The Millennium TMC Newsletter Term 01 (2022-23)

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Amritha Allahakkoon

I am honored to pen this message as the President of this prestigious club for the term 2022–2023. I joined the Millennium TMC in the year 2017 and was made a member of the Executive Committee in the very next term, starting as the Vice President – Public Relations of the club, I have played the roles of secretary, Vice President – Education and finally I am proud to be President of this Club.

I have seen the growth and evolution of the club through the years and the hard work each Executive Committee had put to elevate the club to the level it is at today. I must commend the hard work of the Immediate Past President TM Clive James and his team for setting the benchmark for me and the team to reach and exceed.

It is my sincere wish and hope to build on the strong foundations of the club and further the benefits each member receives. Together with the energetic Executive Committee and the members, it is my aim to propel Millennium to new heights through interesting and engaging meetings that will help members become better leaders and speakers, taking full advantage of the Pathways educational programme, member growth and divi sion and district representation in all forms of public speaking.

We, as an Executive Committee have already completed one quarter of our term and I must say it has been a fulfilling and successful team effort so far, we as a team have been recognized as the club with the highest number of on time membership renewals in the entire district despite the many chal lenges, we had to overcome and have been recognized with the Smedley award as well. resumed physical meetings despite all challenges and at each meeting we have had a full house along with keen guests who have been introduced to this fraternity.

The future looks good for Millennium and I, the President together with my Executive Committee are merely enablers setting the course for the way forward to which we are committed fully and wholly. Stay safe and God bless You!

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

TM

SPECIAL ASPECTS IN EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS

Diwali Themed Meeting

“Game of Humor” Guest Presentation by Visiting TM Ravindu Amendra

Joint Meeting with NDB Toastmasters Club

Special Presentation by Arunasalam Balraj, DTM (Past Toastmasters International President)

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

IN EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS CONTD...

New Member’s Induction Ceremony

The Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests The Millennium Toastmasters Club

MILLENNIUM ON THE OVATION 2022 STAGE

Photos Source—Ovation 2022 Official Facebook Page The Millennium Toastmasters Club

The Net Practice

Five years back I walked into a room full of Toastmasters as a guest wanting to improve my public speaking skills. The atmosphere, the attitude, and the energy in that room was something I have never experienced before and hence decided to join them. Little did I know when I joined the Millennium Toastmasters Club, that it would practi cally transform me. looking back and reflecting on my journey as a toastmaster, I today feel it is one of the best investments that I have made in my life.

If you are a cricketer and really want to do well, one of the most import ant things you would do is “Net Practice Sessions”. The hours you spend in the Cricket Nets bowling and batting will surely pass onto your game. The Toastmasters club is that Net Practice to those who want to improve their soft skills, leadership skills and network. The number of hours you spend in the nets will surely improve your skills. First and foremost, it starts with attending Net Practice sessions, which means you attend every club meeting. Tell yourself that I will not miss the meeting this week. Block your calendar well in advance and ensure you attend the meetings. It’s just two meetings a month and surely, we can set aside time for that. Now that you are attending regular Net Practices, it’s time to start playing all kind of shots you want to try, and all variations of bowling that you want to bowl and see. You can make countless mistakes at the net practices, then keep trying and correct them. It is only then can you play well on the match day. Similarly, you must actively get involved in the club meet ings, take up roles, do table topic speeches, keep doing your pathways projects, take part in the club competition, take part in Area, division, and District programs, attend all possible trainings done by the club, Area, Division and District. There is no shame in making mistakes at Toastmasters, remember, this is the Net Practice session. Nobody is judging you. The more you get involved, the more mistakes you will make, the more corrective advice you will get and when you apply them you improve and even trans form.

The possibility at Toastmasters is endless, it truly is. It provides a discovery-based education and experi ence. Do not wait till you are spoon feed like that of a school environment. There is so much out there. The Toastmasters website, your base camp, pathways materials, your club members, mentor, Toastmas ters from other clubs and so on. And once you switch on the discovery mode and try to explore all of these you will be amazed by the learning and experience it can provide you.

I am certainly not that person who walked into the room full of Toastmasters 5 years back, it truly has transformed me and keeps transforming me. This transformation of mine has helped me in my profes sional and entrepreneurial journey. I don’t want to stop here, but keep attending net practice sessions and try out many strokes and variations of bowling to discover the hidden potential in me and so should you.

So let us all attend net practice sessions and try many different strokes, variations of bowling. Make mistakes and correct them based on the feedback we receive and on the match day let’s play like a champion. Wishing you all the very best in your toastmasters journey.

TM Clive James

Toastmasters Club

MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS

Triple Crown Winners of year 2021/22 TM Laxmi Senthilnathan was awarded Outstanding Member of The Club for the year 2022/23

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

MESSAGE FROM VICE PRESIDENT EDUCATION

TM Kauminie Samarakone

We are almost at the end of the second quarter of the Toastmaster Year. I keep wondering what happened to the months in between July and November! The role of Vice President Education has been so exhilarating just like a roller coaster ride, each meeting being different to the previ ous.

The Millennium Toastmasters Club, being a community club has a membership of 44 to date and an average of 25 members attending meetings. Membership comprising of Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, and Entrepreneurs to bankers and students, the members have a multitude of needs, where their communication needs are concerned. How to cater to all of them within the 2 hour duration of the meeting is a challenging task. As VP Education I looked upon it as a game where I needed to play according to a set of rules (I have set for myself). Yes, the results were always not perfect but every meeting taught me 1 more lesson which would be used when planning the next two quarterly plans.

After being forced to have 3 meetings online, having physical meetings became more meaningful as everyone relished the experience though the same format was used for the online meetings. More than the speeches on pathways projects, it was a challenge to assign roles to the members. Always, there were takers and each and every one went out of their way to play the role in a meaningful way.

We have had 2 visiting Toastmasters, and a very successful joint meeting with NDB Toastmasters Club where the energy and positive vibes were very evident, enjoyed by each and every member from both clubs. Furthermore, these experiences taught our club and all of us how to improve the meeting proce dures while having fun to the maximum.

There were a total of 3 themed meetings so far, out of which the Deepavali themed meeting showed us that clothes, food and even the decorations matter to give us a different experience thereby making each meeting unique. The themed meeting “Transformation” entirely handled by the younger members were enjoyed by everyone.

The Club was so fortunate in having 2 guest presenters who have excelled in what they do. The first guest presentation was by TM Ravindu Amendra a past winner of the District 82 Humorous Contest. We had the good fortune and honor of having the 2017-2018 International President of Toastmasters International DTM Arunasalam Balraj in person at our club. His Presentation to encourage members to take part in the International Speech Contest is sure to bring results as we expect an increase in the number of contes tants for the club contest. The Presentations by experts were so remarkable, members continue recollect ing what was said during these sessions even now!

We were so proud to watch our own members TM Dilusha Gamage and TM Laxmi Senthilnathan setting an example of showing us the way to presenting meaningfully and interestingly. Our own Immediate Past President TM Clive James, the current area Director of Area E1 paid us an official visit as the Area Direc tor!

Last but not least The Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation speech Contest was conducted successfully with many contestants taking part. The Winner of these 2 contests TM Tharindu Ameresekere made us very proud emerging as Division E Humorous Speech Contest Champion.

We eagerly look forward to the rest of the 2nd Quarterly activities which includes the X’mas themed meeting and a presentation by our Member TM Clive C. James from the Leadership Excellence Series.

Thank you Millennium Toastmasters Club for giving me this wonderful opportunity to plan the meetings and look forward to arranging meetings for the next 2 quarters!

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF TOASTMASTERS

TM Nevatha Bernardsha (Rajagiriya TMC)

My Toastmasters journey began in 2016 and the next year I was a part of the Executive Committee as the VP Public Relations. Whilst I was learning to do my exco role, the VP Education Zeena, having immense belief, pushed me to partake in the club table topics contest that year. I was fresh to the contest set-up and did have my fair doubts. Being the Director HR of the company which holds a lot of duties, Zeena still took the respon sibility to spare a good amount of time to support me in practicing almost 50 topics in preparation for the contest. I won the club contest that year and was placed 3rd in the Area Contest.

I left the organization and joined a new company in 2018, yet the club allowed me to continue my membership that year. Even after stepping down from the Vice President-Education role that year, Zeena once again pushed me to take part in the club contest and allocated time to extend her support during my practices even though we were at different work places. With support and the club’s belief, that year I was placed to represent my club at the Division Table topics contest as well.

When I joined the new organization, the first thing I looked for was if there is a Toastmaster’s club. Sadly, they did not have and I had to take a break from Toastmasters for about a year because of the new job responsibilities. However, there were people who had immense belief in me and made sure I resumed as a Toastmaster. In 2021, I got the privilege to serve as the VP Education of Rajagiriya Toastmasters club which was indeed my initial club which was revived by Colombo Toastmasters club.

Serving as VP Education to my mother club was one of the best moments and being mentored by my mentor TM Zeena. The trust she placed in me several years ago even though I was a beginner, has enabled me to develop myself today to take over the role which once she excelled at, with confidence. Similarly, the belief the Area director, who was also my dear old friend Sanara had, to push me to become the VP Education, shows the long lasting impressions Toastmasters creates. That’s what makes the journey as a Toastmaster extraordinary.

A famous quote by Rosalynn Carter, First Lady of the United States 1977-81 states, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” Daily we are assigned with several tasks at work or university, and as humans we also play several roles as a parent, child, student, friend, mentor, colleague etc. Regardless of these varied roles one common factor we unanimously seek, is to be the best. Being a part of toastmaster has helped me under stand that it’s not just about being the best, but about being the best version of myself. The true finding of who I am was achieved by being a toastmaster. The support system I’ve had in the form of leaders, co-members, senior members, mentors, friends who constantly saw something special in me, paved the path for me to identify my core strength as a public speaker, communicator, leader, mentor and more. I’m sure many of us can connect to several growths we see today that was once not even recognized and wonder how it all progressed. We see a trusted group around us who push us to go an extra mile, aston ished at how far they’ve travelled with us we wonder how they entered into our lives.

Just as our Toastmasters journey was made special by every individual we crossed paths with and every moment we experienced, let’s work towards making others journey momentous so that one day when they think back and wonder how it all evolved their answer remains “it’s all because of Toastmasters. ”

BEYOND THE CLUB Our Members in the

Area/Division Positions

Millennium Inside-Out

TM Clive James Area E1 Director

TM Thilini Gunaratna Area E1 Assistant Director— Program Quality

—TM Thilini Gunaratna

The Millennium Toastmasters knowledge and expertise is not only confined to the club itself but beyond that is to the areas, divisions and district in the fraternity as in the past we have taken up many leadership roles. —TM Delanie Jayesuria

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

Ten Years as a Toastmaster

This year I have the privilege of celebrating ten years as a Toastmaster. It has been an incredible journey filled with a myriad of wonderful memories. Toastmasters has enriched my life with many benefits but there are three that stand out from the rest.

First, Toastmasters has introduced me to some amazing people. My caring Toastmasters Family at Millennium Toastmasters Club have stood hand in hand in my development over the years. DTM Ajitha Goonewardena has mentored me right throughout and endeavoured to not only make me a better Toastmaster but also a better person. Friends I made through Toastmasters have assisted me in my professional life as well. Some of my best friends and closest colleagues at work are from the Toastmasters fraternity.

Second, I have benefited tremendously from valuable feedback the Toastmasters Program shares with us. Speech evaluations enable us to examine and improve weak areas that we generally do not notice ourselves. Toastmasters has helped me improve devel opment areas in my speaking such as vocal variety and stage management. Furthermore, I have also learned to provide useful and motivating feedback when evaluating others. This skill has helped me immensely in my career especially with developing my own teams.

Third, I love the pulse racing thrills of the Toastmasters Contests. I regularly participate in the annual International, Humourous and Table Topics contests. These contests have hundreds of talented competitors and very high standards bringing out the best in everybody. I will never forget the euphoria of being placed 3rd at the District Table Topics in Colombo in 2015. Even though I have just finished a decade in Toastmasters my dream is to be one for many decades more.

My Embarking Journey

Meeting people is never an accident. People will walk in and walk out of your life without a reason. Some teach you lessons and the some help you to grow is never spontaneous. It’s always meant to be a higher purpose an end beyond you and which we will never know until we reach it.

This was the time I Shahela Banu Sabil entered and was a part the Millennium Toastmaster family since 2021 and each meeting I attended not only taught me something new, but also opened up different ways of thinking about old and new ideas, and I always think that is how knowledge works, it builds up like compound interest .

Therefore, I feel an enthusiastic, honored member of prestigious Millennium Toastmasters Club as I always feel in the safest environment with a positive surrounding where my members always taught to “Plan-think -proceed “process which has conquered me to experience looking for deeper meaning of a goal and the end in mind. It always helps to flourish that teaches the importance of lessons which is always from the existence can provide which simply says “the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine”

TM Dinal Edirisinghe

Love , TM Shahela Banu Sabil

THE ART OF NETWORKING

TM Skanderaj Muthuswamy

It’s easy isn’t it when you read this sentence – art of networking, I felt the same.

When my previous chairman used to tell me that whenever you are planning to go for an event you need to make sure to meet at least

10 new people and should have collected their business cards. I heard it right. But when u go for an event its quite tough to get connected as most of the members will be in their own circle of friends.

I tried by best walking into lot of rooms to network starting from IPO, exhibition pre-events. It’s quite tough to get connected as planned. Then I realized its okay to be not okay sometimes rather than stressing yourself.

Then after started learning the basics of networking.

Preparation:

I tried to understand what the event is about and who are the key people involved in it, and do some study about them, in case I get the opportunity I have a pre prepared content to share with them.

1.) Always try to be prepared with an elevator pitch (it’s a short introduction about you and the industry in 60s or less)

• It’s your name, industry, what makes you special on the industry and a point to remember about you or the service you do.

2.) Have an objective of meeting at least 5 or even 1 and to learn something new from the conversation.

3.) Makes sure to have your business card to share among them.

During the event, try to execute the above. Don’t get discouraged, when things don’t go your way.

This is on the gaining side of the disk. But what makes you special and stands out is the art of giving.

1.) But make sure to give as much as possible and being generous.

2.) Have the open mind to help a person you are talking to and connect with your friends or colleague in that vicinity or after.

3.) When you start the approach of Giving, it’s easy to meet people in networking forums and you feel lighter.

Now you know what to do next during your networking session. Your next meeting starts NOW.

ARE YOU MOTIVATED?

TM Amiru Manthrige

Motivation. Have you been looking for it? We all have found it somewhere right. But do you remember how you did find it? A youtube video, A Hiphop song, lose yourself by Eminem or anything for that matter. But, have you ever wondered what led you to keep finding motivation just like Velma from Scooby-Doo kept finding her glasses after dropping it. Most probably it was a decision that you did take during the day that led you to that unmotivated state of mind. What if we find a solution for that. A solution to differentiate what makes you dull from the things that actually benefit you in the long run.

The human brain is A Suggestion Machine. It gives you choices of things to do one after another. Let's debug it. Let’s view a day in our life as a tree diagram with choices. Because after all, what we did during the day was a decision that you made from many choices that were presented to you at the moment.

It is hard to choose to do an assignment over a Netflix run. And you might say “I’m not motivated enough to do it today”. But that's the lack of Effort and Discipline that's talking. DELETE MOTIVATION. Just Pick the Right Choice and put in the effort. It is better to get stuff done rather than mourning and finding motivation where you don't know if you'll find it or not.

This Tree diagram shows just a fraction of what goes in our mind when we are presented with the opportunity to make a decision. We all as humans know what makes us miserable and what gives us self satisfaction through all these years of trial and error. And it is unique to everyone as it should be.

It is hard to choose to do the overdue assignment over a cosy Netflix run with some snacks. But we all know choosing to do the assignment over Netflix will give us real satisfaction at the end of the day. People often say they are unhappy and unmotivated. It is the result of collection of a string of unpro ductive days ALWAYS. If you make Today a useful productive day it will definitely make you feel GOOD and HAPPY about yourself at the end of the day. And now make it a string of Productive days. Now you will have a Productive Week and it will give you satisfaction and a peace of mind because you got your tasks done.

tWell you might say “It’s easy for you to just say to have productive weeks but it's hard enough to have one of those days”. For that let’s build our Discipline of choosing to do what's needed over the thing that makes us feel unhappy, unmotivated at the end of it. It's the art of Picking the Right Choice.

We personally know what things will make us a better person at the end of the day. But we confuse it with other choices that make us feel dull. So thinking about those choices in the manner of a Tree Diagram will give you a clear view on what's Right and Bad for you. Now choose the RIGHT choices. Here comes the Discipline and Effort.

Don’t stay down and wait for the time to come. There are times where you need to give time to handle it. But not for places where you know if you just put in the effort to get things going. People do make mistakes, but it's not about how you fall. It's all about how you get up. Just the Discipline and effort to get up and get things going is what's needed. So pick the RIGHT Choice always.

A question goes as follows. “What if you had $84,600 everyday when you wake up and at the end of the day whether you spent it or not it disappears. You'll do everything in your power to spend that $84,600 the next day. Right? You get 84,600 SECONDS every day. Why waste it?”

It's a shame that we waste time just because of our Lack of Discipline, Effort, Consistency. But we have mixed those weaknesses and made a word called MOTIVATION and keep blaming and hunting it where the real problem is hidden for our temporary escape from reality. It is not motivation that we lack. It's the Discipline, Effort, Consistency that we lack. And the good news is you just need to PICK THE RIGHT CHOICE.

We all like to call ourselves unique from all the other humans. That means our psychology is unique too. And the thing we call Motivation is psychological which is a dose of Dopamine in our brain that is unique for everyone. There is no Universal way of getting Motivation. So don’t keep finding it. Just get things rolling.

FIND THE LEADER IN YOU

TM Pramesh Cooray

Leadership is the ability of a person to lead, influence or guide others in various circumstances. We see different kind of leaders all around the world. World leaders like presidents and prime ministers, business leaders like company CEO’s and directors, organizational leaders like school principles are some of them. There are also military leaders and religious leaders as well. To be a leader there’s definitely has to be a group of followers. Nowadays everyone wants to become a leader. But leadership is not a role someone can simply enjoy. Or in other words, leadership is not a bed of roses. It’s a huge responsibility behind your back. Put someone who doesn’t fit the leadership role on top, then it’ll be a disaster. Some people tend to become blind when they are given such power. The best example is the political leaders in Sri

There are so many leadership development courses to be heard or seen. Does it really make someone transform into a leader? You enroll in a course with a specific time period and at the end of the course, is it guaranteed that you may become leader? I don’t think so. Leadership is all about consistency. It is a pro cess that happens over time, not overnight. It’s those little things, qualities you have and others doesn’t have which makes you unique that makes you a leader. And if the others around you starts to see these little details that makes you special, it’s just a matter of time that you’ll be the one they turn into when they’re in need. The people around you will elevate you. Martin Luther King once said, “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”

Some people give up their chances to become a leader on purpose. It’s because of the consequences and fear of becoming a leader. Indeed being a leader is a great burden. Liz Truss resigned from her position just after 44 days from being elected as the prime minister of United Kingdom. And it is fair to say it’s because of the enormous pressure and responsibilities of being a leader, especially in hard times. Leadership is built on trust, trust that you have to build by caring and listening to people around you. A leader must be positive but not blind. A leader must be confident in whatever the decision he or she takes. But on top of that, a leader must be honest enough to accept his or her mistakes. As you see now, a leader is like a handyman who has various qualities in his tool box. In my opinion, there’s no born leader. Either you work hard to be a person who’s fit for the leadership role or you don’t. So, are you ready to do the extra mile that others don’t in order to become the leader you always wanted to be? I say, it’s all up to you.

I AM RESPONSIBLE

‘I can’t communicate better. Whenever I speak to a person, it turns into a disaster. I can never get people to understand my viewpoint. I love to be in solitude as it is better than dealing with people’.

Do you have any of these thoughts?

Yes, I too had these thoughts but life has not been the same since 2014 when I joined The Millennium Toastmasters Club. I was not a great commu nicator and my biggest struggles I faced was that I know what to say, but I wasn’t aware of the starting and ending points.

My whole perception of communication changed when I read the story of the 7 Vadas Judgement. Let me share this story.

A person visits a hotel and asks the owner, “what is the cost of the Vada that satisfies my hunger?”

The owner replied Rs.6. The person orders one vada, but he is still hungry. Then he asks second, third, fourth and finally, his hunger satisfies on eating the seventh

The owner sends the bill as Rs.42.00. The customer says the cost is only Rs.6.00, as I asked you about the price of the Vada that satisfies my hunger, only the seventh vada satisfied my hunger. So, I am ought to pay only its cost mentioning that my communication is pretty direct.

What did you understand? We always focus only on delivering that seventh vada directly. So, you can’t fulfil the purpose of satisfying the hunger. When you deliver that seventh vada along with the six vada, you can achieve that objective. And it is nothing but preparing the mind of the other person.

Drawing parallel to the story the Toastmaster’s motto encourages better listening and better thinking as these habits result in better speaking. Nobody can listen for you and nobody can do your thinking for you. Listening to others and evaluating their thinking and then forming your own conclusions and speaking for yourself was a life

Toastmaster core values (Integrity, Respect, Service and Excellence) along with the four principles helped me to gracefully prepare the mind and helped me to convey the message clearly. Ninety percent of all our communica tion is only preparing the mind of the other person, ten percent of our communication only is communication. If you go and ask a farmer, a farmer will tell you, "On an unprepared soil, even a healthy seed will die." and so is with communication. Every time we communicate to an unprepared mind, it kills our communication, because the receiver of the communication is not yet ready to receive the communication!

Sometimes when I think that I’ve made a great presentation, and still the sale did not happen, chances are, my great preparation prepared them to be interested in my product, but still, the communication to convert that into a deal never happened. I delivered six vadas, but I did not deliver the seventh vada.

As a parent one of the common things that happens is, my children don't understand what I'm saying or my children saying, "My parents don't understand what I'm saying." In fact, one of the common things that happens in all the relationship is, you don't understand what I am saying. They cannot understand what you're saying because, you're communicating to an unprepared mind. And it can never happen.

All failures in communication is, the failure to prepare the mind of the other individual before you communicate. Why am I explaining this so much? To basically transfer this responsibility to you.

If I communicate and the other has not understood, it's my failure. It's not others' failure. It's my failure. If commu nication does not achieve the desired result, the failure is of the communicator, and not of the receiver of the communication. I failed to prepare the mind of the other enough before I communicate it. Let the farmer not blame the soil in which the seed could not sprout. Let the farmer take the responsibility for his failure to prepare the soil. And if only he'd prepared the soil properly, that seed would have sprouted into the potential forest that it can actually become. So, take the responsibility. understand, I will communicate only to a prepared mind. Some times when you are reading this article, you'll feel that mind is not ready to receive. Don't communicate. Never waste a good idea in an unprepared mind. Never waste a good product in an unprepared prospect's mind. Never go and sell an extraordinary idea to a market, when the market is not yet ready to receive that idea. Prepare the market, and then throw the idea into the market. Prepare the principal company, and then ask for the distributor ship. Prepare the employees, and then launch the new diversification plans that is there. Prepare the elders in the family or the children before you talk to them about how and why you think the future ought to be. First, prepare the mind, and only then communicate, to a prepared mind.

TM Laxmi Senthilnathan

NEW MEMBER TESTIMONIAL

TM ANUSHAN SUPPIAH

Joining the Millennium Toastmasters club is one of the smartest decisions I took this year. Its great to be a part of this club that is so welcoming and encouraging especially for new members.

I joined Millenninum Toastmasters recently and already feeling at home. I am excited about the journey I have just started and I feel very optimistic about improving my public speaking skills and leadership skills with the help of the amazing people at the club.

TM DINIL ATHURALIYA

Have you ever thought about the power of words? According to Roman poet Horace, "once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled".To deliver the message of your heart through your tongue you need to develop the art of speaking, and to do that Toastmasters is the pillar that can guide you.

TM SAMANTHA WICKRAMASINGHE

*Friendly and supportive*: When I first participated as a guest, I immediately felt at home. It wasn’t just the overall atmosphere but rather the attitude of the members themselves. However, while they are considerate of your well-being, the members do encourage you to move out of your comfort zone to improve your skill of speaking. I am proud to be part of this sea of people who are friendly and supportive.

TM SENAKA JAYASINGHE

Humans started communicating primarily through the use of gestures. Transmitted over thousands of years, language has evolved systematically with various human interventions and various turning points in language. Senaka However, for more powerful and comprehensive communication, the progress made in language as well as the addition of gestures used at the beginning of human communi cation are still an essential part. It would be more accurate to say that ‘Toastmasters’ creates a strong bridge that enhances the communication one needs to know and improve upon.

The Millennium Toastmasters Club

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

It’s an absolute privilege and honor to be part and parcel of creating the official Newsletter (Term 01 of Year 2022/23) of the Club which gave me immense learning as I navigated in co-ordinating and presenting this newsletter to you. I hope the content of this piece of work will educate and engage you as the reader. The insights shared by the contributors will bring you the greater awareness

As Vice President Public Relations I was afraid when I realized it was my responsibility to publish the Newsletter of the Club. During my school days I was someone who never wanted to be a part of souvenir Book/Newsletter in-charge committees l as I feared I may not be good enough to take up such huge responsibility. But being Toastmaster is all about overcome fears by try out things which were impossible to us. Working on this newsletter help me take one step out of my comfort Zone. But this wouldn’t be possible without such amazing people. To whom In this opportunity I should like to express my gratitude. The President for the guidance and having the trust in me and Executive Committee for being so supportive and encouraging. my team members TM Banuka Mendis for taking up the challenge of being the designer work tirelessly to craft this piece of work and TM Delanie Jayesuria for being part and parcel of the editorial team for the guidance with her knowledge and experise. To the members and not forgetting the member from outside our club who contributed and shared their insights on various topics Last but not least, let me comment to my Millennium Toastmaster family for always supporting me sharing your diverse knowledge and experience and creating positive environment not only to improve my speaking and leadership skills but also let me see the way beyond my comfort zone.

Let’s grow together!

—TM

Banukrishanthini Balakrishan

Editorial Team

Designer

TM Banukrishanthini Balakrishan TM Delanie Jayesuriya

TM Banuka Mendis