#489_presidential_address
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

Did you know that this iconic product was invented by accident.
It was Dr.Silver a 3M Scientist – His focus was to invent a Powerful, super strong adhesive. During the course of his research he invented this adhesive that stuck lightly but doesn’t bond tightly .
Now this is not what he really wanted . He could have claimed these useless or be disappointed .
Instead what he did was – he started preaching the gospel of his accidental findings to find a use case.
Days went on . But he didn’t give up . He continued presenting his research .
That even gained him a name: Mr. Persistent

Meanwhile, There was Dr. Fry a 3M Scientist who also sings in the church choirs. He is usually frustrated by missing the scraps of the paper used as bookmarks to practice the hymns . When he came across the presentations of the Dr. Silver that marked the birth of Post it Notes

Having said that , My dear fellow toast masters,
Post it was born out of Persistence and Perseverance
On the same line Toast master is a persistent community ; celebrating its 101 years ; having clubs across the world with more than 16000 clubs
In that persistent community is a perseverant cub – vTalk , our club oin its 13year journey nearing a huge milestone 500th meeting – that has developed charismatic leaders, great speakers and effective communicators.

Uncertainties were huge , but still we see the beauty in the uncertainty.
We continue surfing and thriving not willing to give up and stay persistent . Why not we give a big round of applause to everyone here who helps us to keep us going 🙂

<Let the audience clap and make some encouraging Noise)
Appreciation builds us better and Together we grow stronger

#490_presidential_address
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

WOW
What a lovely audience filling up the entire room, welcoming smile and sweet gestures
I feel like I have climbed up to the mountain top and enjoying the scenic beauty of every one of your authentic smiles 🙂
This feels so special to me because most of the times; 90% I have been on screens and today in person with my own club and a friendly ,welcoming ,we speak Toast masters club.
What do you think that brought us all together today ?

<Let audience >
I am going to speak in depth about one of that – that brought us here today
Before diving into that lets call the meeting to order

490 for vTalk and 3** for We speak

Now lets imagine Your left palm is your mirror . Lift it . Look at yourself .
Lovely beautiful Handsome is int it. Now Imagine someone has drawn a scar on your face from your right ear till chin. and the scar is not suiting you, your face. It quietly undermines your look.

Loot at yourself in that mirror with the scar. Now With this scar in your face, if you are asked to go out and converse with strangers or even higher authorities of the company you work for .
How would you feel. How would your conversation be ?/

<Let audience speak>
The scar makes you feel low , derails your focus .

Whatever scar I mentioned is an illusion. Even without a scar you are able to visulise it and believe you have it.
You belief , your expectation of HOW YOU LOOK at yourself in the mirror shapes you .

If you could Look at you with a scar that doesn’t exist.
You could also definitely see that
You, who is a STAR in managing the butterflies on stage ,
You, who is a PRO in managing time better ,
You, who could ace in everything.

Isn’t it?
Now look at that amazing version of yourself in the mirror in your hand . Feel happy , Feel the gratitude and feel delighted to be here for this linkers meet 🙂
My dear fellow toast masters, its all you sixth sense; your conviction; your belief;  your expectation shapes You.
How you see yourself is what you experience.
See the best version of yourself every day and experience the best the life has to offer

#491_presidential_address

## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

Good noon fellow Toast masters and Guests.
How are you all doing ?
<Let the audience respond>
we are the at the last Friday of this month – February .
Tomorrow  its Feb 28; A day of special significance to us in more than one aspect.

Guess what ???
Its Area contest – Sudeesh and Sidharth are representing our club , happening at Oracle Bannerghata road 9am to 3pm. Do register to secure your spot.

And one more significance for us as Indians.
Its National science day . If we rewind we could recollect the day where a lot of science exhibition, quizzes etc happen. Did you know why Feb 28 is marked as National science day.
Our renowned scientist , Physicist Sir CV Raman discovered the “Ramans effect” – its a ground breaking work on the scattering of the light

While everyone would have learnt the text book description of Ramans effect during your school days, I would like to recall it in simple words and how is it related to our Toast master.
Ramans effect deals about scattering of the light .
When a beam of light is projected on an object. Most of the light bounces back unchanged.
But a tiny very tiny part of light undergoes a changes and bounces with a slightly change in colour

Toast master meeting is alike ramans effect – whenever we attend a meeting , a drastic improvement may not be realized immediately , there is a tiny change and that tiny incremental change has created Great Speakers and Leaders across world and that’s how Toast master thrives and its continuing its journey with 101 years old at present.
This TM is being adopted in more than 144 countries with more than 16000 clubs running across the world

Our club vTalk is a yet another tiny club which moulds, shapes, carves better communicators and leaders for more than 12+years.

#492_presidential_address
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

Hello fellow toast masters and guests. I am super happy; delighted and equally curious to welcome you all to our meeting . Let me bring the meeting number #492 to order
<Claps>
<Greet guests and let them speak about them and their club>

This is the very first Friday of this month. I would love to set a theme for this month to take it forward in every action of ours. and that theme is LBO (its not LBW)
“Look Beyond the obvious”

What is Look beyond the obvious. To understand it better lets go for a brainteaser. There will be a picture on your screen and You will be given 5 seconds to look beyond the obvious and then voice out it .
<Show the brainteaser and let audience respond>

Ok . Now I refine my prompt to you . Look beyond the obvious and spot the unhatched eggs in 5 seconds.
Your time starts now. 5,4,3,2,1
<Audience answer enthusiastically>

Yes..
People who look beyond the obvious and build their career are the most successful people.
No Doubt, Toast masters help you to look beyond the obvious. Every role you play , the responsibilities you take, the active listening you practice during this Toast master meeting all sets you, hones you , enables you slowly to look beyond the obvious.
Obvious things  in Toast masters includes Public speaking and this fraternity has been a great platform encouraging people to communicate and lead better for more than 100 years and toast master international is in its 101 year now with more than 16000 clubs across the world.

In that huge ecosystem – our club vTalk is a club with a great history and legacy of more than 13 years creating Great leaders and Communicators. Every one of them looked beyond the obvious . So why not we as a member of vTalk, take this as the theme of the month and talk about your experience beyond the obvious to your team mates and friends and bring in more people to our club to carry forward the legacy.

## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Renew cycle – March 2026
## Introduce TMOD

Every Sunday I think for a while. The Books that I read, The stories that I hear or the Shorts that I watch or whatever that captivates me ;I capture that , craft a story;  draw a relation to Toast masters and that’s how every presidential address went on
That Sunday was unusual! Nothing struck me. Interestingly that was a special day. March 8- Women’s day and ICC finals match between India and New Zealand. I had a foresight ; something great will happen and let me take the lead from there and Yes as expected India won remarkably. I curated a short pep talk and made my presidential address ready my Monday morning.

Today When I took it to recall , My heart didn’t go with that presidential address
The hidden spring in me popped that message and propelled me to talk about the current situation, the ongoing missile attack and the economic crises.
The news about the missiles and Iran’s threat to set fire on oil and gas refineries will create a downturn on the Energy of the entire world. Lets all pause for a moment and pray that let this war come to a close soon , let peace take its place and revive the countries that are being threatened and hit .

While war is on the West Asia , everyone of us is hit by the consequences right ?
That’s when I realised ; every action of ours has a consequence, has an effect , has a ripple on the another.

On the same lines, if our communication , our narration, our expression are constructive then that definitely creates positive ripples.
Toast master is a public speaking fraternity; offering us an engaging platform to build on our leadership and communication skills;
and that positive ripple it creates is what makes it to survive across 101 years and more with 16k clubs all over the world . Our club vTalk is a tall and strong long standing club creating that positive ripple every year through its members and guests 🙂
I once again welcome all our guests and members to our meeting

Presidential_address_499
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

The Great events are happening right now. Let me quickly bring the meeting number #499 to order.
My dear ladies and gentlemen :Sow a habit and reap a character, Sow a character and reap a destiny ” said a philosopher .
Habits are essential , crucial and vital to reach your destiny.
How many of you are keen in building consistent habit??????????

Here is my question to you.
You would have read or listened to the glimpses of the world wide known habit building book called ATOMIC HABITs by James clear.
James clear is the author of Atomic habits. Was James clear, clear about the idea that he would turn into one of the most sought after writer on habits !
No. even his book discloses that he started with a promising base ball career . the traumatic accident, the pain and the brutal extended recovery laid him the foundation for Habits , tracking habits, build new, breaking old .
He clearly documented every thing and structured it into a easy consumable, agreeable, understandable , simple and elegant books and he reached the pinnacle of success.
What stands out here is the structured message and the simplicity.
whatever you do , be it you prep a meal, teach a kid or anything, the structured approach yields you the success .
Even you are sitting in a meeting that has its own structure – Toast master meeting structure.
You would have heard that Toast masters – the speaking fraternity  helps to build leadership and communication skills. While that’s true I would say Toastmaster community helps you to structure your approach . There are pathways every registered toastmaster enrols for which gives you a structured approach to solve the problem. That structured approach made it to live for more than 100 years and its 101 year with more than 16000 clubs spread across the world.
In that big pool of clubs is a tiny yet strong, powerful club – our vTalk venturing into its 14th year. The legacy club is getting its modernization to meet the current trends, stay relevant and cheerful. Stay tuned for more info about vTalk TMC

Presidential_address_498
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

Good evening everyone. A lot of new Guests , our fellow toast masters .
Let me quickly bring our meeting number 498 to order

Well!
Its a great evening
A tea time  of course !
We all have gathered to learn , serve and grow together during this Tea Time

Few evenings back my Mom served me a Tea that was so good that gave me a lot of vim and vigour even by the Friday evening
So the next evenings I asked her – Amma pls offer me that good tea!
And yes she offered – of course it was good but it was not giving me that energy as before .
After some time My dad came in and he said “Susee, The day was so much exhaustive and I have a lot more to do . Give me a tea that kicks away my sluggishness! ”
He didn’t stop there, he continued ” The aroma last week was so refreshing and inviting me to take a
<a gesture of deep breath enjoying the strong aroma>
gentle deep breath and that warm aromatic steam really boosted my cells.
They changed my entire evening that day.
so plssss
make that rich tea for me to cheer up…”

Now tell me How would the TEA that my mom prepared with the  same tea powder taste like. .
<Let the audience connect>
Yes ! take away here is – when You want something specific to happen ;
Be specific , Be concrete , describe it definitely
Whether you are a manager by profession struggling to get the quality work done from Your team or you are an employee seeking promotion: Give specifics of what all you have done to add value to the Team and Business. Explain how your work is able to improve the productivity. Explain it concretely. If people deny , ask them for concrete examples what is really expected out of you and work towards it.

Being specific and concrete makes you very hard to dismiss.
Now the next challenge is “How to build that concrete YOU ?”

Toast masters is a place to practice that concreteness and act smart with growing confidence.
That concreteness is what made Toast masters to live for more than 100 years . its in its 101 year with more than 16000 clubs across 144 countries . And in that is our vTalk club , that’s as strong as a concrete navigating 13 years and venturing into its 14th year .
Be glad to be part of our vTalk a legacy club that’s getting modernized in its new ventures

Presidential_address_497
## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Introduce TMOD

By the way it has been more than 2 weeks since we met. slowly we are getting into the rhythm. I was about to get you a visual aid by prompting AI. but then there was a spark.
There is something faster than AI. Why not we use that tool.
The more we use . The more it get trained to think better, reason out better , live , let live and lead better
What’s that tool?
<Let the audience respond. The Tool is your Mind , Your Thoughts, Your imagination>

Yeah now using your mind, Picture this . Imagine this

A lion. A mighty lion sits upon a huge rock. It roars — a majestic sound that reverberates throughout the jungle. Every animal senses the vibe: the king is about to speak. None dare compete, for the lion is the most powerful, the most ferocious.

Now picture that same lion, caught inside a net in a zoo. Visitors laugh at its position. The lion cannot respond; it waits for its caretaker. Has the lion lost its power? Its courage? No. It still has it — but the net makes it believe otherwise.

We humans too find ourselves in nets — boundaries of fear, comfort zones, limited thinking. Boundaries are necessary, yes, but true freedom is the ability to define them ourselves. Freedom to move, to think, to speak — that is what gives us confidence.

And here lies the challenge: most of us are trapped by the fear of expressing ourselves. Toastmasters is the place to cut down that fear, to sharpen communication and leadership skills. That freedom of expression gives us the courage to push our boundaries.

Toastmasters International has grown to more than 16,000 clubs across 144 countries. Among them is our own vTalk club — nearly 14 years old, now embarking on its 497th meeting. And today, with the freedom to welcome members outside of our company as well, we are ready to join hands with many more, and build our circle stronger than ever.

## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and vTalk club
## Renew cycle – March 2026
## Introduce TMOD

Good evening everyone
Last Friday our 495th meeting was a linkers meet . We expected Linkers meet to continue but decided something else better for us and Today we are conducting our meeting with our own guests and Members
Let us bring this meticulous meeting #496 to order
My dear guests and members . There may be many occasions where you prepare for something , but something completely different happens. How do you react to that . Do you bite anyone’s head ?What kind of words runs through in your mind / mouth.
words of discouragement? words of disappointment ?
Let me tell you a real life incident where two boys , friends of neighbourhood were playing in the shade of banyan tree. The wide vast banyan tree often encourages them to swing here and there and one day they climbed to the top in great anxiety.
The moment they looked at the bottom- they felt , the whole world was shaking beneath them.they were more dizzy. Unfortunately both were in the branches that was far apart. Their hands could not help each other. Both started to shout for help.
Someone hearing this hailing help, came down and soon their parents also reached the spot. While the people around were preparing to help them get down , father of a child kept shouting in tensed voice . “Don’t leave the branches. If you leave you will fell down . Don’t leave the branches . Hold it . Don’t leave the branches. Don’t fear”
and in no time the child’s hands slipped in fear . Whereas at the other side of the tree , the other father raised his voice – Hold it tightly, The grip protects you . You are safe. we are here. Hold it properly . and the boy remained safe and he was rescued safe
As a child he understood the power of the word.
your mind doesn’t know to differentiate between Do’s and Don’ts. You mind just pays attention to the verb you use. Don’t leave – will prompt you to leave . Where as Hold will prompt you to hold it strong.
With this etched into his mind, he always had the positive self impression to progress, develop better and better in every phase of his life and so he became one of the eminent personalities of India . Can guess him ?
He is a man from Rameshwaram to Rashtrapathy Bhavan.
<Let the audience guess the Celebrity – He is our own Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam>

Yes. next time when life throws you at a critical situation, think of the words that gives you power, that keeps you active and agile, that builds your grit
This habit can be inculcated better when you join a community where people are more focused about intentional growth . One such fraternity is Toast masters – an international speaking fraternity with more than 16000 clubs world wide that focuses on Communication and leadership skills and many more . The words and actions of grit that is repeated in toast masters has made it a Cinch – counting its 101 year and more in future. In that big pool of clubs is our vTalk Toast master Club which have encouraged, empowered and enlightened many Great Leaders and communicators for more than 13 years.
Lets continue to use the opportunity every vTalk meeting offers us .

## Bring meeting to order
## Welcome and greet guests . Get them to speak few words about Toast masters
## A motivational talk
## Correlate it with Toast masters and repeat the history of TM and your club
## Renew cycle – March 2026
## Introduce TMOD

Good evening everyone
Its wonderful , delightful and cheerful to witness houseful of members for this meeting .linkers meeting. we have 2 toast master clubs – vTalk and IBC Titans joining together to make a meaningful progress.
Lets quickly bring the meeting number #495 for vtalk and #670 for IBC titans.

My dear fellow toast masters.
Before our Divison Director TM Gajalakshmi called out the idea of linkers meet , there was a hefty, heavy feeling of ambivalence of how the club is going to continue with lean count of members attending the meeting.
Now unmute and tell how does the evening feel to you. Yes this is a proof that Tough times doesn’t last but Tough people do.

We have few happy guests as well. Lets hear from them

Thank you

Ladies and gentlemen this is one of the most heartfelt presidential address I want to make days back. But the air was not that clear, fogged by missiles, attacks.
Today I am very glad to open up this powerful message during linkers meet . God has great plans and this presidential address has been reserved and preserved for such a beautiful evening. Now lets recall what happened on Mar 8 2026.
India won T20 World cup and Sanju samson was declared the Player of the tournament.
We knew how Sanju was not in the batting plan and but then how he landed as the Opening batsman and lead the team over the line.
The magic spells was casted by big and long conversations between Sachin and Sanju. Do you think Sachin has such conversations with all players!!! No.
It all happened when Sanju reached out. The key here is how many of us reach out when there is a trouble.
We feel more to give up and less to stand up and ask for help. We feel bad about what happened, we tell ourself thats all , no luck, its the end of the game But the reality is there is always a life chance , light at the end of the tunnel when you reach out. More importantly you have to reach out to the right person who can lift your spirit up as how Sachin did for Sanju

Now the next question. How do you find that person who can clear the fog, clear the air, speak honestly, politely ,show you your areas of flaw, guide you towards your best version. one of the Time tested approach is you could find that person in Toast masters fraternity.
while Text book introduction of toast masters would revolve around Public speaking, Leadership and Communication.
Yet the essence is the resilience, the grit , the determination, the active listening, the leadership empathy that is developed in everyone regular to this platform . and those continuous and never ending grit, empathy is what makes toast master fraternity celebrate 101 years , with more than 16000 clubs across the world.
So lets feel happy to be a part of a legendary , be energetic to attend all our club meetings , reach out for help to the right person, keep pushing our bars and boundaries, grow better and better