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Cumberland County resident takes Toastmasters International’s reins
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Theodore Roosevelt said it well:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, then to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Dilip Abayasekara has never lived in a gray twilight.
The Camp Hill man has dared to speak in public and communicate the lessons he has learned, and in consequence this summer he was elected president of Toastmasters International. This means he is the top officer of the world’s main organization for teaching skills in public speaking and leadership.
Grew up in Asia
Abayasekara was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
After completing high school there, he came to the United States through an exchange program called “The Experiment in International Living,” hosted by families in Dayton, Ohio. He enjoyed himself so much that he decided to attend university in the United States.
While earning his doctorate in polymer chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University, he met and fell in love with a pharmaceutical student, and so he married and settled in America, beginning work as an industrial scientist.
In 1972 he joined Toastmasters International in order to become a better speaker.
“Most people want to join to improve their speaking skills. I joined because I wanted a captive audience,” he says with a smile.
The organization gave him the opportunity for improving his skills and rising to new challenges.
Inspired to teach
He says that “fairly good speaking skills were improved and honed to the point where I could compete with the world champions.” By 1992 he was runner-up and began receiving requests to give seminars and speeches.
“People were asking me how much I charged to come and speak,” he says.
It gave him pause for thought. “Many people are loaded down with theories about delivery, but they cannot actually deliver,” he says.
So Abayasekara decided to share these skills. His intention is to enable a speaker to make an impact, even to inspire.
While maintaining his work in science, he began teaching. By 1996 the connection he was making with his audience gave him more satisfaction than his science.
In New York that year, he was giving a seminar. Afterwards an elderly couple came up, but surrounded by a crowd, they could not reach him. So they wrote a note and passed it to him. It said: “What you have shared has had a great spiritual impact on our lives and we want to share this with our son. Would it be possible for you to make a tape of what you said?”
He made the tape and he kept the note. He realized that he wanted to do this full-time.
And, thanks to the support of his wife, Sharon, he was able to start his own company, Speaker Services Unlimited in order to help organizations and individuals “think more creatively, speak more effectively, sell more persuasively and lead more productively.”
College hires him
Among Abayasekara’s clients have been the Pentagon, the government of Sri Lanka’s Rural Development Board, the United Nations Development Program and Central Pennsylvania College, where he now works as special assistant to the president as well.
Todd Milano, Central Penn president, says “Dilip’s gift allows many others to find direction and meaning for their lives.”
Abayasekara also is an adjunct faculty member of Eastern University’s School of Professional Studies in the area of managerial and interpersonal communication.
He now works in an office adjacent to Milano in 200-year-old Boyer House. The historical building provides a lovely ambiance for students in Central Penn and beyond, in addition to providing a showcase for the Historical Society of East Pennsboro.
From this historic site, Abayasekara reaches out to share the knowledge that has made him the new international president of Toastmasters.
Practice makes perfect
Since 1924, Toastmasters International has taught more than 4 million men and women how to become better speakers and leaders.
Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., the nonprofit organization has about 211,000 members in 10,500 clubs in 90 countries.
Abayasekara says there are powerful benefits to becoming a member of Toastmasters.
First, by speaking often, “you accelerate your growth as a speaker and then you can gain a realistic appraisal of your skills. You also discover the power of the spoken word and you can learn lessons that apply to every phase of your life. Good communication skills provide a key to achieving what you most desire and sharing what you have discovered with others.”
Toastmasters International enables members to acquire these skills through a year-long training. Presentations are given a constructive appraisal from fellow members, and the camaraderie means that facing this challenge is not too alarming.
From the introductory speech, members practice until ready to make a presentation called “Inspire Your Audience.” Abayasekara says “the greatest satisfaction of the Toastmasters’ adventure lies” in helping “others find their voices.”
Once they have become Toastmasters, they can go on to acquire more advanced skills, working from manuals such as “communication on television,” “technical presentations” or “sales skills.”
He produces book
After working on some manuals, Abayasekara decided to issue some of his lessons in a book published earlier this year. “The Path of the Genie” uses the story of Aladdin to explain how to find fulfillment in life.
He says “all of us want significance — not success so much. This is a story of discovering who am I. What can I become? What can I give to my world?”
At the beginning of the book he thanks his wife and children, Allison and Alex. Apparently the children persuaded him to watch the film “Aladdin,” and it provided him with the heart of his message.
In his book his message is presented as “a road map to personal fulfillment.” Abayasekara says he feels truly blessed and he wants to share his insights through clear communication.
