Coal into diamonds
Encouraging eloquent public speaking, the Toastmasters Club Colombo held their signature event last week. The All Island Best Speaker contest (AIBS) 2015 saw the five finalists bringing their best onstage in the traditional two rounds of competition. Welcomed by club president Toastmaster Sarma Mahalingam, the audience was treated to an array of speeches both by competitors and the professionals in the club.
The top three: Thanuki Goonesinghe, Umar Azwer (winner) and Praveen Samarakone
Winning the coveted AIBS award for 2015, was Umar Azwer’s semi-autobiographical rendition called ‘Watch Me.’ Leaving the audience with an empowering message of battling all odds, Umar in his speech credited his “grade one teacher” who gave him the opportunity to make his first public address and a very supportive family.
Coming in second with his speech- ‘The Mother of All Failures,’ Praveen Samarakone spoke on the dangers of “not trying at all.” Taking a lesson from Wile E. Coyote of the Road Runner show he enjoyed as a child, the crux of his message was that failure should not deter one from trying, even if like the unlucky coyote one was “to fail 473 times.”
The second runner-up of the evening was Thanuki Goonesinghe who spoke on ‘Living with Chains.’ Head Prefect of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, her strong speech centred a woman’s place in society. Inspired by her mother’s strength after the loss of her father a few years ago, Thanuki’s rendition posed a question if enough is being said and done to make the world a safer place, void of gender discrimination.
Chief guest Dr. Dilip Abayasekara
Also finalists for the evening who delivered speeches were Hasindu Siyambalape and Nethmi Perera. The contestants spoke on the topic of ‘Time is the greatest gift’ chosen by the judges for the final round of competitions, the Impromptu Round.
Celebrating enthusiasm for the art of public speaking, three Toastmasters whose contribution to cultivating the spoken word has left a mark islandwide were recognised at this event. Founding member of the Toastmasters Club Colombo, which is the oldest in the region Able Toastmaster Haleem Ghouse was one such dignitary. Also recognised were Distinguished Toastmaster Yusuf Jeevunjee and Distinguished Toastmaster Arunasalam Balraj who serves as the Second Vice President of Toastmasters International currently.
The Chief Guest for the evening was introduced by the reigning Champion of Impromptu speech for District 82, Tharindu Amarasekere. Currently residing in the US, Speech and Communications guru Dr. Dilip Abayasekara shared his journey into the world of professional communication. Choosing his current profession over being an industrial chemist, Dr. Abayasekara said that all the participants walked away winners having subjected themselves to the pressures of the competition.
Having learned much from his competition days Dr. Abayasekara shared that winning a title is never the right objective in participating, rather it is delivering a good speech. This in turn teaches discipline, a skill which all participants, like coal subjected to pressure refined into diamonds, acquire, he added.
The audience was treated to an array of speeches by both the competitors and professional members of the club