Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Toastmasters' division E and L won accolades for successfully conducting its annual conference at the Royal Commission Fanateer conference hall in Jubail. The star of the two-day event was Toastmasters 2005 world champion of public speaking Lance Millar and Ted Corcoran, international president from 2003 to 2004. A number of young Saudis and top business executives took an active part in the event's different activities. Khalid Matlagaitu, who is credited with the phenomenal growth of Toastmasters in the region, described the event as a great success. District 79 Governor DTM Natheer Al-Qassem urged everyone to contribute to making a difference to people's lives. The event brought together professionals living in and around Jubail Industrial City under one banner irrespective of color, creed, language and nationality. The team of organizers, led by Shameer Ahmed Kudroli, Division E Governor Abdullah Al Sharif and Division L Governor Javed Ansari, came in for a lot of praise for their planning and efforts. Under Kudroli's chairmanship, the event showcased the oratorical brilliance of the fraternity. Division L and E are the largest of all Toastmasters divisions in Saudi Arabia with an estimated membership of more than 800 members and nearly 33 individual clubs. Kudroli was delighted at the event's success. He praised the corporate houses for supporting the annual conference. He said: “Without their stellar support we would not have managed all this.” He honored the various sponsors with mementos. More than 350 delegates attended the conference. Miller and Corcoran thrilled the audience with two keynote addresses in which they spoke of the need for people to move out of their comfort zones and establish connections with others with a view to creating opportunities out of calamities. Two workshops were conducted on the event's sidelines by the international speakers. Corcoran covered leadership while Miller covered communication. Prominent personalities like Matlagaitu, Al-Qassem, Joey I. Villanueva and Benchito P. Guerra addressed the audience. Dr. R.J. George and Hamid Al-Harthi were the master of ceremonies for the two days. Bhaskar Patel, Abdul Majeed Al-Zahrani, Meshal Al-Anazi and Naresh Iyer were the contest masters. Periyanayaham, Safare Mohammed, Manivannan and were declared winners from division E in the international speech, humorous speech and table topics contests respectively. Mohammed also won the evaluation contest. Suresh Kumar, Sultan Al-Meshabbi, Parvathi Narayanan and Juan Roy were declared winners from division L in the international speech, humorous speech, table topics and evaluation contests respectively. They will represent the division at the District Conference in Al-Khobar on April 10. An e-magazine was released by Vasudhar Gopal and Abdullah Khalili. The program concluded with a raffle draw and dinner.
