Parents need to motivate their child to want to speak in public. They should encourage their children to express their views freely in the home. Where necessary, parents should challenge their children’s views or support them. They should not shut them down or cut them off from speaking until they have completed their arguments.

Parents also need to help children develop their reasoning skills. When a child expresses a point of view simply by expressing a conclusion, without any evidence for it, for example: “mobile phones should be kept on during lessons”, the parent should question why the child thinks such a thing, rather than simply agreeing or disagreeing straight away. This helps the child to think about their own values and choices, giving them an initial understanding of how and why to construct arguments.

It is important that parents regularly hold informal friendly debates with their children when they spend time together, encouraging their children to be expressive and articulate.

Beyond the initial seeds of inspiration, a parent will also have to roll up their sleeves and help their child work towards public speaking success. This will include helping them research and write for speeches. They should not do the work for the child but they should closely shadow the child, being there for him or her when necessary. It will also give the child more confidence if they have a parent to bounce ideas off of.

When attending public speaking events, parents should lead by example when it comes to etiquette. It is important to listen to all speeches, without leaving to make phone calls or chatting rudely.  After the event, the parent and child should analyse the speeches constructively, noting good and bad points.

Public speaking can bring parents and children together constructively. Make the world an oyster for your child. Get them involved in Public Speaking for Kids. Download our exclusive e-book here for your guide on how to get started.

WEEK THREE: In this week your child should begin writing their speech. They will likely need a lot of support from you. Not only will the content need to be accurate and verifiable but the grammar will need to be perfect. They should start by planning their speech. It should include an introduction, outline, several arguments (two or three, depending on the required length) and brief rebuttals to potential counter arguments before a conclusion. Ideally the speech will be written in the first half of the week. The second half can be used for re-drafting.

WEEK FOUR: In this week your child should focus entirely on rehearsing. It is possible that, as your child rehearses, he or she may notice a need for re-drafting elements of the speech or maybe even the whole thing. If so, allow them to go ahead and do so. You do not want your child addressing an audience unless they are entirely comfortable with what they are saying. In this week, if possible, you should pay a visit to the venue of the speech if it is in unfamiliar territory. This will allow your child to visualise where they will be performing during the final few rehearsals they do, removing the fear of the unknown to a certain extent.

THE ACTUAL SPEECH:  Time management during an actual speech is also very important. Your child should have rehearsed the speech so it fits into the time limit and should have written it accordingly too. However, on stage, stage fright could slow down their delivery, causing impeding delays resulting in a speech cut short. The best way to overcome stage fright is to recognise practice makes perfect. Your child will make mistakes as a public speaker but you as a parent have to be there to help them learn and improve.

With efficient time management any such mistakes can be minimised.

Firstly, your child and you will need to work to a deadline; the date and time the speech must be delivered. You will need to plan well ahead and include enough time for brainstorming for topic ideas, researching the speech, writing and redrafting it and finally, rehearsing. Additionally, your child will have typically between three to five minutes to deliver an effective speech so will have to manage their time on stage. There can be no time for lengthy verbal hesitation or rummaging through notes to find the right place.

To ensure your child gets into the right mode for time management, we at Public Speaking for Kids suggest you break each new speech your child has to deliver into a project and allocate a time period to each section.

Let us imagine your child has four weeks within which to deliver a speech. Break the project down as follows.

WEEK ONE: Give them three days to work on finding a topic and work closely with them on this. Encourage them to observe the world around them and find something of interest they would like to talk about, which an audience would like to listen to. The inspiration could come from school, family or social life, a hobby or current affairs. They should choose three subjects and research all three on the surface for the next three days. A couple of hours a day on each will suffice to give them enough information to choose which one will be of most interest to them, that they can research on sufficiently and efficiently.

WEEK TWO:  They should begin researching their chosen topic. They may need to arrange interviews with people. Most likely they will find information from books, newspapers and the internet.

Check back on Wednesday for Part Two of our post on Time Management where we explain how to use week three and four effectively.

1. Notes should be presentable. They should ideally be on small cards free of tears and wrinkles. Ensure they are eligible so you have no trouble reading them.

2. Keep them in the right order. You will be extremely embarrassed if you find out during your speech that they are not in the right order. The delay and disruption could cost you a prize in a competition. Only use one side of each card as using both could confuse the sequence.

3.Number the cards so if they do end up in the wrong order they will be easy to sort.

4. Try not to write out the speech word for word. This means you will end up reading to the audience rather than speaking to them. Instead, write the first and last line of each paragraph so your notes act as prompts.

5. Be aware of your posture whilst holding your notes. Be sure to hold them in a manner that is not distracting for the audience, such as directly in front of your face.

6. If you are worried you will not be able to read your own handwriting then type your notes onto paper and glue them to card to avoid unnecessary flapping.

7.Do not cram too much onto one card. Maybe even one line will be too much for you so just use key words.

8. Practice your body language between shifting of cards. Be sure to maintain a firm, confident posture.

9.Hold the notes in one hand only. This way the other hand can be kept free for gesturing. (If you only feel comfortable holding notes with both hands and it looks natural for you to do so, go ahead).

10. REMEMBER: Though you have notes as prompts, make eye contact with your audience!

Having said that, you do not want to take any unnecessary risks when it comes to first impressions, and you certainly don’t want your children to either. Therefore, thinking about the clothes they will wear for their speech is crucial.

Here are two crucial tips for an effective appearance:

1. Colours: Do not wear anything too bright. A parent once told me they encourage their children to wear bright colours so they will be immediately remembered by the audience as “the kid in the purple sweater”. Wouldn’t you rather have your child remembered for what they said rather than what they wore? Also, if you do want them to be remembered for what they wore, make sure it is for the right reasons)!

2. Look credible. You want your child to look authoritative on stage. You want them to look like someone worth listening to. They cannot do this if they are wearing clothes which are too tight, too loose, stained or torn. Sometimes the best of us step out the house with little holes or stains we cannot see. They may be under a collar or on the cuff. Inspect your clothes thoroughly and if you are a messy eater, avoid eating in your speech clothes before you take the stage.

Remember, if your kids look good, they will feel good and perform good too.

1. As your audience walks into the venue it is unlikely you will be able to greet every single one of them. However, you should look around the room with a smile on your face and wish each member an enjoyable evening in your head. This will create a positive environment and, most importantly, it will take you out of your own head, making you think of your audience; crucial for public speaking success.

2. Get psyched up. Find something that will elevate your mood level and allow you to go out and elevate the mood of your audience. It may be a favourite song, some pep talk from a parent or a few words you repeat to yourself to boost your adrenaline.

3. During the sound check, walk up and down the stage or platform and get a feel for it. Having already sat in the four corners of the room and imagined how the audience will see you (see previous post), you can use that vantage point to know how to work the stage to its and your maximum potential for the maximum enjoyment of the crowd.

4. Repeat the following to yourself so you do not get overwhelmed by the tide of adrenaline before you step on stage: less is more. This will prevent you from letting your excitement, energy and desire to please from getting the better of you. The less we refer to is less hyperbolic mannerisms, less content (i.e. do not get excited and think you have to add new content on the spot) and less exaggerated body language. Less is more, less is more, less is more.

Parents, teachers, make the world an oyster for your children. Get them involved in Public Speaking for Kids and download  our exclusive e-book here for expert tips and guidance.

1. An hour before you are due to speak, start warming up your voice. There are many ways this can be done and different warm up techniques have different benefits. The key things to focus on are having a loud clear voice, using breath effectively and pronouncing words properly. Try holding notes for a few seconds and ascend in a scale for each new note (up to five notes held for 15 seconds each). Try some breathing exercises which involve the diaphragm so you free up your lungs to allow you to speak loudly without gasping for breath. Also play the Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry game so you stretch your mouth, rendering clear pronunciation of words.

2. Sit in the four different corners of the room and see how you will look from the perspective of people watching you from such angles. This will allow you to think from the perspective of your audience rather than yourself, a trait that is essential for success in public speaking. The less you think of yourself before and during a speech and the more you think of your audience, the more successful you will be.

3. Do a soundcheck. Ok, you are not Chris Martin, so you don’t have to spend hours doing this. You do however want to make sure there is no feedback from the microphone and make sure the levels are set neither too high nor too low. You can also use this time to go over your speech one last time. (If you are still  overwhelmingly nervous after this, see our earlier post, The Mirror Speech).  

Make the world an oyster for your children. Get them involved in Public Speaking for Kids and download our exclusive e-book with plenty more tips here.

4.

Though rehearsing in a mirror is essential for some rehearsals, your child should do without the mirror at times. If they get used to seeing their face in the mirror every time they speak, they may begin to associate their speech with their own face. Their reflection will act as a stimulant, kick-starting the adrenaline and memory needed to perform and deliver their speech. However, when they get up on the stage and see the faces of the  audience, something they are not prepared for, their brains may freeze. Mirror rehearsals are highly effective when kept to a minimum, usually twice; the very first and very last rehearsal.

To ensure they are prepared for the audience, your child should visualise how they will look in the room they will speak in. If your child closes their eyes and imagines themselves in the room with the audience and their positive reaction in all the right places whilst rehearsing the speech’s content in his head, this will work wonders for them.

When first starting to rehearse for a new speech, if they try and go through the whole five or ten minutes each time, they may find they lose the stamina to get through it. They may become disillusioned with their own speech and this will show when they deliver it. Instead, by breaking the rehearsal down into parts for each one or two minutes (with breaks in-between) at a time, they will rehearse each speech with enthusiasm and will be more alert to spotting areas requiring change.

In order to make your child a public speaking start, encourage them to rehearse as much as possible and they and you will both reap the rewards.

The most common fear that speakers have before a performance is forgetting their lines, especially children. So what is the best way to overcome this fear? By challenging it through one of two options: getting the speech over and done with or rehearsing the speech one last time. The latter is the wisest choice. Here is how it should be done.

Once your child has arrived at the venue, has seen some of the audience members and has picked up an understanding of the atmosphere of the event, yet still feels nervous, despite breathing and relaxation exercises, they need to prove to themselves that they are capable of performing well. They should go into the toilet and perform the speech silently in their head in front of the mirror, making eye contact with themselves throughout. The benefits of this can be tremendous.

Firstly, it will allow your child to go over their lines one more time and should prove to them that they know them. It will kill the fear that may forget their lines during the performance.

Secondly,  it will boost their physical confidence. They will see they come across well physically when performing and will be able to change any physical gestures they had planned that just don’t work.

Thirdly, when they rehearse for this one last time they will have the subconscious benefit of knowing the atmosphere and layout of the venue and thus their rehearsal should go well, leaving them with a further boost of confidence.

As simple or as daunting as it may sound, the mirror speech could make the difference between a mediocre and mind-blowing performance.

If you want your children to be successful in life they will have to learn how to speak in public. They do not have to be experts and speak as well as world leaders, but they will have to address audiences. This could be for professional purposes at business or academic seminars or for social and personal reasons at weddings, funerals or even as a part of their hobbies, for example an acceptance speech for winning a local golfing competition, if they are so lucky!

The number one fear in the world held by adults is not a fear of dying, nor flying as we commonly believe. Rather it is a fear of having to speak in public. But why are adults so afraid of such a necessary feature of life? Because they have not been appropriately taught how to speak in public nor have they been given the chance to see that it is not as frightening as they have strangely been lead to believe.

The next generation will have to be one that brings about great change as environmental concerns and the ongoing financial crisis teach us. One of the great changes they will need to bring about is reducing the widespread fear of public speaking because if the challenging issues facing humanity over the coming decades are to be appropriately addressed, they will need to be communicated effectively, partially through, you guessed it, public speaking on a local and global level.

Make the world an oyster for your children. Help them to see that FEAR is nothing but False Emotions Appearing Real and get them involved in Public Speaking for Kids.