Business Communication Course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan sets the trend

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai launched an unique skill based Business Communication Course for the working professionals in July 2010.  This is a  week-end course spread over  120 hours (20 week ends - 40 days x 3 hours each) focussing only on skill development.  15 experts and 10 CEOs/achievers handled the sessions.  The course was launched by Dr Abdul Kalam in July 2010 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

L to R: K. Srinivasan, N Ravi, M Narendra,
T S Krishna Murthy. K N Ramaswamy and Vaidyanathan

The convocation to distribute the certificates was held on Sunday the 2nd Jan 2011 at Bhavan.  Mr T S Krishna Murthy (Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and now the Chairman of Bhavan's Chennai Kendra), Mr N Ravi (Vice Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Editor of The Hindu), Mr M Narendra (Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank) participated and shared their valuable thoughts on communication trends. 

The photo stream of the event:

Mr K. Srinivasan, Chairman of Prime Point Foundation and the Course Director presented a brief report on the course.
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Mr T S Krishna Murthy, Chairman of the Chennai Kendra delivered his special address.  In his address, Mr Krishna Murthy stressed the growing importance of   business communication in the competitive environment. 
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Mr N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu presided over the function and delivered his address. Mr Ravi emphasised the need for maintaining  long form of communication, which is now distorted due to SMS, Email, etc.   Mr Ravi will be the Chairman of the 'Board of Studies' for the Second batch, which will start in February, 2011.
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Mr M Narendra, Chairman of Indian Overseas Bank was the Chief Guest and delivered his address focussing on the need of internal communication in organisations.  He said that only internal communication leads to external communication.
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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai will be launching the second batch of the Business Communication Course in February 2011.  Interested may contact through email bizbvb@gmail.com

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Workshop on presentation and public speaking skills

In my earlier two postings,  I had mentioned about the TNSC Bank Staff Training College and their enthusiasm to train the district central cooperative bank officials on communication skills.  For the third time, I was invited to conduct an half a day workshop to their officials, drawn from different districts.

Workshop on presentation and
and public speaking skills 

I conducted a workshop tody (5th Jan 2011) on presentation and public speaking skills.  After an introductory presentation by myself on the various techniques and steps, we made some of the participants to make presentation on their topic of choice, for two minutes.  Their speeches were video recorded and then displayed for review and analysis.  

Every time, such workshops are conducted, I always observe that the participants assume 'stage fear' and assume 'lack of confidence'.  Once they are given a chance, they do better.  I was very happy that the particpants enjoyed the workshop and got a self confidence to remove the stage fear.  

I always used to admire the commitment of the officials, who are all coming from various rural and semi-urban branches.  The enthusiasm and passion by the Principal Mr Manohar and his team is really worth admiring. This college is situated at Madhavaram and they have been silently doing great job in the nation building.  The urbanised high profile, IT Company managers should visit them once for drawing inspiration from these 'unsung heroes'.

Some of the pictures taken during the workshop:

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Domain knowledge should be supplemented with business communication skills

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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai Kendra launched a skill based business communication course in July 2010.  This is an unique course in India, probably, the only of its kind  with 120 hours of teaching and working sessions (40 days x 3 hours).  This course contents were designed after an extensive research and understanding of the needs of working professionals and industry.  This course was formally launched by Former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on 10th July 2010.

N Ravi

The course was completed in December 2010.  A function was organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai to award certificates to the participants who completed the course.  Mr M Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank and Mr N Ravi, Editor of The Hindu, one of the leading Indian National dailies delivered inspiring speeches.

In this edition, we publish an extract from the speech of Mr N Ravi, Editor, The Hindu on the importance of business communication.  During his speech, he focussed on the following points:

1.  Presently, though youngsters possess excellent domain knowledge, they do not have adequate business communication skills.

2.  Even educational institutions do not give importance to  develop communication skills of their students.  They remain satisfied with the text book knowledge.  On the other hand, developed nations like US provide enough importance on developing communication skills at schools and college level.

3.  The youngsters should get trained in business communication skills through such courses, to fill the gap in their communication skills.

4.  SMS / Emails have brought a new culture of short form communication.  Though such short form of communication is done for quick communication, only long form communication is accepted in the formal communication.  Youngsters should focus on the long form communication more.

Please listen to his speech by clicking 'play' button. (7 minutes).  We will separately publish the speech of Mr M Narendra. 

This video may also be listened from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYjs9qEGZUQ

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Shah Commission report on emergency excesses: Lost and regained

PodUniversal Edition 122

During June 1975, a state of emergency was declared by the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  During the 21 months emergency lot of excesses were held in India by the Government officials. Many opposition leaders were put in prison and press censorship was imposed. 

Indian Herald newspaper
dated 26th June 1975

In the general elections held in March 1977, Janatha Party returned to power under the mentorship of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayanan.  Congress lead by Indira Gandhi got washed out in the north.  Even Indira Gandhi got defeated in the elections.    In the Indian history, it is considered as the second freedom struggle.  

After March 1977, when Morarji Desai Government took charge, they constituted a commission under the chairmanship of Justice J C Shah, former Chief Justice of India.  This Shah commission submitted its report in August 1978 on the various excesses committed during the 21 month dark days of emergency. The findings were startling. 

When Indira Gandhi came back to power in 1980, all the copies of Shah commission report were withdrawn from all the libraries and buried without even an epitaph Till now, it is reported that only one copy is available at National library of Australia.

Even after three decades, no efforts were made to restore the report to fill the gap in the Indian political history.  Mr Era Sezhiyan, 87 year old celebrated  Parliamentarian, who was also one of the victims of emergency days, has brought out the Shah Commission report with his comments and remarks, under the title ‘Shah Commission Report – Lost and regained”.  This book was released in Chennai by the opposition leader Mr L K Advani on 19th Deember 2010.  

Mr Era sezhiyan has a wonderful library in his house with more than six thousand books.  He keeps the parliamentary proceedings and important reports from 1965 onwards till date.  He is able to bring out the original Shah Commission report from the original copy he had with him in his library.  I interviewed him in his library on his latest contribution to the political history.  

Please listen to his exclusive interview by clicking 'play' button. 

This interview may also be watched from the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_1wk-wYQZ4

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Unimpeachable and impeccable integrity needed for higher posts - N Vittal

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On 23rd November, 2010, while handling a petition against the appointment of Mr P J Thomas, the present Central Vigilance Commissioner of India,  Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court observed that persons holding higher offices should possess impeccable integrity. The Supreme Court observed  that Mr P J Thomas was facing criminal charge sheet in a court in Kerala.  Immediately the Attorney General, representing Government of India  responded by saying, “If impeccable integrity is a criterion, then every judicial appointment will be subjected to scrutiny and every constitutional appointment will come under challenge,” attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati told the court. This statement was flashed immediately in all the TV Channels and it triggerred a great debate.

N. Vittal

Under this background, I recorded an exclusive interview with Mr N Vittal, Former Central Vigilance Commissioner of India.  Under the directions from Supreme Court, Mr N Vittal was the first CVC to be appointed jointly by the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition through consensus in ealry 2000.  Mr Vittal is known for his impeccable integrity.  During his tenure as CVC, he introduced lo of measures to eradicate corruption and to bring in more transparency.

Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button.  (14 minutes).  Audio streaming will be smooth in broadband connections.  If you find any difficulty, you may download the audio in mp3 format, by right clicking this link.and saving to your desktop. 

The audio may also be listened from

http://www.podbazaar.com/permalink/144115188075857528http://www.podbazaar.com/permalink/144115188075857528

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Lord Rama gives 7 rules for 'effective communication' in Valmiki Ramayana, citing Hanuman

B S Raghavan IAS (Retd)

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A very interesting incident about the components of 'effective communication' is narrated in Valmiki Ramayana, the great Indian epic.

In the Ramayana, Hanuman meets Lord Rama and Lakshmana for the first time in the forests and introduces himself and his master Sugriva.   This is the first meeting of Hanuman with Lord Rama. 

Impressed with the way  Hanuman, communicated  Lord Rama admires the communication capabilities of Hanuman.

In the 7 or 8 slokas, Lord Rama explains the important aspects of communication skills of Hanuman, that impressed him most.  They are:

1.  Hanuman spoke very briefly.  Not too long or too short.  He spoke only for the required level;

2.  He also spoke with clarity and without ambiguity;

3.  He spoke without any grammatical errors;

4.  He used only appropriate words, that cannot be replaced with any other word;

5.  He spoke in a medium voice that is audible to the other person.  Not too loud or too feeble;

6. His pronunciation of words was correct.  The way he was pronouncing the words was like a music and it was pleasant;

7. All the words spoken by him, went to the heart straight. 

While addressing the Business Communication course students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai, Mr B S Raghavan IAS (Retd) explained the seven aspects of communication skill of Hanuman, that impressed Lord Rama.  Mr B S Raghavan is one of the senior retired bureaucrats of India and he has served as the first Secretary of National Integration Council, when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Chairman.  Mr Raghavan is a well known columnist in Hindu Businessline.

The seven aspects explained earlier, summarises the components of effective communication, that are described in millions of pages in various text books.

Please listen to Mr B S Raghavan by clicking the 'play' button.  (5 minutes).

The video may also be watched from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPRqWsG-50

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"Innovation is the key for national and individual growth" - Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Sitting L to R: K. Srinivasan, Dr Abdul Kalam and Arvind Thiagarajan

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I had the great opportunity of meeting and interacting with our Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on 10th November 2010.  Mr Arvind Thiagarajan, serial inventor also accompanied me to show his latest device invented by him, to check the heart murmur within 10 seconds.  

Though, I have met  personally Dr Abdul Kalam and spoken to him over phone several times, every time, I meet him, I really feel excited to interact with him. I always feel that is generating a positive vibration like great Sages of this nation.  In a child like enthusiasm, Dr Kalam was using the device to check how it was working.  He also gave few important technical suggestions to Arvind for further  improving the use of this device.

At the end of our conversation, I requested him a brief message to our Indian youth exclusively for PodUniversal and India Vision members.  I requested him to give his views on the importance of innovation in the nation development.  He sat in silence for 10 seconds and started his message.  Within one minute and three seconds, he conveyed a wonderful message for the youth with all clarity.  That is his power of communication.  Please watch his message by clicking 'play' button in the player below.

The video may also be viewed from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmA71_zv4kM

Please see the photo-show of our meeting.

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How to invent and patent? - Success story of serial inventor Arvind Thiagarajan

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Arvind Thiagarajan

Former Indian President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam always says that for sustained economic growth, only innovation and technology can help.  Though, India has been doing an excellent job in the software domain, the Indian professionals are being used only as 'workers' by the Multinational companies.  Unless, Indian professionals come out with hardware and software products, economic growth of India cannot be sustained.

Inspired by Dr Abdul Kalam's words, Arvind Thiagarajan (30), started working on inventions right from his Engineering College days.  When he was studying in Anna University, he was fortunate to meet and interact with Dr Kalam, who was working as a Professor with Anna University  in early 2000, before he became the President of India.  Dr Kalam advised him to innovate and also patent all his inventions.

Today Arvind has got more than 40 patents in his name covering various important domains like bio technology, imaging, etc. .  Recently, he also introduced one device HDfonoDoc, which can detect the murmur in the heart within 10 seconds and give a print out of the sound waves.  This is the first of its kind in the world and will revolutionalise the health care industry in the diagnosis of cardiac problems. He has also obtained approvals from FDA and CE. He is also planning to add and more hardware and software products and dedicate to India.  For him the hobby is 'innovation'. 

This week, we met him and recorded his podcast interview for PodUniversal.  In this podcast, he has explained the interesting success story.  He has also assured to help young inventors with the guidance for patenting.  He can be reached at arvind.thiagy@gmail.com  for any guidance on innovation and patenting.

Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button.  (9 m 50 sec).  In this podcast, we have also added a 40 seconds audio clip of Dr Abdul Kalam, giving his views on innovation.

This podcast may also be listened from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UatSAr1YeeA

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Word's first device to detect heart murmur invented by an Indian Scientist

HDFonoDoc

Mr Arvind Thiagarajan (30), a serial inventor and a scientist has invented and introduced a new handy device HDFonoDoc, which can detect murmur in the heart within 10 seconds. Arvind Thiagarajan holds more than 40 patents in his name.

Auscultation is an ancient method, through which experts were able to detect the defects in our body system through 'sound'.  Stethoscope, used by the doctors is based on this method.

How cardiac problems can happen?

Cardiac problems can occur due to (a) electrical and (b) mechanical defects in the heart.  Electrical problems are now detected through the device known as ECG.  ECG cannnot provide mechanical defects.

To find out mechanical problems, the patients have to go to Echo Cardiographs, which is costly and available in select centres.  The analysis of the data needs to be done by a specialist doctor.  Even if a patient wants to rule out the possibility of heart problems, he has to go to Echo Cardiography.  That adds pressure on the experts also.

Murmur in the heart

Murmur in the heart can happen due to (a) blockage in the heart valve, (b) leakage in the heart valve and (c) hole in the heart.  If the murmur is not detected and corrected in time, it may cost the life.

Using the method of 'Auscultation', Arvind Thiagarajan has invented a new device 'HDfonoDoc', which can detect the murmur in the heart within 10 seconds.  This device has received FDA approval from US and CE approval from Europe.  Indian Government has also certified this device.

In an exclusive interview for PodUniversal, he has demonstrated the use of this device.  Please watch this 7 minute interesting video.

This interview may also be watched from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M16Qz-qNeqI

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Era Sezhiyan, a celebrated Parliamentarian gives tips for effective communication

Era. Sezhiyan

Mr Era. Sezhiyan (88) is  one of the well respected Parliamentarians and Statesmen of India.  He has served both the House of Parliament for more than 22 years continuously till 1984.  He is well known for his Parliamentary debates. Whenever he used to raise to speak in Parliament, even the Prime Ministers used to listen to him carefully.  Many a times, due to his debate, even the Budgets were modified.  

He is still considered an authority on Financial matters of the Governance.   Even at his 88th age, he is keeping updated with the global Parliamentary practices.  He is also one of the Founders of Janata Party and then Janata Dal along with Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai and few others.  For many constitutional matters, even today, many of the National and International media used to take his views.  Due to his poor health, he has restricted his public meetings.

On 24th October 2010, he interacted with the participants of Business Communication Course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai.  As one of the celebrated Parliament debater, he shared his views on effective communication.  According to him, whether it is a political communication or corporate communication, the concept remains the same.  In an exclusive interview for PodUniversal, we asked him what was his secret of communication, which made everybody to turn to him.  Some of the views are:

1.  Communication should come from the heart; Communication in flowery languages to please the auidence and without any purpose is not an effective communication'

2.  Clarity of theme is needed for communication'

3.  People with good knowledge should come out openly with their views;

4.  Keep in mind that the people listening to you are not inferior to you;

5.  Communication should be to share your knowledge and to improve others;

6.  Morality and value should be embedded in the communication.

Please watch his interview in this video, by clicking 'play' button.  (4 minutes).  Since this was recorded in the class room, external noises could not be avoided.

The video can also be viewed from the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS8ioqykhVI

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Public Affairs professionals should be transparent and adopt best practices to enhance credibility

PodUniversal Edition 115

In the recent years, Public Affairs (PA)  is emerging as a sub-sect of Public Relations (PR) Profession.  While PR is a traditional one, dealing with the relationship of all stakeholders, PA focusses on the  public policy and relationship with the Government.  In the developed nations like US and Europe, PA has become one of the recognised and reputed professions.

Roger Hayes

In the developing nations like India, this profession is yet to get good recognition and credibility.  There are many reasons for this phenomenon.  Now, many of the Public Relations Agencies have also started PA divisions to provide this special services.  In the anxiety to get the works done, some of the professionals involve themselves in un-ethical practices and resort to 'quick-fix' solutions.  This also brings down the credibility of the profession.

Recently, one of the CEOs of a well known Indian Public Relations Agency was debated in Indian  Parliament for the alleged role in 2G spectrum scam.  Media carried negative perception about this profession itself.   With this background, we wanted to bring out our October 2010 issue of ezine PreSense on this theme 'Public Affairs'.

Though we approached the CEOs of many Indian PR Agencies, who claim to offer Public Affairs Services, none of them even acknowledged our mails. Now, probably, they are highly scared of investigation by Government agencies, if they say openly that they offer PA services. They should not fear, if they follow ethical practices. 

However, Indian CEO of  APCO Worldwide, one of the globally reputed Public Affairs firm responded to our mail and connected us with Mr Roger Hayes, their Senior Counselor.  Mr Roger is one of the globally renowned  Public Relations and Public Affairs specialist.

In a free-wheeling conversation with me over telephone  for PodUniversal, he shared frankly his views on the present state of affairs of this profession globally and also suggested ways to improve the credibility. He suggested that the PA professionals should not resort to quick-fix solutions and should be more transparent.  He also suggested that they should come together and share the global best practices.  Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button.

Streaming of this audio will be smooth in broadband connections.  If you find any difficulty, you may download the audio by right clicking this link and saving to your desktop.

This audio can also be listened from the following link:

http://www.podbazaar.com/permalink/144115188075857525

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How to improve the rapid reading skills?

PodUniversal Edition 114

Many students and business professionals find difficulty in reading the materials, holding in the mind and to comprehend the contents.  Even, if they read several times, they may not be able to comprehend the contents.  Just like writing skills, reading skills is also important in business communication.

Prof. S Krishnamurthy, a well known management professor of South India gives few tips for improving effective reading skills. Please click to play to watch this podcast (3 minutes 50 sec).

This podcast may also be watched from the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v34gcQJebxg

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