LETs Stand Public Speaking

Making a wedding speech can be very daunting for anyone. Delivering a speech in his role as ‘Man of Honour’ at age 13 at his big sister’s wedding, Oisín Dooley rose to the occasion seeing it as a privilege, a true honour. Even though he had never done anything like this before, he succeeded in delivering a very sincere, humorous and memorable speech to over 200 people. In this episode it is a real pleasure to chat with Oisín about his experience. We will learn how it felt for a 13 year old to present such a wonderful, well-thought-through wedding speech. Oisín, now 17, claims that he was always quiet (except to family) but knew that if he put his mind to it and time into the preparation for this speech, that he would see results. This is a wonderful example of self-efficacy in action. In addition, he showed leadership by stepping forward to present memories and stories on behalf of his younger siblings with such sincerity, humility and empathy. Oisín shares with us how he prepared and practiced for the big occasion down to how he anticipated the audience’s reactions and how he managed and overcame his nerves. He also mentions the benefits he now sees of public speaking in school and beyond. Here are just a few of the nuggets of wisdom and inspiration he shares with us: “I knew I had to deal with the fear and pressure and use it as a way to motivate me” “Yes, I’m doing the speech but all of us care”, “no matter how much anxiety fills you, if you can focus on doing your best at presenting it, people aren’t going to notice the small things you may notice”. “If I put my mind to it, I can do it and if I try and put time into this, I’ll see results”. #weddingspeeches You can watch Oisín’s ‘Best Little Brother’s Wedding Speech’ at: https://youtu.be/vqhWPJ4__Fk

Manjinder (Jin) Atwal is the founder of Magical Mind Coaching and is a Mindset, Confidence and Communication Coach for Children and Young People. His purpose in life is to help ensure all children have the same opportunities to grow into the best version of themselves. He believes every child is born with a Magical Mind, babies are great communicators, they are resilient and have a growth mindset. However, as a child begins to get older, they begin to create limiting beliefs and become self-conscious about what others think of them which can often impact their mindset, confidence and communication skills. Jin helps unlock their Magical Mind so children once again believe that there are no limits to what they can achieve. An award winning public speaker himself, Jin discusses how developing confidence and communication skills changed his life. In this episode, you’ll hear more about the empowering programmes Jin provides for children and young people. You can find out more at: https://magicalmc.co.uk/about or follow Jin on Instagram: . https://instagram.com/mmc_magicalspeaking?utm_medium=copy_link. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magicalmindcoaching/

Research shows that higher levels of empathy allow people to be more productive and fulfilled in cooperative learning and work environments. Focusing on empathy development in education has also been proven to boost academic success and positively impact Behaviour and motivation . In the school context, empathy enables children to feel understood and supported while better understanding and supporting their peers. In this episode I’m going to explore how skills of empathy can be developed and practiced by engaging in public speaking activities. #publicspeaking #empowerment #orallanguage #empathy

‘What if we radically re-imagined the way we see children? What if we saw them as changemakers, engaged humans, scientists or inventors, and then helped them to develop their abilities for these roles’ – Emer Beamer, Co-founder and Program Lead of Design-a-thon Works. Emer Beamer, social entrepreneur and designer, inspired by children’s imaginations and altruism founded Design-a-thon Works in 2004. She is also an Ashoka Fellow and has co-founded both Butterfly Works, Co-Creation for a Better World and NairoBits, her first social enterprise (founded in 2000), Design College for youth from slum areas, Nairobi, Kenya, co-creating social change. What began as an art project is now a family of schools in 5 African countries with some 10,000 graduates securing jobs in the formal tech sector in Kenya and beyond. Nairobits is still going strong. The aim of Design-a-thon is to empower children globally to design a better world and to have society in turn include children in co-designing the future. Emer was elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2016, and awarded ‘Global Innovator’ of Dubai Expo 2020. eLearning programs which she co-designed such as 'The World starts with Me' (Uganda 2004) and 'Learning about Living' (Nigeria 2007) are regularly adapted for 15 new countries in Africa and Asia and have won prizes from the World Bank and the United Nations. The connecting principle in her work is empowering learners by supporting them to become the author, creator and maker of their own worlds. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin (Ireland) and then studied Graphic and Interactive Design at the Rietveld Academy in the Netherlands. Emer is originally from Ireland but has been based in Amsterdam longer than she likes to admit, she is married with two teenage daughters. If you have any specific questions for Emer, you can contact her at emer@designathon.nl If you’d like to find out more about Design-a-thon Works, you can do so at the following links: Global Children's Designathon, a yearly event, The 2021 video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzG73QrnBkk Video from RTE of the first Global Children's Designathon, held in 5 cities including Dublin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iks-v2nmkrI Design-a-thon Works https://www.designathonworks.com Butterfly works http://www.butterflyworks.org NairoBits http://www.nairobits.com

Is public speaking a creative process? In this episode I explore and discuss the relationship between public speaking and creativity. I also share how Edward De Bono’s ‘6 Thinking Hats’ technique can be used to stimulate lateral, critical and creative thinking in the classroom in a fun way.