Provincial Secretary Information Technology, Muhammad Yahya Waliullah has said that ability to communicate and public speaking is God gifted. "One can improve, polish, fine-tune these traits through learning, practising, copying, etc", he said while speaking as guest speaker at a seminar on "
Art of public speaking " organised by the Department of Public Relations, Karachi University here on Wednesday.
IT secretary said what was crucially important in public speaking now-a-days was analysing psyche of audience, concentrating on topic, searching for information data and facts on the subject.
Time had changed and many in audience were not impressed with verbosity and dramatisation, he said, adding that information technology in the last two decades had changed the lifestyle.
He pointed out that Internet was the greatest invention of last century and was available at affordable cost even to poorest countries and under-privileged societies.
It was a great source of learning, he said and maintained that progress of any country and society now a days was measured in terms of e-readiness index, unlike gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income.
Yahya Waliullah said Information Communication Technology was a cross cutting and was an aid to any field or subjects. There are over half a billion websites, covering entire gambut of life, are available.
He said anyone could get latest information on any topic under the sky by making over 200 search engines. A public speaker, he said, could improve its discourse by making use of ICT technologies. Presentation is more effective then oral speech.
The secretary hoped that students of Department of Public Administration and of other departments would make use of latest technologies in public speaking.
KU Vice Chancellor Professor Pirzada Qasim speaking as the chief guest invited prominent professionals, both from academic and professional world.
Speaking on the occasion, Department of Public Administration Chairman Dr Abuzar Wajidi welcomed the speakers and emphasised upon the quality of public speaking and the efforts his department was making to inculcate this pursuit among students to become leaders of tomorrow.
Teradata Country Manager Khurram Rahat in his discourse mentioned the tricks for failing in public speaking and informed that to be a good speaker one should not follow any of tricks.
Samina Ibrahim, a lecturer at FAST in her presentation showed how mind bogs down in grasping and understanding a point. She also demonstrated through many examples of this phenomenon.
Nazir Ahmed Vaid, Area Governor, Toast Master, Territorial Council in his long presentation dealt with the theory and practices of communication.
Gerald Ray Shocklay, President I-Ink, USA, currently on a visit to Pakistan informed that he was visiting Pakistan for over 10 years in the past and admired family bonding and traditions of extended families that were non-existent in western societies.
He mentioned that Pakistan was a great country with natural endowments and hard working people who were always ready to help you in any way they could. He thought that gap between Pakistan and US in many fields was widening then bridging.
VC Dr Pirzada Qasim thanked speakers, particularly Shocklay from US for expressing his views about Pakistan.
He emphasised on importance of knowledge-based economies and tremendous potential they had for growth and development. Later, he distributed certificates among students instrumental in organised the seminar.