PETRONAS Country Managers' Annual Roundtable Dialogue Visit to UTP on 6 & 7 March 2010

On 6 and 7 March 2010 (last Saturday & Sunday), 11 PETRONAS Country Managers (CM) and 3 representatives from 3 PETRONAS Country offices visited UTP for the annual PETRONAS Country Managers’ Roundtable Dialogue Visit to UTP. This was the third time (year) it was organized. The program was organized by PETRONAS International Business Unit (IBU) and UTP.

Those PETRONAS CM/Rep. that were present were, En. Wong Kong Weng from China (CM), En. Ismail Abdul Rahman from Indonesia (CM), Mr. Marcus Allus from the Philippines (CM), Tuan Haji Nusral Danir from Sudan (CM), En. Abu Bakar Salleh from Thailand/Myanmar (CM), En. Izuddin Husaini M Yusof from Egypt (CM), En. Mohd Ridza Md Shariff from Turkmensitan (CM), En. Awang Othman Awang Jaya from Vietnam (CM), En. M Hamid Mohamad from Chad (Rep.), En. Eelasegaran Nadarajah from Uzbekistan (CM), En. Fodzi Bidin from Pakistan (Rep), Tuan Haji A Hamid Hashim from Iran (CM)and En. Amer Syahremy Saifuddin from South Africa (Rep).

The objectives of their visit were as follows :

1. To have an engagement session with the UTP International Student Council (ISC) to learn about its function & roles in UTP and issues on the international students’ welfare.
2. To have an engagement session with all UTP PETRONAS sponsored international students by each respective country in order to motivate them and help solve their academic and welfare issues.
3. To have an engagement session with UTP management team (led by our honorable Rector), PETRONAS Education Sponsorship Unit (ESU) management team (led by En. Shanizam) and IBU management team (led by its GM, En. Yahya Talla) to discuss on matters related to the UTP international students and potential collaborations on various subjects.
4. To have a friendly sports match (volleyball) with the international students.
5. To conduct the structured job interview for final year international PETRONAS sponsored students.

The visit met its objective and on Saturday night, 6 March 2010, all of the respected visitors including the IBU team, were invited to attend and witness the ‘Festival of Colors of the World’ event organized by SSSD of UTP at UTP’s Chancellor Hall. They experienced for themselves the colorful festival of dance from various Malaysian universities and selected universities from Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. They were impressed with the grandness and well- organized event done by our own students.

Finally, special thanks to all who were directly and indirectly involved in making the event a success especially from the wise leadership and guidance of our Rector, Datuk Dr. Zainal Abidin Hj. Kasim and our Director of Student Services, Tuan Haji Mohamed Noor Rosli Baharom.

Kind Regards,

Marfauza Mat Jusoh

Senior Executive

International Student Unit

SSSD

3 Steps to Improved Your Writing

Amateur writers write for the sake of writing. While this may create copious amounts of inconsequential content or provide them personal pleasure, it does nothing to increase business prospects, improve the world, or move their audience to take action.

So what is the goal of great writing, and how can it change your presentations? Professional writers always have one main goal in mind with everything they write: to transform their audience. Great writers strive to help their audience see through different eyes, act differently, change the way they interact with the world.

Anyone can throw words together and make complete sentences (case in point: most of the blogosphere), but if you want to actually have impact through your writing, you must learn to write for transformation. It's the difference between being merely informative and being compelling and persuasive. There are three simple steps to transformational writing: 1) writing for a specific audience, 2) using the right venue, and 3) choosing and executing the right type of transformation (there are three).

1. Specific Audience

If you want to reach your audience, it’s absolutely crucial that you understand them, get out of your own perspective, and write to their perspective. One of the first things I do with every piece I write is identify my target audience, things such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, location, income level, purchasing habits, hobbies, talents, interests, etc.

When I know who I’m talking to, I’m prepared to custom tailor the message to resonate with them specifically. For example, words such as “revolutionary,” “cutting-edge,” “fresh,” or “in vogue” will more likely resonate with an 18-25 age group, whereas a 60-70 age group will probably have negative reactions to them, who prefer things that are “proven,” “safe,” and “sensible.”

2. The Right Venue

By venue I mean the medium used to convey your message, including such things as magazines, newspapers, journals, books, radio and TV ads, blogs, websites, etc. The venue you choose is, in large part, determined by your audience.

For example, if I’m writing a lengthy article on monetary policy intended for scholars and economists, the best venue is probably a scholarly journal. Few people can stand to read long blocks of meaningful text on a computer screen, I probably won’t have enough space to make my case in most magazines, etc. On the other hand, if my content is concise, simple, and intended for a broad audience, perhaps a newspaper article makes sense.

All of us are exposed to written communications that we skim or ignore, yet if that same message is presented in a venue more palatable to us, we’re much more likely to spend time reading it. Writing for transformation requires utilizing the best venue for our subject matter and audience.

3. The Right Transformation

There are three types of transformations: know, feel, and do. A know transformation seeks to give the readers new information, or old information arranged in a different way, to help them to learn and know things they didn’t know before, in such a way that changes their life and perspective. A feel transformation obviously seeks to evoke strong emotion in the audience, while a do is designed to get an audience to take very specific, immediate, and tangible action.

Amateurs look at this list and try to do all three; professionals focus on one and nail it, because doing so affects the others. How do you want people’s lives to change because they read your message? What do you want to see occur in them? Do you primarily want them to know, feel, or do something? Pick one–yes, just one–and execute it well, and the others will take care of themselves.

If you want your message to actually have impact, you must learn to write for transformation. Know who you’re writing to, use the right venue to reach them, and choose the right transformation and execute it well. After all, transformational writing is the only writing worth reading.

5 Tips To Better Public Speaking

If you search in Google for the term “public speaking tips” you get roughly 2.6 million responses. That seems like a lot, but when you have to be the one standing in front of the group there isn’t enough information in the world that could get you over that fear.

Believe it or not, most of those fears are self imposed. What do I mean? The people listening to you don’t really care how the information is disseminated, they just want at the information. It’s the speaker that puts themselves through the ringer weeks before the event. Here are some tips that may seem obvious, but once completed, will really put your mind at ease, trust me.

Public Speaking Tip #1

KNOW YOUR TOPIC! I don’t mean know your topic, I mean inside and out, upside down, what ever question someone could throw at you, you know the answer. You really need to be prepared to reach this level. You need to know your speech almost by heart; you need to know the products you will be discussing. Do your homework, you will know you have reached public speaking Nirvana when you get that “feeling”, it will come with knowledge. Believe!

Public Speaking Tip #2

Greet as many of the attendees prior to your speech as possible. Familiarity promotes confidence. Besides, think of the benefit you provide the topic you are to speak on when you take the time to meet people before you go on.
This strategy also prevents you from pacing back and forth and worrying yourself to death until you go on. There is no point in cramming now, if you don’t know it, you wont, and it will show.

Public Speaking Tip #3

DON’T think everyone in the audience is naked, this in fact will hurt your chances of a successful public speaking outing.

Public Speaking Tip # 4

When you find yourself with only a mouthful of uhs and ums, stop yourself, repeat the sentence as if to add importance, and replace the uhs and ums with silence to allow your points to hit home.

Public Speaking Tip # 5

Animate your speech. Most people think that good communication is mouth-centric. Nothing could be farther from the truth! To be a powerful communicator, you have to use your entire body. Gestures and body language add energy and enthusiasm to your speech.
These are tips can really help you take your next step in public speaking. Do you realize that people pass up promotions because they will be required to speak publicly?

Do you realize people fear speaking in public more than they fear dying? Maybe because dying is abstract and appears far away while the podium is right in front of them. Either way, you really can come to grips with your fear and maybe you won’t enjoy it, but you’ll be able to get through it easier. I can’t emphasize enough that half of your battle will be just knowing what you are going to say, and anticipating what others are going to ask. It can be easy!

Staff Sharing Session (3S VII )– Event Management Workshop

Staff Sharing Session (3S) introduced an Event Management Workshop to promote awareness amongst non-executive staff on the UTP Corporate Sustainability Framework. Mrs Nor Baizura, GPED Admin Assistant has attended this session.

The session, that was launched by Senior Manager of HRMA, Encik Zamri Yusof, emphasized the role of business in achieving sustainable development and UTP commitment towards the Transformation Plan to achieve Research University status.

During the first session, Madam Nur Hafizah Hafiz, Admin Assistant of Chemical Engineering Department, started the sharing session with a presentation on Work Etiquette and Application at Workplace to all participants.

The theme for the two-day workshop is Event Management where the focus was on how to use the various skills learned to organize successful events in UTP. The session continued with the 2nd Session where Madam Maznah Ramli, Senior Executive of Counseling & Career Guidance, Student Support Services Department gave her presentation on the Event Management at the Inter-University Level. Participants were taught on how to set the objectives of the event, how to contact the organizer and how to write the letter to other university.

On the second day, the 3rd Session, 3S members were also given the opportunity to discuss about the protocol in event management. During this session, the Senior Management of CRPA, Pn Shamsina Shaharun shared her experience and also had a dialog session pertaining the identification of the key elements and issues when organizing an event.

In the 4th Session , Madam Shariza M Shuhidan, Executive of Corporate Services (CRPA) Department, gave her presentation on Techniques and Strategies for Time Management where participants were taught on how to manage time and work effectively.

Finally, in the last session, Madam Azwa M Taib, Secretary to the Director of Finance & Fund Management Department, gave her presentation on Grooming for Work. All participant were given some tips and techniques on how to be presentable at the workplace.

Towards the end of the day, participants were highly motivated and showed positive commitment towards performing the duties more effectively and efficiently. This 3S workshop can be seen as a platform for knowledge sharing and will be useful for organizing future events successfully.

On behalf of the Staff Sharing Session Committee, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Assoc. Prof. Dr Balbir Singh Mahinder Singh, Advisor of 3S, En. Zamri Yusof, Senior Manager of HRMA, 3S Presenters and others who were directly or indirectly involved to make this program a success.

“Sharing Promotes Excellent Performance”

HOD Address and Dean's List Award Ceremony for July 2009 Semester

The department has organizing GPED HOD Address and Dean's List Award Presentation on 24 Feb 2010 / Wednesday.

Venue: Pocket D3
Time: 4.00pm to 5.30pm

In this event, Ir A Aziz given a speech to our undergraduate PE and PG students and followed by certificate presentation to students who have managed to obtain an outstanding results in last semester.

UTP - The Champion of National Novice Debating Championship 2010

UTP English Language debate team had emerged as the Champion in the National Novice Debating Championship 2010. The competition was organized by Universiti Teknologi MARA on 19th to 21st February 2010 in Shah Alam, Selangor. Ninety-six teams from various institutions had participated in the competition, making it the largest English Language debating championship in Malaysia to date. UTP had sent three English Language Debating teams to participate in this championship.

In this competition, it was compulsory for the debaters to go through 6 preliminary rounds before the top 16 teams were ranked and moved into the octo-finals. UTP-Team-1 and UTP-Team-2 managed to break to the octo-finals and UTP-Team-1 won against Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia hence qualified themselves to the quarter-finals. UTP-Team-1 won over University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI) and advanced themselves to the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, UTP-Team-1 won against International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM-team-3), with the motion ‘This House would use genetically modified food to feed impoverished countries’. UTP had emerged as the Champion and won against IIUM-Team-1 in the final round. The motion for the final was ‘This House wants to support Iran's rights to develop nuclear weapons’. Kong Fook Ann, 1st Year 2nd Semester, was the Best Speaker in the final round. We are also proud to share that two UTP student adjudicators: Ismal Ishak and Vignesh Kumar had qualified themselves as adjudicators from the beginning of the competition right to the semi-final round. The list of UTP debaters are as follows:

UTP 1 (Champions)
Mukhariz Muhamad
Business Information System 2nd Year 1st Semester
Kong Fook Ann
Petroleum Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester
Mohd Ashraf Bin Nor Azrol
Petroleum Engineering 2nd Year 1st Semester

UTP 2
Mohd Shafiq Bin Shaffa'ee
Chemical Engineering Foundation 1st Semester
Sean Suraj Jeremiah
Chemical Engineering Foundation 1st Semester
Ahmed Ali El-Fadil Hassan
Petroleum Engineering Foundation 1st Semester

UTP 3
Lee Yin Yin
Petroleum Geoscience Foundation 1st Semester
Chin Yong Bao
Chemical Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester
Alex Liew Vun Ping
Electrical Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester

We would like thank En A Mutalib b Embong (M&H) for his support and assistance as the Accompanying Officer throughout the competition.

The UTP Debate Club would like to express our heartiest gratitude to YBhg. Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Hj. Kasim and the Management of the University for being very supportive. We also would like to thank Tn Hj M Noor Rosli, the Director of Student Services, for his continuous encouragement. With the support from YBhg. Datuk Rector, the Management and the Student Support Services, we hope to develop more students to excel in the debating arena

Merdeka Award Series by Professor Dato’ Ir Dr Zaini Ujang

By
YBhg Professor Dato’ Ir Dr Zaini Ujang
Recipient of Merdeka Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Category

Title: Value Creation In Water Sustainability
Date : 3rd March 2010 (Wednesday)
Venue : Chancellor Hall, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

Programme

2.00 pm
Arrival of Guests

2.25 pm
Arrival of YBhg Professor Dato’ Ir Dr Zaini Ujang, Recipient of Merdeka Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Category

2.30 pm
Merdeka Award Video Presentation
Welcoming Speech by YBhg Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Hj Kasim, Rector of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Lecture by YBhg Professor Dato’ Ir Dr Zaini Ujang,Recipient of Merdeka Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Category
Question & Answer Session

5.00 pm : End of Programme