Custom Public Speaking Workshops
Options for ages 5-105
Whether you want a 3-hour workshop, a one-day intensive, an after school club, a mommy-and-me class, a 4-week to 13-week course, one-on-one training, or a teach-the-teacher series, we can create a program to meet your needs.
Let’s have a conversation and we will put together a proposal that’s just right for you or your organization.
TED-style Talks
Ages 12-17
TEDTalk speeches communicate ideas in short, powerful presentations. In this intensive 9-session workshop, you will utilize our unique formula for creating a 5-12 minute talk that will convey a powerful idea and inspire the audience to think differently.
As TED puts it on their website, their events involve “carefully prepared talks, demonstrations and performances that are idea-focused, and cover a wide range of subjects to foster learning, inspiration and wonder – and provoke conversations that matter.”
In this 9 session workshop we will cover:
- Choosing a powerful idea.
- The structure of a TED-style Talk.
- A Powerful Beginning and Ending
- Owning the Stage
- The Visuals
Using slides, demonstrations, verbal imagery, etc., to add meaning to your talk. - How to Practice
You will present your speech, or segments from it, frequently during the workshop session and receive constructive feedback from the coaches and fellow participants.
Intro-to-Debate
Ages 10-16
During our 10-session workshops (or week-long half-day camps), activities include quick, fun, and creative games, activities, and debate sparring to learn the relevant skills for any format of debate. Debate sparring sessions are short, fun, and easy, one-, two-, or three-person debates on topics that don’t require deep research, e.g., “School uniforms should be required,” “The rise of selfies is a troubling cultural problem,” “Whataburger vs. In-N-Out,” etc.
Lots of fun and engaging activities are used to help instill skills like speaking clearly, note-taking (referred to as flowing), thinking on your feet, organizing your thoughts, being creative and adapting, and determining what is relevant in material.
Emphasis is placed on structuring a case, referred to as the “Constructive,” developing a “Framework” (how the judge should decide the winner), understanding your opponents’ case through “Cross-Examination,” effective techniques for “Rebuttal”, and how to crystallize and convey your win to the judge.
Some light homework is assigned to help reinforce what’s been learned and to allow time to prep for some sparring.
Using a Teleprompter
Options for ages 5-105
In this 3-hour workshop you will learn the tricks and techniques used by newscasters, YouTube stars, and infomercial actors.
We will begin by going over what to focus on, for example, making it conversational, matching the proper energy and physicality to the script, and techniques to avoid looking like you are reading.
Participants will work with two scripts. One they will be familiar with, and one that they will read “cold.” They will be filmed under three different scenarios: standing, sitting, and manipulating a prop.
After a short break, we will project and critique the films, then film once more.
Each participant’s films will be made available to download as a .mov file after the workshop.
- IMPORTANT –> If you wear glasses for close or distant vision, please bring them.
- Wear business casual (or better) attire. Nothing odd or flashy. You should have well-groomed hair, too. Google “business casual,” if you are not sure what business casual is.
- You will be feeding the microphone(s) wires under your top so we can clip it to clothing near your chin. The microphone pack will clip on your wasteband, or you will put it in your pocket. Choose attire that will work with this, for example, don’t wear a dress.
- Enrolled students will receive a short script prior to the workshop. Make every effort to become familiar with your script before the workshop. You will be reading the lines on a teleprompter screen in front of the camera, but being very familiar with your lines gives you a chance to see how different (if at all) you sound reading a practiced vs. “cold” script.
- Know the meaning and pronunciation of all words in your lines. If you are not certain about them, ask someone, or look it up.
- Our teleprompter has voice recognition so it will go at your pace. No worries that it will scroll ahead of you.