Toastmasters International members from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry come together for ‘Discover 2025'

The Hindu

21-05-2025

For the many members of Toastmasters International, getting up on stage and speaking to a large audience is hardly a daunting task. This in fact, is something they enjoy, and regularly come together to work on.
A large contingent of members, from Toastmasters International District 120, which comprises Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will converge in the city from May 23 to 25 for their Discover 2025 annual conference. The three-day event has several eminent speakers taking the stage, as well as speakers from Toastmasters battle it out in the finale of their annual district championships.
While it has been twenty years since Toastmasters clubs in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry began , the organisation has had a much longer legacy. Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organisation headquartered in the US was founded by Ralph C Smedly 100 years ago in 1924, and has helped people work on their confidence by developing their communication and leadership skills.
'In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, we currently have around 4,500 members spread over 175 clubs. These clubs are community clubs, corporate clubs and in colleges as well,' says G Mohanakrishnan, district director, District 120, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
At Discover 2025, Palanivel Thiagarajan, Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services, Luisa Montalvo, world champion of public speaking 2024, Innocent Divya, Commissioner of Technical Education, Fursey Gotuaco, world champion of public speaking 2024 finalist, Jahabar Sadique, CEO, Chai Kings, Sam Paul, chairman and managing director, Paulsons beauty and fashion, and Deepa Venkat, voice artiste and actor will take the stage. The finale for four different speaking competitions – humorous speech contest, evaluation speech contest, table topics contest and international speech contest will have 36 contestants participate. Awards will also be given to different clubs and members based on their performance through the year.
With members from ages 18 to 80 years, Toastmasters clubs typically meet once a week, engage in discussions, deliver speeches and practice taking on leadership roles. For the conference, members as well as the public are encouraged to attend to hear the eminent speakers, as well as watch the finale of the competitions.
Mohanakrishnan says that taking Toastmasters and their vision to young students has been something they are consistently working on. 'Around 30 colleges in Tamil Nadu have active Toastmasters clubs, and some colleges even have multiple clubs on campus. This way, youngsters will hone their public speaking skills early on, and work on better communication and leadership skills which will help with their campus placements,' he says.
The Hindu is the print media partner for the event.
Discover 2025 will take place from May 23 to 25 at IIT Madras Research Park. For registrations and more details, log onto district120.org .