 morning everybody thank you so much it's been real learning in the first session with Sanna professor Sanna Murthy when she talked about the elevator pitch very important for each one of us we may say that we are here as people on mission we are here all as coordinators but we all know that discussions and perhaps the interviews have been a part of our lives all throughout ever since we have been born the first interview if I may say and I hope you'd allow me to say the first interview that we faced each one of us faced was when we were conceived will it be the XY chromosome or the XX chromosome that was perhaps the first interview that we faced and the group discussion again is very integral to our lives whatever decision we take in our lives we sit together as a family and then make a decision don't we yeah it is rocky time perhaps some of you may have to visit your sister some of you would be helping out your spouses with shopping so before you came for the workshop you may have sat together you're here from all over India you would have talked together and decided what needs to be done in the one week you would be here that your house ought to be in order am I right again thank you so much that is group discussion and the way we negotiate in group discussion the way we put forth ideas in group discussion is something we need to practice in our business life as well something which has really been bothering me for the last couple of days I should say it's China the UN depreciation of the UN anybody any idea I do not have I come from the background I do not have much idea about finance do we have people here who have idea about finance how many of you please raise your hands oh I'm talking to a technical side I'm talking to a very technical side no mutual fund investments yeah please raise your hands please put your hands up up high up for me to see one two three four five six lovely may I have you all here please you'll be an asset to my discussion today may I have you all here please come over I request you okay I just want to know from you all was this the right time for me to invest I had also an advisor with me right but yeah definitely required because I had also started like you but this is the right this is the right to invest what is your opinion yes obviously there's no doubt I think Monday or I mean I can invest even today actually has to busy with the workshop but if you yes when the sensex is down the market is going down that is the time you should invest then only you can get in respect of return you can get the highest return in that case on but you have to keep your patience you have to wait for long time it's not about the short term okay so that's thank you so much as far as investment is concerned every time is a right time to invest man okay there is no long time to be invest the thing is we should be a selective in investment so selective in the sense it is every time you keep on investing but where to invest how to invest is important we need to analyze where we are investing it is matter okay you may talk amongst one another thank you very much sir for that input but then you may talk amongst one another as he was telling fundamentalism and technicalness is not important and you should be always watching out the market and one more anytime is the right time to invest that you told we have to be watchable as you told it has to be selective I agree with that you have to be watchable that's that that's one more point I would like to add to what you said so another point that I want to add here is that risk factor if you are investing in a diversified profile where different kind of industries are there so you are a little bit more safe I cannot say you are safe a little bit more safe I guess in terms of if one industry goes slow then other industry can save your investment a little bit so that's my opinion on this systematic investment planning has seemed to be better than say investing at large because systematic can take the average of say rupee average and compounding of interesting that's what I feel but I had invested on Saturday only and on Monday suddenly my broker gave me a message that sir stop your payment if possible it was not possible but still now the sensex is rising if it is a systematic investment plan you didn't stop it it has to continue on systematic investment plan is the right chance but at your age it is not that good you could have invested in your sons or that age maybe you can go up to 30 years or 40 years maybe 20 20 to 25 years agree it was not it was not additional purchase it was different make a point there is no age limit for investment you keep on another thing there is something called as conservative investment and aggressive investment sorry myself Saheb sorry for interrupting you all the right thing is I don't live in investment in any like banking or anything else which can help in increase the money or the value of money I just believe the investment in human capital is the quite good in investing any other form like home or flat or land everything is else is second thing but the investment in human capital would be done the first but the IIT bum is going to do thank you very much everybody I think I have proved my point I just wanted to let you know what a group discussion is and by looking at them perhaps whatever I am going to talk today has been manifested out there in a group thank you so much thank you very much each one of you the conclusion was actually given by Bhagesh out here then we have Saheb he came up with that creative bit on human investment okay once the conclusion has been made he decided he had something to talk about in a group discussion he started he started instinctively by saying I'm sorry I am such and such person so perhaps what I should have told you towards the end comes in the very beginning once the conclusion has been made if you need to talk about anything different and if you feel the pressure that it is going to contribute to your discussion you should seek the permission and then let the people know because if you don't say that you'll not have a good night rest that evening okay welcome to the session on group discussion whatever you said was sharing of opinion exploring people's opinion there were certain instance when somebody made a pitch and the other person felt that he could actually improve upon it so you were improving upon the opinion some felt that it was not done ages no bar so it was negated okay but it was again done in a manner not to offend the other person so everything all these things constitute and then luggage very aptly decided well this is a classroom we had to talk about other things as well so let me summarize things up he perhaps saw my body movement which said okay I guess we need to conclude a group discussion every group discussion must have a time period as well we are here as coordinators and we would have to teach our students about how to handle a group discussion and the first thing first would be time limit within that time frame what you need to talk how much you need to talk and how many points how many entries do you need to talk we have a difficult time when the interview we have a difficult time when people are trained into one aspect and a group discussion becomes a fish market I allowed there was some very healthy discussion tempers were rising shall enter and there was one other person there were arguments taking place out there okay so again that is again a very healthy aspect of a group discussion because unless and until your tempers are raised that which you are hiding inside will not come out you need to be activated now I think I'm talking some sense with the technical group also then the catalyst is within you and you have to talk about it let's see if whatever we did just now has a bearing out there what are the objectives of a group discussion GDPI is not only integral for a selection process it is very close to my heart as well simply because when our students and let's talk about our students when they go they are trained in such a manner that they are told you just have to crack this and nothing else no when you crack it when you are there a part as a part of a corporate or an institution the scenario changes entirely you're not allowed to ban the desk out there you're not allowed to shout back at people which people normally train you to do you have to be heard but you have to be heard with sensitivity towards other people sharing of ideas exploring differences of opinion negotiating navigating through sensitive turns perhaps had I allowed Saheb to go on he was talking about human investment that is again a wide topic and perhaps things would may have come that could have led to sensitive turns how should we handle those sensitive turns is again very important in a group discussion do not make personal remarks it has to be objective and perhaps the objectives has that objective to tell you testing ideas to getting group opinions and summarizing I think what is followed when we have this impromptu group discussion out here yes or no am I being understood thank you so much we are going to talk about the tenets of a GD if you wish to add something to it please add to it yes in a GD so we are trying to bring a solution to a problem can we talk about a timeframe for a GD yeah for example 10 to 12 minutes okay so during that 12 minutes let's say like 8 to 10 GD members are there so they are allowed to discuss and finally if there is a problem then it will come up with a solution we all appear most of us not all of us but most of us are parents out here aren't we please raise your hands to all our parents out here daughter sons not and another concept is live-in relationship okay can we get a conclusion for that in a GD difficult it will we do not have to let it be a debate please GD is not a debate thank you so much for bringing that point out debate ends at a college level post that we come to group discussions it is fine so GD what happens in a GDA you should at corporate level you should get a conclusion what usually happens that you the first round would be a GD and then perhaps you take away the take away from GD and then get into a meeting where there is in-depth analysis of the things which you have talked that is at the corporate level at we are going to talk about things why GD is not a debate and why it should not always have a conclusion even in the moderating panel if we talk about the selection process even in the moderating panel we could have people who may have difference of opinion I may think that live-in is fine the other person may think that it is not fine it is against our culture look how can we conclude it we cannot yes truly see ma'am there are several purposes of group discussions as you have mentioned but the general purpose that we see most of the people are engaged in several kinds of discussions and these are informal discussions you need not to have a really completely expertise in the subject we have seen that recently so many issues are widely discussed like executions of Yaqub Menon there are so many people they were not aware exactly what has happened and what is the legal system to do it but they were discussing it so when we see some general discussions are there the purpose is to develop better perspective on it the other objectives may be what you say solving problem making decision and another one for which we conduct GD is assessment of the candidate who is trying to get recruited somewhere in some company very true we are trying to assess so how do we assess what are the points are we looking for ma'am there are so many things if you want I can share you here we will be taking care of those points thank you so much menu your name please my name is Dhammapal thank you very much for your input I think he has given what we are going to talk about again in our interview skills assimilation we have to make an assessment but when we say assessment or evaluation or a selection we are actually putting fear in the minds of our students first and foremost if we really want our students to crack the interviews we have to build upon the psychology but that would be taken care of when we talk about the interview skills here we talk about team play initiative leadership skills listening and creativity very interestingly flexibility and assertiveness have been put just one after the other it was demonstrated here Shailendra had made a point and then he said okay fine yes you are right he acceded to the other person in debate it doesn't happen in a GD you can actually shift stance if you feel why when we are assessing when the corporate assesses are our students they are not assessing them merely for the points they have put forward they are also assessing them for the team play you cannot be rigid you need to be flexible we have interaction with the corporate wall and they come out and say it was a very healthy discussion everybody the students come out saying it was a very healthy discussion we had wonderful time this that I made so many points and well tempers fled this past and suddenly we realized that none of the students have been selected from that particular group I have been answering this question for now several years that it went so well madam I made so many entries and then they did not select me so usually my first class on a GD or on a PI is usually I asked them my class begins with an interview a mock interview or a mock GD session and then we have a session for three hours so towards the end maybe post half an hour or one and a half hour we have another round of GD out there and you could see the difference why yeah ma'am you just said that the flexibility has to be there this is my perception if we are too flexible doesn't that show that we are not able to take a stand and we are not firm to our own conditions and we can change the for example you're in a company you're discussing on a project of around thousand crores you are in the middle of the project and then you change a stand and you start over again that won't be very feasible idea for a company maybe so isn't that possible that we take a stand and stick to it while the GD so that we can have a better conclusion and better ideas okay you know there are situations and we are not everybody we are not trade we feel or maybe we get a little egoistic which we shouldn't get okay so what happens out there is if you have to change your stance not for the mega crore company right over there perhaps you need to discuss it with your CEO or the project manager as to how now at this particular juncture you feel a verse to the plan that would be a different segment altogether because lots of money is involved at the selection process what we need to tell them is perhaps I was taking a micro view of the situation if you take a mega view of the situation it would work out this well or perhaps you are taking a mega view of the situation if you take a micro view of the situation this would work well what happens here your ego is also satiated okay and you're showing graciousness by accepting his point it's all about framing your sentences how you frame your sentences and how you present them to the audience which matters here in GD in your personal communication okay I just might say will you do this for me he's a very senior person right and if I tell him he would feel offended I might just go near him and tell him sir could you please help me out with this I'm a little stuck out here let's suppose he's an ID expert okay so you need to more than thank you so much I took it without your permission so that's how you need to work around with any form of communication okay let's not barricaded as GD PI meetings negotiations let it be across a wider platform any kind of communication and we need to work on these things be it your personal life or your other corporate or professional life initiative who speaks first there is always a rush amongst our students when you gift them when you ask them to do a GD there's always a rush I will get that point okay because the initiator is normally looked up to as to be being the leader okay let us suppose one of our very important industrialists hold the board meeting and he's to discuss about something really important to the company okay and he comes and says okay we are here to discuss about the financial policies which we want to put up and I think I support it how many of you would actually go against him maybe very subtly some of you who feel very close to him may talk about it otherwise you wouldn't the initiator's job in a GD is very important is extremely important because what you need to do is you need to explain the topic to the group post that normally we say that you should leave it like that on a platter for others to pick it up but in amongst the students what happens no madam that is my strong point I want to say it so I tell them okay fine the strongest point that you have needs to be put forth post initiating a GD don't rattle don't give one two three four five what else is there to talk about what else is there to talk about if you've made all the point your pitch very clear in the very first entry that you have made and if it is a 15 minute GD you're expected to talk at least six times right supports that what you would be doing you'd be doing yeah yeah yeah I agree with him yeah yeah I agree with her oh yes that is a very good point but have you could build up on that ma'am sorry to interrupt you know it's perfect ma'am is it better to speak for or against can you just give me some guidelines on that we had on the onset speak either for or against the topic I don't have any issues with that okay it is just that when no it will not become a debate we may have very strong opinions in a GD also it is the way you present your points which matters it is the way you negate other people is what matters yes all can go wrong all can go right yes you could be neutral also actually doesn't pay in our GD especially in the selection process they would want some creative inputs to you so if you are being neutral you need to give some creative inputs why you wish to be neutral when you're talking for it or when you are talking against it always remember that when the other person says your mannerism should not be normally what happens when somebody is trying to negate you and that's how you do you're sitting and yet your body language says you are not appreciative of what is being said in a GD we need to tell our students that you should be wary of the third person in the panel in the moderator list who doesn't speak of what he is the body language expert he is the one who's watching you for your kindness and perhaps the decision to whether you would be in or out would depend on that person I'm sorry to interrupt actually normally in debate actually now we do in group discussions what happens is like if you throw upon one topic in which the students has to go far and against like that but it is as per your things actually it is not like that actually you are telling that it is not debate actually if you are going far and against it will become a debate ever right for a simple topic actually but actually the GD's objective is to get so many opinions right so many opinions has to come and that opinion which is based we are not going to see which is best or which is worst actually right when we actually let them flare there has to be amongst the six of you who's participating in a GD not everybody would be taking the foreign against that's the thing actually there would be one voice which would say well let's get to the discussion and that is the person who becomes the leader the person will be leader that is the person who becomes leadership yeah so I wanted to thank you very much for steering me to leadership initiator may also go wrong he will come as such he wants to tell something he is the person who wishes to make the first entry just want him for us actually but it may go wrong exactly so that is what in a GD we need to tell our students that the initiator may have talked about it but if you feel that he has not made the pitch properly you could talk about it again and set the GD on the right platform very important then where is the question of the wrong side we don't have a right that's not be any in any GD they cannot be a right and a wrong side so the debate has converted into the differentiator the decorum of that GD is that with the help of that asset units asset units is one of the ingredient of our GD it is there and if there is the asset units for the initiators that decorum of that GD will start in the level of the GD is going to be improved with the full of very true very true so the owners lies on the initiator and that is why we need to train our students into the fact that if you are not confident about the topic yes we need to train our students you know from these inputs we can actually go there where I want to go you need to tell your students that if you are not confident about a topic don't try being the initiator don't take the initial plunge level of confidence is going to be highlighted in these things no idea it could be that we are talking about there is a group discussion we are going to have Ganpati Pooja in a few days from now so we could have a group discussion on that how to do things okay so there everything would be finalized perhaps post a half an hour or a one hour decision one hour group discussion we can actually have cabinets which would be working for the decoration the Pooja committee the finances the food so there we have a GD which has our conclusion go for a GD with an open mind it has several purposes it could be for reaching a solution immediate solution it could be merely what else we could do for the organization what else we could do for the institute we are at this level we are at a B grade level in order to get into that a category of institutions what else needs to be done that cannot be done in a single GD session okay ma'am in a corporate sector if the GD is going on among the board of members each one will share their opinions then who is the authority to take the decision give the solution normally people would navigate through each other's opinion okay and then towards the end if the GD has progressed in the manner it ought to then perhaps you definitely reach a solution and it would be almost always a unanimous decision again I want to point one thing out here since you brought in the corporate side there may be a case in the corporate side wherein you are in a GD and five of them are on one side you are the lone member on the other side okay it happens that I just cannot go maybe some ethical issues are there and I don't feel comfortable going for that particular decision so what do we do then stick to your chance stick to your stand if you're so wish to if you're so committed to it but let the team know that whatever decision has been taken by the majority I shall participate and do my work out there two things are going to happen one you show that you are a team player two if that decision phase we are going to fall back on what you had said earlier if you are talking about winning and losing the game you eventually emerge as a winner ma'am you said the initiator cannot go wrong there's no right or wrong what if if he has deviated from the top I did not see initiative the discussion that happened with us here said in the case of assertiveness what if the initiator the person or in the group member has got it totally wrong somebody in the next yeah in the discussion somebody has totally deviated from the topic correcting him is it advisable yes definitely that is what we said that is what we have zeroed in on and that person emerges as a leader so in fact in a discussion there could be changes in who would be the leader out there listening and creativity let's come to listening skills I think we all need to practice listening skills okay I'll take that question also and it's not a question actually it is just the clarification initiate your initiation it is said that initiating a group discussion is a high profit high loss strategy if you initiate it with good point you are having a very good impression if you initiate with the bad point as he has said of course you are going to have an impression and the second point is initiation does not happen only in the beginning of group discussion suppose five minutes have been spent somebody who is coming with new idea that's also an initiation so it is not that in the only beginning initiation should happen a new idea is always a contribution initiation means initiating a group discussion let's take it in bullets initiating is initiating a group discussion the initiator definitely initiating at this group discussion is a high profit high loss game because if you do it right you make a good impression if you do not do it right well you need to improve during the course of GD second if the initiator goes wrong there should be another member who puts the GD on the right track by introducing it okay so now there has been a second initiation when we talk about points GD is all about sharing we said and GD is all about creative points right so every creative point cannot be an initiation it is adding on to the discussion that is happening out here when we talk about creativity now here there could be several discussions and you could actually say I don't think I'm not very comfortable with it but you know what happens many a times I felt when I've kept quiet okay there may be an idea which is nowhere connected it just comes I listen to somebody's idea and I feel is that possible and I want to say that it is not connected let me tell you it is not connected okay I feel it is not connected but somewhere in my subconscious I feel it is connected somewhere and I want to say it so if we throw it on them it wouldn't be the right thing to do because then perhaps there would be people who yeah okay okay fine the best way to talk about introduce out there would be I have something I think there's something which is niggling and I would like to share it with you I don't know whether it's connected or not but I wish to share it with you and then you put the idea across human investment is the best example for what you have told exactly so thankful to him and perhaps we are having a practical this is not a session actually this is actually a GD group discussion which is going on out here so creativity again another thing with creativity is see that other team members even for your interview selection process other team members explore it what usually happens in a GD is we keep on giving points but there's no building up on the points especially that is something our undergrad students when they are looking for a job elsewhere they do it tell them as an observer as a panelist people are looking if we have to take two people you look for somebody who really puts on ideas properly and somebody who really builds and analyzes those ideas properly okay and if it is a healthy group discussion out there the team sees the corporate sees that the entire team is workable and perhaps they will not take anybody from the college but that particular team so that is why we need to train our students in group discussion and it's been happening madam I have with respect to leadership I need some clarification yeah like whenever the thought word and deed both should harmonize they should be a harmony so when somebody tells that has to follow an implementation should be there in group discussion what is happening is in order to identify the leader see it like the one who is giving some merit points fine we are saying them as a leader but like so many points can be told but in implementation may not happen it so how the leadership quality is being identified there we will talk about it here itself okay knowledge basic evaluation component is knowledge communication skills group behavior and leadership skills and we would be here not talking about anything mega but we'll be focusing on GD per se before we really move on to the knowledge concept this is what normally as a panelist you would also observe obviously every institute whatever we are trying to give out here is you know a basic firmament my institute may be a research organization and I may be on the lookout for something different so for me perhaps at that juncture knowledge quotient will be high if I am a marketing firm and I have put across the institute that anybody with a seven point can appear for my interview I know that is my basic knowledge quotient now I am looking for somebody who has good communication skills okay good marketing skills it may vary just remember it may vary and the students have to be careful where they are applying and what they are applying for panel normally observes number of ideas one puts forward consistently you cannot that is why I said being an initiator and putting all your points out there does not work depth of analysis you may have put an idea and let us suppose there are no takers for that idea when you come back when you get a chance link your idea with someone else's idea so that there is a circle which is being formed out there one plus one plus one so we are all trying to forge a relationship out there that is what a GD should be so when we are training our students let's not train them just for the selection process there is a group called Talaran doing here working here and what they are doing is they are trying to bridge the gap between the graduates and those who work for the carpets that they say there is a bridge the work readiness is not there why we are training them aren't we we are training them for the GD we are training we are training them for the presentations we are training them in their interviewer skills and yet we do not have a work readiness so what we need to do as coordinators is train them for a longer period of time time sharing and orderly conduct however negotiates and exceeds the point as properly shown by Shalindra if I agree I would take a micro view if I agree if I disagree even then I will let them know very politely that okay fine I do not agree let's talk about yes okay before you say give me one topic knowledge knowledge is necessary or not okay knowledge is necessary should we say GD is necessary or not right GDO PI is necessary or not actually what I'm telling is if you are you're telling something like accepting things like if you are so submissive enough then you will not submissive no no if you're accepting the points then the person who has told the point will be winner actually if normally if they choose them actually if it is the case what will be the solution actually what I'm telling is we should be somewhat assertive and our point should be something known to them actually but if you are accepting that guy who has told then automatically we are leaving our point we are being living our stand and we are going down am I right I told you I think I made a point that if you are very confident about your point stick to it you don't have to be submissive stick to your point that is my submissive was not there flexibility is there when you are in a dilemma when you are in a dilemma whether to do this or that then that question arises otherwise you have to be assertive now what happens people may have been you could how would you be assertive what is your how do you think in a group discussion you could be assertive with a group no actually the everyone in the group has to show their assertiveness how how no in the way which how they are standing on their point am I right so how would you show that you are standing on your point that point should be valid if the point is valid if the point is valid you don't need to shift instant no if something as we're telling previous line I think like you're telling about some we can flexible okay the flexibility cannot go to certain level in which we will be out of the contest we don't have to be submissive if we are confident about our point it's only when we see reason it's only when we see rationing that we change our stance otherwise we don't okay yes ma'am I would like to add something if I want to show that I am assertive yet I want to be firm on my opinion so I might say something like whatever you are saying it might be true but I have a slightly different opinion on this then I can begin with my own point maybe thank you very much for that because we would be talking about communication skills that is something which I wanted then okay it is through your voice modulation and your sentence construction how you accede which is important okay so if I have to say something we have to do it through voice modulation perhaps you could just shift your instance I told you in a GD and a PI you should one should always be aware of the person who does not ask you a question and the person who just watches you closely so normally when we are having a discussion we are sitting like this normally because it's a discussion we are all leaning at this particular degree if you have to make a point if you have to be assertive just recline okay you could be either 90 or you could be 120 depending on how firm you are with your point okay so if it is if you feel there are tempers rising and you need to show more authority and rigidity 90 degree angle is fine perfect okay but you're so firm and you know that amongst the six or seven people participating in a GD you have made friends you have made friends perhaps a reclining attitude conveys that calmness as well as authority so you are doing it with your body language you may not know it it may not come across because we have never been made aware of a body language and then what you do is I yes I do think your tone would change out there yes I do think it makes matters more interesting it does that to the point and yet and yet and you move forward make your pitch again and recline again so what you are training your students to do is do it through voice modulation do it through body language why because we cannot fight in our GD okay in a in a debate we used to say my esteemed friend right and then there were I think I forget those terminologies but there were very interesting terminologies which were being used to contrast the effect we cannot do it in a group discussion so we are doing it through our body language we will talk about it so exploring both macro and micro view ability to generate analyze and organize ideas creatively if we have let us say in a 10 minutes of GD we could only come up with two points it happens maybe none of you know none of our students would know about that topic right and we come up with only two points in that case perhaps analyze and try to organize that idea based on those points so these are the inputs we need to give our students another thing very important thing this was one of my very first interviews and we had to talk about euthanasia which was then a new concept most of us in the group most of the people in the group did not understand what euthanasia was okay so there were couple of us who knew about it they waited there were no initiators we waited for others to start there were no initiators so then what we did was we realized that perhaps we need to explore the topic we need to explain the topic in that case I often say don't be in a rush to make an entry I tell my students wait if there are seven eight normally there are eight people in a GD so I tell them wait let four people speak before you so that you would have a fair idea of what they are talking and you are at a level you have been students you have been technical graduates you are at a level where you can actually think about a great idea and make a pitch perhaps for the first time at the fifth number rather than sounding a novice trying to make an initiator's pitch make your entry at the fifth number okay because somebody has to come there also right so we always do not negate people who make the last entry we are watching for people to make the right pitch to come up with the right idea okay the only thing is at that particular point see that you talk for a little longer give the idea and then explain the idea as well believe me go and tell the moderator so could we have another topic you asked a very interesting question and I regret that particular thing even today that was my ISC intermediate science examination it was my physics paper which was my weakness and it was a practical examination I knew that the denominator of my lab did not work some days you know they go wrong when things have to go wrong they go wrong two of us got the denominator experiment she at during that time you had to lose five marks if you changed experiments that girl went she changed the experiment she got a 40 I did not I don't know what had happened to me I did not and later I was told that my external and my internal they were fighting about me my internal said no I know the student and you have to pass her because I ended up you know manipulating results a person like me I'm always you know in trouble regarding these things my biology external she said why did she go and help the other person I had got a venous you know the vein vein system so I dissected it pretty well very fast and then another friend she had to do the arterial system and she cut main artery so the blood was flowing out there so I went I tied it with a string and said okay come on do it she saw it and she was like so I've always been getting into trouble that was one day and I realized no it is always good to go and ask the worst would they would say they are not very efficient with current affairs minus one but if post that you have been able to give a good group discussion that minus one doesn't matter they wouldn't even come back to it okay communication skills active listening clarity of thought and expression very important whatever you present I have come across several students who say madam it is all there it is all there but we cannot express ourselves again my advice to them is nobody's they always give you a page maybe a small diary you can carry a small diary with you and scribble points out there I have been in the same boat it is only during my masters when I made my presentation and I was all worked up JNU has a culture of making presentations a lot and I was so worked up I prepared hard for it I went for that professor's seminar made my presentation and then that he told I didn't know we have such good orators in the class you'd never know when your moment of confidence comes post that work hard scribble something forget about the marks forget about the selection process tell them make those points refer to them when you're talking take the point look into the eye of your people and then talk eye contact is very important when they were having the discussions I said it is amongst you that you have to talk you don't have to talk to your moderator because when you look into the eye of the person when you are communicating with the person the facial expression tells you who your friend is who you should be friend who's going to develop your point and who's going to negate it so somebody who's going to negate it don't look into the eye of that person I listen until you have to talk directly to that person don't fluency and voice modulation very important for all my presentations wherever I go I want them to have the things recorded and the students go and look at it because that is the only way when you can really improve your body language the day your recording says I love your voice you have nailed it the day you wish to you listen to your own voice communication skill is no longer your problem your issue okay again mirror practice a professor Moorthy had also said for your elevator pitch go mirror practice why because you know what happens if you do not go for mirror practice or if you do not practice in front of anyone else there could be one point you're very passionate about so when you talk about that point your eyes may glow and at times you are so animated it doesn't suit the professional scale so when you are talking okay when you're monitoring these things matter a lot we will come to these things again because again for your elevator pitch it has to be conversational you should mug it up but it should not be presented as a mugged up piece of communication do not beat around the bush be clear correct and concise because in that 15 minutes or 10 minutes of group discussion you have to showcase your knowledge your communication skills in a GD it is extremely important that's how we select leaders your functional ability your coordinating ability and ability to deal with hostile and dense situation again talking about euthanasia it was the same interview and we all were having discussions out there and suddenly what happens we were saying I think that was 15 years back 15 almost 15 18 years back and I could say I was a little immature then so we were talking about the vegetative state of somebody and most of us of the six almost four five of us were of the opinion that what's life in vegetative stage even the family members suffer for us their life is actually you know there's no life for them also it revolves around the person who's there so had I been in that case I would have gone for euthanasia and suddenly one of our group discussion members burst into tears we did not observe that for the last few minutes she had been keeping quiet then she said that her husband was in that stage and she couldn't let him go I talked about sensitive turns these kind of sensitive turns when we talk we do not realize we are objective we are being objective we do not allow the emotional quotient to come today's world is about emotional quotient believe me we need to train our students into that you could say it's a cut throat competition out there and yet and yet they are looking for people who would have this kind of sensitivity with all kinds of commissions coming in any question I've been talking for so long any question out there thank you I have a question which might be somewhat naive these these points you are presenting they are primarily geared for students appearing in an interview or prior or simultaneously or after an interview rate for a hiring process now when we had these five or six faculty members here that was also a group discussion but my question is are the general rules of engagement the same for this sort of setting as opposed to a student setting or are they different and if they're different in what way are they different thank you very much for the question but if you ask me whatever I'm presenting here holds water for anywhere and everywhere whenever I train my students I tell them listen in the corporate world that there would be a subtle differences there would be subtle differences why better because in a group discussion you have to in those 15 minutes you have to talk about two to three points that rush is not there at your level you can sit at ease you don't have a 15-minute gd right and you could actually talk with other people you know the topic a group discussion will not be impromptu for you you would already know about the group discussion perhaps they would send a mail to you and it would be sent maybe a fortnight before right so over there you would be expected to know about the topic to know about what you are going to discuss and believe me you are there in the gd simply because you have an expertise out there for our students we don't count on their expertise we give them a topic at random he may be from a mechanical engineer we may want him we will want him to talk about biology okay so he has to be lucky to talk about the applications of late right so at times for the introduction for these processes luck definitely pays it's only when however we cannot work on luck and we have to steer through navigate through whatever topics we are being given and for these things this would work okay any question regarding those three components knowledge communication skills leadership skills yeah ma'am sometimes what happens the students may be better to speak in as a own regional language so in that case well can he participate in gd or how we need to know who the participants are let us suppose you have people in a technical institute we have people from all over India somebody with a bhojpuri somebody with Malayali somebody with Marathi let's suppose the group is you know a conglomerate of all these do you think we can still talk in a regional language will Hindi be a it'll be very I mean the people from North India would be very happy but I think somebody from the western or the southern part is not well-versed with Hindi either okay many a times you know many a times there are debate about there are discussions and debate about whether why English should be you know the language of communication we have diverse culture and perhaps that is why we need to have one common language in a group discussion I am coming to that point you may not be very well-versed with English okay but you have extremely important points in that case a less correct English maybe English which has not grammatically correct words don't keep quiet if you keep quiet I have a very simple analysis if I keep quiet as it is I'm not going to be selected right so why lose my chance by keeping quiet let me talk and if they feel that I'm worth it my points are worth it they may hire me and train me so don't keep yourself from answering yes SSB they allow the students to switch over from Hindi to English in English to Hindi whenever they will convenient so perhaps that is what I have suggested to him it could be incorrect you could lapse into your mother tongue in Hindi or raw if it is if you suppose if all the students are from Gujarat okay and you think you can lapse into Gujarati at time it gives that it adds that human element to the discussion language comes later okay but you need to put your points forward okay it brings spontaneity also and the best thing is you know I think most of the presenters that I have seen especially at higher level they lapse into some of these you know in the mother tongue or maybe Hindi whatever is the mother tongue for a moment and we tend to appreciate it yes ma'am what my colleague colleague was now right now talking about like it was about students well there are students if you give them a chance well they would prefer to speak in their mother tongue what do we do in that case like when we are having the group discussions it is with the objective to appear in an interview or for a company selection if that is the objective in that case could we give them a chance to speak in Hindi or it could be in the PI in a group discussion I told you if everybody is not comfortable your ideas need to be shared by the other people other six people in the group if the other six people do not understand you can we really do it what is the purpose of group discussion in that case supposing everyone understands it would depend on that it would allow for it would know I would it would be like depend on the company policy then we are talking about hiring it would depend on upon company policy just a minute just to add to your point let us suppose Reliance is looking for a company that they have in Gujarat they would want people to speak Gujarati as well as English so somebody who has a good base in Gujarati and maybe our tentative base in English would be preferred out there you have to learn that Japan also Japan Korea everywhere okay in that case the we should rather say it is communication skills in English the proficiency if it is important then proficiency should be in English or it should be in any language I would appreciate that the colleges have tutorials to improve the students in their English communicator skills well that you'd appreciate even we would appreciate supposing if it is not there supposing because our students who come from rural areas yes they do not have I know that they don't have the proficiency in that case if we are at the other side and if we are to make the selection we need to first analyze whether our teaching mode is in English or in his tongue because there I will not be teaching in Gujarati I will be teaching in English we do not have textbooks in Gujarati so we need to for the assimilation process also we need to see that there has to be some learning from the common language I have a question regarding leadership qualities so coordinating is a quality of a leadership and he should be have a polite thirst towards participation thank you very much for bringing that and don't you think that if student doesn't know anything about the topic and the person who acts as a leader asks him for his opinion don't you think that actually he's putting him in trouble may I know your name please I'm Uttam okay Shalindra it's been a wonderful presentation you know the way you participated in the group discussion it was wonderful the points to put forward and Bhagesh and the rest of them it is really good I'm sure we'll have people I'm sure we'll have people who'd like to contribute to the discussion right what I have done is I have spoken with them I have moved I have stopped at Uttam and the entire group knows that he has not been talking so the entire group looks at him we wait for 10 seconds maybe 15 and then somebody take initiation to talk to bring out a different point yeah most of the times what happens if two or three students are not talking they are not participating in the group what leader does you know he asks by pointing out his finger what is your opinion pointing out a finger yeah it is not allowed I know but they put him in trouble by asking or forcing him to put forward he's that is not GD that is not GD that happens okay since it happens and yes it happens since it happens and yes it happens so perhaps someone else could take an initiation or maybe the person could only take an initiation and say well I think we all have something to say and we all would say at the opportune moment that should be enough what I think is that if a person is trying for a more than two three minutes or through times he should give him an opportunity for example if he's some somebody's troubling to put forth his opinions later should ask him or give him opportunity to thank you very much again for bringing that point out you have been trying for two to three times okay and you have not got an opportunity believe me in a selection process of a GD what's important is to be heard it's very important to be heard so what you do is now you go a little overboard you go a little overboard you put your hand up you cannot do it like this but what you do is you put your hands up now if the other person who's aggressive is not responding to it the moderator knows it that that person is not allowing the person to talk you saw this purpose one second objective is everybody looks at you and realizes okay he wants to say something so they are going to wait for you so put your hands up and say raise the voice a little bit may I I have something very important to say so you do it with your body language and your voice modulation okay yeah I'm sure all of us here need to talk something we have all of us here have some very important point let us suppose you are the one who's doing the talking okay relentlessly talking so I'm sure all of us here need to talk have some very creative point and I'm sure we would all love to have the opportunity to talk the focus comes down there okay so you would realize okay fine I'm going overboard many a times what happens is we do not realize that we are going overboard we have so excited animated in the discussion that we need somebody to say okay so then we realize and then we let others talk it's a team play the first thing on my slide was team play we have to be there for people we have to realize what body language is and how important voice modulation could be normally for some interview selections we have abstract topics they could give you something ten minutes preparation time and ask you to talk on things TD based on topic start early to avoid preempt someone else speaking about the same idea and do not speak unless you have something substantial to say we have talked about it wait for it wait for the analysis to come to you and then talk observe assimilate talk okay when inner face the next would be based on case study whenever it is a case study it is normally normally it is in the corporate house for your promotions wherein they want you what they are looking for is an alternative course of action a decision out there they have given you a case study so they want a decision on it you cannot say I cannot take a decision out there it is a case study and you need to evaluate it post your evaluation you need to make a decision and how you would implement that decision fine maybe at that particular time you have not worked upon the budget so budget is as much as you want but in a case study for a promotion you give two pitches one would be when you have ample budget and one would be a contingency plan if the budget is not allowed so and then you should have pie charts and all in order to participate in a GD what's important here is be logical at all point you have to be logical that is what we are being paid for we are not being paid for fancy words yes initially perhaps when we throw certain words certain ideas it works out well for a couple of years but when we are there to do some hardcore work it is being logical that counts and that is why I said in a GD if you are very confident about your point you have sounded it from all sides and zeroed it on that stick to it because if their plan fails they will come to your plan the contingency plan okay very simple questions should a GD be initiated by pointing a leader at the start fill in the blanks okay which one would come first fill in the blanks the key point in a group discussion is is how one thinks and not one thinks you know what happens that is common for the interview also and because we are taking a we are having a session both in GD and PI together let me just tell you many a times I think you will identify with it you give us through a question to your student okay he could be a mechanical engineer he could be a chemical engineer you throw a question to him at him and he starts solving it the moment he asks for a pen and a paper in your mind you feel okay he's logical that is the first impression that one gets and at times it does happen he may be halfway through the problem and you say okay fine you go to another question why because you have known yeah he's logically reasoning it so you don't want to spend time on that he has made a mark with you over there that is why I said the key point in a group discussion is how one thinks and not what one thinks also the key leadership skills evaluated in a group discussion of functional ability coordinating ability ability to deal with hostility implementation and contingency all the three all the three so the presentation on group discussion which was brought to you by IT Bombay comes to an end and perhaps before we really begin with the personal interviews you could share something with us about the GDs you may have handled the GD you may have addressed the GD you may have participated in anything interesting I have been talking for a long time what is the aim of all this exercise the aim is because we as teachers should be well equipped so that we can train our students properly this is aim of all this exercise isn't it now we expect that our students should work on a global platform we don't want to restrict them to a particular area isn't it so but then sometimes what happens initially students are reluctant to speak forget about English language or local language so what do we do at our place initial 4 to 5 GDs are conducted in local language just to make them comfortable and then gradually we switch on to English language this is what we do that's a lovely methodology that is what has to be done allow them to talk we need to take them out of the groove out of the shell first so my whole exercises perhaps you'll get it in my resume my whole exercise is to bring them bring people out of their shells I take management classes right I work with corporates and everywhere I have just one condition give me ample time so that my students can make a presentation and believe me wherever I have gone normally 75% of the students say this is the first time we are making a presentation that is the stage so we need to bring them out from the shells and perhaps I'm going to establish these things when we begin with our interview skills yes I want to speak on the same thing and I want to speak on the other point also see ma'am I would like to tell it personally it's my observation also I have been teaching group discussion right from 2009 okay means use of English for a GD or maybe some for a technical communication or for business communication I know that the place of mother tongue cannot be taken by any other language I do agree and I'm very firm on this when we want to convey something that is very close to us definitely our first language plays very vital role but now when we talk about liberalization globalization and forget about globalization we are staying in the country you know that so many languages are there and we cannot learn all the languages at once in this short time I can give the example here you know in this workshop faculties are from all the states of India I am staying with the person means majority of them are from Tamil Nadu if I hadn't been knowing English I wouldn't able to communicate with them and another thing as ma'am has stated I do agree with you ma'am I am from also rural area students from rural area have problem to use English I am also from rural area I have just 35 marks in my SSC in English but still I use English because I change myself according to the environment we need to change ourselves if you say every time that there is my father my mother is not literate they do not use English somebody is from that is not an excuse that certainly it's not an excuse yeah that we need to stop and we need to make a change and I have done in my college I'm teaching at Ratnagiri FMT majority of the students are from rural area and they find so many difficulties but what the fear of English once we remove it definitely they can do it and I have long list of student those were not able to you understand they do well now very good congratulations congratulations actually let's give them a big hand that is what we have to do that is what we are all here for mission on a mission I think professor of range research in our session talked about it ma'am sir was talking about language I think GD is not about language it's about content confidence comes if we have a content if we know the subject matter we will be able to speak only I know a thing or two on what the topic is when you asked about mutual fund only those people who knew a thing or two about mutual fund came probably we need to strategize how do we develop reading habits so that individuals get to know a broad cross-sections and of multiple topics which would help an individual to speak out I think confidence comes with knowing a thing or two so all along we have been talking about body language and so on which can be learned in a day or two it's about conditioning I was no no it's about conditioning how do I sit how do I talk those artificial mannerism can be picked up but content cannot be picked up in a day or two probably we need to strategize more in terms of how we improve on the reading capability thank you very much for the point I think you have made very good points out there and over the video have a class which thinks more on the content one class which would talk about the communication skills the body language class we need to have a balance of the two I interact with the corporate level as well and I have had senior managers general managers as participants you know what their problem is what the issue is they work on projects but when it is the time to make a presentation someone junior or with a better communication skills is nominated to make that presentation I have a PhD in English I moved into the business communication field simply because I felt that this bridge needs to be excuse me ma'am I want to say same thing what he said I totally agree with him content is very important extremely important the most important thing let me explain I want to make a chicken curry but I don't have a chicken I can't make it but after all excuse me I want to make a chicken okay right so I speak with my friends chicken curry kane ka man kar rahi I really want to spare half chicken curry someone else might say okay fine chicken curry yes even I want to do the weather is fantastic and perhaps he will go and get the chicken curry we don't have the masala maybe he's gone out shopping right he's gone out shopping someone else will come over and said okay let's make a kolhapuri chicken he'll get the or perhaps the KFC you'll go there and you'll have it so you having the content all the content isn't very important how you make a team is what is important and in a GD that is why I said if you don't know anything about the topic wait for your turn at your intellectual level the four entries would be enough to let you know what they are talking about I think I told you that if you do not understand at corporate level ma'am you said first four candidates speaking as a fifth candidate I would get an idea what if if the all four are so ignorant and they start talking on an issue which is totally away from the topic so I would be the joining the fifth to talk on the same lines and panel member would not be that ignorant not to see that the individual doesn't know about the topic he's just beating around the bush we have already discussed and nailed that topic I think I told you in the very beginning it is important to know and if you are ignorant about the topic and most of you are ignorant about the topic turn to your moderator and say sir could you please explain the topic to us what does the whole exercise if you are just beating around the bush if you are ignorant you don't have a right to be there at corporate level if I am asked to talk about cryogenics I would say I'm sorry I do not know anything about it please do not put me there I may be a big shot in my field but I do not know anything about cryogenics I cannot if you want me to edit the report perhaps I'll do so with your inputs but otherwise I cannot believe me the end purpose of a GD is to get an idea of what we are doing to have a solution a long-term solution we have to talk sense we have to be logical and if you're not if you're not in the know of the subject we cannot be logical please put one thing everything together we have to teach our students to put everything together and then talk we cannot live in isolation we cannot just pick up a topic and say this is important this is important this is important this is not important content is definitely important if I'm not in the know I'll ask the other person because GD is all about team play it is not about individuality excuse me ma'am yeah actually GD is conducted MNC companies conduct GD to test the communication skills leadership skills and go on if at all it goes with the content they have technical interviews all they judge the students with that no ma'am so I will take your question tell me something in any of the corporate houses do you think at the board level they would be talking or you not even at the board level at the department level they would be talking and speaking in English all the time so communication skills you know if I am into business development if you're moving into the corporate world and if I need somebody for the business development program I would look for communication skills because my team my technical team would already be there to work on the logistics I need to market it and therefore perhaps over there we could work on it okay thank you very much