Public Speaking Strategies

Isn’t it amazing that more Americans are afraid of public speaking than death? Wouldn’t it be great to help alleviate those fears through activities in the classroom? Often times a student’s first public speaking experience is in a lengthy presentation in front of an entire class. It is helpful to allow students to have shorter, less stressful experiences in public speaking that add to their confidence and natural curiosity about sharing ideas in front of a group.
Here is one activity for students to take a small step into public speaking.
1. Ask students to take one minute to brainstorm simple everyday topics. Examples might be bubble gum, video games or summer vacation. Instruct students to write down each idea on a separate slip of paper and collect the papers.
2. Next ask students to choose a partner. Share that in just a moment they will select one of the topics from the brainstormed list. The partner that goes first will have one minute to share all that they know about that topic with their partner.
3. Once the student has finished with the first topic, instruct the same partner to draw a new topic to discuss in the next one minute segment. The change for the second minute is that the person must sit on his or her hands while talking. Once that partner finishes, repeat the same activity with the other partner.
Following the activity, facilitate a lively discussion about what the students experienced.
Discussion Questions:
1. What kinds of feelings did you experience during our activity?
2. How did it feel to speak about your topic when you could use your hands?
3. How did it feel the second round without using your hands?
4. Listeners, what differences did you notice in your partner’s speaking ability during each round?
5. What’s the difference between verbal and non-verbal communication?
6. What role do our gestures play in communicating with others?
7. What other discoveries did you make about speaking in public today?


Leadership Development Tip for July 10, 2008