Ovation

My ovation journey begins at the airport. I was the last one to arrive from my club. On check in I met all the awakeners who were travelling to Chennai for the ovation 2019. While at the airport we had a good one hour of laughter and banter mostly picking on Toastmaster “Podi Qadir”. Toastmaster Fairooz Marikkar stepped in then and delivered a speech on discipline and etiquettes to be maintained at an airport. Sadly he was not able to grab the attention of his audience. As we approached the departure gates we noticed that the entire place was filled with toastmasters and which was my first noisiest airport experience ever.

The flight time was short and we reached Chennai airport within an hour. We quickly cleared off immigration and soon were enjoying the sweet sound and smell of Singaara Chennai. While standing in the scorching sun Toastmaster Shadrin Safwan assured us that the dual AC luxury coach which will be taking us to the hotel had arrived, however the vehicle that turned up was nothing as described by our VP Education. Shortly after arriving at the hotel we were glad to find out that the venue for the ovation was right in front of us which was the Chennai Trade Centre. Good job event planner!

The Inaugurals of Ovation 2019 was excellent, it was a job well done. The lightings & stage set up was an absolute stunner. I personally enjoyed the performance done by Lydian Nadeswaram and team who kept the audience on their feet with their music. The Speeches by the guest speakers were also full of insight, however I was hungry by that time kept looking at the buffet table from the corner of my eye till the green light was given.

Once we reached the hotel although despite of being tired and sleepy we had to listen to Toastmaster Fairooz Marikkar practicing his speech over 10 times. As awakeners we are known for our team spirit therefore we sacrificed our sleep and continued to listen to his speech all night.

The humorous contest began the next day. The performance by our “Jumbo ceaser” was excellent. He made in the audience laugh and had a good story as well. Toastmaster Fairooz Marikkar your speech was wonderful! Although you did not make it to the top. Wish you all the very best for the next contest.

We had one more awakener who took part in the district contest this year and that is Toastmaster Ishfaq Uvaim, who took part in the Evaluation contest. Mr. Cool also did an exceptional evaluation with his smiling and enthusiastic face as always however the judges had different thoughts. So better luck next time!

I personally learnt a lot from Ovation 2019 especially the standard which the International Speech contest was held. Guest speaker Gaur Gopal Das motivated us with his presentation which got me started thinking about what life is all about.

I am so glad I got the opportunity to participate in the Ovation 2019, I would like to thank and congratulate the organizers of Ovation 2019 for the splendid show displayed.