TOASTMASTER Anita Ramprasad of Georgetown, Guyana competed alongside 13 of the Caribbean’s finest public speakers at the District Level of the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, held from May 15-17 last at the Royal Oasis Hotel in Petion Ville, Haiti, and earned Guyana 2nd place at that prestigious competition!

Toastmaster Anita’s speech, titled ‘Begin with the end in mind’, focused on the importance of keeping our lives’ desired outcome and purpose in mind, regardless of the never-ending challenges that may be thrown at us. She declared we are the writers of our lives’ plots and the masters of our individual destinies.

Toastmaster Anita is a member of MACORP Toastmasters’ Club, where she also works as the Group’s Finance, Administration and Human Resources Manager. In April of this year, Toastmaster Anita became Guyana’s youngest ever Distinguished Toastmaster, which is the highest award a Toastmaster can achieve.

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. It has a membership of 313,000 strong. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 14,650 clubs in 126 countries that make up a global network of meeting locations. By regularly giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams, and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere, leaders emerge from the Toastmasters programme.

There are four sets of speech competitions held annually, two in May for the contests of Impromptu and Prepared Speeches, and two in October for Humorous Speeches and Evaluations. The aim of these competitions is to build the confidence and exposure of contestants by polishing the skills they have learnt from the programme.

An annual International Convention is also held in August, and worldwide contest winners compete to determine the World Champion of Public Speaking. This year’s contest will be held In Las Vegas, Nevada from August 12-15, 2015.
Toastmaster Sharon Layne of St. Maarten, who was the District Winner, will represent the Caribbean at that competition.

There are seven Toastmasters Clubs in Guyana. Of these, two are open community clubs, namely Georgetown Toastmasters’ Club and Cacique Toastmasters’ Club; and five are corporate clubs, namely Digicel Extraordinaires, Unicomer Pacesetters, Bank of Guyana Royale, GAFSONS Toastmasters Club and MACORP Toastmasters Club.

For more information on this organization and how you can join or start a club, please visit www.toastmasters.org.