The future of the E&P industry rests on the shoulders of current YPs who, in a few years, will be stepping up to the challenge of handling leadership and technical positions. One way to develop YPs is to supplement their technical knowledge with so-called “soft” skills. With this in mind, SPE Lagos Section 61 organized a Soft Skills workshop focused on improving YPs’ technical writing and presentation skills. The event took place at Protea Hotels, Lagos, on 3 November 2012. In attendance were over 40 YPs drawn from several companies. Also present were some Section Board members, including the Section chairman, Adagogo Jaja.
The presentation was delivered by Ezinne Nnebocha (senior production engineer at Schlumberger, known for her excellent technical writing and presentation skills). It was an interesting 1-hour session in which she enumerated the skills’ importance in the workplace and provided guideline on how to build them. There was an interactive session in which a dummy presentation was made and participants were asked to point out the flaws in the presentation based on the guidelines given. Participants were also given the opportunity to make 1-minute presentations on a topic chosen by the presenter. Finally, participants were asked to vote for the best 1-minute presentation. It was a fun and instructional event for all the participants!
