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A global achievement

28 Oct 2021

  • Sandun Fernando is Worldwide Impromptu Speaking Extravaganza Champion
Sandun Fernando was recently awarded the world champion of the Worldwide Impromptu Speaking Extravaganza, which had participants from around the globe.  Aside from his career as a public speaker, Fernando is Blue Mango Partners Director and Performance Strategist, Virtulink Holdings Co-Founder/Director, and Chief Operating Officer of Cemex HRM. He is also a personal trainer and has been a business coach for eight years, having conducted many programmes and keynote speeches across six different countries. He is also certified as a master practitioner of neuro linguistic programming by both the European association, as well as the American board.  Fernando has been a Toastmaster since 2009, and in 2016, he told us that he won the district title for table topics as well as evaluation. In Toastmasters, those two categories are the highest level one can go to; Fernando is actually the only Sri Lankan to ever win two district titles to date.  The competition  Giving us some insight on how the competition works, he explained it’s similar to a debate between two speakers on a single topic. “One topic is given and two speakers are asked to speak about the same thing against each other, like a duet,” he said, adding that depending on the round, the topics range from anything to everything.  During his first round for the competition, he spoke about animal rights, and in a previous round, he spoke about normalising slang and aggressive language, as well as legalising abortion.  During the final stage of the competition, there were four rounds; the topics were “If parents were to flog and punish children, there would be less work for the Police” and “Parents need to compete with advertisers for mental space for their children”. The topic for the final battle was “Children have as much right to their privacy as their parents do and this right must be enforced”.  He shared the feelings that were running through his mind when he was awarded champion: “The first sentiment I felt was elation, since I’ve been competing since 2009, so it was a moment of happiness for me.” He explained that Toastmasters International has four competitions and out of the four, only one goes all the way to the World Championship, which is the prepared speech contest. He explained that the other three only go to the regional level, which is the cap of it. He said: “We have had a few Sri Lankans qualify for the prepared speech round, with only Dhananjaya Hetiarachchi winning the competition, but I’m good at impromptu speeches and evaluations which I won; but this didn’t have a global stage.”  Fernando told us that when this competition was launched, it was intended for all the district winners of the table topics, and past champions were also allowed to compete, which is how Fernando was eligible for this year’s round, despite winning previously in 2016.  After winning, he said he felt a sense of accomplishment, noting: “In the categories that were overlooked, we now have a chance to go forward and compete on a global stage with speakers from around the world. So to gain this experience and come on top brought out a feeling of accomplishment.”  He added that this win is something that will allow him to go out there and do what he does with a lot more compassion and passion. His journey Sharing a look at his first-ever public speaking experience, Fernando commented that back when he was in school – St. Joseph’s College – he was a part of the Sinhala Literary Association; and had done a few concerts for poetry recitals and such. As a native Sinhala speaker, he took part in many competitions, and later on learned to speak fluent English as well.  Fernando also told us that he has worked closely with Dhananjaya Hetiarachchi as his mentor and a coach, stating: “He always guided me and told me that I could do anything. Even my family and senior Toastmasters backed me throughout my journey.” He added: “Something they’ve always told me is that we must keep trying our level best to achieve greater things in life, and when we do that, one of the things we often use are personalised experiences and I have had a lot of success from a young age that I have used in my speeches, which help my audience relate to me.” He also commented that Sri Lanka is currently going through a really bad state, noting: “We don’t really have a lot of good role models to look forward to as the leaders that we should look up to have let us down. These leaders have taken the public stage and disrespected us by lying and being dishonest.” In this context, to be able to speak on things that matter and be able to genuinely achieve something is an honour for Fernando.   

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