2008 2009
Communiqué
– Session report
COMMUNIQUÉ – SESSION REPORT TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS’ GYMKHANA , I.I.T KHARAGPUR
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Communiqué – A profile Communiqué is the official soft skills and personality development society of IIT Kharagpur. Operating under the guidance and support of Technology Students’ Gymkhana, it aims to be a student body which will work towards developing and inculcating strong communication skills of all kinds in the students by inviting experts from different spheres of life to conduct workshops and practice sessions. We strive to provide customized attention to each student by serving as an interface between professional communication experts and individual students and working with the students to ensure that there is a perceptible change in the level of communication skills in IIT Kharagpur. The Need for such a Society:The need for such a society exclusively dedicated to development and polishing of communication skills are as follows: India needs better communicators and leaders along with engineers. People who could make a difference by putting their ideas through, in a powerful and sublime manner. It requires good public speaking skills. Students of IIT Kharagpur come from diverse backgrounds. Not all have a concrete idea about the intricacies of various means of communications. Companies seeking to recruit for placements and internships are more often than not, dissatisfied with the proficiency of the students of IIT Kharagpur with respect to communication skills. There is a need for organizational thinking flair among the future engineers and managers. IIT Kharagpur gets invitations for various national level debate competitions throughout the year. We intend to put IIT Kharagpur on the national debating map. Similar societies are in place in IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi, and they have achieved phenomenal success in raising the overall profile of the students. This society aims at inculcating these qualities in the students and thereby improving the overall communication skills of the students.
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EVENTS CONDUCTED Freshers’ Introduction Date : 20th August 2008 Venue : Netaji Associated Professors : Prof. Chanda Chakraborty and Prof. S. Barai Participation : 340 students ( approx. ) Communiqué kicked off the new academic session with an introductory session, particularly for the freshers . The event was held at Netaji auditorium on 20th August, 2008 and saw a huge turn out of freshers both from the Undergraduate and the Post Graduate Community. The event commenced with an introduction of the team of Communiqué. Nidhi, thengovernor of Communiqué, gave a presentation on the aims and goals of Communiqué and its past achievements. She also gave the audience a peek into what was in store for them in the coming year. Prof.S.Barai, the chief guest addressed the gathering. He stressed on the importance of communication skills, and also congratulated Communiqué for its work in helping the students of IIT Kharagpur in personality development. Prof. Chanda Chakraborty also graced the occasion with her presence. The event concluded with an interactive session, where she assisted the team of Communiqué in answering doubts raised by the students.
Group Discussions ( G.Ds ) & Personal Interview (P.Is) Date : 31st August 2008 Venue : Institute Associated Professors : Prof.P.Patnayak , Prof Aradhna Malik , Prof. Chanda Chakraborty, Prof. D. Suar , Prof. N.C. Nayak Participation : 320 Students ( approx ) Group Discussions are given high priority by companies at the time of selecting students for training as well as placements. They also play a major role in admissions to business schools, such as the Indian Institute of Managements. It is commonly known that students fear the group discussions or GD’s, more than the examinations that are also a part of the selection process. This is because our Indian education system has prepared us to face grilling examinations, whereas most of the students have no exposure to Group Discussions. Recognizing this, Communiqué organized 2 GD workshops, one aimed at 1st and 2nd years and another exclusively for the 3rd and final years. The GD workshop for 1st and 2nd years was conducted by the professors of IIT Kharagpur. Prof P Patnayak gave a presentation on the various points that should be kept in mind while participating in a G.D. He not only spoke about how one should go about the GD but also body language, which generally escapes our mind, but catches the attention of the person observing the GD. Prof Patnayak successfully addressed a gathering of more than 300 students packed in Raman Auditorium, who listened attentively in silence. The presentation was followed by practice GD sessions. Students were divided into 8 classrooms, and a professor in each classroom conducted 4 GD sessions, with 8-10 students participating in each. Students had hands- on experience, and they were given feedback about their performance in the GD. With the participation of more than 300 students the event was a huge success and won accolades from the crowd.
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Date : 6th September Venue : Vikramshila Associated Organisation : Career Launcher Participation : 110 students ( approx ) Following the success of the 1st GD workshop, Communiqué, in association with Career Launcher, organized another Group Discussion workshop on 6th September exclusively for final year students in V2. Mr. Indradeep from Career Launcher first gave an excellent presentation on the various types of GDs and the parameters on which a person is judged during a GD. He also talked about the various situations one might face during a GD and how to effectively tackle them. He also gave the students tips on facing Personal Interviews. After an hour long break for lunch, he and his colleague resumed the workshop by conducting mock GDs. Students were divided into batches of 8-10 and special attention was given to each. They conducted all the different types of GDs – case study , current affairs , technical and managerial .The event ended with all the secretaries, governors and convenors of Communiqué present, sitting down together for a Case Study GD.
Workshop on GRE Date : 10th September 2008 Venue : Vikramshila Associated Organization : IMS
Participants : 170 students ( approx ) Communiqué conducted a workshop on GRE on 10th September 2008.Professionals from IMS were called to conduct this workshop. It took place in V2 and the turnout was good. They guided students about various fields of GRE like MEM, MFE, MIS etc. They presented basic information about change of subjects and the general procedure. It was extremely helpful for students who were planning to take up GRE in coming months. A short survey was conducted before the event regarding general doubts about GRE and these things were specially taken care of in the PPT which was given by IMS professionals. There was a question / answer round in the end where audience put up their queries which were answered satisfactorily by these professionals.
Workshop on Email Etiquettes Date : 23rd October 2008 Venue : Vikramshila Associated Professor : Prof. Aradhna Malik Participants : 80 students ( approx ) Workshop on email etiquettes was conducted by communiqué on 23rd October 2008 .Professor Aradhana Malik from VGSOM was invited to enlighten students about basic etiquettes of written communication.She gave the guidelines for writing cover letters for internships and trainings. The event took place in V2 and the turn out was genuine .The Power Point Presentation that was given by respected ma’am and other articles she showed were later uploaded on the intranet lan for the students to download .The workshop was particularly helpful for students who are trying for foreign internships or any other internships in India in their summer. There was a question / answer round in the end where students were asked to put up their queries.
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Workshop on Public Speaking & Communication Skills
Date : 22nd March 2009 Venue : Vikramshila Associated Organization : Toastmasters International Participants : 75 students ( approx ) Communiqué in association with Toastmasters International, held a workshop on confident public speaking and communication skills on 22nd March, 2009. The workshop saw a turnover of about 75 students. In addition to undergraduates, the workshop sparked interest among the MBA students as well. Toastmasters International is an organization that has been around for around 80 years and offers a proven way of honing the communication and leadership skills of its members. The workshop was conducted by the Regional head, Eastern India, Toastmasters International. He held the attention of everyone with his interesting and informative lecture that helped students gain a better understanding of the nuances of effective communication and public speaking. He spoke about the fears faced and common mistakes made by public speakers. He also shared inspiring instances from his co-workers lives and paralleled them to those of the students’. The workshop was interactive as he encouraged students to the stage to participate actively. On learning the success of Toastmaster International worldwide, students showed deep interest in forming a Toastmasters International chapter at IIT Kharagpur.
Workshop on Alternative Careers I – Actuarial Science Date : 18th October 2009 Venue : Vikramshila Associated Organization : HSBC And Trump & Gates Participants : 220 students ( approx ) The first workshop on alternative careers was held on Actuarial Sciences on 18th October, 2009 in association with Trump & Gates. Professionals working with HSBC as actuarists and coaching professionals at Trump & Gates interacted with the students. They gave a detailed presentation, introducing actuarial sciences, discussing the fields where it can applied and its future scope. The presentation also talked about how one can become an actuarist . The turnout for the event was impressive and consisted of those who were already considering Actuarial sciences as their career as well as those who hadn't even heard of it before. The event ended with an interactive question-answer session, which cleared away the students doubts and gave them further insight into the world of Actuarial Science. The event was received well by the student community and guided those who wanted to pursue a career in insurance sector.
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Workshop on Alternative Careers II – I.A.S.
Date : 16th February 2009 Venue : Vikramshila Associated Organization : Trademark IAS Participants : 210 students ( approx ) An informative session on the IAS was held on 16th February, 2009 in association with Trademark IAS, which coaches students for the Indian Civil Services Examination. A team of 2 faculty members handled the presentation, which gave the students detailed information about the different levels and schedule of the examinations and the optional subjects available. The students were also given tips on how and when to start preparation. A sample booklet on current affairs prepared by Trademark IAS as well as a list of books useful for preparation was circulated. The same was also made available on DC++. The presentation was followed by a question-answer round, where numerous doubts were put forth by the students. The faculty patiently took all the questions and answered them in detail. The event saw a huge turn out of more than 200 students, from all years. Its success was evident from the participation of all students in the interactive session. The students highly appreciated the discussion sessions.
August
1) Freshers’ Introduction
September
1) GRE
1) Email Etiquettes
2) GD & PI
2) Alternate Careers – I
2) GD & PI
January
Fest Season
October
February
1) Alternate Careers II - IAS
November
Mid Semester Examinations
March
April
1) Workshop on Public Speaking & Communication Skills , by Toastmasters , International
End Semester Examinations
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Proposals and Plans In view of its commitment to its goal of helping the students of IIT Kharagpur improve their soft skills, Communiqué has the following workshops lined up for the ensuing year: Group discussion practice sessions for pre-final and final years to help them face the training and placement recruitment sessions better. Personal interview practice sessions for pre-final and final years. Group discussion sessions for first years to provide exposure. Workshop on email etiquettes to help students apply to universities for internships. Workshop on business communication, etiquettes and ethics to prepare students for internships at corporate firms. Workshop on technical paper presentation to assist those involved in research. Workshop on negotiation skills. We are also trying to work with British Council, Kolkata to conduct communication and personality development workshops at IIT Kharagpur. We have approached Derek O’Brien’s KQ School of advantage to come up with a college package for personality development.
Communiqué also aims to expose students to alternative career options, in addition to the already popular MS (GRE) and MBA (GMAT & CAT). We currently have the following career options in mind: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Actuarial Sciences Indian Administrative Services (IAS) Professional Risk Management (PRM) Financial Risk Management (FRM) Social development sector Fine arts We have the following proposals to take this idea forward: Provide an online archive of information about various career options. Approach universities to send us information brochure about their college and video clippings to help students make an informed choice. These will be archived online. Provide an online forum for students preparing for a particular entrance exam to interact, share information and form study groups. Strive to get alumni or other coaching institutes to provide online mentoring at these forums. Video counseling with mentors from various fields. Questions will be invited from students in advanced and these will be discussed with the mentor through video chat. Help organize a college fair. Efforts are on to recognize and contact organizations that hold international college fairs in Kolkata and invite them to Kharagpur. Invite organizations (not-for-profit and for-profit) that are working in the social development sector to share their experiences with students and to talk about the opportunities available in this domain. Invite coaching institutes for various entrance exams to share information about the entrance exams and the scope of the field. Invite professionals from these fields to talk to students about their experience in the respective fields.
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Tentative Calendar
AUTUMN SEMESTER 8-Aug 15-Aug 16-Aug 22-Aug 29-Aug 5-Sep 10-Oct 17-Oct 24-Oct 1-Nov
Freshers' Introduction GD for Final years PI for final years GD for first years Social development sector-Alternative Career GRE/GMAT workshop Mid Semester Examinations & DP holidays Email etiquettes Psychometric tests - Alternative Career Business communication College fair End Semester Examinations SPRING SEMESTER
5-Jan Technical paper presentation 9-Jan Fine Arts - Alternative Career 16-Jan Negotiation skills Spring fest & Kshitij 6-Feb Secretary event 13-Feb PRM, FRM - Alternative Career Mid Semester Examinations 5-Mar British Council workshop 13-Mar Secy event 20-Mar Video Mentoring - Alternative Career 27-Mar Derek O' Brien KQ School 3-Apr CFA - Alternative Career 10-Apr IAS - Alternative Career 12-Apr Secretary event
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