Comments on: Starting Them Young: Public Speaking in Children http://mytoastmastersblog.com/2009/04/30/starting-them-young-public-speaking-in-children/ The Blog for Toastmasters, Public, and Professional Speakers Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:28:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: simon - presentation skills trainer in the UK http://mytoastmastersblog.com/2009/04/30/starting-them-young-public-speaking-in-children/comment-page-1/#comment-10650 simon - presentation skills trainer in the UK Wed, 13 May 2009 06:49:54 +0000 http://mytoastmastersblog.com/?p=259#comment-10650 Maybe this is where the UK and the US are very, very different. I'm fully in agreement with your suggestion that kids should be encouraged to speak in public... it's just the idea of competitions being the best way to do it that bugs me. As a professional trainer of public speaking I can't see anything particularly good about competitive speaking (other than any speaking is better than no speaking! :) ). It's artificial, in that the structures it imposes are not those required by business, and it artificially raises the level of anxiety associated with public speaking and presenting. Far better, surely, to introduce public speaking and presenting as something which is self-justified - that is, is useful in it's own right. If you can cope with me ranting about this, I did so (tongue in cheek) <a href="http://www.curved-vision.co.uk/presentation-skills-blog/2008/08/16/public-speaking-competitions/"here</a>. Cheers...... Simon Maybe this is where the UK and the US are very, very different. I’m fully in agreement with your suggestion that kids should be encouraged to speak in public… it’s just the idea of competitions being the best way to do it that bugs me.

As a professional trainer of public speaking I can’t see anything particularly good about competitive speaking (other than any speaking is better than no speaking! :) ). It’s artificial, in that the structures it imposes are not those required by business, and it artificially raises the level of anxiety associated with public speaking and presenting.

Far better, surely, to introduce public speaking and presenting as something which is self-justified – that is, is useful in it’s own right. If you can cope with me ranting about this, I did so (tongue in cheek) <a href=”http://www.curved-vision.co.uk/presentation-skills-blog/2008/08/16/public-speaking-competitions/”here.

Cheers…… Simon

]]> By: Stevie King http://mytoastmastersblog.com/2009/04/30/starting-them-young-public-speaking-in-children/comment-page-1/#comment-10188 Stevie King Fri, 01 May 2009 22:07:35 +0000 http://mytoastmastersblog.com/?p=259#comment-10188 I love seeing kids try the art. I entered a speaking contest in the fourth grade (I totally bombed), but that experience really helped me deal with some fears at an early age. My son is six and show and tell is a required activity every week. The teacher is grading them on a lot of the things that adult speakers work on every day! Great post! I love seeing kids try the art. I entered a speaking contest in the fourth grade (I totally bombed), but that experience really helped me deal with some fears at an early age.

My son is six and show and tell is a required activity every week. The teacher is grading them on a lot of the things that adult speakers work on every day!

Great post!

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