Opportunity to Sharpen Communication Skills
Opportunity to Sharpen Communication Skills
  • Reporter Jung Han-kyu
  • 승인 2010.05.19 13:05
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The 3rd POSTECH President’s Cup Presentation and Debate Competition

The 3rd annual Presentation and Debate Competition sponsored by President Baik Sunggi and supervised by the Leadership Center was held from May 12 to 14. Any Postechian interested in presenting and debating was welcome to participate. This three-day event consisted of communication school on the first day, coaching in procedures and preliminary rounds the next day, and the finals and awards ceremony on the final day. The competition began in order to help the students to hone their communication skills as it grows to be a very important tool in the real world, as explained by Prof. Park Sangjoon, the head of the Leadership Center.

In the debate contest, a topic was given out to the contestants and they researched evidence to back up their arguments. They were to prepare arguments for both sides, whether pro or con, for they were randomly assigned at the beginning of the round. In the final round, the Torontech and Y&K teams competed against each other with a topic about a school policy to restrict playing games and using P2P programs late at night. The debate followed the Cross Examination Debate Association style, in which each side take turns.

Team Y&K argued in favor of the policy because it helps students to manage time wisely, reduces threats to security via worms and viruses, and reduces the heavy traffic in using the Internet. On the other hand, team Torontech argued that the policy is not needed for it is not a serious matter to enforce such a policy that affects everyone, and is a coercive method that strips the students from a basic human necessity, the Internet, and an opportunity to learn from their own mistakes.

As Mr. Youngsup Kim, vice president of Handong University commented, “Both teams argued logically and rationally with manners.” Team Torontech won a very close competition and received certificates along with a cash prize of ₩900,000. Kim Dong-min (IME 05), one of the members of team Torontech, expressed his regret that he needed more preparation and that “the topic should be selected from larger social issues such as free school meal program that could broaden perspectives of students” in addition to learning how to communicate well.

The winner of the presentation competition was Kang Ui-ryong (Life 09) who gave a presentation about the need of the bilingual campus and globalization policy. He explained five reasons why it is needed, three conditions as requirements before implementation, and five methods of execution. He won a certificate with prize money of ₩300,000. Just as the winning team in the debate commented, Kang also felt the lack of time to prepare for the competition. He said they “were only given 45 min. for preparation. Many contestants who were outstanding didn’t make it through because of such a short time.”

After the awards ceremony, each judging panel delivered closing remarks. The director of the Leadership Center ended the whole event with an aspiration for this event to become “a place where more Postechians can benefit greatly by learning new effective communication skills and comprehending the significance of cooperative communication.