All Island Best Speaker contest held for 24th successive year
Thursday, 25 July 2013 01:01
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National event draws kudosfrom all
AIBS 2013 concluded successfully at Hotel Galadari Colombo on 14 July, to the applause of a 400-strong cross section of the nation.
Organised and presented by The Colombo Toastmasters Club, the All Island Best Speaker contest is the place where some of Sri Lanka’s finest oral communicators are produced in the crucible of verbal combat.
Five finalists – four male and one female – competed shoulder to shoulder for The Colombo Toastmasters Club trophy at the Grand Finale. A senior Toastmaster commented that it was one of the best AIBS contests he had ever witnessed.
The event started with the prepared speech segment where the five finalists had to speak on a topic of their choice for five to seven minutes. After a recess, the same five finalists matched their wits in the impromptu speech segment where they had to speak for two minutes on a common topic given by the judges, ‘When I step into the next generation’.
The winner of the contest was Aaqib Reyal whose prepared speech topic was ‘Speedy Gonzales’. He impressed on the audience to have a plan for their lives, emphasising that mere qualifications gets one nowhere in life. In second place was Sunesh Rodrigo who spoke on ‘Silence’. The only female contestant Mahishaa Balraj spoke on ‘Discharge to Recharge,’ urging people to get rid of their negative emotions and fill their minds with positive thoughts.
The Chief Guest on the occasion Kishu Gomes, Managing Director and CEO of Caltex Lubricants Lanka Pvt. Ltd., underlined the critical importance of effective communication skills in the business world, as did Indrajith Fernando, CEO of Bartleet Group subsidiary TransCapital, who was the Guest of Honour. This year’s contest was jointly sponsored by The Bartleet Group and The Colombo Toastmasters Club.
Welcoming the guests, The Colombo Toastmasters Club’s Immediate Past President Nadeeka Jayathilaka commented on the “magic of AIBS” – how the contest transforms contestants into confident and effective speakers and presenters. AIBS 2013 Chairman Yukthi Gunasekera spelled out the ‘rules of engagement’ for the contest, and Niranjan De Silva hosted the evening as MC with his inimitable humour and fun-loving style.
