DHAHRAN — Toastmaster Mohammed Al-Qahtani from North Park Club of Saudi Aramco recently won the World Championship of Public Speaking competition held in Las Vegas after delivering his speech on “The Power of Words”. In all there were 95 participants from 95 Districts of Toastmasters, comprising 15,400 clubs from 135 countries. Ex-Committee members of District 79 Toastmasters in Saudi Arabia hosted a grand felicitation ceremony in honor of the champion at Saudi Aramco Plaza Conference Center, Dhahran. District Director Distinguish Toastmaster Abdullah Al-Sharief presented a memento to Mohammed Qahtani on behalf of the entire TM group in appreciation of his achievement. Al-Sharief said, “We D79, are very proud to have among us the World Champion of Public Speaking (WCPS) and he deserves it. It is a pride for the entire Toastmasters community in Saudi Arabia as well as the whole country (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). This accomplishment proves that the human capital investment is the right investment when we focus on developing personal and professional skills. Determination, passion, commitment, dedication and patience are the ingredients of success.” Chief Ambassador of District Revitalized Educational Program (REP) Syed Waheed Lateef had organized the felicitation program. He briefed the members of the audience about the strong foundation for the Toastmasters District Saudi Arabia. Lateef said, “We were separated from the District of the Middle East to become the District-79 Saudi Arabia. And in the very first year, 2012, our district was declared No. 1 in the world, for maintaining a quality educational program, this was under the leadership of the then District Governor, Abu Suleiman, Khaled Matlagaitu. “In the following year we continued to be the President's Distinguish District. With Abu Mohammed, Natheer Al-Qasim at the helm of affairs as a District Governor. We then went on and on with the title of President's Distinguish District under the leadership of the then District Governor Saif Ali Shaikh and District Governor, Joey Villanueva. Each year from 2012 – 2015 we were among the top five districts in the world of Toastmasters fraternity,” Lateef said The district continued its dream to produce a superstar of public speaking, and each year District-79 Saudi Arabia produced star speakers to represent our district. In 2012 our star Abdullah Al-Abandi (Dhahran); 2013 Kamal Al-Borno (Jeddah); 2014 Abdullah Al-Jurf (Riyadh) and in 2015 the latest superstar was Mohammed Al-Qahtani to represent our district and the rest is history — he went on to become the WCPS. Many prominent toastmasters, Division, and Area Directors in Saudi Arabia were present during the ceremony. The current team Leaders comprises 13 Division, and 58 Area Directors, led by District Director Abdullah Al-Sharief, Director Education Rashid Ali, Director Marketing James Taruc, Manager Admin Tuba Anwar Khan, Manager Finance Jaun Roy, and Director Public Relations Ricardo Briones. Mazen Al-Sadat will be the next SATAC-16 Chairman, and it is to be held in Eastern Province in the month of May 2016. During the felicitation ceremony there was a question and answer session in which Al-Qahtani answered varied questions from the audience as well as Lateef. Excerpts: Q. At what age you started speaking, and what was your first word? A. I don't have vivid memories about my first word as a child, however according to my parents; I started to speak at the age of 6. Q. You said words have power, words are power, and what is your favorite word that you think has most power? A. Yes words are power, and my favorite word is ‘possible'. Q. Champ, what was going through your mind, at the time of the announcement of the results? A. Well, I was called at the speaker No. 10 slot. Honestly I had no clue or expectation of becoming the world champion. Back stage I was busy texting my wife, asking her, is there anything that she wants me to bring from Las Vegas. The moment the announcement came it became a reality, my friends, said, Mohammed go, go it is your name. Thank God, It was a defining moment. Q. Where do you see yourself after 15 years from now? A. To me, my achievement of the coveted position as World Champion of Public Speaking 2015 and the person behind will be forgotten soon, 15 years down the line, if one person come to me and say Mohammed I loved your speech, it changed my life, that will be the biggest achievement for me. This is how I want to live my Toastmaster's life. Yes I will work for it. Q. In your speech you have enacted scientists' presentation style, what was that? A. The sole purpose of enacting the scientist's workshop about global warming in incoherent monotonous way was to give an indication how pathetic we are in communicating in our everyday life. The satire in that story is only an indicator. Q. What is your message to the youth of Saudi Arabia? A. The biggest fear was how people think about me, and that fear gripped me for 12 long years. I would say to the youth of my country face your fears and nothing will come in between you and your dreams. Q. What motivated you to become a champion? A. Yes, I received most valuable piece of evaluations form different clubs in Dammam, Jubail and from my mentors and friends. I am so thankful to them. At the end of the day it is up to you to make judicious decisions about how to assimilate them. I am grateful to all my friends who motivated me from time to time. Q. Would you like to share your experience with the audience? A. I want to help Toastmasters around the world. If I could change the world through the messages in my speeches, then that is what I want to do to make this world a better place to live in.
