KHOBAR – Very few events can match the splendor and buzz of the Toastmasters International annual division conferences in the Eastern Province. The toastmasters from Saudi Aramco division ‘M' put up a mega event at the Movenpick Hotel auditorium at Al-Khobar recently. This was their first Division M conference, exclusively sponsored and supported by Saudi Aramco. Abdulrahman F. Al-Wuhaib, Senior VP of Saudi Aramco Operation Services, attended the conference and distributed awards to the winners indicating how much Saudi Aramco cares for the development of its employees. Aramco has 21 clubs in the Kingdom and in the Eastern Province alone there are 14 clubs. The 14 clubs are grouped into 3 areas under Division ‘M' conference started with a colorful banner parade. And that was only the beginning as the whole day turned out to be not only colorful but eventful. Abdul-Raouf T. Al-Moukthar, the Division ‘M' governor addressed the gathering of over 350 followed by the charismatic architect of the event, the conference chairman, Abdulaziz A Al-Dulaijan. It was a fitting finale for the hard efforts put by more than 80 assignees for over 3 months. The highlight of the conference was the key note speeches delivered by world champion of public speaking Jim Key who traveled around the globe to share his experiences with fellow toastmasters of this region. “Never give up” was his precious message as he narrated how he finally succeeded to become the world champion in his third attempt in the year 2003. Renowned writer and columnist, Najeeb Al Zamil, was another superb key note speaker of the conference. He highlighted the need for more such activities in the Kingdom and stressed that the media project this event to the masses. The program was deftly emceed by the contest masters Abdul Latif Al-Harthi, the past division governor and the amazingly eloquent new comer Mona Babtain. After a keen competition, the first place positions were Hussain Al-Abbas won for the international speech contest by sharing his experience with the middle east version of Survivor, Tareq Al-Qahtani won for the humorous speech contest and Firoz Ahmad for the evaluation speech contest and Khalid Abbad won for the table topics contest. “The quality of the speeches, level of participants was of very high standards, meeting regional or even international levels” said Jim Key. This conference showed the dedication and commitment of the Saudi Aramco members toward accomplishing toastmasters' goals. The winners of the contests are going to represent Division ‘M' in the district 70 conference that will be conducted on May 21
