Toastmasters International, IIM Lucknow chapter has grown bigger and better in just four months of its inception. With its annual membership of 91 students, it can proudly claim to be the largest toastmasters club in the whole of India. For an impressive public speaking experience and embedding the art of intellectual listening, Toastmasters - IIM Lucknow takes pride in conducting its weekly meetings for debate, discussion and much more.
Like any other toastmasters club, the IIM Lucknow chapter of Toastmaster's International is having a 7 core member team headed by President Pallavi Dani. It has three vice presidents in Education (Sachin Sundar), Membership (Surya) and Public Relations (Prithiviraj). The rest of the functioning is smoothly coordinated by the Secretary (Ekta Shetty), Treasurer (Ramdas) and Sergeant at arms (Suman).
The very idea of initiating the noble cause of promoting public speaking through this platform was seeded by the acting President, VP (Membership, PR) and Treasurer last year. The competent authority and the overwhelming student's support escalated the scale and speed of this club's growth story. Currently, the club holds three sessions in its weekly meetings where prepared speeches are delivered as per toastmaster's education materials. Also, Impromptu speeches on selected themes are given by the members, after which, a comprehensive evaluation takes place for all the speakers in the last session.
In this world of Whatsapp, Tweets and Snapchat, this club is unique in its objective of honing the presentation and communication skills of students and learn the art of engaging with stakeholders in a better manner. This initiative has encouraged a lot of students to come forward and improve the most perceived management trait in today's world - i.e. effective communication style. As described by Sachin Sundar, VP, Toastmasters," The club is truly living in its spirits and embracing the culture of professional speaking & learning among all". Indeed, there is a lot of learning taking place from peer groups and fellow speakers as well. Members have enriched themselves with the wide range thought-provoking ideas on lots of topics and have tremendously gained confidence in self- belief and capability. In Sergeant's words, "The club, in its functioning, is a purely self-driven but comprehensive learning platform. People come on their own and makes the most of the weekly meetings through their active participation and willingness to learn attitude".
In near future, Toastmasters, IIM Lucknow is planning to host public speaking competitions among all the premier MBA institutes and to promote its cause of embedding effective and impressive speaking skillset. Apart from this, IIM Lucknow students fraternity is likely to witness celebrity public speakers and professors/ experts on academia/ policy matters from other IIMs on campus in the days to come.
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About the Author:
This article is written by Sachin Sundar, Class of 2018, IIM Lucknow. He loves public speaking and was the Co-Founder & Member of the Board at Madurai Toastmasters. Currently, he is serving as the Vice President (Education area) of Toastmaster's International, IIM Lucknow chapter.