Spark Program Public-Speaking Workshop

I had the pleasure of offering a public-speaking workshop for the San Francisco based non-profit Spark. I’m always looking to improve my own public-speaking skills through the training I offer at work and in my service as a Lector with the Stanford Catholic Community. This time I offered my advice to and opened myself up to learning from a group of five 7th and 8th grade students. Teaching public-speaking skills to a group of middle-schoolers w

as an int

eresting experience, and the following is my presentation to them. Many thanks for the inspiration and creativity I derive from Merlin Mann at 43Folders, Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen, Guy Kawasaki for his 10-20-30 Rule, and my dear friend and colleague Grant Shellen for introducing me to these design concepts.

First, the title slide in which I brand my public-speaking workshops with the “Make It Fear You” motto. It really hits home when you read Jerry Seinfeld’s thoughts on public-speaking:

According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.

Next, I like to emphasize the notion of creating a positive and healthy learning environment. Through my experience with training adults in a corporate setting and especially through coaching youth basketball, I found it especially important to set the stage for staying focused and the importance of learning from one another.

I believe public-speaking is centered in confidence. I also believe that confidence in yourself is equally important as confidence in what you’re saying. Believing in what you say and conveying that through a confident presence can really impact people. Appropriate preparation and being in a relaxed state while having a few ounces of nervousness to motivate you can also help tremendously with one’s confidence with public-speaking.

Public-speaking is like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Here’s how:

1. It takes practice to get good at it.
2. Preferences: More jelly or more peanut butter; crust or no crust; smooth or chunky. Each presenter is unique as well as each audience.
3. A well crafted sandwich is so much tastier than something slapped together. (Guess what…same goes for public-speaking.)

Here we discussed skills that included sustaining an eye-gaze with members of the audience, projecting one’s voice, appropriate stance and gesturing, and entertaining questions from the audience.

Some key notes and tips I mentioned were…

• Deliver your words while thinking “one person, one thought.”
• Stance and gesturing should be rooted in “purposeful movement.”
• Speak up and project your voice. (Using a microphone doesn’t mean you can mumble. It’s especially important to enunciate your words)
• Minimize distractions. Avoid chewing gum, turn off your cell phone, remove loose change and keys from your pocket, etc.
• Converse with the audience, don’t talk at them.
• Have fun!

Throughout the session we had various opportunities to practice different exercises. In the end, each student had a chance to deliver the first minute of their five-minute speech.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the students are discussing, I’ll fill you in. Each student through the Spark Program has an apprenticeship in an industry of their choice (law enforcement, culinary arts, computer-building, film, photography, etc.). At the Discovery Night gathering, the students give a five-minute speech to family, friends, and the community about their experience with the apprenticeship. Discovery Night is set for next Wednesday and Thursday (12.19 and 12.20, respectively).

It’s important to mention that I don’t approach these workshops and trainings as a teacher only. I’m a learner in these settings as well. And if there’s one thing I learned from one of the bright students in Spark…it’s all about staying on point. I’ll keep that in mind for my future public-speaking opportunities and future blog posts!

[ To learn more about the Spark Program and its directors Melia Dicker and Chris Balme, please visit www.sparkprogram.org ]