| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
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A CLUB PAR EXCELLENCE P.05
COVER STORY CROSSING THE EDGE P. 12
CLUB
SNAPSHOTS
THE ACCIDENTAL CONSULTANT P.10
The Quarterly Newsletter of Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
HONORING CC’S P.19
NEW CLUB MEMBERS 2014 P.14
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
2
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
When I get ready to talk to
people, I spend two thirds of
the time thinking what they
want to hear and one third
thinking about what I want
to say”
- Abraham Lincoln
Our Clubs diversity visible here!
About the Club Business Excellence Toastmasters [BETM] Club was established in June 2012, under
the patronage of Department of Economic Development [DED], with the pretext of in-
volving Dubai Quality Awards [DQA] and Dubai Human Development Awards [DHDA]
assessors, to further improve their communication and leadership skills.
The club was started by DQA senior Assessors, DTM Nagabhushan Balaji and TM
Prashant Nasery with support from the DED office. With an initial strength of only 4
members, today the club has grown significantly to more than 30 members, with its
unique diversified members profile (11 countries) being the hallmark of the elite club.
———————————————————
Club Mission: To provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which mem-
bers are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in
greater self-confidence and personal growth.
Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
3
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Pinnacle
“The well-balanced, intelli-
gent speaker is the natural
leader in any group of which
he is a part”
- Dr. Ralph Smedley
Newsletter Team
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TM Sameer Chougle [email protected]
EDITORIAL TEAM MTM Maureen Galang [email protected]
PHOTOGRAPHY TM Abdul Vaheed [email protected]
ART & DESIGN TM Sameer B Chougle [email protected]
CLUB MENTOR DTM Nagabhushan Balaji [email protected]
Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
The Club
PRESIDENT DTM Balaji Nagabhushan
050 6562797
VP - EDUCATION TM Praveesh Hassan
050 6505125
VP - MEMBERSHIP TM Kapil Naresh
055 1347030
VP - PUBLIC RELATIONS TM Sameer B Chougle
052 8480529
CLUB SECRETARY MTM Maureen Galang
055 5140819
TREASURER TM Abdul Vaheed
050 6538086
SERGEANT AT ARMS TM Imran Iqbal
055 3526061
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Contents Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
05
07
10
12
14
FRANKLY SPEAKING TM SAMEER CHOUGLE
ACCIDENTAL CONSULTANT
TM PRAVEESH HASSAN
CROSSING THE EDGE
MTM MICHELLE CHEDOTAL, CC
NEW MEMBERS
2014-2015
19
20
23
24
27
HONORING CC’s
2013-2014
THE BEST THERE IS…
TM KRISHNA PRABHU, CC
BETM ACHEIVEMENTS
2014—2015
CLUB SNAPSHOTS
17 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
MTM MAUREEN GALANG
Pinnacle is a quarterly newsletter published by Business Excellence Toastmasters Club, Dubai. The contents and articles published are the views, opinions
and thoughts of the authors/writers and the publishing and editing team are not responsible for the same. Business Excellence Toastmasters Club members
meet every alternate Monday at Business Village, 2nd Floor, Deira, Dubai. 1900 hrs onwards. If you have any complaints, ideas, suggestions, please feel free to
write to us at [email protected]
Website: http://www.betm.toastmastersclubs.org.
EXCOM
2014-2015
09 TOASTED HUMOR
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
DTM NAGABHUSHAN BALAJI
15 OUR GOAL, MY ROLE
MTM LAYS LARAYA
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
5
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
“We are what we repeat-
edly do. Therefore Ex-
cellence is not an act but
a habit.”
Aristotle
The club was launched in June 2012 after several years of planning and preparation. The
sole purpose of forming this club was to have mutual collaboration with the Quality pro-
fessionals connected with the Business Excellence Division of Dubai Quality Award Office.
While the assessors would bring in their vast experience in their respective fields to edu-
cate and share with members, experienced Toastmasters were to mentor and help these
quality professionals improve their communication and leadership skills. It was win-win
collaboration. The club was chartered under Area 30, Division J and District 20 of Toast-
masters International.
A Club par Excellence! You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to
those standards – Brian Tracy.
Fellow Toastmasters,
I believe in the statement of Brian Tracy. Excellence is a habit and once it becomes
a habit, there is no looking back. Business Excellence Toastmasters club believes in
making Excellence a reality every day and every minute. It’s a pleasure to an-
nounce and witness the release of our first newsletter for this year. ‘If you think you can do it, you probably defi-
nitely can and no one can deny that’
President’s Message Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Two years down the lane, I am proud to state that the vision of forming this club has stood its ground. We not only have a
healthy membership of Quality and Excellence Professionals from different industries but also experienced Toastmasters
fraternity in our midst. Our membership is culturally diversified with people of eleven nationalities enjoying the aspects of
sharing and learning. The best part of this group is the willingness to share and also accept critical evaluations or comments
towards improvement.
We have achieved the distinction of being a Distinguished Club during the first year by reaching five out of the ten goals set by
Toastmasters International annually. During the second year, we have taken the challenge and achieved the Select Distin-
guished Club status by reaching seven out of ten goals. This year and in all our future years of existence, our goal is to be a
President’s Distinguished Club by reaching ten out of ten goals every year. We also have three members who have climbed
the first ladder of success by becoming Competent Communicators and I am sure there will be many more coming up this
year. Last year we had three of our members qualify in their speech contests – one of them to the Area level, two to the Divi-
sion Level and eventually one of them to the District level and that’s a fantastic achievement for such a new club.
BETM, BETM, BETM………this is what I and many others have been hearing this year in Division J. We are a force, a team and we
believe in excellence. We believe that we are a team and together everyone achieves more. This can be visualised with the
quality meetings organized and conducted this year. The Executive Committee is energetic, young, ambition filled, passionate,
innovative and I am sure we shall climb great heights this year as well as in the years to come.
Nagabhushan Balaji
Distinguished Toastmaster
Club Mentor & President
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Being Editor-in-Chief of a newsletter is a unique experience, definitely not an easy position to manage. Let me not rant further on
how many midnight lamps I have burnt and have been at the receiving end of a disgruntled family (a.k.a wife). Eventually, I am
extremely happy with the output of this effort and all is now hunky dory—you now know that a healthy trip to an elite shopping
mall helps release tension on one side while burning a devastating hole in your pocket on the flip side! I hope my wife never
reads this.
While this newsletter leaves immense scope for improvement, this is our first effort. And we have tried to include some inter-
esting sections viz., superb articles, a humor page which we plan to improvise on in the future, crossword puzzle (do provide
feedback), and club snapshots of 2014.
Deciding on the newsletter name was not a piece of cake either. So, we decided to have a little contest, where club members
could suggest names for the newsletter. After 2 weeks of suggestions—we realized our newsletter is going to be called
‘PINNACLE’. Congratulations MTM Meesha Kapoor for suggesting this far and high reaching name! ‘Pinnacle’ is in all probabilit ies,
the most apt name the newsletter could get. ‘Pinnacle’ means the peak, or highest point—we can proudly say that our club is
well on the way to reaching its pinnacle!
Editor’s Note After a lot of thought and effort, we are finally out with Business Excellence
Club’s very first newsletter. This magazine is very close to my heart, not only
because I worked hard on it, but also due to the fact that it has the stories of
many of my fellow colleagues lives, as toastmasters in our club. This makes it
exceptionally special. A very impressive part of this newsletter are the pic-
tures, professionally done— an idea of one of our senior club members. Fun
photo session I would say and that reflects in the pictures! “Quality is in the eyes of the Beholder, just like
Beauty”
Frankly Speaking Business Excellence Toastmasters Club
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
8
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
The EXCOM for 2014-2015 deserves a mention, hence we have included the profiles of the club executive committee members.
Do read through and get to know them better—the people who manage the club.
We have presented the new members of the club for 2014-2015, covered our honorable Competent Communicators and Busi-
ness Excellence Toastmasters Club achievements over the past two years. Do browse around and read through.
Crossword, fantastically developed by the effervescent MTM Maureen Galang, has clues all about toastmasters. Go ahead,
google your brains out and find all the answers. Winner gets a Cross Pen with his/her name engraved!
Our very first newsletter—and this deserved an inspiring Cover Story from an absolutely inspiring, energetic and magnani-
mous personality—and that is none other than MTM Michelle Chedotal. ’Crossing the Edge’ is the story of her journey with
Business Excellence Toastmasters and the point of crossing the edge. Did she, didn't she? Read on Toastmasters….
Finally, thank you in advance, for reading till the end. We all know this is just a start, and I look forward to your regular contri-
butions to this newsletter—articles, jokes, puzzles, trivia, anything interesting and worth taking a leap into, I will put it here.
Go for it!
I’ll let you pass by me with a personal quote:
“ I once asked Perfection how he came into existence, He said “I don’t exist; many try to make me but fall short and keep
trying but fall short and keep trying……..I am Continual Improvement!”
Ciao
Sameer B Chougle, TM
QA Controller, dnata Airport Operations
Editor-in-Chief, Pinnacle
Vice President, Public Relations
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Toasted Humor
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
10
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
The Accidental Consultant BY TM PRAVEESH HASSAN
It was a small beginning. But soon with my quality of work, I had references from my clients. I started getting busy. I took what-
ever projects came in my way; failed projects by other consultants, complex projects which others didn’t want to touch, pro-
jects in remote places. I soon became experienced. I had lots of work. I had lots of money as well.
Over the years with so many consultancy projects, I lost focus on what I was really good at. I never focused on one special
area, where I could be the best in the world. I was jack of all management solutions. So I decided I have to master one area and
I chose Strategy. At that point, I realized—to be a great Strategy consultant, you need to be a great communicator.
Toastmasters was introduced to me by my dear friend about 10 years ago. But I never took it seriously at that point of time.
I was busy and successful. But soon I realized, no matter how competent I am in the field of Strategy, communication matters. I
can only be a World Class Strategy consultant if I have World Class communication skills. You need outstanding persuasion
skills if you want to execute a great strategy in any organization. So my mind conspired to join Toastmasters again.
I am a Consultant, by accident. I never thought in my life I will be-
come a Management Consultant. My ambition, while at University,
was to work for myself. Soon after my MBA, I landed up in a job. But I
was disappointed by the atmosphere at my first work place. Having
studied in a western world and having an idealistic mindset, I was
shocked how the actual work world worked. So I decided to venture
out. But with little capital, I had no means to start a business. So I
started off with what I had. Tons of courage and very little experi-
ence in management science.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
The Accidental Consultant BY TM PRAVEESH HASSAN
I was waiting for Toastmasters Club to be launched by Business
Excellence Department. I jumped at the opportunity when it began.
Although being a consultant for 17 years and having done numer-
ous trainings, I was jittery during my first speech, an impromptu
table topics speech. I realized public speaking is a different ball
game from the traditional boring presentations done by consult-
ants.
Toastmasters took public speaking altogether to a different level. I
saw many speakers inspire and educate me. I saw many nervous
speakers being great speakers by end of their fourth speech. I met
many interesting and warm hearted human beings. I started enjoy-
ing my toastmasters club. I started giving my project speeches. I
started being comfortable with my body language. I started using stories in my speeches. I opened up.
Now I have great friends. I eagerly wait for our club meeting on Mondays. At the end of every meeting, I get a great feeling of
freshness and positivity. Every meeting day, I would have met someone interesting, I would have learned something anew.
My journey has begun. I will march on, and I will take others along with me.
Praveesh Hassan, TM
CEO, Win Management
Vice President, Education
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
COVER STORY Crossing the Edge BY MTM MICHELLE GARNIER-CHEDOTAL, CC
Success is something almost everyone wants, and many a lifetime hoping for. Some never find it while others realize it early in
life. No matter where you are in your life, and maybe you are already there, or trying to get there, or you are lost somewhere
in between the desire for and the realization of personal success. But, when you are brave enough to join a Toastmasters club
and find the courage to want more for your life, then everything will change.
I did ! After a one year training on The Success Principles with Jack Canfield, the N01 Success Coach in the USA, I heard of
Toastmasters by my fellow coaches while I was still in California. At the time, I declared in a quite assertive voice : “ I don’t
think we have one in Dubai”, only to find out while doing a search on Google, that there were “many’ !
I was astonished ! Truly, I had never heard of it ! Naively, I thought it was a ‘baking type group” learning to roast and toast !
Back in the Emirate, I immediately called a few clubs and registered with Business Excellence Toast Masters. On the first even-
ing attending merely out of curiosity, I was called to ‘volunteer’ for a Table Topic. Now, talk about being thrown into the deep
end, and choosing to take “100% responsibility” for being there! I had to immediately become an Inverse Paranoid, and believe
that the world was not plotting to do me harm, but rather plotting to do me good!
“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally
astound ourselves” - Thomas A. Edison
In today’s super-competitive marketplace, high achievers are those
people who follow a systematic approach to their success. As the
best success movement to come along in decades, Toastmasters
International catalogs and explains, in a practical and powerful way,
the arts of listening, thinking and speaking, in simple language with
step-by-step instructions—and this for impact.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Crossing The Edge BY MTM MICHELLE GARNIER-CHEDOTAL
What came to my mind at the time was a quote from W.Clement Stone (Self –made multimillionaire and former publisher of
Success Magazine) who said “When life hands you a lemon, squeeze it and make lemonade”. Surprisingly, I won my first win-
ning baby award that night! and the rest is now history!
Over time, Project by project, from Listening to Team Building, I achieved my ten Leadership assignments taking me to a place
of being what TM calls: “A Competent Communicator”. Today, I am not sure if I am ‘competent’ to the level I want to be, but
what I am sure of is that I have better skills, greater ease, techniques and more so, better understanding on how to communi-
cate with others, amazing tools, a mentor and a community that can take me as far as I dare to dream.
Now, was it easy? To be honest, the answer for me would probably be a No! I have to admit that many times I wanted to quit
as each project was more challenging taking me through a place of doubt, a place where I had to face my own fears and re-
sentment. And yet, I knew that it was in ‘crossing those edges” that I would grow. Going back, finding hundreds of excuses for
not ‘needing’ to develop those Leadership muscles, would have been easy. But, I decided to “stay” and beautifully supported
with intellect, compassion and humor from my mentor and the group, I have gained confidence, and stood taller as a communi-
cator. I realized that joining a Toastmasters group was not only to take the front of the room as a speaker, but to take the
front of the room of my life!
If you are looking for a magic bullet to improve your life, your career and your relationships, Toastmasters delivers it in
spades. If expanding your opportunities, creating new alliances, helping more people, and getting more out of every minute of
your life are your goals then, Toastmasters can bring those results. Because you see, Toastmasters is not just only about the
tools, the techniques, the process, what I call ‘the particles”, it is about the development of the heart by overcoming the fears,
the limiting beliefs, and the stories in our heads. It is about creating connection for impact in our lives and the lives of others.
It is about inspiring, by being brave enough to grow as human beings.
Pretty cool!
Michelle Garnier-Chedotal, MTM
Managing Partner, KinesioCoach (LLC)
Competent Communicator
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
MTM Lays Laraya
DOJ - 01 Feb 2014
TM Nur Nurani
DOJ - 01 Mar 2014
TM Pratyush Mandal
DOJ - 01 Jun 2014
TM Ranjeet Philip
DOJ - 01 Jun 2014
TM Khalid Yahya
DOJ - 01 Sep 2014
TM Ravikumar Subbiah
DOJ - 01 Aug 2014
MTM Urvashi Sarin
DOJ - 13 Oct 2014
MTM Maryam Rezvan
DOJ - 29 Sep 2014
TM Vinay Vaishya
DOJ - 01 Sep 2014
MTM Shurooq Al-Banna
DOJ - 15 Sep 2014
MTM Eman Al-Suwaidi
DOJ - 01 Dec 2014
TM Usama Shatara
DOJ - 10 Nov 2014
MTM Hayet Zenati
DOJ - 29 Sep 2014
TM Abdullah Al-Hammadi
DOJ - 10 Nov 2014
TM Karam Antakli
DOJ - 01 May 2014
MTM Amani Al-Hammadi
DOJ - 01 Aug 2014
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
New Members 2014
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
15
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Our Goal, My Role BY MTM LAYS LARAYA
The image which came to my mind was of a natural disaster movie scene where everyone runs into a different direction trying
to save their lives… a very different picture from true organizational success! At that stage I was an operational leader and
although I felt compelled to ensure my team of about 120 colleagues would at least learn what the priorities of the organization
were. I could not imagine I would, so soon be involved in ensuring this (and further) would be a reality for the entire organiza-
tion.
In this organization I work for, Balanced Scorecards have been in place since the very first years and surely, the property’s
most senior leader always knew what the goals for his/her business unit were. After all… that’s where bonus comes from! But
the reality seemed rather different at the colleague level. Although all departments had their bonus KPIs, there was limited
awareness, and often relevance regarding how those goals actually supported the high level strategic goals of the organization.
The element of passion was also questionable given the level of awareness.
The organization had done an amazing job in creating, assessing and refining Balanced Scorecards and aligned incentive
schemes and hence the platform for goal cascading was in place, ready to be explored and translated into an easy-to-
understand-and-act-on-language.
I remember sitting in a Leadership Orientation class when I joined
my current organization about 3 years ago. It was a session of the
award winning Steven Covey’s Great Leaders Program. The reason I
remember that day so well is that I came to know of some very
scary figures pertaining survey results on organizational excellence.
The survey results showed that, on average, only 15% of the organi-
zation’s people could identify the top goals and priorities for the
organization. Of those 15%, only 19% said they felt passionate about
those goals while 51% had no idea on what they were supposed to do
about the goals.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
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Our Goal, My Role BY MTM LAYS LARAYA
Step 1 – Know It!
The organization’s first step into creating the so desired
alignment and commitment to the goals was to communi-
cate them. Executive Office, HR and Business Excellence
conducted a campaign entitled “Top 3” which highlighted
the Top 3 Goals of the organization in very simple language
to all colleagues. Posters were distributed and quizzes
were conducted to ensure everyone would know those 3
figures by heart! At the end of that year, the first issue of
the above mentioned survey indicator had been ticked off
our list.
Step 2 – Love It!
Well, surely that wasn’t enough. The leadership team had
lots of work to do if they wanted to address the two other
areas of concern: getting the colleagues emotionally at-
tached to the goals and to ensure they understand what
their roles were.
On the second year, fueled by a passionate Learning and Development Team, the organization decided to organize an
engaging event to not only communicate, but to explain
what each of those goals meant in terms of outputs and
deliverable actions. At that stage our BSC had grown to
incorporate 4 dimensions and our top leader created the
4Ps concept (People, Passion, Performance, and Profit) to
better engage and ensure colleagues could relate to the goals. The workshops were a success and for two years in
a row we collected surveys showing that 98% of our col-
leagues understood and supported our Top 4 goals.
Step 3 – Do it!
That was great! Awareness and passion for the goal are
very important… Still, there was one question left in one of
our top leaders mind: “Do they actually understand what
THEY are supposed to do each day to help us achieve that
goal?”. Sitting next to him at one of those enthusiastic
events, I had no choice but to confess that I also did not
have such confidence. (Looking back, I can only be thankful for having had great leaders who would never be satisfied
with the “now” and to whom excellence had indeed no fin-
ish line).
In this fourth year of continuous assessment and refine-ment of our goal cascading and communication approach,
a new program called Our Goal My Role was introduced
by that leader. In this program, colleagues have been in-
volved in defining objective statements of the contributions
for each of the Job Profiles within our organization to be
reviewed twice a year during their appraisals.
At last I feel a strong sense of satisfaction by looking back
and seeing that the leadership of this organization has invested sincere efforts towards all of those scary point
addressed by Covey’s survey.
Step 4, 5, 6, 7… Keep on Racing!
Well, when we feel this way, there is one thing left to do: Look for another scary survey and improve a whole differ-
ent process!
Lays Laraya, MTM
Business Excellence Manager
Jumeirah Hotels, Dubai
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Crossword Puzzle! BY MTM MAUREEN GALANG
ACROSS:
6. A well-known BETM mentor who says Life
is all about Passion and has been a passionate
Toastmasters for the last sixteen years
8. Ralph Smedley's mantra "Let's keep it
____"
14. A list of meeting activities in the order in
which they are to be taken up, by beginning
with the call to order and ending with adjourn-
ment
ACROSS:
16 The current president of TMI
18 Comprised of people with diverse social and
cultural backgrounds that a speaker need to relate to
for a good speech
20 Debate contestants needs to present
_____________ views
24 A designated space for the performance of pro-
ductions
26 The name of
27 Verb form of the CL Project 1 skill
29 Newsletters, manuals and magazines from TMI
comes through
31 A toastmaster that takes a personal interest in
and helps an inexperienced person, offering
knowledge, insight, perspective or wisdom.
32 Title of BETM Newsletter Editor's Note
34 The alias of the first female International Presi-
dent of Toastmasters
35 A form of communication in spoken language,
made by a speaker before an audience for a given
purpose
39 For ice breaker, at what time does the amber light
appear
43 Most people come to Toastmasters to overcome
this in regards to public speaking
44 A social concept used to categorize humans into
large and distinct populations or groups
Hello Toastmasters!
Solve this breeze of a crossword and win an
exciting CROSS PEN with your name en-
graved! Winner will be selected through raf-
fle draw.
Last date for submittal is 15 February 2015.
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20 21
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27 28
29
30
31
32
33
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50 51
ACROSS:
1. A ritual in which a drink is raised and
taken as an expression of honor or goodwill
3. An integral part of the club meeting agen-
da wherein it means “the act of considering or
examining something in order to judge its
value, quality, importance or condition.”
4. Toastmasters' most prestigious award is
the Golden _______.
5. It is the heart of the Toastmasters educa-
tional program supportive commentary and
helpful suggestions can reinforce positive
speaking behaviors and point toward areas
that need improvement
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Crossword Puzzle! BY MTM MAUREEN GALANG SALAS
DOWN:
12 VPPR hope that every attending guest
signs up
13 Toastmasters' International Acronym
15 Non-club members… yet
17 In an Evaluation Contest a speaker will
give this type of speech
19 BETM belongs to this
21 Since BETM inception, he was one of
mentors
22 A BETM member who has founded Win
Management Services in 1997 and has been a
Dubai Quality Award Assessor since 1998.
23 As a presenter, if you can successfully
connect your hook to this, then your audience
will be much more likely to remember your key
point.
25 On this project you discover your speaking
skills
28 To tell a story
30 Project 7: Research your ______
33 Becoming an Outstanding Toastmaster or
Toastmaster of the year, you need to accumu-
late these
36 A valuable mechanism for building drama,
adding suspense and imbuing key words and
sentences with added meaning
DOWN:
37 One of the primary rules in Toastmasters is
to “speak to people's _____.”
38 Competent Communication manual speech
#10 objective
40 Part of the Leadership Track
41 Important tip in public speaking. Transform
nervous energy into enthusiasm.
42 A fixed period of time
46 Usually speeches ends with a lesson that
can be derived from a story or experience.
Crossword designed and developed by:
Maureen Galang, MTM
HR Manager
Carea Air-conditioning Services LLC.
Dubai
ACROSS:
45. Two ____, as appointed by the chief judge
keep the official record in contest speeches
with one with using stopwatch and the other a
signaling device
47. Which award does a club get on adding five
new, dual, or reinstated members
48. Tellers develop the ability to make differ-
ent characters distinct by using ______ variety
49. "We empower individuals to become more
effective communicators and leaders."
50. Applause
51. Bring or come to an end.
DOWN:
2 To say words to express yourself in a
particular way
3 One of the Toastmasters International
Values and promoted by BETM
6 Which TMI club has been sponsored by
Department of Economic Development of Dubai
7 BETM Anniversary month
8 First Woman from the Middle East to reach
the finals of a Toastmasters International
Contest
9 A crucial element of public speaking is to
create among listeners the right _____
10 A Speech Contest Official
11 Highest level achieved in Toastmasters
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Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Honoring our Competent Communicators 2013-2014
As a previous Business Excellence Assessor herself, MTM Michelle
Chedotal was one of the first group of members of Business Ex-
cellence Toastmasters, closely mentored by DTM Nagabhushan
Balaji.
She is a seasoned coach
with the inherent ability
to engage her audience
with the way she passion-
ately delivers her project
speeches. She completed
her Competent Communicator on 1st Sept 2014.
One of the precious Distinguished Club Points has been achieved due to the contributions of two of the most recognized public
speakers of BETM, MTM Michelle Chedotal and TM Krishna Prabhu.
Sr. Project Speech Title (MTM Michelle) Speech Title (TM Krishna)
P1 The Ice Breaker Comb your hair / Clean your shoes Ice Breaker
P2 Organize Your Speech Take 100% Responsibility Time Management
P3 Get to the Point Problem, what problem? Art of Manipulation
P4 How to Say It To do or not to do Beauty
P5 Your Body Speaks Be an inverted paranoid Money
P6 Vocal Variety Foot on the break Restroom Etiquette
P7 Research Your Topic Be invincible Loneliness
P8 Get Comfortable with Visual Aids Crossing the edge Wisdom
P9 Persuade with Power From frustration to fascination The Best Donation
P10 Inspire Your Audience Money Matters The Best There Is.., The Best There was…The Best there ever will be
TM Krishna Prabhu’s Competent Communicator journey began in
2013, having been invited by one of his closest friend and BETM’s
past president Manu Singh.
His uncanny ability
to bring intelligent
humor in his project
speeches has been
appreciated on
numerous occa-
sions. He complet-
ed his Competent Communicator on 29th Sept 2014 .
The following list is a snapshot of MTM Michelle’s and TM Krishna’s Competent Communicator journey (P1 to P10) :
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
The Best There Is... BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU, CC
Even before joining Toastmasters I was exposed to public speaking. Although this was generally well appreciated by the audi-
ence, I always felt I WAS NOT THE BEST!!! I was introduced to Toastmasters as a Guest in a meeting where stalwarts like DTM
Balaji were sitting in the audience and I was asked to attempt a Table Topic.
Initially I was quite nervous, however post a valiant attempt at the Table Topics, DTM Balaji had some kind and inspirational
words for me and I just knew at that very moment that I wanted to be a Toastmaster and I eventually decided to join the awe-
some Business Excellence Toastmasters Club.
They say “fortune favors the brave”, I don’t really know if I was brave, however I was quite fortunate - I got the opportunity to
be mentored by none other than DTM Balaji. Today, in little over a year’s time,
I have managed to complete my Competent Communicator Manual
I have been adjudged “Best Speaker of the Day” at BETM on 7 occasions
I was the Winner at the 2014 BETM Club Level International Speech Contest
I was First Runner Up at the 2014 Area 30 International Speech Contest
“I Am The Best There Is, The Best There Was And The Best There
Ever Will Be”
I am sure none of you would agree with what I said because I am
not…How many of you have heard this statement before? These
are the famous words of Wrestling Superstar Bret “The Hit Man”
Hart. As a kid, I was a huge fan of Bret Hart and since then this
statement had a massive impact on my thought processes and
the way I went about with my life.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
The Best There Is... BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU
I may seem arrogant and boastful about my achieve-
ments..., however all the Credit goes to my mentor and
evaluators. Having said that, my fellow toastmasters, I
would be the first to accept that this is not rocket sci-
ence… and if I can do it… so can you!!!
There are three powerful ingredients that you and only you
as a Toastmaster can bring into the equation,
- A Burning Desire
- Willingness to Work Hard
- Willingness to Constantly Learn
The initial question here is “How strong is the desire?”
A man once asked the greatest Greek Philosopher Socra-tes, “What’s the secret to success”?
Socrates instead of replying caught hold of him by his neck
and closed his nostrils and held him in that position. The
man struggled and gasped for breath, but Socrates did not
release him. When the man was almost about to die, Socra-
tes released his hold and asked “What did you want the most when I strangled you?” The man replied, “Air”. Socra-tes then said, “Only if you want success as badly as you
wanted the air, you will get it.”
A burning desire is the starting point of your journey to-
wards success. Therefore I said to myself, come what may,
I will become not just a Competent Communicator, I wanted
to be the Best Public Speaker.
Secondly…Can a strong desire alone lead you to success?
Well…the answer is No! One must sweat it out.
In my experience with all our other engagements like office
work, studies, and family commitments it is a real chal-
lenge to turn up with quality speeches, however we should
remind ourselves of the promise that we made when we
joined Toastmasters.
I promised that I will plan, prepare and practice the
speeches to the best of my ability and so I spent most of
my free time searching suitable topics and material for my
speeches. I wrote and re-wrote each speech at least 5
times, constantly improving upon it, till I was completely
satisfied and only then I sent it to my mentor. Once I got
the go-ahead from my mentor, I scheduled the dates for
the speech well in advance and tried my best to meet the
deadlines. I worked hard to internalize the speech so that I
could deliver it with ease. It was not easy, and because I
wanted to be the best, I chose to work hard…
And Finally - Your desire for success and your hard work
must be supported by your willingness to learn.
Once upon a time there were two woodcutters who used to
work very hard but could cut only 2 trees per day. One day
someone advised them to spend some time in sharpening
the axe to increase their productivity. One of them who
was willing to learn, followed this advice, took time and
sharpened his axe, only to discover that he was now able
to cut 4 trees per day, the other woodcutter who did not
bother, continued cutting only 2 trees per day.
The axe for us “Toastmasters” is our communication skill,
by being open enough to learn from every Toastmaster,
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
especially our mentor and speech evaluators. There will be no end to learning, however good we are, there is always a scope
for improvement. I always noted down areas of improvement from all possible sources and prepared my speeches keeping in
mind those valuable points.
Remember “The Toastmasters Program” is a serious endeavor and our BETM Club is actually a remarkable educational institu-
tion, because it provides its members—Us—with an opportunity to develop oral communication skills, which in turn fosters self-
confidence and personal growth.
I have always believed that if you take care of the process, the result will take care of itself. If I can do it… so can you… and all
you need is 3 powerful ingredients,
A Burning Desire
Extreme Hard Work
Willingness to Constantly Learn
It is now your turn to wake up… to rise…. and to deliver your next speech and never stop this process…Not until our BETM Club
is “The Best There Is, The Best There Was And The Best There Ever Will Be”.
Krishna Prabhu, TM
Competent Communicator
Asst. Manager - Process Re-engineering
Emirates Islamic
The Best There Is... BY TM KRISHNA PRABHU
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
Business Excellence Club Achievements
YEAR 2014 – 2015 [Achieved to date]
NUMBER OF NATIONALITIES
SMEDLEY'S AWARD 2014
Business Excellence Toastmasters Club was awarded the Smedley Award for adding 5 new members to its club. This is a com-
mendable achievement for the club and the ExCom.
ON TIME SUBMITTAL OF OFFICERS LIST & RENEWAL OF FEES 1 GOAL
TEN NEW MEMBERS REGISTERED 2 GOALS
TWO COMPETENT COMMUNICATORS 1 GOAL
OFFICERS TRAINED FOR FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR 0.5 GOAL
OFFICERS TRAINED FOR SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR 0.5 GOAL
TOTAL ACHIEVED (Distinguished Club) out of 10 GOALS 5
Brazil, 1, 3%
China, 1, 3% France, 2,
6%
India, 15, 46%
Iran, 1, 3%
Jordan, 2, 6%
Philippines, 2, 6%
Syria, 2, 6%
UAE, 7, 21%
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
BUSINESS EXCELLENCE TOASTMASTERS CLUB
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2014-2015
EXCOM 2014-2015
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
BETM Executive Committee 2014-2015
DTM Nagabhushan Balaji - Club Mentor & President
DTM Balaji joined Toastmasters in September 1998, and it has been a very satisfying journey till now. He is a Distinguished Toastmaster currently mentoring numerous clubs under Division J in the UAE. Once a senior
management professional with a leading bank, DTM Balaji now looks at being his own boss. He likes to read, keep fit, smile, share knowledge and follow sports. Balaji says ‘Its a privilege as I have learnt a lot and met people from various fields of expertise and this is one place where learning never stops’! One can never
stop learning from him.
TM Kapil Naresh, CC - Vice President Membership
TM Kapil is a dual six sigma black belt, level-1 certified TRIZ practitioner and an EFQM certified assessor. He is presently working as a Quality Assurance Controller in dnata Airport Operations. His areas of expertise are
Strategy deployment, Business Process characterization, Project and Risk Management.
Having joined toastmasters in 2012, TM Kapil wishes to keep learning from this great educational institution. “A toastmaster is my arena where I do mistakes and learn to become exactly what is required, nothing more, nothing less”, he says.
TM Praveesh Hassan - Vice President Education
TM Praveesh is a “Man of Strategy” with a love for solving business critical issues and building innovative ideas. He joined BETM in 2012 and this year 2013-2014, he was elected President as VP- Membership 2013-14, . He es-
tablished his own Strategy Consulting firm in 1996 in Dubai, and has since undertaken various challenging strat-
egy assignments.
Praveesh is a family man and enjoys spending time with kids. An avid reader, he has a wide collection of books
from different fields of knowledge. He is fond of quoting Jay Forrester: "While most people understand first-order effects, few deal well with second-and third-order effects. Unfortunately, virtually everything interesting in business lies in fourth-order effects and beyond".
TM Sameer Chougle - Vice President Public Relations
TM Sameer is a Chemical Engineer with a Masters in Operations Mgmt. He is also a Six Sigma Green belt, a certified DQA assessor and is currently working with dnata Airport Operations as a QA Controller.
TM Sameer cannot explain what drew him into what is now a passion for toastmasters. He simply just loves
attending BETM club meetings, something he always thanks TM Kapil for — introducing him to the club in 2013. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the club quarterly magazine—Pinnacle. He loves Shiv Khera’s famous words
“Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently “ - and tries to implement in his work and per-sonal life.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
TM Abdul Vaheed - Club Treasurer
TM Vaheed is a management professional of high caliber. Working with S.S. Lootah, Dubai as Business Excel-lence Manager, he has been instrumental in numerous quality improvement projects with the firm. He is also a
DQA senior Assessor and has assessed organizations since 2004.
One of his best qualities are to instinctively think ‘out-of-the-box’ and come up with something innovative, that’s why he is called the ‘Innovator’ at the BETM club. A quiet profile, he is married and has three beautiful
children. TM Vaheed will continue his journey with toastmasters for many years to come.
BETM Executive Committee 2014-2015
TM Maureen Galang - Club Secretary
MTM Maureen joined toastmasters in 1st September 2013 after MTM Michelle Chedotal introduced her to the
club. During the first ever club meeting, she was called to speak in a table topics session and she won it. Since
then, Toastmasters has become a vital part in MTM Maureen’s chosen path of self-discoveries, both profes-
sionally and personally. She works as an HR professional in UAE since the past 7 years, and is also a sports
enthusiast, avid supporter of environment conservation and animal protection causes.
She says “Every day I am discovering insights to myself, my appreciation for competent leadership and won-
derful friendships”.
TM Imran Iqbal - Sergeant At-Arms
TM Imran joined toastmasters in 2013 and has been actively involved with the executive committee since
then. He is currently working as a QA Manager with a leading construction company in Dubai.
He is confident he will be able to achieve his objectives of joining toastmasters, as he has already made
huge strides of improvement.
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
CLUB MEETINGS SNAPSHOTS 2014
One of BETM’s Iconic meetings showcasing our club’s diversity!
Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
| Achieving Excellence in communication and leadership through creativity and innovation |
Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20 VOL 1 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2015
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Pinnacle | http://betm.toastmastersclubs.org
For membership, please contact:
Kapil Naresh | VP Membership | [email protected]
For complaints and suggestions, please contact:
Sameer Chougle | VP Public Relations | [email protected]
Business Excellence Toastmasters Club Club # 2532218 | Area: 30 | Division J | District 20
We meet on alternate Monday | 1900 hrs to 2130hrs @ 2nd Floor | Business Village | Deira, Dubai
http://www.betm.toastmastersclubs.org