History of Lagoon
The Beginning
It is said that parents learn from their children. This
is very true in case of the members of TKM College of Engineering
Alumni Association (www.tkmceuae.com).
Recognising the importance of Communication & Leadership
Skills in children, the TKMCE Alumni Association conducted
a Youth Leadership Program for them. The 8 day stint in public
speaking gave them confidence to start the first ever Gavel
Club in the UAE.
The confidence and improvement gained by the children led
their parents to think in similar directions. If Communication
& Leadership Skills is required for the children to build
their future, it is all the more required for the parents
to survive in this competitive world. This thought led to
a Speech craft being conducted by the Sharjah Toastmasters
for the members of TKMCE Alumni.
The speech craft session - co-ordinated by ATM J K Nair &
assisted by Dinesh Purohit & Nancy Fare - had its first
session on September 18th 2001 and the concluding session
on 18th October 2001. As soon as the Speech craft concluded,
the members decided that they need to continuously hone their
communication skills. A new club was formed on 21 November
2001. Lagoon Toastmasters has never looked back after that.
Why LAGOON?
The word "Lagoon" has a vital significance in
Sharjah from where the Club operates. Little drops make an
ocean. A few engineers in UAE have formed a Lagoon which will
definitely give rise to an ocean of people exuding confidence,
self development, better communication and leadership qualities.
Past, Present, Future
After a slow start, Lagoon has grown tremendously in the
year 2003-2004. We achieved 18 out of 20 goals set for the
year, became a President’s Distinguished Club, 27 new
members joined the Club, conducted two speech crafts &
a YLP, sponsored 2 new Clubs & 1 new Gavel Club, received
Smedley’s, Talk up Toastmasters and Founder’s
Awards, produced 1 ATM, 5 CTMs, 2 CLs, 6 trained Club Officers,
conducted 11 Educational sessions in 25 eventful Club meetings,
released 4 voluminous issues of BEACON, many leaflets and
launched a website.
To top it all, Lagoon was given three awards at the Area
Level - Best Club for Membership, Best Club for Newsletters
& the Best Club in the Area. We currently have 44 members
coming from different walks of life in our ranks. We have
members from United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan & Srilanka.
After shining throughout the last year, we intend to consolidate
our position during 2004-2005. We will strive to improve the
quality of everything we do so that we maximise the returns
on our investment in Toastmasters. It is for this purpose
that we have identified a theme (QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE).
To achieve excellence in what we do, we have identified a
set of Goals and an activity schedule to take us through to
July 2005. With the commitment and contribution of all the
members, Lagoon will reach great heights on its Quest for
Excellence.
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