Author: John Spencer, Public Speaking Club, The NANYANG MBA student 2011.

In one of the events organized by our Public Speaking Club, a group of students passionate about speaking in public, we invited twenty of our peers to present for 10 to 15 minutes on any topic.  The only hard and fast rule: they must feel passionate about the subject matter!  Brazenly, six (6) stood up and took the challenge.

Greg extemporaneously speaking about ‘customer service’.

First up was Greg, who hails from Canada and is our current Student ExCo President.  A person who undeniably loves to speak in public, Greg ‘educated’ an eager audience on customer service.  Among others, he elaborated on the important questions of ‘What is good customer service?’ and ‘How best to achieve good customer service?’

Xevi passionately talks about his travel to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Next was Xevi, an outspoken fellow classmate from Catalan (in Spain!), who entertained with a slideshow about his favorite ever holiday: a journey through southern Vietnam which he took with a friend several years ago.  Landing in Ho Chi Minh City, it was followed by numerous adventures including a boat ride that took him across the border to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Xevi promised to return at a later date and continue the story.

Rita getting animated about sharing what life is like at 49B Nanyang Valley.

Third was Shanghai native Rita, another candid speaker of the group, who amused the audience with revealing insights into what life is like at 49B Nanyang Valley – an on-campus residence where she shares with six of our classmates.  Rita delivered her talk under the watchful eye of one of her flat-mates, Sherrill, who listened intently and ready to ‘pounce’, in case she divulged more information than what was deemed acceptable. It was mirthful, yet well-delivered.

Reynold shares surprising information about Chinese entrepreneurs.

Reynold, our gregarious Student Exco EVP from Jingzhou, a famous cultural city in South China, then enlightened the room with a presentation showcasing several Chinese internet entrepreneurs (he himself is an aspiring entrepreneur!).  What these entrepreneurs have in common, we learned, is that they are relatively unknown outside of China, yet have achieved tremendous domestic success through seemingly quite simplistic business models, albeit executed at scale.

Vincent at the end of his presentation – 80 slides in less than 15 minutes!

Fifth was sociable Malaysian Vincent, who commenced by promising to break all the conventions of good presentations in his account of a recent holiday to Cambodia and Vietnam.  He proceeded to do his presentation with brilliantly comic effect, and notably managed to successfully deliver more than 80 slides in less than 15 minutes.  All this, whilst perfectly synchronizing his spoken words to his graphics.

Mandar in his thought-provoking oratory on ‘nothing’

To round off the event, Mandar from India, a student ExCo member, who also loves a good play of words, challenged the deep-thinkers in the room with a thought-provoking and entertaining oratory on ‘nothing’.  He touched on numerous perspectives of this abstract concept, starting with the grammatical, continuing with the philosophical – both east and west – and ending with the scientific – namely mathematics and physics.

And that concluded what proved to be an enjoyable event for all the attendees – of course, light snacks were served too!

The Public Speaking club aims to provide experiences to enable club members become more effective speakers.  It is composed of 30 like-minded individuals who are passionate of the craft, or just want to become more effective and better speakers. Our classmates join the club in activities that will challenge the mind, push themselves beyond the boundaries of confidence in speaking in public, and engage an eager audience into an entertaining yet filled with learning play of words.

*Title is borrowed from a movie in the late 1980’s, bearing the same title.