Club Officers Attend Training

The newly elected Club Officers for 2012 - 2013 had attended the Officers Training in Al Andalus International School in Rakah, Al Khobar on June 29, 2012. The training was organized by the Division F Executive Committee and was attended by the Club officers under Division F.  Specific functions and duties of each Club officer were discussed.

Club Installs New Officers

The installation of the new officers of the PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club was held in IPSA, Al -Khobar on June 27, 2012.  The installation officer was TM Ransam Pirote assisted by TM Lito Alpay.

The newly installed Club officers for 2012 - 2013 are the following:

TM Venturito Macatuggal, CC, CL              - President
TM Rohenio Pangilinan                                - VP Education
TM Kenneth Alontaga, CC                           - VP Membership
TM Glen Pirote, CC                                      - VP Public Relations
TM Lacsamana Tuan                                     - Secretary
TM Jay Alcasabas                                         - Treasurer
TM Ariel F. Ebarle                                        - Sgt. at Arms

Prior to the installation cermony, TM Raymund Guinabo and TM Luis Desuyo were inducted as new members of  the Club by TM Celso Costiniano.

TM Alan Abellana was the Toastmaster of the evening.

Mr. Lito S. Tomas of Abante covered the event.

Below are some pictures of the event:

TM Alan Abellana as the Toastmaster of the event

TM Ransam Pirote and TM Lito Alpay

Installation of the new Club Officers

TM Ven Macatuggal, the new Club President

Presentation of the Certifcate of Appreciation to Lito S. Tomas of Abante

TM Celso Costiniano, outgoing President & TM Ven Macatuggal

Some members of the Club





TM Freddie Vasquez

TM Raymund Guinabo, newly inducted Club member

 

Club Garners Perfect 10 DCP Points

Today marks another milestone in the PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club's history  as it garnered the maximum 10 DCP points from the Toastmasters International. With this achievement, the Club will be awarded with the President's Distinguished Club ribbon similar to the achievement of last year. The 10 DCP points for this year had surpassed the 9 points that it had achieved last year.

This achievement was made possible through the joint efforts of all the Club members and hopefully the momentum will continue into the next DCP year.

Congratulations to all Club members for this achievement!!!

Featured Speech: Overcoming My Fear

This is the Ice Breaker Speech of TM Celso A. Costiniano which he delivered early last year.

Overcoming My Fear

Every New Year, I always make it a point to include in my resolution’s list to overcome glossophobia. Glossophobia is commonly known as stage fright or fear of public speaking. This is the fear that I dreaded most. Since my childhood, I faced this fear without resolve and I carried it until these days. The effects of this fear are still vivid in my mind, that every time I remember those embarrassing situations, I cringed just by the thought of them. I was in Grade 3, when I was asked to sing in front of my classmates during our Christmas party. Can I do it? I asked to myself. Yes I can sing. But could I deliver it in front of them? The answer was no. I was singing White Christmas, when I felt my hands and legs shaking, my throat became parched dry and my voice went terribly out of tune. Everybody looked at me, wondering what was going on. But before that could be answered, I was already dashing out straight to our house. It was not a Merry Christmas at all. The fear within me was victorious.

During my elementary graduation, I was tasked to deliver the opening speech. Everything went well during the rehearsals, but during the graduation ceremony, this fear in me was again victorious. It was too much for me to stand on stage in front of those multitudes. I was just about to deliver my speech, when I felt my world wobbling. I started to lose my voice. And before everything got worse, I was again dashing out from the stage to the comfort of our house.

Ironically, during my high school graduation, I have to deliver again that dreaded welcome speech. The same ordeal in my elementary graduation happened again. I ended up in my house while the graduation ceremony was still going on. I promised to myself that I will never be on such an embarrassing situation again – talking in front of an audience. From then on, I avoided attending social gatherings for the fear that I might be asked to speak in front of them. I do not have the courage to do that. I always have ready excuses to them. My dream of becoming an eloquent leader had started to vanish. How can I express myself with the handicap that I have? What kind of future will I have without socializing with other people? Do I have to remain like this forever? These were the questions ringing in my ears that needed answers.  I have to do something to fight this fear.

This glossophobia had aroused my interest further. I wanted to know on ways to overcome it. I came to know that this is common to people from all walks of life. So I am not alone, after all. As others would say, some people would prefer to die than speak in front of an audience. However, some people had overcome this fear or at least minimized it. This gave me a sense of hope. If others were able to subdue this fear, then there is no reason that I cannot do it. I promised to myself that I should succeed. Some techniques were suggested to overcome this fear, like relaxing before the speaking engagement, pretending talking to an invisible audience and imagining talking to a naked audience.  These suggestions may sound weird to some of us, but still they are worth to be tried on. But the best action that I made was by joining this Toastmasters Club as a long term solution. I joined this club to unmask and deliver myself from this cocoon of fear. As Confucius quoted, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. Today, my journey in defeating this fear has just begun. I take this as a challenge and part of this challenge I am sharing it with you my fellow Toastmasters. My success in overcoming this fear is also your success.

Meeting No. 365

The PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club held its Meeting No. 365 at IPSA-Al Khobar on June 20, 2012.

TM Jay Alcasabas was the Toastmaster of the evening.

TM Celso A. Costiniano and TM Kenneth Alontaga had successfully completed their 10th CC Speech Projects. TM Ariel Ebarle had delivered his 5th CC Speech Project.

Four guests had also attended the meeting, namely: Raymund Guinabo, Eugene Nunez, Luis Desuyo and Bert Gabronino.

"Make a Difference" was the theme of the meeting.

Below are some photographs during the meeting:

TM Jay Alcasabas opening the meeting

TM Noy Pangilinan delivering the Fun Time Moment

TM Lito Alpay with his Mentors Moment

TM Ariel Ebarle delivering his 5th CC Speech Project

TM Kenneth Alontaga delivering his 10th CC Speech Project

TM Celso Costiniano delivering his 10th CC Speech Project

Group picture of meeting attendees

TM Fred Escuadro delivering his Table Topics Evaluation report

Division F Organizes Club Officers' Training

The Division F Executive Committee had organized a training for all newly elected Club officers. The training will be held in Al-Andalus International School, Rakah, Al Khobar on Friday, June 29, 2012 from 2:30 - 5: 30 pm.

Registration of trainees will start at 2:30. Training will be from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. Panel discussion and Q & A portion will follow.

Newly elected Club officers are enjoined to attend this training. This will help them  familiarize with their specific duties /functions.  With their attendance, the Club will earn 0.5 DCP point.

Mark your calendars now!!!

Featured Speech Project: Like Father, Like Son

This is the 10th CC Speech Project that was delivered by TM Glen Pirote.

TM Glen Pirote

                                            Like Father, Like Son

I would like to request for a show of hands. How many of you   would like that your son will become a toastmaster? Thank you.  How many of you would want that you will be like your father? Thank you. In either way, this speech is for you.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, distinguished guests, good evening. My name is Glen Pirote, a physical therapist and son of a toastmaster. My father is Ransam Pirote who is present here this evening. He is a Mechanical Engineer and a toastmaster for the last 10 years.  As a father like many of you, he provides me with many things;  good education, financial support , advises, guidance  and many more . With all of these things that he gave, what I treasured most is his persistence that I would become a toastmaster. He did it by patience, example and continued mentoring.

When I was still in my college days, he used to tell me that a degree is not enough to succeed in life, but needs two important skills, communication and leadership. It is easy for me to follow his advice in leadership, being the President of a student council. In communication side, I failed.  During the recognition  program  for our class, I was tasked to deliver the opening remarks  and of course I asked my father to write a speech for me. What are fathers for? But when I  delivered the speech although I was reading it, my feet were  shaking , my whole body was trembling that I was not able to finish my speech. At that time I felt that it was better to die than to continue. Later on, I found out that I am not alone with this feeling because according to a survey, people are more afraid in public speaking than death.

When I started working here in Saudi Arabia, my father asked me to join the Toastmasters. I asked him what is that all about. He said that this is the organization that will help you overcome your fear of public speaking. I made an excuse that I was still busy   when in fact I was not just to avoid his invitation. After a year, my father told me again that this time you need to attend. You don’t need to do anything but to observe. I had observed how he mentored the members of PSME – SA and Friends Toastmasters Club, how he delivered a speech, answered a Table Topics question and conducted an evaluation. Every time I am their guest, people would ask me, when I would join the Toastmasters Club?  When will you be like your father? These questions strike my heart. Am I putting my father into a shameful situation where he could influence and convince many people and yet he could not convince his own son? In fairness to him he never forced me but rather explained to me the benefits. He gave me the chance to observe for almost a year and showed that he is a leader of everybody. One day, I told him, I want to be a member of the Toastmasters. I know that was the greatest present I had given to him but he did not know that it was also the greatest gift I have from him. I was convinced to join Toastmasters because of my father’s patience, example and continued mentoring. Since then I continuously attended our meetings, assumed different functions and of course delivered my speech projects.

Fellow Toastmasters, if you are a father, the greatest contribution that you could give to your son is to encourage him to be a toastmaster. If you are a son, the greatest gift that you could give to your father is to live to his expectation- that of his son being a competent toastmaster. For me, the challenge is great.  I would like that soon after I delivered a speech, people would not say - Like Father, Like Son but rather- Like Son, Like Father.

Meeting No. 364

The Club held its Meeting No. 364 at IPSA, Al-Khobar last night. TM Freddie Vasquez was the Toastmaster of the evening.

TM Kenneth Alontaga delivered his 9th CC speech project. Hopefully he will be able to complete his 10th CC speech project before the end of this month to get an additonal DCP point for the Club.

Below are some photographs during the meeting.

TM Celso A. Costiniano delivering the opening remarks

TM Kenneth Alontaga delivering his 9th CC Speech project

 

TM Freddie Vasquez as the Toastmaster of the evening

TM Ransam Pirote & TM Carlo Alpay delivering the Evaluators report

TM Ransam Pirote delivering his Evaluation report

Group picture during the meeting

Table Topics session with TM Marc Yamit & TM Francis Lubuguin

Club Slates Installation of New Club Officers

 Installation of the new set of Club officers who were elected last month is slated on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. They will serve the Club from July 1 to December 31, 2012.

The new Club Officers who will be installed are the following:

President  -  TM Ven Macatuggal, CC,CL

VP - Education  - TM Noy Pangilinan

VP - Membership - TM Kenneth Alontaga

VP - Public Relations - TM Glen Pirote, CC

Secretary - TM Lax Tuan

Treasurer   - TM Jay Alcasabas

Sgt. at Arms - TM Ariel Ebarle

Tentatively, the venue will be in IPSA, Al Khobar.

All members are enjoined to attend this memorable event. Mark your calendars now!!!! 

PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club Sponsors a New Club

Another Toastmasters Club in Area 70 was conceived in IPSA, Al-Khobar today. This marks another milestone in the PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club for sponsoring the newly conceived PICE-EPSA Toastmasters Club. The new club was formed through the support of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers - Eastern Province Saudi Arabia chapter (PICE-EPSA) with the aim of enhancing and improving the communication and leadership skills of the Filipino Civil Engineers in the Eastern Province.

The PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club being the sponsor club will assist the new club run its affairs through mentoring during the first few months of its existence. A demonstration meeting was held to show to the new club members on the procedures in running the meetings. The demonstration team from the PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club consists of TM Ransam Pirote, TM Carlo Alpay, TM Ven Macatuggal, TM Celso Costiniano, TM Freddie Vasquez and TM Francis Lubuguin. TM Ven Macatuggal acted as the Toastmaster.

TM Francis Lubuguin delivered his Icebreaker Speech while TM Celso Costiniano re-delivered his 9th Speech Project as part of the demonstration.

Election of officers for the new club followed after the demonstration.


Below are some photographs of the event.

Charter Officers of PICE-EPSA Toastmasters Club

Group picture of PSME-SA & Friends TC & PICE -EPSA Toastmasters Club

TM Celso Costiniano delivering his 9th CC Speech Project

TM Ven Macatuggal as the Toastmaster of the event

TM Francis Lubuguin delivering his Ice Breaker Speech

 

Meeting No. 363

The PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club held its Weekly Meeting No.363 today at IPSA, Al Khobar. The number of attendees was remarkably higher than in  the previous meeting as some members had already returned from their vacation. Three guests attended the meeting including the former Area 70 Governor, TM Abdul Gafoor. The meeting was held in another room as the usual venue is under renovation. By next week, hopefully, we will be back to our assigned venue.

TM Glen Pirote opened the meeting and TM Ven Macatuggal acted as the Toastmaster.

Three speakers delivered their speech projects. TM Lax Tuan delivered  his Icebreaker Speech with TM Freddie Vasquez as evaluator. TM Ariel Ebarle delivered his Speech Project No. 4 - Competent Communication manual with TM Fred Escuadro as his evaluator. TM Carlo Alpay delivered his 10th Speech project - Advance Communication Series leading to Advance Communicator Silver with TM Ransam Pirote as his evaluator. Congratulations to all of you!!!!

Below are some highlights of the meeting:

                                   

New Club Officers

The PSME-SA & Friends Toastmasters Club had elected the new set of officers on May 16, 2012. They will run and serve the Club from July 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 and will replace the following officers:

Club President             -          TM Celso A. Costiniano
VP -Education             -          TM Jay Alcasabas
VP -Membership         -           TM Rohenio Pangilinan
VP - Public Relations   -           TM Venturito Macatuggal, CC,CL
Secretary                     -          TM Proferio Bernus Jr.
Treasurer                     -          TM Freddie Vasquez, CC, CL
Sgt. at Arms                -          TM Glen Pirote, CC

Outgoing Club Officers with mentors and Area Governor

The new set of officers are the following:

Club President            -           TM Venturito Macatuggal, CC,CL
VP - Education           -           TM Rohenio Pangilinan
VP - Membership       -           TM Kenneth Alontaga
VP - Public Relations  -           TM Glen Pirote, CC
Secretary                    -          TM Lacsamana Tuan
Treasurer                    -          TM Jay Alcasabas
Sgt. at Arms               -           TM Ariel Ebarle

Let us give out our full support to the new officers!! Congratulations!!!

Saudi Aramco Employees Shine at Toastmasters Event

Dammam: Arab News

Monday 4 June 2012

They say the sun never sets in Saudi Arabia, and recently, it shone brightly for two days on Saudi Aramco employees Abdallah Abandi, Nada Al-Aswad, Mohammad Al-Qahtani and Mohammed Zawad, who received coveted awards and recognition at the District 79 Toastmasters Annual Conference in Jeddah.

The two-day event took place in the plush auditorium of Batterjee Medical College and was attended by more than 400 Toastmasters who came from various cities in the Kingdom. With great anticipation, they came to witness four highly respected speech competitions: international speeches, humorous speeches, evaluation speeches, and table topics.

The contests featured the top Toastmasters who won a place to compete in Jeddah by using their public speaking skills to first win in their local Toastmasters clubs, areas and divisions before reaching the district level.

At the Jeddah conference, Abdallah Abandi, working at the powers operation department of Saudi Aramco, won the most prestigious award as first place winner in the international speech contest. As such, he secured the opportunity to travel to the US to compete against other district winners from around the world during the Toastmasters International Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida, August 15-18.
Nada Aswad, working at the exploration drilling department of Saudi Aramco, won first place in the table topics contest, which is the impromptu speaking competition. The judges listened carefully as she gave her well-articulated but unprepared response to the contest question, which was not known to her until she stood on the stage.

Mohammad Al-Qahtani from the industrial security support department of Saudi Aramco won second place in the humorous speech category with his hilarious speech “A Day at the Gym.”
Mohammad Zawad, working at the communication engineering and technical support department of Saudi Aramco, also played a pivotal role as the target speaker for the evaluation contest, a category that gave contestants the opportunity to listen to a dynamic short speech prepared by him entitled “Your Wasted Time.”

While the speech competitions are the main focus of the event, there was also a highly anticipated leadership component in which Toastmasters who wanted to become future leaders campaigned for members’ votes.
Aramco retiree Natheer G. Al-Qassem was elected as the new District 79 governor, which means he will preside as the highest authority for all Toastmasters clubs in the Kingdom.

Mohammad Al-Khalfan, working at the Dhahran industrial security operations department of Saudi Aramco, was re-elected for a second term as the governor for Toastmasters Division M, which means he will provide oversight and leadership to all Toastmasters clubs within Saudi Aramco.
There are currently 20 clubs inside Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Ras Tanura, Abqaiq, etc. Dhahran Toastmasters Club was the first one to be established in the Kingdom in 1978.

Source: Arab News; 4th June 2012

Club's Brief History

The PSME-SA and Friends Toastmasters Club was founded on September 20, 2002 with the primary aim of helping the Filipino Mechanical Engineers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia to excel in oral communications and leadership skills. This club came into existence through the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers - Saudi Arabia (PSME-SA) as the sponsoring organization.

Today, with nearly a decade of the Club's existence, so many members had already benefitted from the Toastmasters' learning experience. These are experiences that they will never forget and hopefully transfer to the next generation. Some of its chartered officers and members are still serving the Club as mentors up to this time.

The Club will continue to spread to its members and non-members alike, the mission and vision of the Toastmasters International. As a testament of its achievements, the Club had received the following awards in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) of the Toastmasters International:

• Distinguished Club -  (2003 - 20004)
• Distinguished Club -  (2004 - 2005)
• Talk-up Toastmasters Award - (2004 - 2005)
• Distinguished Club -  (2005 - 2006)
• President's Distinguished Club  - (2006 - 2007)
• Select Distinguished Club - (2007 - 2008)
• Select Distinguished Club - (2009 - 2010)
• President's Distinguished Club - (2010 - 2011)
• Smedley Award - 2011

As we march into our 10th year, the Club will continue to strive further in uplifting the communication and leadership skills of the Filipino Mechanical Engineers in Saudi Arabia in particular and the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in general.

Membership to the Club is open to all Filipino Mechanical Engineers and their friends. Weekly Meeting is held every Wednesday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in IPSA, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Club's Charter Plaque

Introduction

This blog is created to serve as an alternate avenue in sharing the activities of our club,  the PSME-SA and Friends Toastmasters Club.

This will be updated regularly to give information to the members of the club, prospective members, guests and visitors.

Welcome to the Club!!!