“There’s no skill like oratory, it is a skill that can turn a commoner into a king.” – Winston Churchill
Rotaract club has a record of producing and introducing many leaders to the world and “Cicero”, a project named after the famous Greek orator, politician, philosopher Cicero himself, was a district project organized with the aim of bringing out the orator within many rotaractors and giving them an opportunity to shape themselves as a better orator while bringing out the true leader in them. This project was organized by the Rotaract District organization and hosted by the Rotaract clubs of Faculty of Science – University of Colombo, the Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology and the Colombo Regent. The Compere and the Nations Toastmasters were the strategic partner of this event.
It was a two day workshop followed up by a competition. The workshop was conducted by the Nations Toastmasters on the 22nd of September and 6th of October, 2018 at the NBLT in the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo.
The workshops were mainly centered on developing the skills of rotaractors as an orator. To be an effective orator is not just to speak through words but through body language, facial expressions, vocal variations, the use of props and many more. This became evident to all who attended the workshops.
The competition was held at the Hive, Nations Trust Bank. The panel of judges for this competition comprised of district representative, Rtr. Abdul Baasit Sathar, Nations Toastmaster representative, TM Johnson Jayaratnasingham and the founder of the Compere, Mr. Gihan Samarawickrama. The competition was based on the toastmaster’s impromptu table topics where the speakers were given the topic on the spot and were asked to speak for 2 minutes on it.
The topic was “A certain darkness is needed to see the stars” and the competitors did a really good job in delivering an impromptu speech incorporating what they learned in the workshops. Rtr. Thisuri Lokubarana of Rotaract club of Colombo was placed first followed by Rtr. Rumesh Thiruselvam of Rotaract district organization and Rtr. Yaswind Rodrigo from the Rotaract club of CIRP being placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. The winner of the competition will get an opportunity to host a show in the near future under the Compere organization.
Despite the hurdles we had to overcome, overall the event was successful and just as the saying goes “all’s well that ends well!”
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