Man The Mic Enjoys Massive Turnout, Participants Set To Practice

After some much anticipation, the oratory training event - ‘Man the mic’ – finally held on Friday, the 27th and Saturday, 28th of January at the Law Moot and Mock Court, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. 

The event, organized to train participants in the act and skill of event-related communication, had in attendance popular media personalities and practitioners including Ayodeji Simbal aka MC Simbal, Anthony Awobode aka Don Tee, and Damilare Osundare aka Asiri Nla. Others are Nancy Isime, Timi Agbaje, and Ayo Atitebi.

Declaring the event opened, the convener and organizer, Timi Agbaje in his words encouraged the participants to have an open mind and make sure they grab everything they could in the course of the training. 

The first speaker at the program, Ayodeji Simbal (MC Simbal), spoke to participants on becoming a 21st century MC.  He delved into the expected roles of a 21st century MC and how the qualities required to fulfill these roles could be acquired.  He further advised the participants to be spontaneous since their job is to make an event successful.

While delivering a straight-from-the-roots speech on ‘the Art of Faceless Communication and the business of communication’, Awobode Anthony, aka Don Tee gave insights of faceless communication like the phone conversation, social media and many more. He also talked about the mic being a paycheck even though it is not about the money but the passion.

The highly revered comedian, Asiri, finally mounted the stage to speak after a short break with light refreshments, to deliver an all-encompassing speech.  He advised the audience to develop a unique selling point for themselves, as public speaking has a language.

There was a question-and-answer session where participants asked various questions to which answers were provided by the facilitators.  Next was the opportunity for participants to showcase their abilities and lastly a picture session with the facilitators.

The training continued on the second day - January 28^th with an interlude on stage fright by Femi-Oke Opeyemi aka Yemi Kings, an event host and a photographer. This was followed by an interactive session between the convener, Timi Agbaje and the participants.

   

Nancy Isime, an Ex-beauty queen and a TV Presenter was the first facilitator to speak. In her brief remarks, she emphasized on the need for participants to let their desire for success overcome all obstacles on their way to the top. 

Ayo Atitebi, a public speaker and an event host was the final facilitator to speak at the event, after the lunch break of the day. He spoke on Communications - straddling two words. He mentioned the different types of events and how to identify then. Also, how to communicate effectively with the audience and how to make a switch during intervals. He advised that the worth of every individual is directly proportional to what they know so they should never hide what they know.

This two-day training session ended with a practical session with Ayo Atitebi correcting them after answering their biting questions.  However, Man the Mic has not ended yet; as on the 5th of February, there will be a contest between the participants to find the man of the mic in a bid to ascertain how far the training has helped and how improved the participants have become.