Oasis Outlook - Volume 04 Issue 02 by Oasis Toastmasters Club

O VOLUME 04 • ISSUE 02 • APRIL 2022

IN THIS EDITION 3

TOASTMASTERS

OUR CLUB

Its all about TOASTMASTERS. Vision, Missions and Core Values

Meet Our Team (31) & OASIS Club's Achievements

BECOMING ME

STAKEHOLDERS' LOUNGE

The Story of becoming a PRESENTER

SO MUCH TO DO!

AN INSIGHT THROUGH A PEN

How they think about us

An issue everyone can relate

Tips to improve communication skills

The main objective was to provide the exposure for readers through this edition of Oasis Outlook.

Dear Readers, this is my open invitation to turn the pages and explore the mind blowing Oasis creation: Oasis Outlook Volume 04, Issue 02.

I'm privileged to be the Chief Editor for the consecutive second time for the period 2021/2022 of the Oasis Outlook - The official Newsletter of Oasis Toastmasters club.

Over to you! CHAMODITH RANASINGHE Editor - "Oasis Outlook " volume 4, issue 02 Vice President Public Relations 2021/2022. Oasis Toastmasters club, Nittambuwa

EDITORIAL TEAM TOASTMASTER

TOASTMASTER

SITHIJI AMARASENA

MADHAVINEE YATANWELA

THARUSHI SIRIKUMARA

YUMNA AFZAL

TOASTMASTER

CHAMODITH RANASINGHE

WHAT IS TOASTMASTERS? Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds to become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL MISSION We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.

CLUB MISSION We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL CORE VALUES SERVICE EXCELLENCE

WHERE LEADERS ARE MADE

INTEGRITY RESPECT

OASIS TOASTMASTERS CLUB NUMBER

01481554

FIND US ON

OASIS Toastmasters club (TMC) is one of the oldest Toastmasters club in Sri Lanka which was founded in year 2010 by late Mr. Chandra Liyanaarchchi. Initially it was established in Mirigama area and later it has been moved to Nittambuwa area in Gampaha district, Sri Lanka. Currently there are 31 active members with OASIS TMC.

https://oasisnittambuwa.toastmastersclubs.org/

AREA DIVISION DISTRICT REGION

MEETING LOCATION

1 F 82 13

REGULAR MEETING TIME On every 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month at 9.00 am-11.00 am.

Esoft Metro Campus, Nittambuwa

- THE PRESIDENT Second and fourth Sunday of every month are the most awaited days in my week. That is because of Toastmasters. After a tight week with a heavy workload, Sunday is the day to relax with my second family; Oasis Toastmasters.The Oasis Toastmasters Club (TMC) is a diverse collection of people who meet every other week on a Sunday morning to improve their communication and leadership abilities and to assist others do the same. To me, Oasis Toastmasters is more like a family than a club. As a result, I have enjoyed being a part of it since 2013. I’m so proud to be a Toastmaster, and I’m proud to be connected to such a positive force for good in the world. More than anything I’m proud to be the president of the Oasis Toastmasters Nittambuwa. Our club was formed in 2010, the pioneer member of this Toastmasters Club was one great Toastmaster called Chandra Liyanarachchi, but unfortunately, we lost him a few years ago. I take this as an opportunity to thank him for the great work that he did. I’m serving this club as the president with some good hopes for the future as well. Oasis had a wonderful journey with ups and downs since it was incorporated. It was driven well by the past leaders, even during the difficult times. That base influenced me a lot to drive our club to the next level Now it is my or our duty to drive this club to the next level. I’m sure that we have done it because today Oasis has one of the best executive committees in the club's history. We were able to get 10 DCP points within 6 months which is a wonderful achievement. Not only that, our club members performed and are performing beyond the club including other meetings, division contests and conferences.

I’m glad to say our club members are representing the club in Area, Division and District levels. Shifting from physical meetings to Virtual meetings was the biggest challenge that I faced, but we faced that challenge successfully and that is why we were able to achieve the Smedley award and Talk up Toastmasters award. I believe that this journey is not an individual effort, but a massive journey that we are continuing as a team. I have got the best team to strive for the best. As a whole, my heartiest wish is may Oasis be prosperous with many years to come and I wish all the best for the future Exco to take the club to the next level.

GIHAN JAYAWEERA President , 2021/2022

PRESIDENTS WHO LED THE CLUB CHARTER PRESIDENT TM CHANDRA LIYANAARACHCHI 2010/11

2011/12 - TM MEENAKSHI RANASINGHE 2012/13 - TM SARATH LIYANARACHCHI 2013/14 - TM NIPUNA WEERAKKODY 2014/15 - TM UPENDRA WELGAMA 2015/16 - TM PULITHA SIYABALAGODA 2016/17 - TM MANJULA DIAS 2017/18 - TM WIMAL RAJAPAKSHA 2018/19 - TM CHIRANTHA SIRIKUMARA 2019/20 - TM CHAMIL MADUSANKA 2020/21 - TM NEETHA PERERA 2021/22 - TM GIHAN JAYAWEERA

- VICE PRESIDENT EDUCTAION Being a toastmaster in 2019 was the best decision I've made in my entire life for my growth. It made me realize the potential of me as a public speaker and a leader but unfortunately I was not active in toastmasters for about one year after my registration due to the commitment that I had towards my higher studies. But with the sudden new normal where all the events went online I got the opportunity to be active as a toastmaster. Being an active member in toastmasters paved the way to build as a speaker who can influence people in a positive manner. Not only being a great speaker but also toastmasters enlarged my network and helped me to be a better leader proving the slogan of toastmasters "where leaders are made". In year 2020/2021 I got the opportunity to be in the executive committee as the Sergeant At Arms of the Club. Starting from Sergeant At Arms today I'm the Vice President Education for year 2021/2022.Having said that when I look back towards the journey I've come so far as a toastmaster is a transformation.

As the VP Education of the club I’m assisted with an extended team for education function. It is a privilege to have the extended team members of my team with such a dedication towards the club. We have achieved 93 out of 100 points in Club Quality Avenue as of 08th April 2022. Other than that 100% pathway enrollment is ensured throughout the year. As a club we do work on achieving all the educational goals while recalling quality matters. On top of that we were able to tighten the mentor mentee relationship to make every newbie comfortable with the process and to trust the process of being a champion. Though we have achieved all the educational goals as a club we consistently encourage members to achieve their objective of being a toastmaster. The effort we put in will not worth it without the endowment of members. Having passionate individuals in the club as toastmasters make it worthwhile. Last but not least the outcome of every function including education makes the Oasis Toastmasters Club, Nittambuwa fly higher.

SANKHANIE SURAWEERA, Vice President Education, 2021/2022

LEVEL 1 COMPLETION Chamodith Ranasinghe Nalaka Liyanaarchchi Wayani Dissanayake

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Thulsee Karunarathne Imanthi Rajanayake

LEVEL 2 COMPLETION Madhivinee Yatanwela Muzaffar Mazaheem

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Sithiji Amarasena Chamodith Ranasinghe

LEVEL 3 COMPLETION Sankhanie Suraweera Madhivinee Yatanwela

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Gulzar Ahamad Pushpitha Senerath

LEVEL 4 COMPLETION Indusara Abeykoon

Gulzar Ahamad

LEVEL 5 COMPLETION Chamil Madusanka

Gulzar Ahamad

- VICE PRESIDENT MEMBERSHIP First I would like to thank all the oasis members for voting me and electing me as the Vice President Membership of Oasis TMC. I am delighted to be able to serve our Oasis, fulfilling almost all the responsibilities entrusted to me from the day I took on the responsibility of uplifting the membership of our Club.

As for the future, I’m working with the best efforts to gain full membership retention with the help of exco and my extended team.

SITHIJI AMARASENA Vice President Membership, 2021/2022

Conduct ongoing membership-building programs and efforts, creating guest and new member packets, following up with guests to encourage them to join and invite them to future meetings, follow-up on and keep track of guests, new members joining were there as some major duties of VPM and I must thank my extended team (Thulsee, Nalaka, Imanthi, Dammika) who were there with me and helped me to fulfill the above. As the VPM it was a challenge with the pandemic to get the members engagement to a virtual platform from a physical platform. I approached them personally and got the engagement and interaction. Apart from that with the help of VPE and VPPR we made our meeting different and added a variety. As a successful point we got the Smedley Award an Talkup Award successfully and became the first few clubs in the District to get the award.

WANT TO BECOME A TOASTMASTER?

6 6

- VICE PRESIDENT PUBLIC REATIONS First and foremost I should thank, Oasis Toastmasters Club, Nittambuwa for keeping their trust on me by appointing me as the Vice President Public Relations for the year 2021/2022 . I should convey my gratitude towards my Toastmasters mentors TM Chamil Madusanka, TM Gihan Jayaweera and TM Chirantha Sirikumara at this moment. Also I must mention all our members and Ostylish Gang who are behind this success as a family. When I was accepting this role I determined and wanted to build the "Oasis Brand" to the Pinnacle. For that objective, I came up with a marketing plan which was new for the club but as a professional it's the way of doing right things at right time. Setting up strategies and defining tactics were major parts of the planning stage.

“If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail” — Benjamin Franklin —

SOME ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR...

I'm a believer of the concept "If we want to go far, we need to go together". With it in my mind I formed a PR extended team well known as "Ostylish Gang" to give novel experiences to our stakeholders. I could execute "The Oasis Brand Ambassador" project successfully in every month. A remarkable milestone in this period was when my efforts are being appreciated by Toastmasters International. I was humble and felt privileged to share my knowledge and experience as professional marketer when when the International Magazine interviewed me. In my tenure as VPPR, Oasis TMC could gain many awards, recognitions and reputation related to Public Relation activities from around the world. I must say this is a remarkable journey in my life. Now I'm confident that we're on the right track and we're not far away from the pinnacle. But it's not the end for sure, it is just a start of a wonderful journey. All the Best!

CHAMODITH RANASINGHE Vice President Public Relations, 2021/2022

S E C R E T A R Y Every path begins with challenges, as I experienced when I was given the tasks of a secretary but have no understanding who "this secretary" was. Because this is my first time serving on the executive committee of Toastmasters. Time has flown by since my team and I worked together for almost eight months as a team, as a family. We faced so many challenges and it's been an amazing journey. As secretary of the Club, maintaining all club records, managing club files, handling club correspondence and taking the minutes at each club and executive committee meetings and mainly updating and distributing a roster of the current paid membership are the some of responsibilities which are carrying by myself. I believe that I have given my effort to help my fellow executive committee members to achieve the club's goals at all times. Also, I want to express my gratitude to the President of my club, for constantly guiding me and providing me with tremendous support. I invite all of you who are reading this to step outside of your comfort zone and join this incredible platform. I'm looking forward to another fantastic year ahead with the Oasis Family. WAYANI DISSANAYAKE Secretary, 2021/2022

T R E A S U R E R

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

It has been a privilege to take up the duty of the Treasurer at Oasis Toastmasters club for Toastmaster year 2021/22. When I took over as treasurer, my vision was to implement transparent procedure to collect membership and administration fees. With the help of Oasis Exco team I managed to open a Bank account for our Club in 2021. With the guidance of our President TM Gihan Jayaweera ,I presented an annual financial report for the first time in Oasis Toastmasters Club History. With the Covid 19 pandemic, it has been a challenging time for all of us. As the treasurer, I had to always manage membership fee collections and timely payments to Toastmasters International with the volatile currency rate fluctuations and outward forex restrictions in our country. Looking at the present developments in Sri Lanka future will be even more challenging. I’m always willing to guide my successor to face these eminent challenges in coming months with the experience I gained through this tough period to create a hassle free financial environment for all the Oasis members. PUSHPITHA SENERATH Treasurer, 2021/2022

When I joined the club back in 2020, I saw how the Executive Committee was running the club, how much the effort they were putting to the club. When the present Club President requested me to take over the role of Sergeant-AtArms, I felt that this would be a good opportunity for me. But, during the pandemic situation it was a huge challenge for me.. As the SAA, it is my duty to prepare the Meeting, start the meeting on time and welcome all the members warmly. Sergeant-At-Arms is the first speaker in a meeting. So, I created my own script in order to run the meeting smoothly. I have also got a great extended team who always stand with me in every other situation and I’ve started to practice them for the next level. Sergeant-At-Arms holds a great responsibility to build the club growth and the club to the next level with a brand. So, grab the opportunity to be an Executive Committee member and show your talents to the wider range. MADHAVINEE YATANWELA Sergeant-At-Arms, 2021/2022

THE PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT EDUCATION

VICE PRESIDENT MEMBERSHIP

TM GIHAN JAYAWEERA

TM SANKHANIE SURAWEERA

TM SITHIJI KAVISHMA

TM NEETHA PERERA

TM NIRMAN RATHNAYAKE

TM VATHSALA LIYANARACHCHI

TM CHAMIL MADUSANKA

TM SAMANMALEE SWARNALATHA

TM MAHENDRA LIYANARACHCHI

TM CHIRANTHA SIRIKUMARA

TM YUMNA AFZAL

TM UDARA KULATHUNGA

VICE PRESIDENT PUBLIC RELATIONS

THE TREASURER

TM PRAKASH THENNAKOON

TM SHAMEEM NAFFEEL

TM WAYANI NIDEESHA

TM PUSHPITHA SENERATH

TM CHAMODITH RANASINGHE

TM SENODI ADHIKARI

THE SECRETARY

TM CHAMATH LIYANAARACHCHI

TM THULSEE

KARUNARATHNA

TM CHETHIYA THENUWARA

TM INDUSARA ABEYKOON

TM THAVEESHA RUCHIRAN

TM SISIL JAYASINGHE

TM SARA SIHAM

TM RAVINDRA SANJEEWA

SERGEANT AT ARMS

TM MADHAVINEE YATANWELA

TM NIPUNI JAYAWARDENA

TM NALAKA LIYANARACHCHI

TM THARUSHI SIRIKUMARA

TM DANUSHKE GANEPOLA

DCP POINTS ACHIEVED 10 OUT OF 10 IN JUST 6 MONTHS MEMBERSHIP AWARD SMEDLEY AWARD AND TALK-UP AWARD SPECIAL RECOGNITION FROM REGION 13 FOR THE OSTYLISH CAMPAIGN TOASTMASTER INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE AN INTERVIEW WITH VPPR ON SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE PR AWARDS CHAMPION FLYER - FEBRUARY 2022, CREATIVE CONTENT NEWSLETTER- TERM 1 BROWNS AWARD, TOP FLYERS OF THE MONTH - 3 TIMES,

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN TM Madhavinee Yatanwela

How many of you have visited the miniature of England? The wonder of nature, the natural biopsy is free of charge in this wonderland.

Two years a back for the Falls vacation I experienced a great adventure. My big cousin urged me to organize a family trip to Horton Place and since I’m famous among my family as a great navigator, I took the whole hearted responsibility with a Queen’s pride on my head. The day finally arrived and we came to Horton Place and rested ourselves for sometimes and started our journey for the day one destination. Since the elders were so tired, I planned to make them rest and to go on with the young crowd. I, as the master mind of the plan, took the initial steps to guide the way. We came to a Y junction and all of us were hopeless thinking which way to go. They all with hopeful faces turned on me, which made me dig my pit with embarrassment.

Even I felt that we’ve taken a long way and the hardest path to Horton Place. I didn’t show them any change of my heart and face but continued my way motivating and explaining about the good habit of walking as an exercise. My youngest cousin is totally into the wild life and was capturing even the last bit of nature through his Mega Pixel lens. With the time passed and with the atmosphere the faces of my cousins showed that they were already done with the trip.

Some of my cousins pointed left and others did right. I was totally thrown out from the scene. I prayed to the GOD and finally he blessed me and answered my prayers showing the right is the way to go. First few steps were really cool.

I tried to check Google for a sup but ALAS the internet was unstable. Although the road not taken is very rough I made myself to enjoy the beauty to avoid seen the tomato red faces of my line age. Our legs couldn’t carry us but after a very long time we reached the beautiful destination of the World’s End. We took a lot of snaps. When I checked the time I felt that we’ve been on the top of the World’s End for almost 2 hours. We all tried to reach the elders, but couldn’t. The phones had lost charge, no signals, credit loss etc. You name and everything happened to us. Finally, I thought it’s the best time to come down to reach to our resting arena before the night falls. But alas, again I missed my navigating sense. Still, we came across a road which is not too wild but, a road not taken fairly. My selfconsciousness repeated saying that we’ve lost the track but I was self-encouraged. I left my legs to wonder when suddenly I changed my mind to visit our next beautiful destination also which was the Baker’s Falls. The road which we descended was not horrible like the climbing. The road was not too much damaged and the environment is a gift from the Mother Nature. But, suddenly my vampire ears heard that my first cousin was telling this and that with my brother. “Hey, look at your sister. The day was a total disaster. I thought she’d do something practical and something interesting. That’s why I asked her to organize the trip also. But see. What happened! Just wasted our time. She’s a total looser.”

I took those words into my mind and that I’ll make the rest of the journey with a practical sense, since I also felt that we merely wasted time. I asked my favorite cousin sister for a help and she voluntarily came for my rescue. With her unconditional help we found the way to the Baker’s Falls and came to the resting arena without any more issues and complaints. The lesson I learnt from my one time greatest show is there are a lot of Roads not Taken and are roads that are swept with mud and covered with flowers. We should open our third eye and think twice before doing anything. The Lord Buddha also preached that there are two roads to be taken. One is for the Nirwana and the other one is for the hades. It’s our wisdom to select which road we choose to go.

BECOMING ME

TM SITHIJI AMARASENA Just imagine how terrible it might have been if someone says “why are you here? Do you really think that you can do this? What did you do ? you cannot speak properly in the assembly”. Yes, these are the utterances I got when I tried to speak when holding the microphone was one of the biggest dreams in my life. TIME PASSED... ''When I closed my eyes I realized that I was a backward student in my school. I always loved the media and public speaking. I always wanted to join news reading. But, I was not a good speaker at all. Afraid to speak to an audience, afraid to speak to people. That was me. When we were in grade 10, One day we were invited by Kurunegala Maliyadeva College for "Ninada" all-island media day competition. However, when the competition was announced my friends got ready to participate with the teacher-in-charge. They booked a vehicle, collected money and the best part is there was an invitation for me as well. I am ready to participate in an all-island media day competition, not as a competitor but as the watergirl , side supporter or as the cheer girl. Now, we are in Kurunagala, enjoying my journey to “Ninnda”. All of a sudden our teacher-incharge broke our chatter boxes and asked…” Children! We don’t have anybody to compete in the sports commentary category” and it is English sports commentary. Is there anyone who is willing to participate? Did I volunteer? No, I did not”. This is the opening paragraph of my ice-breaker where my transformation happened. That is in TOASTMASTERS. With the optimistic passion to speak in front of people I gave a big shot in my first speech in my Toastmasters journey. Yes, I was a backward student who was not willing to interact with people. Among friends I was the most nervous. No matter how my parents encouraged me to move forward I always selected backstage. During school times, when my friends performed on stage, I was there to support them by being on the back stage.

Yet, my desire to hold the microphone and get the control over handling a big audience prevailed. But after my Advanced Level exam my whole life changed because of Toastmasters. Joining Toastmasters is one of the best decisions ever in my life not only in my professional ,academic life but also in my personal life. Toastmasters is not only for improving your public speaking or communication skills.

By giving speeches and working through a learning path in the Pathways learning experience, you will learn how to structure your presentation and incorporate tone and body language to truly engage with your audience. In fact, the backward personality is an unstoppable personality now. Currently, I am a TV speaker in Charana TV ; an imagination I never thought of coming true. But have you ever had a dream which you have never seen before in your life? It may seem that way, but it is impossible. My journey proved that

"Nothing is Impossible" Nothing is Impossible. Being a TV speaker I have done more than 50 programs and I.m witnessing my improvement along with self-confidence. Not only that, I am an event moderator, host and a compere. I got the opportunity to be a finalist in many all-island speech competitions.Imagine a student who did not get any chance since childhood to be in front of people, but now addressing thousands of people with my voice. “I am proud to say that, being an undergraduate I am working in several organizations and clubs including Rotaract, AIESEC, Leo, Gavel, Road to Rights and bear a lot of leadership positions. Being Vice President Membership in our Toastmasters Club for the term 21/22, I learned immensely how to manage time, face challenges and reach targets as a team. Thanks to that I am able to lead many teams. “Toastmasters is a platform to achieve leadership, communication and greater self confidence along with personal growth. I am here because of Toastmasters. The supportive community has created a userfriendly environment where we can share our stories openly and address the whole world. " Take a few minutes and think, what is the message that you would give to the world if you are speaking to the whole world. That would be one of your take home messages nevertheless, that is where you improved yourself with a turning point. Ladies and gentlemen, identify the true potential of you and Toastmasters is the best place for it.

NEW MEMBER

TM Chamath Liyanaarachchi I studied at Bandaranayake College Gampaha, graduated from Kothalawala Defense University. I Joined Oasis Toastmasters since 2016. And I rejoned 2022. I feel Toastmasters is the best place to improve our public speaking ability & most important thing is to make different kind of people. Oasis is like a Family. Because of that I need to part of that family.

TM Udara Kulathunga I'm a banker by profession. One of my greatest fear is speaking in front of a crowd. I'm totally loosing my confidence when I talk in front of a crowd. I joined the toastmasters club to overcome this weakness and I believe that Oasis will be a good platform for me to enhance my public speaking skill.

TM Ravindra Sanjeewa I am working at Linea Aqua (Pvt) Ltd. I studied at Bandaranayaka college Gampaha. I joined to toastmasters to improve my language and communication skills.

TM Nipuni Jayawardena I studied at Holy Cross College Gampaha & currently following CIMA & CMA programs. I m struggling with fear of public speaking through many years. I always get stuck on ideas and begin to focus om the thoughts racing through my head & forget what is supposed to be coming out of my mouth, that's how bad my fear of public speaking used to be. After get knowing Toastmasters by my friends I think this is the best platform to overcome my issues .

TM Thaveesha Kuruppuarachchi I studied at Bandaranayake College Gampaha and completed my higher education at SLIIT. While I was in university, I realized that I should improve my public speaking and presentation skills. I was seeking for an opportunity and that's how I landed to this Oasis family. When witnessing positive changes on me day by day, I believe that I found the ideal place. As I was terribly busy with my studies and employment I missed this for a while, but decided to continue this amazing journey again!

HOW It’s my great pleasure to share my thoughts through the second Newsletter of Oasis Toastmasters Club, in the Toastmasters year of 2021/2022 after a remarkable journey. At the beginning of the year, Area F1 set the goal with the theme of “Family Number 1” which focused on enhancing quality and support each other in the area to grow themselves as one team. Oasis Toastmasters has been able to align successfully with the theme while supporting neighboring clubs and beyond the club. Also, Oasis has invested time in planning for the year and execute the plan effectively. As a result of that, they have already achieved 10 DCP points, Smedley award, Talk-up Toastmasters, PR awards and progressing the way to achieve Golden Club award. Oasis can be identified as one of the epitome of positive culture that supports members to grow with a positive learning experience. I am honored to work with such an aspiring club and a leadership body. I would wish all the members of the Oasis Toastmasters Club all the best to achieve the pinnacle of success in the future as well.

THEY THINK ABOUT US We all know the slogan "Where leaders are made" that is Toastmasters International. Oasis Toastmasters Club is a special club which I see this culture is vehemently followed in your club. The enthralling engagement of each and every member of Oasisan's when it comes to any event, meeting is simply scintillating. Another Wonderful aspect see in this club is the out of the world creativity when it comes to endorse the brand of Toastmasters I'm always a huge follower of your creativity which is exemplary. My dear Outstanding oblivion Oasisan's you have proved the quote from the founder of Toastmasters International "We learn best In moments of enjoyment. Keep up your energy keep up your enthusiasm keep up your engagement . Hail Oasis! Toastmaster Ravindu Amendra Panadura Toastmasters Club

I admire Oasis Toastmasters Club for many reasons and most importantly, for all the PR materials. Be it the club meeting flyers, the club newsletter, or the members, club recognition flyers and many more creative materials, all of them have been adhered to brand compliance and also add a lot of values to the fraternity and community. Your membership campaigns are great and my humble request is to provide a quality club meeting experience to our members. Make them feel comfortable making mistakes and learning. Toastmaster Hingston Lovell Virtusa CMB TMC

Toastmaster Prarthana Liyanaarachchi Kegalle Toastmasters Club

SO MUCH TO DO! TM Yumna Afzal Have you ever had a week to complete an assignment but kept on delaying it? Have you ever kept delaying studying for exams until the exam is next day? I certainly can relate. This is an issue everyone can relate to from the youth to seniors. When thinking about it, we would simply put it down to not having enough time to manage all our work. But have you ever given thought that it might not that we don’t have enough time, but we simply do not know how to utilize our time. Instead we delay our tasks and excuse our postponement by saying that we are too busy or don’t have enough time. This practice is known as procrastination.

Procrastination is the practice of deferring or postponing duties until the last possible moment or after the deadline has passed.

Psychologists would say that people can be divided into people who procrastinate known as procrastinators or who people who work on time and manage to do their tasks on time henceforth known as non procrastinators. But the truth is, everyone procrastinates. It might be something small, such as delaying a simple household task like

I used to be a chronic procrastinator. Unless a task was supposed to be done immediately, I would postpone every other task. Although I managed to submit my assignments and projects on time, I was consciously aware that I procrastinated doing the task. And even more aware that I could have done better if I hadn’t procrastinated. To talk about my process of procrastination, Whenever I got a new task to complete. The first thing I would do was to make a mental note that I have to complete a task. Each time I got a new task , I vowed to myself that I would complete the task early but each time I ended up delaying it until most of the time I was doing the task the night before it was due. After applying a few time management techniques and giving myself a few positive pep talks. I would say I have become an average procrastinator. I still delay working on my tasks but not as often and most of the time I manage to complete everything before the submission date.

cleaning up a room or something big like forgetting to complete a project. You've probably found yourself wasting hours on petty activities (scrolling on your phone, watching TV, shopping online) when you should have been spending that time on job or school-related initiatives, no matter how well-organized and motivated you are. Most people procrastinate and tend to feel guilty afterwards. I have heard so many people say, ‘I should have studied or

worked

instead

procrastinating. Procrastination is not always a symptom of a major problem. It's a common issue that almost everyone succumbs to at some point. Therefore do not feel guilty for procrastinating. It is natural and it is rarely that procrastination ends up being a serious issue.

SO LITTLE TIME! CAUSES OF PROCRASTINATION There are two main causes of procrastination. 1) When we get tasks, we often assume that we need to be in the right frame of mind to complete the task. But generally, there happens to be no right frame of mind and there never will be. The truth is that if you wait until you're in the correct state of mind to accomplish certain chores (especially unpleasant ones), the right time will almost certainly never arrive, and the activity will never be completed.

2) We also often make the mistake of assuming that projects would take less time to complete than they actually do, which can contribute to a false sense of security when we believe we still have plenty of needed to accomplish these activities. Both of the above reasons lead to procrastination. Apart from these causes, other reasons such as not understanding the task, having no idea what to do, not wanting to do a task, not caring whether a task gets done or simply preferring to wait to complete tasks at the last minute can lead to procrastination. Disorders such as ADHD, OCD or depression can also contribute to the process of procrastination.

TIPS TO REDUCE PROCRASTINATION Make a list of tasks – By making a to do list, you clearly know what tasks you are supposed to work one. Divide your tasks- Break down your to-do list into small, doable steps to make your activities seem less daunting. Find a time management technique and stick to it - The internet is filled with tools and ideas to manage your time more effectively. Find something that helps you be efficient and stick it it. A time management technique I use is called the Pomodoro method. It is a technique where you work for 25 minutes continuously and then have a five minute break. This is carried out four times until you take a longer break of fifteen minutes. Eliminate distractions- This is a tough one, but find out what distracts you whether it be YouTube, Facebook or Whatsapp updates and turn them off. Give yourself a small treat- Once you finished your task, congratulate yourself by indulging in something you find fun.

And finally procrastination is normal, don’t beat yourself up over procrastinating. Instead just try your best!

FUTURE PLANS 2022 NEEGAM (නෑගම්) 2.0

MANY MORE EXCITING EVENTS TO FOLLOW

"WONDERFUL" Theme Meeting

Overseas Joint Meeting Ovation 2022 - D82 Conference

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AN INSIGHT THROUGH A

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"Communication is the act of giving, receiving, and sharing information. In other words, talking or writing, and listening or reading. Good communicators listen carefully, speak or write clearly, and respect different opinions." In Toastmasters, we're usually focusing to improve our communication skills by speaking in front of an audience and listing to other speakers. To become a good communicator we need to fine tune our writing and reading skills as well. With that in our mind, Ostylish Gang decided to interview a well known writer, who's a journalist at Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, Miss Kamanthi Wickramasinghe to learn few communication tips.. Interview was done by Toastmaster Madhavinee Yatanwela. Q1: Miss. Kamanthi, you are an experienced and a wonderful personality in the field of journalism. What are your secret ingredients for being a successive character in your journey? There’s nothing secret. Basically, as you saw my profile, I studied psychology and then I opted for journalism. So, it was actually by an accident I became a Journalist. I didn’t have a plan to become a Journalist in my life. I’ve taken up journalism as a career but then circumstances were such; I ended up becoming a Journalist. What I’ve always believed in and what I always wanted to do was give a voice to people. I come from rural background. My hometown is Morawaka, off Galle. So, I’ve grown up with at people of grass foot level and seen their hardships. So, when I got the opportunity to work a national newspaper, I thought this is the best way to bridge the gap between different segments in society and make sure that their voices too are heard in the main stream media. So, I wouldn’t say there’s a secret ingredient. But, I always try to write from the human interest point of view. So, that there’s more personal story for the readers and always try to get the comments from the policy makers and decision makers. And take these issues to them and see how they will address the matter and see that not in the short term but, definitely through the long term that the issues are being sought out. Todays’ journalism is more focused towards problem centric journalism. There’s a notion that if there’s no issues in the country, there wouldn’t be jobs for journalists. So, I want to change that trend and we want to bring our positive news. My perspective is not to bring negative news, but to bring positive news.

WRITING

JOURNALISM INFORMATION

READING

Q2: How do you ensure your work is accurate and factual? I think that’s a very important question, because today we have a huge struggle with media. There is lot of fake news, lot of misinformation, fake and false messages which circulates on social media. Sometimes, we are always on competition. By the time the news break on TV, it goes parallel on social media. So, there’s no space for print media because we would be publishing a day later. So, we always have to dig into more information, we will look in different angles. So, what I always do and one of my tasks is to call the relevant people without reline on other media reports that are published. Some of these sources are not credible sources. We have to facture it with the relevant individuals. For an example, if there is a media report which is blaming someone or charging allegation on someone. So we give opportunity for them to talk. So there’s a balance of news in the story. The readers also get a balance view of the issue without waiting only for one sided opinions and views. So, always have direct contacts with lot of sources in order to verify the facts. We also have tools like photo forensic, because sometimes it’s not only words that we deal with but with videos, photos etc. we have been trained to use those kinds of tools that photos are accurate and have not photo shopped. They are not put out the way to mislead the public. Sometimes only a timed framed video will be played on different media channels according to their political agendas. Sometimes people are not exposed to the entire video. So, we try to give the entire video and we want to keep the public informed in an ethical manner.

Q3: Can you briefly describe the three best qualities of your writing? Well, I’m a self-thought journalist. I was very new to the field when I joined back in 2014. I remember my immediate boss giving me a topic write on while I was in the bus. I didn’t have any clue what it was because it was a bit of a controversial area. I don’t know whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate. The first article I wrote never got published. I was told that I have addressed the article I in a very strong way because I was very new to the field. Three qualities of my writing are primary interest on my writing as I thought I would continue in the field. One of the main things I look into is personalizing the story: to put it from the character’s point of the view. Ex: global warming. I would talk about how it would affect the fisherman in the village, Sand minding as an example and how it would affect traditional sand minders back in the days. If we take the perspective of one individual, then I try to dig bigger issue of it, the people who relate to it. And also I try to storyfy the articles all the time rather than narrating what someone would say it’s to sparkle the interest in the reader.

Q4: How would you talk to touch the hearts of the people? One thing we see in the stories is the sensationalizing of matters. Sometimes it’s too extreme. There are some ethics we are being taught. If there is a victim or a suicide, we don’t disclose the name, we don’t put the photo, we have to think about the immediate families those who have victimized

- We also have seen how some media channels, when there is a funeral or a crime, they would hold the camera for someone who’s crying. Thy market on the tears and the emotions of the people. I actually don’t like it. We always have to look for the other person’s state, especially the mental health which is often neglected in our field. From the commercial point of view, we want news that would sell. When it comes for the selling point, we need to put something no other media has put. So, in that case people will opt for unethical ways of making their headlines to get more views. Showing them the ground reality of the situation is one way of touching the audience; going to a scene of crime and reporting facts of the field etc. Q5 How would you manage with a very difficult audience? I’m always open for criticisms. I actually learn from them. I always like constructive criticisms. Sometimes work vise I’ve told that on controversial topics. I like what readers discuss in the comments section and I’ve sometimes always like to pause my questions on social media and give them the chance to voice up their opinions. I rarely have this kind of an example because at least one person will comment on an issue. Sometimes those days before the pandemic, I used to go to the Fort Railways station and talk about current issues with them because that’s the place where all over the people will come. We would talk about politics to current economic crisis. Some people actually like the fact that they’ve been asked these questions, others would run away when they see a camera. So, we have both of them. The variety also helps for a good food of article. I prefer the difficult audience if the people become open for us without keeping those opinions bottled within the. If they contribute various dialogs and discoursers, that would be open discussion for controversial topics.

INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST 21/22 - DIVISION F, D82 Sithiji Amarasena/ Sankhanie Suraweera HUMOUROUS SPEECH CONTEST 21/22 - AREA F1, D82 ROLE PLAYERS

Pushpitha Senerath/ Sithiji Amarasena

Wayani Dissanayake -Contest Chair- (Area F1 ISC)/ Chamodith Ranasinghe -Contest Master (Area F1 Humorous Speech Contest)/ Shameem Nafeel (Zoom Master - Division & Area level)/ Chamil Madusanka(Zoom Master - Area level)

CONTEST JUDGING Hutch TMC - Gihan , Sithiji , Sankhanie / IESL TMC - Sithiji/ Omegaline TMC - Gihan SPEECH CRAFT PROGRAM

Thulsee Karunarathne/ Sithiji Amarasena - Panadura TMC

FUTURISIC 2022 (DIVISION F CONFERENCE )

Chamodith Ranasinghe - PR Chair / Sithiji Amarasena- Logistic Co-Chair/ Gihan Jayaweera - PR Team / Thulsee Karunarathne - MC team / Logistic Team members (Pushpitha/ Wayani/ Chirantha)

PUBLIC REATIONS ACTIVITIES

Gihan Jayaweera - Chief Editor - 1st ever Area F1 Newsletter/ Event Manager -Area F1 Gathering & Area Officer Installation Chamodith Ranasinghe - Juggernaut event PRM (Div J, D98)/ PR Team Member for Ovation 2022/ Content Creator for Region 13

FORMULA 1 PROGRAM

Nalaka Liyanaarchchi & Thulsee Karunarathne (Coordinators)

SOLVE THE CROSSWORD PUZZLE!

Across

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Award recieved by Oasis TMC The practice of deferring or postponing duties until the last possible moment. Second word in the title of an article about a trip

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Number of new member Ideas

The meeting location of Oasis TMC

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A platform to achieve leadership, communication and greater self confidence along with personal growth.

HINT: All answers can be found in the newsletter.

YOU ARE INTERESTED

JOIN US Oasis Toastmasters Club, Sri Lanka Gihan Jayaweera (President) +94774552336 Chamodith Ranasinghe (VPPR) +94711195946

oasis.toastmasters.club@gmail.com

oasis toastmasters club 21