Interns at the City of Bridgetown Cooperative Credit Union (COB) are leaving their temporary jobs with newly acquired skills in public speaking.
Participating in the Speechcraft programme organised by the COB with Bridgetown and NXT Generation Toastmasters Clubs, the interns were feted at a graduation ceremony at the City of Bridgetown Business Centre, Lower Broad Street, on Friday.
In the impromptu speech segment, Shaquone Toppin spoke on the topic, ‘Knock on the sky and listen to a sound’, bringing Toastmasters and COB credit union members to their feet, cheering the youngster’s performance.
Among the prepared speeches, Terrel Howard addressed the audience on ‘To Lie or Not to Lie’, an exhortation to everyone to aspire to tell the truth. His speech, peppered with humorous anecdotes and practical examples of how everyone lies – even about their spouses cooking – to keep peace in the home.
In the feature address, public relations practitioner Christal Austin, who was the United Progressive Party’s candidate for St James South in the May general election, gave a powerful address about faith and one’s dream. Austin told the gathering that it had a lot to do with having “zero resistance” to the events in one’s life.
“I put it to you that the missing ingredient is zero resistance…. Indeed, a path of least resistance is that which takes you on a journey to inspired action,” Austin said.
There is a difference between inspired action and hard work, she said, comparing a maid to a basketballer or a pop star.
“Why is it that the maid is not paid the same amount as the basketballer or the pop star? Does not the maid work hard? Why is it that their salary or earnings is less than these persons who most consider trivial pursuits? I put it to you today that on one hand the maid is pursuing a path of effort and the pop star and basketballer are pursuing a path of effortless faith,” Austin said.
The interns trained Toastmasters this year were some of the “most intriguing persons” the communication club’s members have ever worked with, said Bridgetown Toastmaster Marcia Tulle-King.
The credit union’s head of human resources, Charmaine Napoleon-Ramsay told the interns she was impressed with the professionalism in the delivery of their speeches.
“It is really above what I really expected, not that I did not expect quality, but I am very happy to see the level of professionalism that is applied to such an event . . . . It is really our pleasure to be a host to a group of young people every year who participate in our internship programme,” Napoleon-Ramsay said.
The interns were presented with certificates for their successful completion of the eight-week training programme which assisted them with their public speaking and confidence. (LG)
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Wow! Congrats to these young people, as effective public-speaking skills can be a really valuable asset- to self, and to country.
I fondly remember my late Barclays workmate, "Tony" Thomas, who was the driving force in establishing Toastmasters in this country. He would be so happy and proud to see these young Bajans...shine forth!