28 MEMBER NEWS Present Around The World: meet the people who make it happen Regional finals for the IET’s presentation competition, Present Around The World (PATW), took place in the Americas, Asia Pacific, EMEA, South Asia and the UK between July and August. Although it’s a competition for students and young professionals, it’s a combined effort between competitors, local networks, On Campus student groups and IET staff to make it happen. Member News spoke to a few of the people involved this year. The local network volunteer “We have been running the PATW local heats for so long that it is now a firmly embedded item in our annual programme,” says John Ames, a volunteer for IET Anglian Coastal Local Network. “We continue to be involved because we see presentation skills as one of the essentials for a professional engineer. PATW also helps facilitate and cement our network’s relationships with local universities.” Initially, John and other volunteers liaise with academics at local universities. Their academic contacts confirm participation, then book a room and refreshments and help promote the competition. “A local network volunteer will give a presentation to the competitors on presentation technique two weeks prior to the event,” John says. “On the day, a Chair, timekeeper and three judges from the local network attend, run the event, and give feedback and certificates.” John admits organising PATW is not without its challenges, including encouraging people to attend the events. But he notes: “On the positive side, the presentation from the winner of this year’s south east round was superb.” The On Campus volunteer Kamilla Aliakhmet volunteers for her student IET On Campus Group at Nazarbayev University, Kahzahkstan, which this year supported both her university heat and the EMEA regional final. “It’s a prestigious competition, so we thought it would be a great experience to be involved in its organisation,” says Kamilla. “We learned to deal with the different aspects of organising an international event,” she continues. “We also got to know other volunteers and meet competitors from 20 different countries in the regional final. It’s also been a great opportunity to raise awareness of our On Campus group amongst the university community.” For the university heat, Kamilla’s On Campus group worked with IET Kazakhstan Local Network to arrange a venue and promote the event. For the regional final, similar arrangements had to be made, but the On Campus Group also assisted with planning social activities for visiting competitors and volunteers. “We felt proud to represent Kahazakstan amongstaninternationalcommunity,”Kamilla says.“ItwasgreattoseegueststryingKazakh food and learning about Kazakh culture.” The competitor “It’s been an incredible journey so far!” says Lakshan Subenthiran, an Assistant Project Engineer at Transport for London. He has progressed through local and area rounds of PATW to win the UK regional final. “When I entered the London heat back in March, it didn’t even cross my mind that I would win multiple rounds and eventually be the UK winner,” he says. “My confidence has increased as each round has gone by and its doing wonders for my development, both personally and professionally.” Lakshan will be joined by the following finalists at November’s global final: Mohamed Abdelazez (Americas), Christopher Tan Aik Wei (Asia Pacific), Mohammed Fauzaan Shaikh (EMEA) and Rahil Mansuri (South Asia). If you’re part of a local network or On Campus Group who would like to get involved in the competition, please get in touch with us by emailing patw@theiet.org or visiting the website www.theiet.org/patw John Ames CEng FIET Kamilla Aliakhmet (centre) at EMEA regional final Lakshan Subenthiran MIET Communities Member News – November 2018 www.theiet.org/communities