Congratulations to Aashni Rungta! Winner of the Toastmasters Table Topic Award 

By: Bavinee Shrestha Thapa

The Bodhi Toastmasters Club International Nepal held its club’s 176 meeting on 21 February 2022. An invitation was sent to interested students of Premier International IB World School, who took part in the event. As scheduled, the online session began at 5:30 pm which happened virtually via Zoom. Accordingly, some students of the school also took part in the Table Topics and were evaluated by the moderators of Bodhi Toastmasters Club and other participants at the event. As a result, Ms. Aashni Rungta from grade nine received a ‘Better Table Topics Award’ which was a proud moment for her and the other participants. The history of Toastmasters International dates back to 1924. It was founded by Ralph C. Smedley in California, United States as a non-profit educational establishment. The goal was to improve the communication skills of young men. The idea later became popular and like-minded clubs started networking worldwide to promote communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. Today, Toastmasters International has around 15,800 clubs in 149 countries including Nepal.

The meeting’s theme was ‘Kathmandu Diaries’ and the program was moderated by TM Mandu Bajracharya, TM Mohini Shrestha, and TM Chandrayan P. Shrestha from Bodhi Toastmasters Club. The event started with a brief introduction of the club and its members to all the TMs and

guests present, followed by a short quiz before the individual oration started. According to the rules of the club, a Toastmasters’ club meeting comprises of three basic segments: 

● Prepared speeches: During this period, individual members present speeches in line with the Toastmasters’ communication and leadership programs. 

● Table topics: In this segment, selected participants would have an opportunity to make their presentation on given topics impromptu, for about 1 to 2 minutes. 

● Evaluations: Each presented speech would be evaluated by a fellow TM member in a constructive manner using the given evaluation criteria. Furthermore, the speaker gets a written evaluation as well from the evaluators and other invited members. 

The event was a wonderful opportunity for the young students of Premier International IB World School to be acquainted with professional self-development platforms like Toastmasters International. Congratulations to the winner Aashni Rungta and the students of Premier International IB World School for their participation at the Bodhi Toastmasters Club.

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