In early October, students from the Public Speaking for Policy Makers workshop met for the first of a two-weekend workshop to learn how to become better public speakers. The workshop, instructed by Professor Moyara Ruehsen, borrows some core components of Toastmasters®, while focusing on different aspects of speaking, whether it’s humor, body gestures, introductions, listening, interviewing or apologizing. We are learning the fundamental skills of speaking in front of live audiences, recordings for television and radio, pitching proposals to bosses, interviews with Oprah, holding press conferences, etc…
In one exercise, I was given a card with instructions that read:
You are Tony Hayward’s replacement at BP. Months after the gulf catastrophe, a tanker has split apart in SF Bay, spilling tens of thousands of barrels of oil. The Liberian-owned tanker is transporting oil on behalf of British Petroleum. You are to hold a press conference and take questions from the press and several angry environmentalists.
I knew that when I finished apologizing I would be faced with tough questions, but the hardest caught me off-guard when my classmate asked, “When can we expect your resignation?” Not taking it personally, I was able to walk into this mock exercise knowing 15 minutes later I would be able to emerge relatively unscathed by my classmates’ harsh questioning.
In another assignment, we are asked to deliver Pecha Kucha presentations. Pecha Kucha is an onomatopoeic Japanese word for the sound of conversation. A Pecha Kucha presentation consists of 20 slides, each slide shown for 20 seconds. Presenters only have six minutes and 40 seconds to present their ideas. Instead of overwhelming slides with bullet points and small text, Pecha Kucha slides tend to have a single, captivating image with or without minimal text. The 20-second time restraint per slide allows for continuous flow; thus avoiding “death by powerpoint.”
My takeaways from the ongoing workshop are that I am learning how to become a better public speaker by knowing my strengths and building on my weaknesses through feedback from my peers and reviewing video recordings. This workshop is perhaps the most interactive out of any course I have taken at MIIS and I encourage those interested to look for future offerings.
Should anyone be interested in becoming a better speaker, I encourage you to sit in on the MIIS Toastmasters meetings every Thursday from 12:15PM to 1:15PM in Morse B106.
