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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. 

168th Gavel Meeting

A group of girls wearing cheeththa frocks and a group of boys wearing sarongs and shirts gathered to the Post Graduate Seminar Room, ENTC Building on 22^nd of April of Monday to celebrate Sinhala Hindu New Year at Gavel.

“Wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year”, the President commenced the 168^th Gavel meeting – Aluth Awrudu Meeting. Everyone was eagerly waiting to share experiences and to grab Aluth Awrudu fun at Gavel. Everyone stood up for the national anthem lead by Damith Senanayake. To conduct this special meeting, the President introduced the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster was an enthusiastic member of the club, Imesh LihiniKaduarchchi. Role players were introduced. In order to let the audience to warm up their voices round robin session was conducted raising the topic as “How was your new year?” Since this is the season in which everyone is on a cloud nine, no-one found that 20 secs were enough to share their experiences. After a joyful round robin session the Table Topic Master for this meeting was called upon.  Charitha Saumya, a dedicated Gavellier of the time had come up with a nice set of topics. Sweet memories of playing traditional games like “Kata gaseema”, the egg story, making Kokis, rituals, Nonagatha time activities were some of experiences shared on the stage. Unless time was a constraint we could have listened to hundreds of stories. After a wonderful Table Topic session control was returned to the Toastmaster. An emerging great speaker of the club Vibhanu Arachchige made a fabulous speech on “Am I still dreaming?” as his second project in the CC manual. After all the evolution reports were taken the Gavel was handed over to the President. He adjourned the meeting inviting all the members in the house to enjoy arranged refreshment. Delicious sweets were even sweater with laughters, as always. After having the usual photo shooting the Aluth Awrudu meeting 2013 came to the end.

167th Gavel Meeting

February and March are the most awaited and the most excited months in boys’ school calendars, just because it is the big match season. Boys, old boys, family members and friends all gather in numbers to grounds not only to witness an excited cricket encounter but also most importantly to witness “the big match fun”.  So why don’t we share such wonderful experiences in Gavel? It was the big match meeting at Gavel on 25^th of March 2013 at 5 p.m. in hall 215, Sumanadasa Building.

The President commenced the 3^rd consecutive big match meeting. After the national anthem, the Toastmaster for that special meeting was declared.  Of course the Toastmaster was an enthusiastic member of the club, and was the one and only Anandian in that audience, Vibhanu Arachchige. After the introduction of role players the round robin topic was raised. The topic was “Going to the big with your girl friend/boy friend”. Most of the members of the house suggested that it is not going to work.  After a funny session Table Topic Master was called upon. A big match fan for the sake of the word was invited to take the control and we got to know that he had wonderful experiences in big matches. The person was Sirimevna Jayasundara. He came up with a great set of topics. Boys in the audience were really enthusiastic to put their experiences into words. After a joyful session the control was handed over to the Toastmaster. The gathering was really lucky to witness two brilliant speeches by two experienced speakers in the club, one by Hasini Abeywikrama and another one by Dinesh Kenady. Simply they were amazing.  After having the evaluations of those speeches, another excited meeting came to the end.

The president adjourned the 167^th meeting.

166th Gavel Meeting

It was time to have a normal meeting for the Gavel family after having a series of themed meetings. 166^th Gavel meeting was held at Postgraduate Training Room in the 3rd floor of the ENTC Building on March 21st, 2013, from 5.00 p.m. onwards. The President commenced the meeting and everyone stood up for the national anthem. 

Toastmaster was Charith Akalanka, an enthusiastic member of the club. After introducing the role players, the round robin session commenced. The toastmaster stated that he would not give an introduction to the topic and he invited the audience to tell whatever comes to their minds when they hear the word “Maththala”. This session was full of humor.

Then it was time to have the table topic session. Imesh Prathiba, another emerging active member in the club played the role of table topics master for the first time in his gavel story. A good set of topics were displayed and everyone came forward to express their ideas. After the evaluators’ reports, control was handed over to the toastmaster. Since there were no prepared speeches, the toastmaster handed over the Gavel to the President. The meeting was adjourned by the President. 

165th Gavel Meeting

“A promise is a promise” –

Mr. President called the 165^th meeting to order by mentioning the UN theme of the Women’s day 2013. It was the “Women’s Day Meeting at Gavel on 11^th of March at 5.00 p.m in 215 Hall, Sumanadasa building.  It was an exciting meeting because both girls and boys had a lot to share about women.  Boys make fun as they criticize girls. Yet they do appreciate the presence of women in their lives as mothers, as sisters and of course as girl friends. Girls are definitely proud of being girls.

After the national anthem the President introduced the toastmaster for that special day.  She was the ideal person for the toastmaster because she is known as the feminist of the club. It was none other than Hasini Abeywickrama. According to the procedures role players were introduced. Round robin session topic had two versions. “In girls’ shoes” for boys and “how I see girls” for girls. Everyone pointed out how important it is the presence of women in their lives.

After warming up their voices the audience was ready for the table topic session. Toastmaster called upon the Table topic master, again a female representation in the club, Sandareka Wickramanayake. The gathering was so enthusiastic to express their ideas. Many valuable and interesting thoughts did come up.

“Equality should be in every aspect..” ,

“No need of women’s day because it is an insult for them” ,

“Women are not hard to understand, men just need a little bit of literature!” were a few of them.

Most of the speakers took more than 3 minutes for their table topic speeches; it might be because they had a lot to share. It was really enjoyable. 

After evaluation reports control was handed over back to the toastmaster. Since there was no prepared speeches after having grammarian’s report and general evaluator’s report toast master’s duty came to the end.

Then a small game was conducted by the president. After that Women’s Meeting 2013 was adjourned by the President.

164th Gavel Meeting

After a while we met at the university premises to have a Gavel meeting. It was the 164^th meeting held on 4^th of March 2013, at Sumanadasa building at about 5.pm.  Since our President,  Pasan Pethiyagoda who is also the student representative of IEEE region 10 had visited Bangkok, Thailand for a conference he was not able to make it. Therefore the Vice President Education Hasini Abeywikarama headed the meeting. She called the meeting to the order and everyone stood up for the national anthem lead by Dinesh. 

The control was handed over to the Toast Master for the day, Vibhanu Archchige. “If you get a chance to date a celebrity, who would you choose?” was raised as the round robin topic. Everyone was excited expressing their feelings about such a date. This made the session enjoyable. The time was to the table topic session. Sachille Athapaththu was called upon as the Table Topics Master. He had come up with a good set of topics. They could be related to our lives as well as most of them were about current situations. The audience eagerly gave voices to their thoughts. In the prepared speech session Sajith was supposed to break his ice. He delivered a genuine, touching and inspirable speech revealing him.    

After all the evaluations reports, it was time to mark the end of another wonderful evening at Gavel. The Vice President Education, Hasini adjourned the meeting. 

163rd Gavel Meeting

“Where the willing is great, difficulties can’t be great” – Niccolo Machiavelli

This saying was again proved by the successfully held Valentine Day Meeting of the Gavel Club along with various difficulties. The 163 Meeting was held in the Independence Square, Torinton as the 3^rd outdoor Gavel Meeting in the history.

The meeting was called to order by the President Pasan Pethiyagode at about 10.00 a.m. Then everyone stood up for the national anthem lead by Damith Senanayake. After the introduction speech by the President, the Toastmaster for the day Samawath Mallawaarchchi, the co-chair for the Valentine Day Meeting was invited.

In the round robin session members had to proposed rather expressed his/her love to the person whose name was in the strip of paper given to each of them. No further expiations are needed, it was really fantastic! Then the Toastmaster invited the other co-chair of the event Hasara Samadhi as the Table Topic Master. A nice set of topics had been given so most of the members in the gathering raised their voices. The next item in the agenda was the Prepared Speech session. Imesh LihiniKanduarchchi broke his ice on the Valentine Day Meeting. Imesh described how he had won his life so far and emphasized that difficulties couldn’t stop one’s journey. After a fabulous prepared speech a special item had been organized. Members were grouped into pairs. Each pair was given a funny topic to act on. It showed that Gavelliars are not only talkative about also very talented in acting. This item made the day more funny and enjoyable and this brought the Valentine Day Meeting of Gavel Club to the end. The meeting was adjourned by the President. 

162nd Gavel Meeting

162^nd meeting marked the dawn of a new era of Gavel history. It was the first meeting done by the newly appointed board which was held on 24^th of December, at CSLR of CSE.

People all around the world were preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas Day is a day everyone is celebrating regardless of the religious faiths they have.  Then why Gavel would miss it? Therefore this meeting was declared as “A Silver Christmas at Gavel”.  It was a candle night at Gavel in which the hall was nicely decorated with a Christmas tree and other decorations. The new President Pasan Pethiyagoda, called his first meeting to order mentioning importance of that meeting. Then everyone stood up for the national anthem lead by Schile Athapaththu.

The toastmaster for the Silver Christmas was Hasini Abyewickrama.  She did a wonderful job by conducting round robin session in a different way. A plate containing strips of paper was passed around. Each member had to take one strip from the plate.  Each strip had a name of an item which would be the gift decided by Santa to be given to that particular person. Each person had to talk why Santa had decided to give that item to him/her. The round robin session was really enjoyable, but at the end making everyone surprise toastmaster was suddenly interrupted by Santa who came all the way to our meeting with a bag of presents. Then the control was handed over to Santa to carry out the table topic session. He had come up with a nice set of topics relating to Christmas, so it couldn’t stop members of the house coming to the stage. Every member wanted to have a gift from Santa, it seemed. After the table topic session Santa went and it was time for the prepared speech session. The author of the club Samawath Mallawarchchi broke his ice delivering a sincere and a marvelous speech. After having evaluator’s report once again Toastmaster was interrupted by Santa. This time he came to do something he had forgotten to do last time. He wanted us to sing carols with him. Thanushan was invited to assist the crew with music. It was a fantastic moment when everyone was singing carols having a lightened candle in their hands.

Next, the President took control and adjourned the meeting. The gathering was served with small refreshment. 

161st Gavel Meeting

The date was 18^th of December 2012; the day on which Gavel family was handed over to another crew to be taken care of.  The installation ceremony was held in a grand scale at Bolgoda Lake Resort where past and present gavelliers got together after a while. While sisters and brothers were murmuring their stories since they met last time the hall was darkened and a video was played. The video was a small recap of how Gavel had spent its life throughout the last year. It was crystal clear that the outgoing board had put immense effort to take gavel to greater heights. The President Niles Perera called his last meeting -161^st Gavel Meeting to order. Everyone stood up for the National Anthem lead by Hasitha Kulathunga. The president gave a very descriptive speech mentioning what had been done throughout the last year, the achievements and the obstacles.

Next, to carry out the proceedings toastmaster for the special day, Chathuranga Kannanagara was called. Continuing Gavel traditions President Bash was raised up as the round robin topic. Unfortunately the audience was in lack of facts to bash the president thus they appreciated his work. Then special invitees for the day, President -Toastmaster Club IESL Mr. Mahesh Amarasiri, District Governor Mr. Z. Saleem, President- Toastmaster UOM Dr. Jayathu Samarawickrama and Staff Advisor – Gavel Club UOM Mr. Indika Sigera were requested to give voice to their thoughts. Two table topic masters for the day Amila Gamage and Rajasooriyar Canagasooriyar were invited to the stage with a nice introduction per each. This table topic session deviated from the conventional one.  There were two bowls, one carrying names of gavel members and another carrying special topics. A speaker who would take a strip of paper from bowl one had to build up a story about the particular gavel member so that the audience could guess the one. A speaker who would take a strip from bowl two had to deliver a speech on the given topic so that the audience could guess the topic. It was a really cheerful and an enjoyable session.

Then there was a newly introduced event in the agenda to recognize Gavelliers who have completed Competent Communicator manual and Competent Leadership manual.  Being a legend the outgoing President Niles Prera was offered with two certificates for completing both the manuals. Another two Gavel legends of the time Pasan Pethiyagode and Dinesh Kenady were recognized for completing five speeches and for completing six speeches respectively. The control of the meeting was then handed over back to the President.

A special session was carried out to recognize club members who had completed more than three projects of CC manual. Further, members of the club were recognized for their extra circular activities and achievements during the past Gavel year. The fact that Gavel members are outstanding in every territory of fields was proven by their diverse achievements.  Then it was time for one of the most important items in the agenda of the installation ceremony, declaring the Gavellier of the year, an award a Gavellier can have once in his/ her life time. Charith Akalanka was lucky enough to be lined up with previous winners of the award Harinda, Niles and Kenady.

The event came to its climax. It was time to announce the 8^th President of Gavel Club – University of Moratuwa. Making almost all the guesses correct Mr. Pasan Pethiyagoda, Champion of the Speak Olympiad 2010 and reserved finalist of All Island Best Speaker 2012 was appointed as the President for the year 2012-2013. New President addressed the gathering mentioning he and his board would try their best to make Gavel stronger. Then he appointed his crew to help him to take care of the Gavel family in the upcoming year. The control of the meeting was handed over to the newly appointed Vice President Education – Hasini Abyewickrama to appreciate the immense effort put by the outgoing board to write another successful chapter in the Gavel story. The video played next carried out sweet memories of the past year and it was much appreciated. Tokens of gratitude were presented for the outgoing board.

Then the meeting was adjourned after inviting the gathering to enjoy the dinner. After having the dinner an entertainment session lead by Akalanka was started. Ishan and Thushan were assisting the choir with music while two singing stars of the club Nirmal and Hasitha were followed by the gavel fellowship. This marked the end of another wonderful evening with Gavel family.

   

158th Gavel Meeting

158^th Meeting was held on 26^th November 2012 in the L-block. Toastmaster for the day was Pasan. Grammarian for the day was Sirimewan and the Ah-counter for the day was Vibhanu. General evaluator was Damith.

Topic master for the day was Akalanka. As always, it wasn’t a very difficult task for him to make the table topic session full of fun and laughter. And all the talented speakers made the table topic session very interesting with their imagination, experience and humor. Table topic evaluators were Kennady and Kanna.

Meeting adjourned at 7.00 pm

157th Gavel meeting

157^th Meeting was held on the L-block. Toastmaster for the day was Hasini. Grammarian for the day was Pasan and Timer for the day was Vibhanu. General evaluator was Raja.

Topic master for the day was Hiran. All the speakers strived to keep the table topic session stays interesting, humorous and inspiring. Table topic evaluators were Yasir and Kanna.

Meeting adjourned at 7.00 pm

156th Meeting

156^th Meeting was held on the L-block. Toastmaster for the day was Chandima. Round robin topic was also suggested by Chandima.Grammarian for the day was Pasan and Ah-counter for the day was Kasun.

Topic master for the day was Yasir. Topics were very interesting. All the speakers made sure that the table topic session stays interesting, humorous and inspiring. After the table topic session speech evaluators for the day, Raja & Niles gave their evaluations on each speaker.

Prepared speech was done by Hiran; Ice breaker, and evaluated by Amila.

Meeting adjourned at 7.00 pm

155th Meeting

155^th Meeting was held on the L-block. It was a nice change from a while. And the crowd attended the meetings was quite high, which is a +1. Round robin topic for the day was, “Unpredictability” which was suggested by Chandima. Round robin session took a while to complete, since there more members than usual were present.

Topic master for the day was Rukshan Maliq. Topics were very interesting. Members present on that day, couldn’t resist making speeches. All the speakers made sure that the table topic session stays interesting, humorous and inspiring. After the table topic session, two evaluators for the day gave thorough evaluations about each speaker.

Meeting adjourned at 7.00 pm