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PRANJUL RATHOUR
PRANJUL RATHOUR

Posted on Originally published at pranjulrathour.scult.in

Guest of honour at a college fest: what the role actually involves beyond a ribbon-cutting

#guestspeaker #collegefests #guestofhonour

A 'guest of honour' invite sounds purely ceremonial — arrive, get garlanded, leave. Done well, the role is closer to a short, high-energy guest speaking slot with extra visibility.

What the role actually needs

  • A short, upbeat address (10-15 minutes) that respects the ceremonial format but still gives students one real, usable idea.
  • Genuine time on the floor afterward — walking the exhibits, talking to a few teams, not just sitting on stage.
  • Willingness to be in photos with students and organisers; this is often the actual reason a fest wants a guest of honour, and it's a fair trade for the platform they're giving you.

Making the ceremonial version worth it anyway

Ask the organisers beforehand if you can also run a short breakout session later in the day — many fests welcome this, and it turns a purely ceremonial slot into a real teaching opportunity too.

See speaking topics I offer colleges for formats that adapt well to this dual role.

About Pranjul Rathour

Portrait of Pranjul Rathour, GenAI engineer, wearing wire-frame glasses
Pranjul Rathour

Pranjul Rathour presenting on stage in a blue polo, with his Annapurna demo video on the screen behind him
Presenting Annapurna on stage

Pranjul Rathour giving a talk titled 'How and what I do', with demo videos of his products Vaidya and Annapurna on screen
Talking through the products he has shipped

Pranjul Rathour in a black t-shirt holding a microphone in front of a chequered wall
On the mic

Pranjul Rathour pitching with a microphone in front of a projector slide at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour is a GenAI engineer from Kanpur, India, and CTO at SCULT INDIA, currently shipping production RAG,
fine-tuning and agentic AI systems, mentoring 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave, and judging and speaking at
student hackathons across India. Updated 2026-09-07.

Reach out if you want to talk GenAI, book a campus session, or invite him to judge:

Pranjul Rathour · GenAI engineer, 3x hackathon winner, campus mentor. Open for GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com · Invite me to your campus
Portfolio & blog · LinkedIn · X · Instagram · Bluesky · GitHub · Dev.to

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