National Diploma student, Siti Umi Amirah Ra’emi Maleek was the winner of the 8th Annual Sultan Saiful Rijal Technical College (MTSSR) Public Speaking Competition with her topic Queen of Adriatic.

The competition, which is held annually, was organised by the Department of Language and Communication at the Lecture Theatre. The guest of honour was the Acting Principal, Awg Habib Mohammad Hj Wan Junaidi.

Meanwhile, in second place was Dk Syuhaidah Hj Baharuddin and the third place went to Muhd Hazman Hj Zainal. The consolation winners were Muhd Khairul Nizam Hj Abd Ghani and Ilmy Mulyaddey Hj Mohd Ali.

The event started with the recital of surah al-fatihah followed by a welcoming note delivered by the chairman of the organising committee where he touched on the importance of public speaking.

“The importance of communication skills is very important to any career. In fact, an interview session is a perfect example how everyone has to verbally communicate with another person their thoughts and feelings. Even if one was able to avoid the interview process, they would still encounter some sort of public presentations over the course of their career.”

He further noted that the ability to communicate effectively is also one of the criterias for a leadership role, adding that public speaking skills do not merely apply in speaking in front of large groups of people but also the ability to communicate their thoughts in front of a group which will gradually improve their interpersonal skills.

“The key to improving communication skills is to never stop practising, as practice makes perfect. People with effective public speaking skills can inspire, convince, persuade and get things done,” added the chairman.

Oral presentation is one of the assessed areas in the Language and Communication Syllabus that requires plenty of time to develop, he said.

Apart from the competition, the chairman hoped to motivate students to take part in public speaking, to provide them the experience of how to speak publicly as opposed to just speaking only to their classmates.

“It is well documented that public speaking is one of the things most feared by most people and some people do anything in their power to avoid standing in front of an audience to deliver a talk,” said the Acting Principal in his speech.

The ability to speak clearly and confidently is necessary and is one of the prerequisites to succeed in life and their career in general. That is why it is imperative for educational institutions such as MTSSR to equip their students with this vital skill so that they could succeed in whatever profession they choose.

This year, 26 students took part in the preliminary round where the English Language instructors of the college trained the students in oral presentation. The objectives of the oral presentation competition were to emphasise the importance of communication skills in the workplace, to expose students to public speaking in real life situations and to develop self-confidence among the students.

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