The Speech I made When I Finished my District Presidency Term at 8th Annual Leo District Conference 306 A2

Mark Twain once said, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them"

Chief Guest of the Occasion District Governor Elect, Lion Asanga Samarasekara MJF JP, all the other dignitaries at the head table, Leo leaders, Lion leaders, Leos, Lions, parents and my friends.

In life, if we do not achieve results, even if we have superb skills, we will be equivalent to those who don’t have them.  Leos, we are in a movement that tech us to achieve results. That’s how Leos get differentiated among others.

11 months back, in a same like District Conference, I did an acceptance speech when I was appointed as the District President of 306 A2. And I have brought that script today. If you can remember, I said there that this will be the “Year of Leadership and Fellowship”. And I asked everyone to take the leadership of their roles, and become “Leaders without Titles”. Leos, as pledged, we now have lots of new blood taking leadership within our district. I was counting the number of new Leos we have inducted during the year, it was around 351 members.I must thank every Leo member of my district, for taking the leadership and for working like one big family for a year.

Looking back the time we have passed, I feel very happy and proud of being able to lead such a wonderful set of brothers and sisters in 306 A2. We have extended 9 Leo Clubs, expanding our horizons to reach the boundary of A2, Monaragala is a milestone of the history. That was the highest number of club extension in the Multiple 306 A2 for the year and we got awarded for it at Lions Multiple Convention. We brought the first ever school clubs to the district, which was in our dreams for many years. Now 306 A2 has reached the milestone of 30 Leo Clubs.

Not only that, Leoistic year 2012/2013 have added lot more milestones to the history. We were able to keep a very strong administration in the district. The actual credit of that goes to all my Club Presidents, Council Officers and District Chairman for Leos for the wonderful job done on that. They are the people who have done the hard work, and I just did cheering to them. The Presidents’ Camp held in Kitulgala in the very beginning of the year, where we empowered Council Officers and Club Presidents with knowledge, right attitude, and built that strong bond of friendship between them.

Leos, the year we have just passed is full of achievements. The Leo Camp held in February was another record breaking event in the history. We had over 120 Leos taking part in the camp in Matale, making it the camp with the highest number of participation in the history. The first every A2 Sports Day, Healing with Talents – talents show, the newsletter “HeartBeat” have added colors to it. Remember Leos, during this short time, we had 2 Leo Camps, a Sports Day, a Talents Show while maintaining all the other annual events.

Not only locally, we have achieved a lot in international level also. District President’s Malaysia visit to attend International Relations Camp was a peak of it. You can see we have brought benefits from there to our Leos, so that we are sending Leo of the Year and Most Outstanding Leo Club President to Malaysia for a Youth Exchange Program in next July.  Our October Membership campaign was a great success bringing 156 new members to the district. We received 52 October Membership Growth Awards for that. As leaders, we can be truly proud of our world class achievements during this year, specially being the world’s top Leo District to win highest number of Leo October Membership Growth Awards. Today, I can very confidently say; as a Leo District, we are at top 10 Leo Districts in the world, if properly evaluated. I owe a lot to my Leos and Lions of A2 for their commitment and the support extended to me in achieving those results. Thank you very much again Lions, Leos and friends for the wonderful work.

So, as I said in the beginning, Leos success is all about using ours skills properly to achieve goals. And we have achieved lots of milestones this year. I am sure by now, our Lions are feeling very proud of their Leo District. As a District President, I am very proud of A2. I know it was not an easy job, specially for me, being a guy from outstation, and without having luxury of transport, being have to walk and travel by bus. But be happy, we all see the results of those today.

We have read good books this year.

Thank You.

The Speech I Made When I Took Over District Presidency in 8th Annual Leo District Installation 306 A2

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Dignitaries of the head table, my dear Leos, Lions, parents and friends. Well, happy. I am happy to take the captainship of this wonderful district A2. I am even happy to have two special people in my Leoistic career as the chief guest and guest of honor today. Governor Duminda, he is like a father to my own leo club,
Leo Club of University of Moratuwa. And the other side, Shehan Kumar, he was the person who inducted me to the Leoism. Dear Sirs, I am honored to have you two in this head table.

Leos, this year is the “year of leadership and fellowship”. Leadership at every level is one of the key focuses for me. For that, we need to enlighten proper relationships among us. It is easy to work with friendly and open minded people than strangers. So that is where fellowship helps in grooming leaders.

Dear friends, today, as a country, Sri Lanka has a problem with genuine leaders. For over 30 years, we have suffered enough for wrong decisions and private agendas. Though we live in a resourceful country with a talented people appreciated worldwide, we have been a third world country for generations.

We need to ask this question from our hearts, Leos, do you want to tell your children one day, that we are still livening in a third world country. So what is the key; groom yourself first; and the rest of the world will then change. Grooming does not mean just having some leadership training stuff, but having correct
attitudes, and the correct level of knowledge and skills set. There comes another my key focus for this year, education and awareness. Leos, I will send you detailed program later, but I need you to remember these points when do projects.

Now I want to introduce two new Leo Clubs which joined our family yesterday.

As you may already know, these clubs were inducted at yesterday’s Lions Cabinet installation. I want to extend my special thank to Governor Duminda, PDG Lion Kamal and our orientation committee, headed by Leo Charith, and Lions Clubs of Pepiliyana Metro and Katuwawala who put lots of efforts in making it a reality.

Now I may call new clubs, please give a round of applause to welcome them. Leo Club of Pepiliyana Metro and Leo Club of Katuwawala

Leos, if you are still wondering around, your council has already started its engine; as the international president says. This year, one of my target is to bring five quality leo clubs to the district. And we have already laid the foundation stones by inducting two clubs. Leos, please keep 2-3-4th February for Camp and 15th of June for Conference. We have lots of more plans for you. So, start your engines now.

Finally I need to say thank you to set of special people. District presidency is a crown. When it’s worn, it shines. But it has some burden on it. These people helped me a lot in bearing that burden so far. Leo Charith, Leo Lochana, Leo Kasun Pathirana, Leo Kasun Lokugamage, Leo Damith, Leo Naveen, Leo Hiranya, Leo Randika, Leo Sadeepa, Leo Nadeesha; sorry if I missed any names; I owed you a lot brothers and sisters. Lion Keerthi uncle, thank you too for being there for me all the time. Lion Kamal uncle, he was a key person behind these new clubs as well. Thank you very much uncle for guiding me in the correct path for shaping things up for this year. And my dear Leos and past Leos of UOM, thank you very much for being a great strength to me always.

Finally I want to request from all my leos, please make this year a tough one for me, Otherwise I will make it a tough one for you. Anyway, I am expecting your support throughout the year. Remember, individually we are drops. But together we are an ocean. Lets not be drops; let’s be an ocean. May the triple gem bless you all.

Thank you.

My District Presidency Acceptance Speech Done at 7th Annual Leo District Conference 306 A2 2012

Phillip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, said, “An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lion led by a deer.” That may be true, but I've come to believe that Phillip missed the bigger point: An army of lions led by a lion is to be feared most of all, for it is unstoppable. Probably he missed that because Lions Clubs were not there in that era. Well, a similar Lion is in the head table, and I am standing in front of you all, as a Leo leader who is going to lead an army of Leo.

Dignitaries of the head table, leos, lions parents and my friends,
First of all let me thank, Leo Damith Amarakoon for his lovely introduction; that is comprehensive.

Six years back, a quite individual joined Moratuwa University Leo Club, served in many capacities, but not the presidency. But you all know that he is in standing in front of you. My dear Leos, if you still think that you need to be a club president, or a district president to become a leader; that is not correct. Take the leadership of your role. When I was a club secretary, I was a leader among all the club secretaries. When I was a treasurer, I was a leader among other treasurers. When I was a director, I was a leader among directors. So my dear Leos, even if you are just a member, be a leader among others.

We all know that having a title doesn’t necessarily make someone a leader, and nor should not having a title prevent anyone from leading when appropriate. Leadership is about what you do and who you are, not what title you possess.

My dear Leos of A2, I will declare this year as “the year of leadership and fellowship”, because I believe that a Leo District where everyone leads is more powerful than a district even having a strong, effective leadership at the top.

Now I would like to recognize a set of most important leaders for this year. All the incoming club presidents, please rise to be recognized.

Dear presidents, I want you to know our true powers. You will be the veins which take the energy to every level of the district. We will take care of the top and the bottom; goals and results; everything in between is in your hands. Therefore we expect the fullest support of you in this year as well. I wish you all the very best for a successful Leoistic year. Thank you. Please take your seats.

Dear Leos, personally for me taking district presidency was a very tough decision. All my colleagues at university left the movement a long time ago; and originally I was going to leave the Leoism at the end of last year; to focus on my personal life. But, when the district strongly wanted me take this, I could not deny it anymore. For me it is a scarification of one more year.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who supported me during these six years. I expect the same, fullest support from you all in this year as well. Each year, every District President has to raise the bars of the District, so we need to work hard.

We already have planned lot of things for this year. We will work and we will achieve things, together, from the heart.
Thank you.