The webinar was hosted by Sonny Rustiadi, MBA., Ph.D. and began with the welcoming remark from the Institute Secretary of ITB, Prof.Dr.-Ing. Ir. Widjaja Martokusumo. In his remark, he stated that excellent communication skill is important to maintain interpersonal relationships, especially during the pandemic that likely hinders some pieces of information from being well conveyed.

The event continued with a session of discussion with Dr. Mochammad Fadjroel Rachman, S.E., M.H., a special staff of the President of the Republic of Indonesia in the field of communication as well as staff of the Advanced Indonesian Cabinet 2019-2024. He said that a spokesman for the President should be ready to assist and fulfill the duty to work for the entire 24 hours. "At my job, we cannot not communicate," he said.

According to him, the main purpose of public speaking is to convince, inform, and entertain the listener chronologically, topically, or even spatially. The process of achieving these goals includes seven elements in communication: communicators, communion, messages, media, distractions, feedback, and situations. The three types of communication are public, mass, and political. Once the speaker gets used to the flow, the communication will be clearer and the improvisational speech will be more manageable.

Learning to communicate effectively also helps sharpen critical thinking on the problems encountered. Furthermore, critical thinking provides strong basic evidence as a subsequent source.

As a Presidential Spokesman, he must not say anything before the President issues his statement on a topic. The mind frame includes the vision, mission, strategy, work priorities, and cabinet orders of Indonesia Maju. "In an organization, the most important elements are vision, mission, strategy, and priorities. What you deliver must not exclude this mind frame," he explained, describing how to arrange the speech.
Afterward, the President's message will be interpreted into a form of mass communication that aims to obtain a positive perception of the Indonesian people. To overcome the cynical responses toward his public speech, he always reminds himself to stay calm, objective, considerate, and patient.

Reporter: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)
Translator: Naffisa Adyan (Oceanography, 2019)