Inaugural Conference of the Malaysian Institute of Debate & Public Speaking 2011‏

Inaugural Conference of the Malaysian Institute of Debate & Public Speaking (MIDP) 2011


The newly formed Malaysian debate social enterprise, the Malaysian Institute of Debate & Public Speaking, headed by Iqbal Hafiedz and Adiba Shireen, held its first Conference for over 50 language lecturers and student affair officials from Malaysian tertiary institutions from both West and East Malaysia. It was held at the campus of the University of Technology MARA from 13th to 15th Jan 2011.

Entitled, "Managing In-Campus Student Communication Programmes", the 3-Day workshop aimed to give managerial and supervisory staff from the academic and administrative divisions of tertiary institutions the wherewithals of establishing public speaking and debating clubs, sustaining them and helping them to excel. The invited trainers delivered lectures on topics which ranged from how to start from ground zero in raising student awareness to the importance of communication skills, to specific details in planning a budget, a training programme, as well as student facilitation skills in dealing with the diverse range of student personalities within the club milieu.

The last day of the event allowed the participants to put together specific plans and targets for their respective tertiary institutions. This was done in groups where each member shared his/her problems and aspirations for implementing communication programmes within the campus. All the groups also made group presentations to the entire class and all the trainers.

The entire Conference ended with a well deserved formal dinner for the participants, trainers and organisers.

The trainers in this Conference were: Professor Piyanart from Chulalongkorn University, Latif from IIUM, Tate from MMU, Azrul from IIUM. Saiful from UPM, Omar Salahudin, Dr Chandran from UM and Loke Wing Fatt from SAID.

Many thanks to Hafiedz, Adiba, Shamma, Shaq, Stifler, and all the other staff of the MIDP for hosting such a ground making debate education programme.

I look forward to seeing many interesting and important courses from MIDP.

cheers,

Loke Wing Fatt
SAID