I am sure the contest should have been a great learning plat-form for every contestant and for every toastmaster sitting in the audience thinking of contesting in a

year‟s time.

Table Topics:

Personally, I loved the table topics session for the simple reason that it had so many new members of Wordsmiths contesting enthusiastically. The icing on the cake was every contestant had easily crossed the minimum one minute barrier to qualify and specifically our new members TM Mullaiselvan, TM Ravi-chandran, TM Shankarnarayanan and TM Pankaj Krishna were a revelation in table topics. Not only did they contest with joy, but also they have clearly shown that Wordsmiths‟ future looks very healthy and we

sure are going to face tougher challenges in our club level itself.

President’s Pride

International Speech Contest Winners

“...this achievement was simply

possible because of „YOU‟ - the

loving members of Chennai

Wordsmiths.

Ever cheerful President delighted with

the all round response to the contest

2nd Runner Up: Dhanalakshmi

1st Runner Up: Sabapathy

Winner : Anand Narayanan Anand and Sabapathy will now represent the club at the Area level to compete with the winners of the

other clubs in the area.

Page 2

ALPHABETZ

ISSUE # 7

– timers (TM Abhilash & TM

Mohan), tally counters (TM

Arna & TM Muthu-

vel), Sergeant at

arms (TM Vignesh

& TM Janaki), cer-

tificate writers (TM

Jananee & TM

Harini), Contest

masters (TM Adeshesh & TM

Rohit Jhunjhunwala), Chief Judge

(TM Saro) and Contest Chair

(TM Rajeev Nambiar) who read-

ily agreed to be a part of team

Wordsmiths. I can proudly say

that you all propelled us to-

wards a memorable meeting.

Krishnan Chidambaram

Without the propellers a ship

can never set sailing and without

role players this

Communique

2012 would

never have been

what it has be-

come. Thanks to

all the propellers

Moments make life colourful and there were so many moments that made Communique 2012 colourful. Here is

my collection of ten (not in any particular order) that immediately came to mind.

1. Bhaskaran‟s huge dose of humor and specifically the law that says not to forget your wife‟s birthday! 2. Anand‟s Miss Universe moment and of course the now famous pipe breaking „put your foot‟! 3. Pankaj‟s lilting melody (Pankaj should seriously try singing if he has not attempted yet) 4. Mullaiselvan‟s table topic story about the glass being filled with different contents. Well done Mullai. 5. How can I forget Rohit Shivdas‟s fractured moon walk and of

course the coolers touch during the interview! 6. Sabapathy‟s kneeling down posture symbolising body language to

the invisible judges! 7. Dhanalakshmi‟s invisible teacher standing at the right corner of

the room! 8. Rohit Jhunjhunwala being lifted by Contest Chair Rajeev Nambiar 9. Sridhar & Deepak for pestering the camera to the core and cap-

turing so many moments in the contest! 10. Huge applause from the audience without which everything would

seem nothing! Thanks Audience!

Rocking Role Players

My ten moments - President goes on!

Table Topics Contest Winners

“I can proudly say that you all

propelled us to towards a

memorable meeting.”

President’s presenting his unforgettable moments of the contest.

Page 3

2nd Runner Up: Arun Sridhar

1st Runner Up: Yuvaraj

Winner : Deepak Pandian Deepak and Yuvaraj will now represent the club at the Area level to compete with the winners of the

other clubs in the area.

ALPHABETZ

Page 3

From the heart - Speech Contestants!

Page 4

March 2012

This was Anand‟s 6th contest participation. He has already participated in In-

ternational, Table Topics, Humorous and Evaluation contests and has won a

few of them too.

He says that the speech content wasn't about him. He feels that the examples

he quoted were always bothering him and hence it came straight from his

heart. He made the examples personal to make the speech more impactful.

Since it came from his heart he consumed very less time for preparations.

On his experience during the speech, he says, “ Initially I was nervous. That

nervous energy made me speak faster. Other than that I was totally into the

content which made me emote better”

Anand, who normally goes out and rehearses his speech till his turn comes,

this time sat through the other speeches before him. He says that regular par-

ticipation gave him the courage to sit through all the speeches before him. Anand Narayanan

Dhanalakshmi, member of Wordsmiths since February 2010 was participating in her third contest with experience in one humorous and evaluation contest

participation in the past.

She feels her preparation was a joint effort by her and her mentor. Her men-tor was helping her by giving comments on the script throughout her prepara-

tion. She took personal stories and prepared her speech.

She shares her experience on stage in one line, “ Initially I felt nervous, but af-

ter sometime I felt relaxed.”

She feels that the contest has made her very sincere in preparing a script and

practicing it well.

Sabapathy, on his first attempt in the competition is just 3 months since he became

a member in Wordsmiths club.

Starting his preparation well ahead he worked on 2 scripts and finalized on one 2 weeks in advance. He then took inputs from a couple of people and made a few modifications to the script and made some more minor modifications as he started

practicing.

He relives his experience on stage with the following words, “It was slightly differ-ent from a club speech. To begin with, the crowd was huge and it was too formal. Beyond that, I loved every moment of being there and I would probably make a

better pitch the next time around as well.”

Sabapathy

Dhanalakshmi

ALPHABETZ

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Page 5

Santhosh

Baskaran who joined Wordsmiths just two months ago has been a Toastmaster in Dubai before. He has participated in club and areas contests in Dubai and has won 4

trophies too.

He feels that preparing, editing and practicing whenever he gets time has made him

perform well.

He has an interesting narration about his experience in delivering the speech, “ I felt too good to share my research on the speech. And the topic I chose was quite rele-

vant to human beings”.

When asked what difference the competition makes to him he says that it makes him put more efforts to perform well. He sees a significant difference between usual

meetings and contests and that matters a lot to him too. Paul Baskaran

Rohit, who is into his 16th month of his association with Wordsmiths was participat-ing in his third contest after participating in Table Topics and Evaluation contests in

the past.

His speech was based on a CC manual speech. He spoke about an accident. He says

that accident totally squashed his car but he was lucky to be alive to tell the tale.

He captures his experience on the stage as follows, “ Great would be an understate-

ment. Though I was half reluctant today morning, I am glad I saw this through.”

He feels participating in a contest is an amazing experience and it brings out the best

in him.

S Rohit

Bharath Kumar with an experience of participating in one contest before claims he

had a great experience.

On his preparation he said that he had prepared the speech just a day back and that had an impact on his preparation and quality. So he finally chose an already given CC

speech and enhanced it.

He quotes his experience on stage as follows, “Just enjoyed the moment...the nerv-ousness was there, but the atmosphere was sparkling and it was great to witness the

speeches and meet more TMs.”

He feels the contest was a great learning and a motivation to give more next time. It

was another chance to be on stage and experiment. Bharath Kumar

Santhosh who joined Wordsmiths in 2010 participated in his second international

speech contest this time.

On his preparation he was quite candid admitting that he was lazy initially. He now realizes the need to gear up. He learnt not to memorize as that came as a barrier for

his speech.

“It was great. I get to know my own problems during speaking and communication”

says Santhosh on his experience while delivering the contest speech.

He feels participating in contest always matters a lot. It actually makes him better

leader and communicator. Santhosh

ALPHABETZ

TT - Terrific Talents on Table Topics

Page 6

Deepak Pandian - “Contrary to the name, Table Topics needs lots of unconscious preparation. I keep gathering information about my intersests and that helps in my Ta-

ble Topics.”

Arun Sridhar - “Regular partici-pation in Table Topics at the club level. Felt passionate about the chosen area / topic. Has brought

more enthu for table topics now.”

Yuvaraj - “I was telling myself Opening, Body, Conclusion. I do tell this every time I speak. Felt good and comfortable. Participa-

tion has boosted confidence.”

Shankara Narayanan - Contest has given courage to speak more

and become a better speaker.

Pankaj Krishna - Happy that I could speak for the minimum time

required.

Ravichandran - This contest has made me more confident in speak-

ing, especially table topics.

Gopi - Contest has increased my confidence level as we speak in

front of 60 people.

Mullai Selvan - I had to talk to-day, so I tried. I am happy for that. Feels comfortable to see others

talking to us.

Murugan - The contest has made me ready to accept debacle in speeches and hence I will never

get afraid of a topic to speak.

ALPHABETZ

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Photo Gallery

No prize for guessing Rajeev Nambiar’s nick-

name. As usual he was roaring!!!

Page 7

A composed Adesesh handled the con-

test to perfection

Audience had to watch the OUT-

STANDING contest, STANDING OUT

Vignesh, as the S@A, was the

“crowd puller” of the day.

Contest Master Rohit pushing the audienceto maintain high standards of energy!

ALPHABETZ

The conduct of the meeting was excellent.

The contest was good and the focus should be to make it great.

Microphone should be used in contests. It makes a lot of difference.

Towers Club,

Near Anna Nagar Tower Park,

3rd Main Road,

W-Block,, Anna Nagar,

Chennai 40

Meeting: Every Saturday

between 4 and 6 pm.

CWTM

Guests are

welcome

Useful advise from our LGET,

D-82, Ms. Nina John on the

contest.

CHENNAI WORDSMITHS

TOASTMASTERS CLUB

OFFICE BEARERS

President: Krishnan Chidambaram

VP-Education: Anand Narayanan

VP-Membership: Arun Sridhar

VP-Public Relations: Sridhar Ranganathan

Secretary: Yuva Raju

Treasurer: Pavan Kumar

Sergeant-at-Arms: Janaki

For more details about the meeting, or to book

speaking slots, contact

Anand Narayanan (VP-E)

+91 9884291317

Good luck to the winners to continue

the winning flow at the next levels

the winning spree

verall a good contest. owever there is always room for O

improvements! All the best wordsmiths!

H

ALPHABETZ