Institution news
Overall, it enhances public speaking capabilities in engineering students. A competition like SOFE plays an important part in bringing the potentially successful, albeit, shy candidates out of their bubbles and exposing them to their true capabilities.
On the 22 February 2019, IMechE DHA Suffa Chapter organised Speak Out for Engineering South Regional Competition at DHA Suffa University's Executive Lecture Theatre. Out of the 11 students who passed through the qualifiers, three won and went on to compete at the national level.
The Event
In 2019, IMechE DSU Chapter received the honour of hosting the South Regional SOFE competition for the first time. Planning for the event began in October 2018 by a team of dedicated individuals. Everything went smoothly from management and comfort to food and even the decorations.
Our esteemed guests and judges were welcomed by the Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Engr. Dr. Haider Ali and Faculty Advisor, Engr. Dr. Muhammad Farrukh Shahab. Among the chief guests were Dr. Tufail, Pro Vice-Chancellor of NED and Chair of IMechE Pakistan and Dr. Uneeb, Station Manager at Hubco and Vice Chair IMechE Pakistan. Our three judges invited, included Mr. Rashid Dastageer, member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and a certified Toastmaster, Mr. Mirza Saad Baig President of Express Toastmaster Club and Mr. Sameer Hamid Dodhi, an entrepreneur, member of Shehri-CBE and a respected member of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission. Around 50 non-members also attended the event.
The event started with a short welcome note to our guests and audience about the theme of the event and explaining what SOFE is about.
The first five presentations were delivered by
- Hasan Khan, Hubco
- Bushra Farhat, NED
- Muneeb Ather, DSU
- Zeeshan Rizvi, NUST
- Daniyal Rahim, NED.
The afternoon session, which began at 2:15 pm sharp, continued the event with the final six presentations which were then delivered by:
- Saqlain Raza, Hubco
- Qays Hasan, NUST
- Hajra Mirza, DSU
- Umer Siddiqui, DSU
- Hamza Alam, NED
- Umar Shahryar Sabswari, Hubco.
After the presentations were completed, chief guests, Dr. Tufail and Dr. Uneeb admired the efforts of participants and appreciated the breakthrough towards an initial link made with the industry, i.e Hubco, through this regional program by IMechE DSU Chapter. This was followed by valuable feedback from the judges about the presentations, including some important tips for the participants on performing and delivering the best presentations on the national and international platforms.
The winners of the competition were:
- 1st place - Hajra Mirza, DSU “Water Crisis and its Solution by Extracting Water from the Air”
- 2nd place - Bushra Farhat, NED “Smart Grids”
- Qais Hassan, NUST “Blended Wing Body Aircraft.”
The winners were given their awards and all the participants were given certificates by the Head of Department and Faculty advisor. Lastly, the chief guests and the judges were invited on stage to receive a token of appreciation from IMechE DSU Chapter in the form of shields.
The event ended with a final group picture with esteemed judges, guests, faculty and participants.