NDB Toastmasters Club continues to raise the bar

Seated from left: Vice President Public Relations Trevin Ludowyk, President Moditha Sendanayake, Immediate Past President Gaya Hewawasam and Vice President Education Ushani Madawala; standing from left: Secretary Kumudini Dissanayake, Sergeant-at-Arms Chathuri Samarasinghe, Vice President Membership Dinushan Tennakoon and Treasurer Vaugn Earnst

National Development Bank PLC (NDB) initiated the NDB Toastmasters Club on October 31, 2013 and joined the Global Toastmasters fraternity. Since its inception, NDB Toastmasters Club has completed three very successful years, being a leading contributor to the development of the staff. 
It has helped many staff members to improve on their communication and inter-personal skills whilst giving them confidence to participate in many professional forums. NDB Toastmasters Club belongs to Area 4 of Division E in Toastmasters International District 82, which comprises of more than 200 clubs from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. Throughout its journey so far, NDB Toastmasters has achieved many accolades including several International Awards and Recognitions.
The Golden Gavel Plus Award is the most prestigious and highest recognition a club can achieve in International District 82 (Sri Lanka & Tamil Nadu). NDB Toastmasters Club achieved this award for two consecutive years (2015, 2016).  
Also in 2015 and 2016, the club achieved the President’s Distinguished status, which is the highest level of recognition a club can achieve in the global Toastmasters fraternity having met the membership prerequisites and achieving all 10 goals set by Toastmasters International headquarters - California, USA.
At national level, the club has been recognized in many forums. The team representing the club became the first runner-up at the ENCORE Inter Club Drama Competition in 2015. Last year (2016) the club produced the Area E4 Champion of both International Speech Contest & Table Topics Speech contest – TM Moditha Sendanayake, the current President of the club. He also became the first-ever NDB Toastmaster to receive the Triple Crown Award from International District 82 in 2015, which was awarded for achieving three educational/leadership awards in a single program year.
Recently NDB Toastmasters Club became the Sri Lankan Champions in the Best Media Relations award category at the Reverberations 2016 - Toastmasters International Conference held at VIT University in Vellore, India from November 4-6, 2016. This award was presented to the club in Sri Lanka, which had the best media coverage for its activities that created awareness about Toastmasters and for the particular club in shaping people to become better communicators and leaders. 
In addition to the fortnightly educational meetings, the club has conducted several programmes for the benefit of the bank’s staff members as well as their children. NDB Best Speaker Contest was conducted for the third consecutive year with great enthusiasm. The event saw the participation of employees representing many departments and branches. 
The training programme ‘Back to the Stage’ was conducted to improve the public speaking and leadership skills of the children of the NDB staff. Further, the club organised three regional training programmes in the Central region (Kandy),   Southern region (Matara) and Sabaragamuwa region (Ratnapura) for the benefit of the bank’s regional staff members.
NDB Toastmasters has produced leaders who have excelled in multiple facets in the Toastmasters Leadership arena: Nishantha Hettiarachchi - Past President and current Area E4 Director, Gaya Hewawasam – Immediate Past President and current Division ‘E’ Leadership Institute Coordinator, Mahesha Amarasuriya – Charter President and former Division ‘O’ Public Relations Officer and current President Moditha Sendanayake – Toastmasters International Club Mentor, Sponsor and Speechcraft Programme Coordinator.