District 82, comprising Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu (India), was recognized as the No 1 District in the world for the year 2017/18 at the recently concluded 87th Annual Toastmasters International Convention held in Chicago, USA.
The District Trio; District Director Ajantha Jayawardena, Program Quality Director Suganthi Periasamy and Club Growth Director Sarma Mahalingam were recognized at the Hall of Fame Awards ceremony at the Convention.
Emerging as number 1 after a lapse of 6 years was a great achievement for the District. This achievement was the crowning glory of a momentous year, where DTM Balaraj Arunasalam, who was at the helm of Toastmasters International, (the first Sri Lankan to be elected as International President), was leading the organization, an unprecedented milestone in the history of the District.
Toastmasters commenced in Sri Lanka in 1982 with the formation of The Colombo Toastmasters Club.
District 82 comprises of 270 Toastmasters Clubs with a membership base of 15,798. In Sri Lanka there are 136 Toastmasters clubs and out of this there are 118 Corporate and institutional clubs while the balance are Community clubs.
The year 2017/18 was a very vibrant and eventful year with our main focus on enhancing and enriching the member experience. Training and education Programs, and programs to create awareness at grass root levels to promote the concept of Toastmasters in the outstations, were launched, which resulted in rapid growth and provided opportunities for more members to take up leadership roles.
Commenting on the success of District 82, DTM Ajantha Jayawardena, the District Director who led the team towards the Number 1 position, highlighted “The District’s path to the Number 1 position was a team effort and every member of District 82 contributed towards this achievement.
0 comments: