As you all know our college participates in the Legacy Junior Public Speaking Competition every year. We had the opportunity a few weeks ago to travel to the Art Gallery of NSW and watch the finals of this competition. I was able to take 20 Year 8 students in as an audience. This was a valuable experience for students as they were able to learn about how to improve their public speaking and presenting skills by watching the outstanding finalists. Afterwards, I asked the students to write down at least two things they learnt from the finalists. Interestingly, this year all the finalists were young women. Their comments are below.
Riley: “They spoke clearly. Watching the final gave me confidence to speak in front of people. They used hand gestures.”
Jackson: “I personally learned that public speaking was not only about the information but it was the atmosphere, how clearly they spoke, their hand gestures , how they spoke by body language and the quality of the information.”
Jamie: “I learnt that no matter what, the girls would always keep eye contact with the crowd, especially during the impromptu speeches. All of the girls had an in-depth knowledge of the subject they were speaking about, and this was aided by practice.”
Cassidy: “I felt that when the person speaking was looking at the crowd what they were saying had a greater impact. They always had a good understanding of the topic that they talked about even with the impromptu speeches.”
Luca: “One of the main public speaking techniques I learned last week was hand gestures. The contestants used hand gestures to describe their point more. Another technique that I observed is how loud the contestants spoke. When you are public speaking it is very important to speak loudly and clearly so all the audience can hear you.”
Jacob: “I learnt that the judges don’t worry about a mistake. They worry more about how the participants handle themselves. They presented with enthusiasm and excitement, they also used good hand gestures.”
Felix: “When you are public speaking it’s good to be well prepared so you are not constantly looking down at your palm cards. It’s good to be confident and stage-present. I learnt a lot about inequality because that was what most of the speeches were about.”
Aidan: “To be confident, fluent and use a lot of expression. I learnt about inequality for girls and black people. Being prepared and researching things that you might not even be talking about, in case you can put it somewhere into your speech. This will make it longer or better.”
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