Speech Olympiad VII

Speech Olympiad VII

The Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa, an affiliate of Toastmasters International, commenced the 7^th volume of its flagship event, Speech Olympiad VII for the Imperial College Challenge Shield with its preliminary rounds falling on the 2^nd of July 2013 and the Semi-finals on the 16^th of July 2013. This event is one of the most anticipated events in the University Calendar among the students from all three faculties of the university.

The contest, Speech Olympiad, is organized for no other purpose than for the betterment of communication and presentation skills of the undergraduates of University of Moratuwa. The event is reputed for its ability to uncover the hidden and unseen skills of the undergraduates which will undoubtedly aid them in their road to success. This is proven by humbly but proudly acknowledging the fact that Speech Olympiad has produced winners and finalists in contests such as the 'Inter-university Speech Contest' and 'All Island Best Speaker Contest'.

Contestants from all faculties and departments took part in the preliminary round of the competition, out of whom the twelve best speakers were selected as semifinalists, the best five out of them, ventured into the Grand-Finale, and contended to be crowned as the best public speaker of the university of Moratuwa, and for the Imperial College Challenge Shield for Speech Olympiad VII!

The grand finale, which was held on the 1^st of August 2013, in the Auditorium of the Department of Civil Engineering of University of Moratuwa, was graced by the presence of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Moratuwa, Professor Rahula Attalage, who admired the efforts of the students who were tirelessly involved in the process of organising such a spectacle to such great effect. Mastering the ceremony and chairing the contest was done by the Vice President-Education of the Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa, Hasini Abeywickrama. The panel of judges comprising of Distinguished Toastmasters was spearheaded by none other than the Club Coordinator, Distinguished Toastmaster Zameen M. Saleem.

After thorough and difficult evaluation of the equally competitive prepared speeches by the five finalists; in the order of Hasindu Siyambalape of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Dinesh Kenady of the Department of Transport and Logistics Management, Akshika Wijesundera of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mohamed Yasir of the Department of Civil Engineering and Rafidh Rifaadh of  the Faculty of Architecture, they were required to make an impromptu speech of 1 to 2 ½ minutes on the topic “A thousand-mile journey begins with one step”. And after the conclusion of both rounds, the panel of judges announced their results. Mohamed Yasir was dubbed the 2^nd Runner Up of the contest and Hasindu Siyambalape came Runner Up. And despite the close competition, the winner of Speech Olympiad VII, whose name will be etched into the Imperial College Challenge Shield for Speech Olympiad was none other than Rafidh Rifaadh. Akalanka Samarasena, one of the project co-chairs extended the gratitude of the club to all parties who helped in numerous ways for such a successful event.

Being the only entity operating within the university with the sole intention of the enhancement of soft-skills of the undergraduates- particularly their presentation, public-speaking and leadership skills, Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa provides a sound platform on which they can burnish their skills by following the internationally accepted methodologies followed by Toastmasters International.

The flagship event of the Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa, Speech Olympiad is a spectacle not to be missed by anyone who would admire the clash of wits and words of brilliant young folks, which enlightens the masses of the importance of public speaking, and brings the unheard voices and opinion to the spotlight by providing them with a stage!

Damith Senanayake

Project Co-Chairperson  

26^th July – 2013 – Daily Mirror

174th Gavel Meeting

“A Tribute to the often unsung hero”

It was the high time to appreciate the hero of our world, our father. According to a suggestion of the Immediate Past Vice President Membership, Chandima Senevirathne the 174^th Gavel meeting was dedicated to voice our thoughts about our fathers. 

The meeting was held at room 215 Sumanadasa building on 4^th of July 2013, 5.00 p.m onwards. The President, Pasan Pethiyagode called the meeting to order.  Everyone stood up for the national anthem. Then the control of the meeting was handed over to the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster was the author of the club, Samawath mallawarachchi. He then presented the role players for the day. They were as follows.

Topic Master – Sajith Asanka 

 Timer- Hiran Karunarathne

Ah counter –  Kasun Chanaka

Grammarian – Rukshan Maliq

Table Topic Evaluator I- Sandareka Wickramanayake 

Table Topic Evaluator II- Hasini Abeywickrama 

Prepared Speech Evaluator –

General Evaluator – Pasan Pethiyagode

Arousing the pride and lovable feelings about our own fathers Samawath gave the round robin session topic as “What’s so special about your father?” We got to know that each and every one of us admire our own father a lot and above all we all become wordless when it comes to express our thoughts about him.  Then the table topic session was started by Sajith introducing the topics for today’s session. The gathering was able to listen to a bunch of emotional touching speeches. If our fathers were in the audience, no doubts their eyes would fill with tears.

Control was returned to the Toastmaster. Then the stage was opened to a prepared speaker. The smiling gravellier, Imesh LihiniKaduarachchi delivered his interesting second speech.  After taking all the reports, the Gavel was returned to the President.

The meeting was adjourned by the President. 

173rd Gavel Meetiing

The arena of orators – Speech Olympiad VII, was getting ready to crown the best speaker of the university for the year 2013. Enthusiastic speakers were also gathering their thoughts and preparing to deliver their best speeches making the dream to hold the Speech Olympiad Shield, a reality. With the intension of lending a hand to those speakers next Gavel meeting was held as a workshop. The guest speaker was none other than our beloved Immediate Past President, the finalist of All Island Best Speaker 2011 Niles Perera.

The 173^rd Gavel meeting was commenced by the President Pasan Pethiyagode at 5.20 p.m at CSLR on 24^th of June 2013. After the national anthem the President introduced the Toastmaster for this special workshop. He was Rukshan Maliq. Then time was for the round robin session. This was a great chance to gavelliers and especially for presented non gavelliers to warm up themselves and have the experience of an impromtive speech.  Then the stage was open for a grand show. The winner of the Speech Olympiad VI, Sirimevan Jayasundara was called upon to the stage to entertain the gathering with his wining speech. The room was echoed with applause given to Srimevan at the end of his speech.  It was indeed a fabulous speech.

How to make such a wining speech was the next question came to most of heads in the audience. Niles Perera the guest speaker was ready to answer the question. He presented a fantastic presentation on “How to prepare a wining speech?” It answered each and every question a novel speaker would have in a detailed manner providing dozens of tips. He explained everything from selecting a topic to delivering a speech. There is no doubt that it was a worth attending meeting.

Control was returned to the President by the Toastmaster.  Another productive Gavel meeting met the end of it at about 8.15. 

172nd Gavel Meeting

After a successful orientation meeting Gavel members again met on 20^th of June 2013 for another Gavel meeting. It was the 172^nd Gavel meeting held at room no 215, Sumanadasa building.

Role players for this meeting were as bellow:

Toast Master – Isuru Pasan

Topic Master – Sirimevan Jayasundara

 Timer- Hiran Chathuranga

 Ah counter – Imesh Lihinikaduarchchi

Grammarian – Sachille Athapaththu

CL Evaluator- Sandareka Wickramanayake

Table Topic Evaluator I- Dinesh Kenady

Table Topic Evaluator II- Rukshan Maliq

General Evaluator – Charith Akalanka

The president, Pasan Pethiyagode commenced the meeting at about 5.15 p.m.  According to usual proceedings everyone stood up for the national anthem. Then toastmaster, Isuru was given the control of the meeting. After a wonderful round robin session he called upon the Table Topic Master, Sirimevan. Sirimevan put an exciting array of topics on the table which led to an entertaining and worth listening speeches. Then time was for the evaluation reports. After taking those reports control was returned back to the Toastmaster. Toastmaster then called the president to conduct a special event. It was a game in order to enhance negotiation skills. What players had to do was meet anther five players, negotiate and divide 100/= so that he/she would be able to get the bigger portion. The game was really interesting and funny. Everyone took part actively. The person who got the highest amount was the winner. Then came the 2^nd part of the game. Two volunteers were invited to argue on a given topic. Two new comers accepted the challenge. After the first round the debaters were asked to argue on the opposite topic. After an enjoyable session Toastmaster called the Grammarian’s report. Then General Evaluator presented his report.

The president concluded the meeting at about 7.45 p.m. 

171st Gavel Meeting

The 171^st meeting was another milestone of the Gavel history, because Gavel family was early waiting to welcome its new members from ’12 batch. The meeting was held at 4.00 pm at room 215, Sumanadasa building on 10^th of June 2013. It was the inaugural meeting for ’12 batch. The room was packed with new faces. All of them were really enthusiastic to get to know what the Gavel club is and how a Gavel meeting would be preceded.

The role players for the day were as follows:

Toastmaster – Nirmala Liyanachchi

Topic Master – Imesh LihiniKaduarchchi

 Timer- Vibhanu Arachchige

Ah counter – Sajith Asanka

Grammarian – Hasini Abeywickrama

CL Evaluator- Isuru Pasan

Table Topic Evaluator I- Damith Senanayake

Table Topic Evaluator II- Sachille Athapaththu

Prepared Speech Evaluator – Pasan Pethiyagode

General Evaluator – Sandareka Wickramanayake

The President of the club, Pasan Pethiyagode called the meeting to order and asked everyone to stand up for the national anthem. Then he gave a brief introduction for the Gavel club - what the Gavel is, what someone can gain from being a member and so on.  After that following the proceedings, the Toastmaster for this special meeting was introduced. He was the music personal of the club, Niramala Liyanachchi. The Toastmaster called each role player to introduce himself/herself. Letting the new crowd to get a clear idea about each role, every role player explained his/her role in a descriptive manner. Then time was to warm up the gathering – round robin session. “The girl/boy next to you at the two by to line” was raised as the round robin session in this special meeting. As usual the room was filled with laughter in this session. Then began the grand show of the day: Table Topic Session. It was amazing to see how new comers grab each and every chance to raise their voices. The audience was enriched with different views and thoughts. Topics Master would have done a great job in selecting such an array of topics that everyone was encouraged to talk. Unfortunately this session had to be closed because we were running out of time. Then the prepared speech session was supposed to be held. New comers were really impressed by a fabulous speech done by Dinesh Kenady, an experienced model speaker of the time. After all another memorable meeting was adjourned by the President. 

170th Gavel Meeting

The 170^th Gavel Meeting was held on 20^th May at 5.00 pm onwards at Hall 215, Sumanadasa Building.

Role players for this meeting were as bellow:

Toast Master – Sajith Asanka

Topic Master – Samawath Mallawachchi

 Timer- Vibhanu Arachchige

 Ah counter – Sirimevan Jayasundara

Grammarian – Hasini Abeywickrama

CL Evaluator- Pasan Pethiyagode

Table Topic Evaluator - Dinesh Kenady

General Evaluator – Charith Akalanka  

Gavel family again got to gather to voice their thoughts. As the normal proceeding the meeting was called to order by the President, Pasan Pethiyagode. The gathering was asked to rise for the national anthem. Then to conduct the meeting the Gavel was handed over to the Toastmaster for the day, Sajith. After introducing the role players, the round robin session was conducted on the topic “Do you hate exams” Then the author of the club, Samawath was called upon to the stage to conduct the table topic session.  He had come up with interesting set of topics. All most everyone raised their voice. After taking the evaluations control was given back to the Toastmaster. Then time was for Grammarian’s report and Genera Evaluator’s report.

Another wonderful gathering  of Gavel members came to the end.  

169th Gavel Meeting

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers!” an adorable flyer invited Gavel members to wake up their sweet and lovely memories of their mothers. Mothers’ Day at Gavel, the 169^th Gavel meeting was held at room no 215, Sumanadasa building on 16^th of May 2013. The President, Pasan Pethiyagode called the meeting to order. Everyone rose for the national anthem. Then the introduction for the meeting was given by the President. Next the Toastmaster for the Mothers’ Day meeting was called upon to the stage. The Toastmaster was an inspired member as well as an emerging speaker of the club, Vibhanu Archchige. Taking everyone all the way down in the memory lane he put up the round robin topic as “The day I made my mother smile…” Everyone had their different stories to be shared. Then in order to conduct the table topic session the Table Topic Master was introduced. He was none other than the current guider of the Gavel family beloved Mr. President. Since one hour, one day or even one year is not enough to express our feelings and gratitude towards our mothers, stage was not able to take rest for a second at the table topic session. After taking the evaluators’ reports of that session, the Toastmaster took the control of the meeting again. Then the Grammarian’s report and General Evaluator’s report were presented to the meeting. After that the Gavel was handed over back to the President.

It was the end of another wonderful Gavel meeting.