Participation Experience of IET's 'Present Around The World' Competition

Present around the World (PATW) is a presentation competition organised by The Institution of Engineering and Technology which is a multidisciplinary professional society for engineering and technology community in the world based in United Kingdom.

 The regional level was held at Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computers Applications and Management, Paschim Vihar on 19th April 2014. Two entries from each engineering/MCA college was allowed. I and Shilpa participated in the event; though we could not get into the next level but thought of penning down the experience and learning acquired from participating in a grand presentation event like this which may be useful for others especially 2013 & later batch students as they may also get an opportunity to participate in such competitions in future. 

Pitting against some really good presenters including students from DTU, NSIT, NIT and other premier engineering colleges from all over the country was a nice experience. Many Participants had made some real good use of Microsoft Powerpoint 2013’s capabilities which resulted in some mind blowing slides. Some had used Prezi software to make ppts. I made a hybrid presentation using both KeyNote for mac and PowerPoint 2013 which resulted in a visually pleasing presentation.

It was pure professional environment at the event and that’s what made my day. Participants were divided in four groups of twenty each. Two from each group qualified to next level. Though we could not clear the level but sometimes learning and taking inspiration is more important than winning a competition. As they say ‘the only real mistake or failure is the one from which we learn nothing’. Heck, who cares if we could not qualify for next level!

Now in such big competitions, many things matter because of which one could or could not win/qualify in this kind of event where there are 70+ good presenters/competitors.

Here are some of the learning and findings from the event.

Sometimes it is pure luck. I was unlucky in the sense that one of the judges in the panel interrupted me during the presentation on using a world map image in my PPT which had Siachen(Near Jammu & Kashmir) as a part of china. He was clever enough to notice this mistake on my part and despite giving an overall good presentation, marks were deducted for ignoring the minute but important detail in the ppt. Country is more important than any technology is what he said. Always remember the people sitting in judge’s panel are way smarter and intelligent than participants and they can point out mistakes which generally go unnoticed. 

Question and answer round can make or break a presentation. Sometimes, a heckler in the audience can confuse you with his/her questions and that’s what happened with Shilpa’s case. Despite giving a very good presentation, her Q&A session went in an unexpected way. So one must understand their topic well enough so that any unexpected questions can be handled easily.

Some people gave very good PPTs and had good Q&A rounds as well but they still could not qualify for next level while they deserved than those who actually qualified. The reason can be attributed to personal preference and liking of judges. I don’t mean judges were biased or so but sometimes judgement is also subjective and varies from person to person. That does not make them bad presenters, it was just not their day. Again Winning is not important, giving your best is. 

Minimize text on your PPTs. Try to use points and lots of pictures & illustration in PPTs. Some of the participants had text paragraphs on their PPTs which ultimately reduced their chances of going ahead any further.

Use animation or video of short duration i.e. less than one minute. Some people used videos which were over two minutes long. People can view videos on youtube, it is the presenter who has to explain the stuff, not the videos. 

Speak loud enough at moderate pace, neither slow nor fast. Fluency is very important. Practice. 

Giving a presentation on a topic on which you have done some implementation can be really impressive. But this has a flip side as well, on such platforms your ideas can be stolen easily by other participants. So that’s your call. 

Include practical examples which are being seen and used in everyday life. One example which I have gave on how our college is contributing to Green Computing scenario by sending weekly time tables, datasheets and other notices via google group mails instead of putting them on notice boards every week wasting hundreds of A4 sheets in a month and this example was appreciated by judges & other participants during Q&A round. 

Attend communication skills classes regularly. Consider them as important as java or c++ classes. You will realize the importance of it once you face the real competitive world. All participants in today’s competition were B.Techs having excellent technical & soft skills.

Practice and keep participating. Don’t lose hope. 

When we compete against the outside world, we get to know where we really stand and how we can improve ourselves. So participate more and more in future inter college fests and competitions and that will bring the best out of you. Do not hesitate in participating just because you think you will lose. Shun the fear of losing, winning is not important, participating and giving your best is what matters because sometimes the experience and learning will stay all along your lifetime instead of a cash award of few thousands and couple of certificates.

I hope these points will be of some help to the readers.  Good luck.

Finally I would like to thank Komal Mam and Mahima Mam for their valuable suggestions & feedback which helped a lot in preparing for the event. 

With inputs from Shilpa Kohli, Written by Anmol Sharma, MCA-IV Semester, JIMS, Rohini, Sector-5. 

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