Command Your Audience: Become a Competent Speaker

Public Speaking is one of the world's greatest fears. The majority of people use the following strategy: avoidance... This is unfortunate because overcoming our fears is one of the greatest things we can do to increase our feelings of self worth and confidence. 

We provide a nurturing environment in which to cultivate the amazing speaker that lies within each and everyone of us. We use techniques such as NLP to make the process as far from traumatic as possible. Indeed, our courses are fun and progressive and provide the ideal environment to produce award winning speakers.

We will be holding a 10 week course in ‘Competent Speaking’ from 5^th February 09- 9^th April 09 at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Oxford Circus.

Arrival time: 18.30

Start time:   19.00

Finish time:  21.00

Each session will begin at 7pm sharp and finish at 9pm.

The organisation of each session will vary slightly, but everyone will have the opportunity to stand up and speak at least once each session. We will instruct you on how to prepare and deliver speeches and also on how to stand up and make an impromptu speech with no preparation time.

The following areas will also be covered:

• Strategies to help you overcome nerves and make you feel really confident (using NLP)

• Relaxation techniques

• Warming up your voice

• Voice Projection

• Planning your speech

• Writing your speech

• Structural Strategies

• Fulfilling Audience Needs

• Ice Breakers/ Anecdotes

• Energise/ Inspire/ Persuade your audience

• Effective Delivery

• Speaking without notes

There are a limited number of spaces on this course, so please register as soon as possible or by Friday 18^th January at the latest.

Testimonial

As a student of English Literature I am often required to speak in front of groups of people to give presentations, recitals, read my own work aloud, etc. For me this was always a point of dread. I was so conscious of my regional accent, my delivery and most poignantly my desire to get my point across clearly that I would become nervous, my voice would shake and I would lose my train of thought. Low confidence produced these awful physical results. I initially contacted Smith’s English for help with one specific presentation that I was particularly worried about and Francesca arranged my first lesson for that very same day. We talked about my concerns and the areas I felt I needed the most help with and she devised an action plan. She taught me breathing exercises to combat the physical symptoms of nerves and instilled in me a mental confidence due to her obvious capability as a public speaker and her kindness as a teacher. I had been stressed and miserable at the prospect of my presentation but I left that first lesson feeling calm, positive and even slightly excited about it. In subsequent weekly lessons my confidence and ability exceeded all my expectations. Francesca and I worked on delivery, pronunciation, variation, projection and some utterly hilarious impromptu presentations! I reaped the advantages of a strong speaking voice; from making myself heard in a noisy bar to having a large audience hang on my every word. Oh, how did my presentation go? A success of course! Thank you so much Francesca.

Kate.