In our last post, we talked about the three arms of our Development Pathway and the principles that underpin all three. In this post, we’re going to take a closer look at the first part of our Development Pathway, namely, Become a Better Speaker.
The core public speaking skills
It goes without saying that improving your public speaking sits at the very heart of what we do at the ASC. There may be a lot of skills to learn, but we’ve broken it down into five manageable areas, each of which you take entirely at your own pace, and each of which helps you to master the basics.
We help you do this by combining the hands-on experience of writing and delivering your own speeches, with constructive feedback, learning from listening and watching others, written materials, and practicing other skills (such as chairing a meeting).
Foundation Certificate of Achievement
The first stage of developing your public speaking skills is to master the basics. In the first five assignments of our Development Pathway, you’ll deliver five speeches, and learn how to write a well-structured speech, how to speak with conviction, how to use body language and gestures, and how to use your voice to full effect.
After each assignment, you’ll receive constructive feedback. When you’ve completed all five assignments, you’ll receive our Foundation Certificate, and you’ll find that your public speaking and confidence have significantly improved.
ASC Certificate of Achievement
From the Foundation stage, you move on to the next five assignments. These are aimed at further improving your public speaking by developing your use of language, developing your storytelling and narrative skills, learning about how to use humour, and build audience rapport. You finish this stage of our Development Pathway by delivering a Showpiece speech designed to “showcase” all the skills you have learnt so far.
Diploma in Public Speaking
Having mastered the fundamental skills required to be a dynamic and engaging public speaker, you can then work towards your Diploma in Public Speaking by tackling a number of more challenging assignments. You have a choice of these, but they include delivering an impromptu speech, giving a lecture, or speech for a special occasion, using presentation aids, delivering a business presentation, and speaking without notes.
Certificate in Applied Public Speaking
Finally, you can tackle our Applied Speaking certificate. Applied speaking complements our other certificates and builds on the skills you have already achieved. At this stage your objective is to bring about a change in your audience by way of persuading, entertaining, informing, or paying tribute.
Topics and Evaluation
Sitting alongside all the above our Topics and Evaluation, or in other words, impromptu speaking and delivering feedback. These are integrated into every part of ASC meetings, and you will learn from observing others, and then as you feel ready, from taking part in these yourself.
You’ll surprise yourself
If all of the above feels daunting, then you may be surprised at how achievable and straightforward it is when you attend our club meetings. Some of our learning is genuinely effortless as you listen to others. All of our learning is flexible, so you don’t have to complete stages within set timetables. Life is busy, we’ll fit around you.
We tend to say that the hardest part of our Development Pathway is walking through the door (or logging onto Zoom) for your first-ever meeting. After that, it’s a gradual process of building on what you already know when you feel ready.
In our next post, will take a look at the second limb of our Development Pathway, Become a Better Presenter. But if you’d like to know more now, or attend a meeting, just get in touch.
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