Sri Lankaka Club Symposium - Bahrain Toastmaster Magazine SLCS Toastmasters Bahrain - Epitome 01 | Page 12

SRI LANKA CLUB SYMPOSIUM TOASTMASTERS Issue October-November 2013 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 6. What steps you have been taken to overcome those challengers? As other organization we also have difficulties in finance to run our club smoothly. We are not a corporate club. We have to cover up all the expenses only from membership fees. For example refreshment, club assets, awards night and installation ceremony. we charge very minimal amount from members, with which we cannot really afford to meet all those expenses. SLCS toastmasters organize the Talent Nite every year, income from which helps us to finance our activities. Some event like Joint meetings are funded by individuals. PHOTOGRAPH BY: SITHIJA DE SILVA PHOTOGRAPH BY: SITHIJA DE SILVA Editor TM Dushan with SLCS president in an exclusive interview... 1. Mr. President Can you remember your feelings in first day of toastmasters? Yes TM Dushan, before I never knew about Toastmasters. What I thought is, it is also same like anyother forum. But their program, dress code, time management, setup and arrangement gave me a different feeling. Still I can remember, I was nervous on that day. However, the way others were performed, I realized that is the only place I can improve myself. Then I thought of joining the toastmasters. 2. What are the golden moments in your TM carrier? In 2011, when I got the 3rd place of humorous speech contest in Area 46 competing with four clubs. After that I became the winner of International speech contest in our club. Again I got the first place in the humorous speech contest which we had recently. The biggest milestone is I becoming the president of SLCS Year 2013-2014. 4. As a newly elected president, how you comment on the SLCS journey so far? First I must thank all our seniors for their dedication and guidance. Without their support and enthusiasm we cannot celebrate our fifteen years anniversary today. Still I can remember Late TM Chandra Liyanaarachchi, how dedicated he was to bring our club to this level. I’m proud to say still we have seniors like DTM Ahmed Rizvi & TM Moh’d Salie guiding us. SLCS is flourishing day by day . Our members have gone beyond the club level and holding key positions in area and division. Recently lots of newcomers joined SLCS and they all are potential leaders. I can see SLCS has a bright future and it can go a long journey. 5. What are the challenges faced in this SLCS today? Mostly we face difficulties like... • Club Funds • Bringing New members • Maintaining the membership strength 3. What drives you to achieve success? Nothing else than dedication and preparation. SRI LANKA CLUB SYMPOSIUM TOASTMASTERS http://slcs.toastmastersclubs.org http://slcs.toastmastersclubs.org Bringing new members and retaining them. In this aspect we have targeted many Sri Lankans who are in Bahrain to become members in SLCS. We know there are many people who need to improve their public speaking skills, unfortunately they never come forward. Learning is a endless process. Some members they lose the interest of toastmaster due to personal commitments. In toastmasters, whatever you do it your best way. Otherwise you will feel toastmaster will not help to improve. That is why on the halfway many members give up. But symposium has taken enough measures to bring in new members and keep them active. We have identified where members need to improve. For that we conduct various workshops and mentoring programs. We attend non toastmasters events and promote toastmasters. We organized members’ talent show for non members. We share toastmaster promotional items among non members. “We have identified where members need to improve. For that we conduct various workshops and mentoring programs.” JOURNEY OCT-NOV 2013 12