"Toy Boats"

It has been half a week since I’ve started my Women and Leadership course. I’ve been staying up late due to homework and distractions, but the class is really active. I love how this class isn’t a “sit down for multiple hours and take notes” class, but rather, a 10-minute lecture paired with an activity in which we get out of our seats and interact with each other. Also, Kisa never told us to take notes, but the information we were taught in this program is so valuable that I take careful notes because I want to. That’s a huge “first” for me.

Today’s focus was communication. Our guest speaker, Jen, taught us many things about public speaking. She reminded us that pre-presentation nerves never go away, regardless of how experienced the presenter is. She also listed things to watch out for when presenting. These mannerisms include:
• “Umms”, “Uhhs,” and “Likes”
• Lack of confidence
• Lack of Passion
• Mumbling
• Upspeaking, when one sounds like they’re asking a question when they make a statement

Jen also taught us fun tongue twisters that would help a speaker enunciate a lot better (i.e: Toy boats). She advised for one to use tongue twisters to practice speaking before a speech, as doing so prevents the speaker from swallowing their words in front of their audience.

I have a notebook full of tips like these that I’m planning on using as soon as school comes back in the fall. These tips will help me to become a more comfortable leader and public speaker.