I see something in you

Welcome to Toastmasters!  Those are the happy words you will hear when you visit one of our clubs. If joining Toastmasters has been one of your goals, or even a New Year’s resolution, there is no better time to visit a club than now.

For a practical example of how Toastmasters can change your life, let me share the story of Dananjaya Hettiarachchi  from Sri Lanka,-  the 2014 World Champion of Public Speaking,  with his speech “I see something in you”. It had a basic plot: a young man finds himself in trouble with the law. Through the pain in his mother’s tearful eyes and with the help of a mentor he is given another chance. With the help of Toastmasters and other programs, he finds his voice and wins the ultimate prize: a new life filled with self-confidence, excitement and promise.

The tools he used for his speech covered the basics for a good speech:

• Gestures – he opened his speech with a beautiful red rose and said that this represented all of us, special until life changes us. He then tore petals off the rose.
• Vocal Variety – he called out to the audience, how many of you have a mother who would have cried for seeing her son behind bars? He then included us all by saying ” my mother is like all of yours put together!
• Base phrase – “I see something in you”, then added ” but I don’t know what it is”.  This was woven through his story first, by his mentor, then by his future wife, and by a Toastmasters member.
• Humour – he pointed to a spot on the stage that represented his wife and commented that he was so fortunate to find his beautiful wife even though she said “I see something in you, but I don’t know what it is”, then he said “I couldn’t find a job, but I found a wife. Picture it with dramatic pauses, exaggerated facial expressions and a shy smile.
• Drama – after sharing his journey from delinquent to successful speaker, he paused for a long moment, reached into the bucket on stage and pulled out another special red rose.

The audience exploded as he ended his speech.

I invite you to check it out on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbz2boNSeL0

Adapted from Winnipeg Free Press article of January 6, 2015.

Author:  Dorian Guerard, DTM