Own The Stage – A Screening session for budding Anchors by VOX Populi

On 1st June the Vox Populi collective of the college organized a screening session on one thing that holds any event together, which is anchoring. The session started at 12 noon sharp at the Placement Hall filled with 50 potential anchors from different courses of the college. All gathered to learn and dwell into the zeal of public speaking under the guidance of Prof. Vasundhara Mishra & Mentor, Samiksha Khanduri. The mentors oversaw the screening and gave their experienced tips as the session progressed with different activities.

The first round was about handling informal situations that an anchor might have to face “On The Stage”. These situations were developed in detail by the experienced anchors of the college who were the Student Coordinators of Vox Populi.  Every participant was given a statement to work on, like “How would you handle the crowd if the judge was late” and they were given a few minutes to think about the situation & act as anchors in their own exclusive ways. Each student in the room participated by going up on the stage & enacted their best anchoring techniques. A few had the confidence required while the others learned from their mistakes. The discussion felt like a squad helping each other to get better at the toughest act of all, that is being “On the stage” as an anchor. An important part of anchoring is keeping the audience entertained and engaged, so this round had participants showcasing their unique talents, like their sense of humor, singing, dancing, etc.

For the next round, each participant was given a piece of paper to read from and was given a chance to screen for formal anchoring. To get their hands on how formal events are conducted, the mic was passed on to each of the participants who were mentored professionally. Towards the end, the finalists for both formal & informal anchoring were given a chance to polish their skills in the month of June by practicing under the experts. Overall, the workshop was a great learning experience not only for the potential anchors but for the experienced ones as well. It is true that when the world is your stage, learning can never stop!

Reporter – Harmanpreet Kaur