The great Clint Eastwood once said “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome”. This saying is etched in each one’s memory not because of its poetic articulation but the profound meaning it carries. It intimates that innovativeness is the key to a person’s or organizations’ growth and success. At NITK Toastmasters Club, we not only believe in this philosophy but actively practice it. With the help of a determined executive committee and enthusiastic Toastmasters, we were able to establish our virtual meetings on a platform convenient to all of us. After much thought, the Executive Committee decided that we need to take advantage of this opportunity to increase our outreach. After holding a few regular meetings online, we decided to organize larger ‘events’ on this platform. Keeping in mind the philosophy of innovating, the Executive Committee decided that we should host a joint meet with our fellow Toastmasters in IITs and NITs. This proposal was received with a lot of enthusiasm by all the members of the club. As they say, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”, The dream sounded enthralling but to make it a flawless reality we needed to come up with a plan.
This inter NIT/IIT joint meet was one of the biggest events proposed by our club, and any event of such magnitude requires an immense amount of preparation and planning to execute. A month before the event, the heads and the coordinating teams were selected for smooth operation. This team consisted of very enthusiastic Toastmasters with different levels of experience. The first task at hand was contacting a myriad of toastmasters clubs of NITs and IITs through various platforms such as Linkedin and Instagram, finally narrowing it down to four clubs. ‘Hourglass Toastmasters International NIT Rourkela Chapter’, ‘IIT Madras Toastmasters Club’ and two clubs from NIT Trichy – ‘Colossus Toastmasters’ and ‘Toastmasters International NIT Trichy’, joined us on this venture. The members of all the clubs showed great enthusiasm taking up different roles for the session. These roles were equally divided among all four clubs and the positions were designated well in advance. As the day of the event approached, the assigned Toastmasters practiced their role meticulously. Parallely the Public Relations team worked tirelessly on the invitations and other logistics.
Judgement day arrived on 7th June, 2020. The meet observed over 50 talented Toastmasters representing different clubs, making it one of the largest joint meetings we’ve ever conducted. The demographic of the participating members ranged from students to professors, all belonging to the Toastmasters family. The meeting was in tandem with the regular Toastmasters meeting procedures but with a few alterations which brought in an element of surprise for the participating members. The session commenced with a monologue by the ‘Sergeant at Arms’, followed by the host – the Toastmaster of the Day – TM Adithya Kannan.
The speakers, during the meet, touched everyone’s hearts with their endearing and passionate speeches. The Table topics session witnessed speeches that pushed the boundaries of creativity while presenting prodigious information while adhering to the time limit. The evaluation session was presented with panache, providing each speaker with constructive criticism.
The goal of a Toastmasters club is to learn the art of speech and articulation through interaction with other Toastmasters, and this joint venture provided the perfect platform. The outstanding quality of knowledge exchanged, matched the elegance of the meet. The event was successful but this accomplishment is accredited to the arduous efforts of the Executive Committee and the overwhelming support of the Toastmasters of the various participating clubs. To paraphrase Neil Armstrong – It’s a small step for the Toastmasters, but a giant leap for NITK Toastmasters club. Exploring the moon was their mission whereas, the mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership
skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.
Join us for our weekly meetings, every Saturday at 4 PM Indian Standard Time. You can DM us on our Instagram handle for the Zoom meeting link:
https://www.instagram.com/nitk_toastmasters
Alternatively, you can message the following people on WhatsApp:
● Supritha Harishankar (+91 99016 80920)
● Harsha Dsouza (+91 98441 13607)