1- a situation when you waited for a bus or a train 2- a challenging profession you know about

Describe a seminar or workshop you have attended.
 
You should say:
x
what was it about 
x
who participated in it 
x
how long the seminar/ workshop was 
and explain why you attended this seminar/workshop. 
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one 
minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to 
help you if you wish.]
Model Answer 1:
I am a student of development studies in Allahabad University in India. 
Recently, my department had sent me to participate in a day-long seminar on 
tobacco control issues in New Delhi to get some real life ideas. It was an 
exciting experience for me. 
I went to New Delhi to attend the seminar on different issues on tobacco 
control in India. The seminar was organised in association with some 
international tobacco control organisations and local NGOs working on the 
same issue. The seminar was to inform the participants about the detrimental 
impacts of tobacco use on human body and how it is detrimental to the 
economy, health and country. I came to know about different negative impacts 
of tobacco use and how it affects the nervous system. In fact, smoking is a kind 
of tobacco use and this is an addiction that the smokers can hardly give up. I 

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also came to know about the chemicals containing in cigarettes and other 
tobacco products. Nicotine is largely responsible for the addiction. Moreover, I 
came to know how people start smoking and get entrapped with it. 
It was a large seminar aiming to spread knowledge about the detrimental 
impacts of tobacco use among the commoners. So, the relevant stakeholders 
were more in number as participants who joined form different national and 
international NGOs, government bodies, and even some parliament members 
were also at the seminar. Besides, the event was attended by notable 
economists of the country, university teachers, and students from different 
reputed universities, newspaper editors, and civil society members. Moreover, 
the event was covered by different media houses as well. Participants at the 
seminar were allowed to place their speeches and almost all of the speeches 
were about the detrimental impacts of tobacco use. The participants also 
emphasised on curbing the use of the tobacco for a healthy living. The 
economists explained how tobacco is damaging the entire economy and 
country. 
The seminar went on round the day. It started at 10am in the morning and we 
took a break by 11.30. Then the seminar started again and continued till 1.30. 
The authority placed lunch break for an hour and we all went for the lunch. 
The lunch was made of traditional Indian dishes and all of us took those 
delicious food items heartily. I liked the chicken tandoori most while many of 
the participants took vegetables, bread or rice. Besides, the spicy drink was 
another notable element on the menu. I enjoyed the fruit salad as well. But 
unfortunately, one of the issues during the lunch hour embarrassed me. Some 
of the participants were wasting foods. They took foods by filling up their 
plates and could not finish up. Consequently, they had to waste the foods and 
the leftovers were thrown on the wasted bins. Lack of consciousness is liable 
here to make people act in such way. The seminar resumed again after the 
lunch. We also got another break about one and half hour later for evening 
snacks. Finally the seminar came to an end by 5.00 pm.
As a student of development studies, it is a must to learn about the 
development initiatives of the country. The course is tailored in such a way 
that the students would be aware of the overall development issues of the 
country. Tobacco control is one of the biggest challenges for India and 
different government and non government bodies are working after it. Some 
of the states in India have banned smoking in public places. But despite all the 
efforts, the rate of smoking is getting up gradually. Many of the Indian women 

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suffer from cancer and the consumption of tobacco is the key cause behind the 
cancer. Unfortunately, majority of the populations are unaware of the negative 
impacts of tobacco use and thus they are smoking cigarettes or consuming the 
other forms of tobacco. The seminar was organized to make some plans after a 
discussion to make people aware of the harmful impacts of tobacco use. Some 
other steps like tax hike on all types of tobacco products, imposing health 
surcharge on tobacco products, implementation of graphical health warning on 
tobacco products packets, introducing plain packaging etc. were discussed. 
After a brief discussion with my course coordinator, I attended the seminar to 
gain some real life knowledge about the specific issue of tobacco which is also 
considered as an obstacle towards development.