 Today I would like to ask you a question and I hope you can formulate a response to my question before the end of my speech. Hello Toastmasters and Dear Guests. The question to you is, what is your communication style? But before you answer that question, you would like to know what are the choices? What are the communication styles out there? Before this project, I started doing my research using my favorite research tool, Google. And I found out that the most common framework for communication style is this one which groups communication style into four types, passive, aggressive, passive aggressive and assertive. It's easy to relate to these styles because we observe them in our day-to-day life. For example, if there is an argument, we could see that there is a person displaying an aggressive communication style and the other person might be demonstrating a passive communication style. If both of them are aggressive, we can predict what would be the outcome of that conversation. The passive aggressive, we normally observe it in our children, they are very good at it. If I were to ask you to choose your communication style from this list of four, we would all like to choose assertive because that conveys or it has a connotation of positivity while the rest seem to be more negative in their approach. So I decided to stop my research and get back to Toastmasters where I am supposed to actually study communication styles. Now Toastmasters also has a framework for communication styles and the framework proposed by Toastmasters is this one which is also for communication styles but they are differently categorized. Direct is where you are focused, you are result-oriented and you are ambitious and to others you appear as strong-willed and demanding. We also have a style called initiating where you are sociable, you are enthusiastic and you are fun-loving and to others you appear self-assured, innovating and persuasive. The analytical style is for those who are logical, who are precise, who are exact and to others you can appear as a perfectionist and self-reliant. And the final style is supportive, calm, steady, approachable and to others you appear dependable and loyal. Now I can relate to this framework because if I take the acronym, the first letters of each of these styles, D-I-A-S, that's literally my wife's last name, Dias. And it seems apt because she can demonstrate all of these four styles in a span of 5 minutes. When she walks into our daughter's room and asks her, are you watching Netflix or studying? Focus on your studies. That's a direct communication style. There's no room for negotiation here. When she comes out of the room, maybe she will get a message, a WhatsApp message from her friends from her school, the group that she has. And she will switch to a sociable, enthusiastic and fun-loving style communicating with her friends. And then she may get a call from one of her clients asking for a cake. And the client wants 10-inch cake for 50 people with a side order of cupcakes and this many toppers and the client wants it all for 10 KD. And Priscilla has to put on her analytical hat to convey to the customer why her work is worth more than 10 KD. If she were to use a direct communication style, that would be, are you out of your mind? And that would lose her the client and her cake business. If she were to use an initiating style in this scenario, she would probably end up agreeing with the customer and end up losing money. So she has to use analytical style. And if she clinches the order, she'll come to me and say, honey, do you love me? Very loving, very social, very loyal. Now I don't know what style I will observe after this meeting because she is the Toastmaster of the day. We shall see. But this is not about her. This is about you and me. What's your communication style from this? In my case, I did the assessment and you can do it also in level two. And I found out currently my style is somewhere between direct and analytical. And those of you who know me will say, yeah, that's KG. He's direct. He is analytical. And this works for me when I'm in office because I need to get work done from my people. So that's the appropriate style that I use, but it doesn't work when I come home. And that is the reason I assume that to exist there as a supportive communication style to communicate at home. And it looks like I need to be a little more initiating. The message for you all today is you don't have a single communication style. You have all of them in equal measure. But the important thing is you need to understand which style to apply for, which situation. And that is the understanding that will make you into a competent communicator. Welcome to you, Priscilla D.I.A.S.