QBA and Toastmaster Dinner and Workshop

The Qatari Businessmen Association Organized with Toastmasters International a workshop and dinner on Sunday 24th January, as part of the association goals to develop the skills of young talents and prepare them as future leaders. The workshop was conducted by members of Toastmasters International in addition to Mr. Mohammed al-Qahtani, the first Arab to win the world championship for public speaking at the annual conference, which was held in Las Vegas, United States in August 2015.

The workshop was attended by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA Chairman; and QBA members in addition to H.E. Mr. Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz Al Efan, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Doha

Sheikh / Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani thanked the members of Toastmasters International and expressed his admiration of the young participants for their efforts. He also added that these kinds of specialized activities and workshops would help in developing the communication and leadership skills, referring to the importance of creating a generation of leaders. He also stressed on the urgency to focus on basic human development as the cornerstone, through which the state aims to develop the capabilities of its youth and provides learning and development opportunities to create a generation capable of innovation and competition in all areas.

In his speech entitled " Goodbye to fear " Mr. Mohammed Qahtani talked about overcoming the feeling of fear and the methods of communication. He also talked about leadership and personal development by performing public speaking and attend lectures and courses for the development of self- capacity and practice in front of a real audience.

It is worth mentioning that Toastmasters International is a non-profit world leader in communication and leadership development. It was founded by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley in the US in 1924. The number of members is more than 332,000 members. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 15,400 clubs in 135 countries that make up the global network of meeting locations including the gulf region.

Qatar alone has 1197 members attending meetings in 57 clubs. Some of these clubs are exclusive to corporate members such as Ooredoo club, College of North Atlantic club, and other clubs are open to the public such as Qatar Toastmasters club, Doha Toastmasters club, and Tamim club [The first Arabic club in Qatar].

Toastmasters in Qatar have community programs that work on developing the communication and leadership skills for adults, youth and children. Two of these prominent programs are Ras Laffan Community Outreach Program and Qatar Open Youth Public Speaking Championship.

Toastmasters’ objectives align with Qatar National Vision 2030 that consider human development and education key pillars and requirements for empowering Qatari leaders, and creating a generation of nationals capable of innovation and competition in various fields.