Vocalite… birth of a community of presentation lovers!
I was part of a unique event today- the birth of Vocalite, a community of people passionate about effective public speaking & presentation design/delivery. The venue for this ‘birth’ was the SlideShare New Delhi and on the day’s agenda was getting the preamble of Vocalite up and running. You have probably heard of existing presentation focused events/communities - Pecha Kucha, Ignite Events, Karaoke, BattleDecks - each of these follow a typical format and they are all focused on people improving their presentation skills, while having a little bit of fun. Vocalite is on similar lines, with one notable difference - it will also impart/share presentation & communication techniques explicitly through expert sessions. And yes- this initiative is coming out of India (for a change!). Check out the snaps from todays proceedings.
Vocalite is the brainchild of Mohit Chabbra, who works with MIH India (IBIBO) and heads its upcoming Mobile TV venture. He is a presentation lover and also teaches presentation/communication skills at business schools in his spare time. So when he contacted me a couple of weeks back with his plans of kickstarting a community in Delhi, I could hardly refuse him. With SlideShare, presentations have become a occupational hazard for me, so anything I can do to nucleate a community right here in Delhi is welcome.
Vocalite’s mandate is to help professionals achieve presentation/communication excellence. Check out its manifesto here. The community plans to have once-in-45-days meetups in Delhi/NCR. The events are free for all; venues will be announced separately for each meetup. The first meetup is planned on the 18th of October. If you are in Delhi and want to join the community, please go here. Any help in passing around the word and motivating friends/colleagues to join will be appreciated.
Make sure to check out the teaser for Vocalite…
Vocalite could be appealing to people from all walks of life. Making effective presentations is a such an important part of self development, whether professional or personal. Its not difficult to imagine chapters of Vocalite springing up in other cities in India (or overseas)… If this sounds game, please get in touch with Mohit here.
Lalit K. Shandilya on Sep 22, 2008
First of all I would like to thanks everyone of you to come up with this community.
Couple of weeks back Kapil, Ashish and myself had a discussion to create a small community to improve the quality of presentations in all Technical events happening in New Delhi.
So thanks again to give us a platform and like mind people in one place.
I will highly recommend to introduce Vocalite in upcoming Barcamp and OSS + FOSS workshop in IIT Delhi.
See you in the next Vocalite meeting.
Cheers!
Lalit K. Shandilya
Lalit K. Shandilya on Sep 22, 2008
!oops Ashish was not in our discussion it was me Kapil and Gaurav (Sorry buddy!).
Marissa Louie on Sep 23, 2008
Amit,
Your writing is so lucid and vivid. I got the sense of personal attachment and sense of pride in this article from you.
You’re a great writer who demonstrates his thoughts clearly and very articulately!
Cheers,
Marissa
Mohit Chhabra on Sep 24, 2008
Thanks Lalit for your encouraging comments.
Please let me know when is this happening and I will be more than glad to come and contribute.
Cheers
Mohit (mohit at vocalite dot co dot in)
Lalit K. Shandilya on Sep 25, 2008
Hello Mohit,
We have not yet decided for the next meetup, however we are working on a small checklist or short of guide-lines for technical presentations.
I will keep you posted.
Cheers!
Lalit K. Shandilya