Oratory: The Crux of Life in Moulding Engineering Graduates

There is nothing like oratory, it is a skill that can turn a commoner into a king”.

It is evident that even a common person who has good oratory skills is treated like a king. An orator’s club is one such platform which provides an opportunity to every individual to reach the zenith. The Orator’s Club of Lords Institute of Engineering and Technology was established in the year 2012 under the aegis of its Chairman CA Basha Mohiuddin with the objective of moulding the students not only in their communication skills but also enhancing their soft skills and life skills. It caters to help the students to express themselves confidently and realize their hidden potentials by concentrating on their overall personality development. The students are trained to be good listeners, team workers, organizers etc through self-learning and practice which is the need of the hour in this competitive society. The Department of English, under this club, tries to hone the communication and soft skills among the students. The faculties instill the confidence, passion, self-awareness among the students by motivating and encouraging them by providing feedback and guiding them towards the right path.
F.E.A.R has two meanings- Forget Everything and Run or Face Everything and Rise. The Oratory club of LIET believes in the second option. In a world of complexities, where expertise in language is considered a top priority, the need to meet the requirement seeks tremendous effort. It has been rightly said that if your words can tell what one feels then one has mastered the art of public speaking.
The Orator’s Club of LIET was introduced to meet the growing need of communication skill not only for recruitments but also for personality development. In today’s competitive world, spoken English plays a predominant role as good speakers create the best impression on the recruiters. No doubt, many of them have the stage fear or phobia for public speaking. To overcome this hurdle, LIET has established Orator’s Club as an offshoot of Department of English, which works on the communication skills of the students so that they interact confidently with the officials or when they converse in public.
The club aims to give opportunities for students of BE and MBA to sharpen their oratory skills by developing Public Speaking abilities, Communication Skills and Personality Development.
Students are initially made to speak for one minute on any topic of their choice in JUST A MINUTE sessions. During these sessions, the faculties of English judge the fluency, voice modulation, body language, eye contact, and mic management etc of the students. A feedback is given for further improvements. Hesitant/ Introvert students are motivated and encouraged to perform and express freely by the faculty.
Once the students are acquainted or familiarized with the audience and are comfortable, then they move on to the next stage i.e., presentations. Students give extempore presentations at first, then at the final level they prepare for power point presentations.
It is the show run entirely by the students, who start from the scratch by preparing invitations to acting as anchors, volunteers, coordinators along with being presenters. It would be on a rotation basis every week so that every student gets an opportunity to lead the different roles and know about the responsibilities of each role.
The training and experience received at Orator’s Club has made the students industry-ready where they can achieve the zenith. It not only trains them to be good orators, but also teaches them life skills- to get equipped with social manners and etiquette, to bring out their hidden talents with great confidence.
Frequent sessions on JAM, presentations would certainly boost the courage of the students and feedback given will pave room for improvements.
Apart from being succinct, the students also share their own experiences to make the presentation realistic to the audience. Gauging the reaction of the audience and speaking according to the situation is the crux of one’s speech.
Mic management, attire, body language, posture, eye contact are some of the traits of public speaking. Students are given tips and suggestions on these aspects during their presentations.
Competitions are held every semester to encourage the better talents. Students are dressed elegantly in blazers and carry a professional look and give outstanding performance. The students from all the branches participate in the competition and are shortlisted for quarter finals and semifinals. The best five students qualify for the finals. The students are appreciated by giving the prizes for first three best performances.
The Orator’s Club also encourages the students to exhibit their talents by participating in Debates, Elocution, Group Discussion as well as Essay competition and Creative Writing. Students are provided an opportunity to write their own creative work- poetry, shayari, proverbs, snippets etc.
At the outset, Orator’s Club has brought a positive attitude among the students that has made a great impact in their psychological, social and cultural development. The students, who hesitated earlier, now anchor the events of the college like Annual Day, Independence Day with more ease and confidence. This transformation from being reluctant to readiness is what is seen in Orator’s Club of LIET.

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