Philadelphia man is the world champion of public speaking

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If you get to know the stranger on the park bench, you may just meet a world champion.

"How can I create a message that will reach a certain audience? What is a message that can resonate with a certain group of people?" said Aaron Beverly.

He's a Philadelphia native who just returned from the "Toastmasters" conference in Colorado. It's an international public speaking group in a hundred countries with about 300,000 members.

Beverly beat over 30,000 competitors to win the "World Championship of Public Speaking." In his speech, he told a story about being the only black man at a wedding in India.

"Since I was in the middle of it, I was actually embraced as family by both sides and that's what I think it was an unbelievable experience," he said. "I was never treated like I was different and that was the beauty of it."

While Beverly's journey with Toastmasters may have started in Philadelphia, he can now say it's taken him all around the world.

In fact, he says that's the reason he wanted to become a better communicator, so he could get to know other cultures.

"I think if people learn how to communicate better if they learn how to talk to one another, then we can understand each other a lot better," he said.

So, if you ask Beverly, if you get to know the stranger on the park bench, "It may sound corny, but we probably could achieve that world peace one day."