In the modern world, public speaking skills are a valuable commodity. Fairly or unfairly, there's a natural tendency to judge people's general competence by their proficiency at public speaking, which is reason enough in itself for us all to polish up our presentation and speech-making skills.
The most efficient way of learning how to address an audience smoothly and confidently is to get some training.
Choosing a public speaking course
While different styles of training suit different personalities, if you're in a position to choose what type of course you go on to learn public speaking skills, I recommend you have one-to-one coaching.
Group courses can provide a useful overview of public speaking skills and in some cases this may be sufficient. The main advantage of group training is the speedy dissemination of information to a number of participants. The main disadvantage is lack of flexibility. The course is of a predetermined duration and, if the group has varying levels of confidence and experience, there is little scope for meeting the specific needs of individuals.
With one-to-one coaching, it's all about you. Whichever aspects of public speaking you find particularly difficult, we can concentrate on those. You can have as many or as few coaching sessions as you need and the training can be scheduled for times to suit you.
Manchester-based public speaking coach
My name is Georgina Kirk and I have been teaching public speaking skills to clients of all ages and aptitudes, from all sorts of walks of life, for over twenty years.
I've worked with clients from a range of national and multinational organisations, including Brother, Shell, British Gas, Mercedes Benz, Pirelli, ABB, Siemens, Granada Television and AstraZeneca, as well as many smaller companies, universities and schools, churches and charities.
I've also worked with countless individuals preparing to speak at weddings, conferences, political meetings, parties, receptions, networking events and a myriad other gatherings.
Because I live in south Manchester (UK), the majority of my clients are in Greater Manchester, Stockport, Salford, Tameside, Lancashire, Cheshire and West Yorkshire, though I also train people in London and other places.
(For more about me, my background and qualifications, please see the About page.)
Personalised public speaking training - how I work
When a client organisation requests it, I train groups of employees or volunteers. This works well as an introduction to public speaking skills and gives participants new to the challenge a good grounding. I customise the training as far as possible, within the limits of its being a group course, and I make myself available afterwards for anyone who would like to approach me individually with questions or to ask advice about their own public speaking issues.
However, where circumstances permit, I always suggest one-to-one coaching instead, for the reasons outlined above.
If you would like individual coaching to help you with your public speaking skills, all you need do is contact me to book your first session. I usually meet clients at their workplaces or homes, if there is a suitable quiet space we can use for the training. Otherwise, I arrange to hire a room somewhere nearby. (Incidentally, many of my clients would rather their colleagues didn't know they were having public speaking training, so when I go to someone's workplace I'm always discreet about the nature of my meeting with the person I've come to see.)
Usually, a session lasts an hour and a half. In my experience, this is long enough for the client to learn a great deal but not so long as to tire him/her out. If you're up against a deadline, it may be a good idea to book a double session but if you're not, you'll almost certainly get more benefit from two 90-minute sessions with a few days in between.
The vast majority of my clients notice a significant improvement in their public speaking skills after one or two coaching sessions. Occasionally it takes a third session for a client to feel really safe in the spotlight but it's very rare for anyone to need more.
Course content
Your personal public speaking training course will start with a brief discussion of your experience of and difficulties with public speaking, and then go straight into the practical training.
The main areas we'll cover are:
- Voice – speed, pitch, tone, clarity, variety, pauses, emphasis
- Posture – how to stand during the presentation, how to move around, use of gestures
- Eye contact – how to use eye contact to connect with the audience
- Use of notes – how to wean oneself off a full script and feel safe with just bullet points
- Troubleshooting - what to do if something goes wrong
- Psychological preparation – how to reduce nerves and set the scene for success. Getting oneself into the right frame of mind before making a speech or presentation is useful for everyone and I can give you a few suggestions for how to achieve this. Nervous clients almost always feel much more confident once they've learnt the techniques of successful public speaking, so it isn't always necessary to spend much time focusing on how to cope with nerves. However, if you would benefit, we can also look more deeply at psychological strategies for overcoming fear of public speaking.
We can also look at:
- Structure of the talk – how to construct the speech or presentation for maximum impact
- Visual aids - how to make best use of slides, handouts and other aids
- Handling questions during or after your speech or presentation
... and any other issues you may wish to discuss.
It’s very useful if you can prepare in advance a short speech (2-3 minutes) that we can work on. You will get much more benefit from the training if you know what you want to say, rather than having to think of something on the spot.
As you present your prepared piece again and again, we'll work on the different elements of effective public speaking. I'll demonstrate as necessary and give you constructive feedback and suggestions, and (the plan is) your performance will improve each time.
For those new to public speaking, there is quite a lot to think about and at first it can be difficult to get everything right at the same time. If a client tends to speak too fast, fidget and always look down, for example, we begin by working on slowing it down. When the client is consistently delivering the talk at a good public-speaking speed, we start working on getting him/her to stand still and to move in deliberate ways, rather than fidgeting. Once he/she has mastered both of those, we introduce looking at the audience as well. We go on until all the techniques become, as much as possible in the time allowed, second nature.
If, after practising by yourself, you decide a further coaching session would help you, we'll schedule another one.
Fees
My fees for one-to-one coaching are £75 per 90-minute session. This includes travel time and expenses for reasonable distances, which means roughly within the M60 Manchester ring road. I'm happy to travel further afield, though it takes a bit more planning and I may need to charge you for time and fares/petrol.
If we need to hire a room, I don't mind taking responsibility for finding one but I do have to pass the cost on to you. This really doesn't need to be a big deal. Church halls, for example, can be excellent places to practise public speaking and can be hired from as little as five or ten pounds for a few hours.
Further info
If you have a question about public speaking coaching that's not answered on this page, try the FAQ page. If you can't find the answer there, please ask me directly and I'll do what I can to help.
To find out more about my coaching, you might like to read some testimonials.
To discuss your requirements or to book a coaching session, please contact me.
Public Speaking Coaching