The three-day Saudi Arabian Toastmasters Annual Conference will be held April 10-12 at the Sheraton Dammam.

There are 11 divisions in District 79 KSA, with each division comprising three to six areas, and each area having four to six clubs. Saudi Arabia has a total of 171 clubs, out which there are 21 Arabic Language clubs, ith over 4,000 Toastmasters members.

“Father of Reformation” of District 79 KSA, Abdulrazzak Ali Al-Turki, a distinguished Toastmaster, District Gov. Nazeer Gazaq Qasem, Lt. Gov. Education and Training Ben Guerra, LGM Joey Villanueva, Past District Governor Khaled Matlagaitu, Division Gov. Mohammed Khalfan, Division Gov. Javeed Ansari and many prominent Toastmasters of the Kingdom were present during the organizing committee meeting to support the preparation of the grand conference.

Al-Turki, the force behind the success of Toastmasters in the Kingdom, said: “This is a big opportunity for all Toastmasters to display their oratorical talents, and the winner will have the opportunity to bring laurels to the Kingdom on an international stage.”

There will be four categories of speech competitions, such as international speech, humorous speech, table topics, and evaluations contests in both Arabic and English languages simultaneously.

First place winner of the International Speech Contest will represent Saudi Arabia at the international speech competition for the coveted title of world championship of public speaking to be held in August this year in Cincinnati, USA.

For the first time in the history of Toastmasters, International President Dr. John Lau will attend the district conference in Dammam. Regional Adviser Uma Radhakrishnan will also grace the occasion and conduct workshops for the district officers on “Conflicts Resolution.”

There will be six educational workshops on April 12 on various topics by reputable presenters. They include “PowerPoint vs. PowerPoint less” by Dr. Aamir Shammim Choudry; “Emotional Intelligence of Successful Leaders” by Yousef AbuGosh; “From the Error to Empower” by Dr. Lakshman Sockalingam; “Entrepreneurship — the wider Horizon” by Mashhoor F. Al-Sharif; “Team Work” by Uma Radhakrishnan and “Speaking Picturesquely” by P.G.R. Nair.

“I am very excited that a theme that is close to my heart, competing with oneself, is the theme of this year’s conference,” said Conference Chairman Syed Waheed Lateef.

Waheed Lateef along with Vice Chairman Abdulaziz Al-Sharekh and 11 committees’ chairpersons, and conference advisers Abdulrazzak Al-Turki, Abdullatif Al-Harthy, Saif Ali Shaikh, Maha Al-Menier, Mohammed Zawad, Safi Jannaty, Jolly Kollamparambil, T.V. Sunder, James Taruc, Lakshman Sockalingam, Carlito Alpay, Surendra Chari, Shaikh Shakil Anjum, Jawid Iqbal, Naresh Iyer and Sadagopan Natarajan are actively engaged in getting everything right.