TJonathan Noakes, the director of teaching and learning at Eton, said this week public schools should do more to improve their pupils’ public speaking skills by establishing debating societies. How can students gain confidence to speak to an audience if this opportunity is not available at school? Four state-trained public speakers explain how they found their voice.
‘I had to learn how to take up space’
Saima Mir, writer
I’m really weird because I love public speaking and actually prefer it to general chitchat. I’ve had to do so much publicity my books that I got used to it. You know what works and what doesn’t. I’m an introvert, but when I’m on stage it feels like a performance. I love that people came out of choice to see me. It makes me feel alive.
I’ve thought a lot about why that is. I’m almost 50 and I think I care less now. I also believe that what I have to say is important, as haughty as it sounds. That said, I wasn’t always good at it when I started. I used to be very nervous. I went to public school and we didn’t learn how to debate or present ourselves in public at all. At the mosque we had to give short speeches from the age of six but I wasn’t very good at it.
I worked at the BBC and had to do pieces on camera, which was the training that did it. I learned that so much of public speaking is storytelling. When I give a talk, I always think of it as having a beginning, middle and end, to make sure I hook people.
One of the things I had to learn is how to take up space. Knowing that I get to be on that stage and what I have to say is interesting. This is the key skill that should be given to young people.
‘Chances are there will be a teacher who has a passion for it’
Carla Denyer, MP for Bristol Central and co-leader of the Green party
While I was at secondary school in Fleet in Hampshire, a new teacher joined, Mr Horgan, who had just graduated from Oxford. Together with another teacher, Ms Lonsdale, he set up an extracurricular program for promising students, including debating and public speaking. This was key in building my confidence. We entered competitions and were almost always the only state school to take part.
My advice to young people is that if you don’t have these opportunities at your school, chances are there will be a teacher who has a passion for it but doesn’t think the demand is there, or hasn’t quite got it right . to it. See if you can get someone to help you set it up.
I definitely get nervous in the lead up to big speeches and debates, then I tend to settle into my stride once I do. For the first of the TV election debates, I was incredibly nervous on stage and during my first answer. Then I realized, “OK, at least I’m as intelligent as the other people on this stage, there’s nothing for me to worry about,” and I got into my flow.
My colleagues will tell you, perhaps with their eyes, that I like to be really prepared for a debate. I want to know the issues inside out and be confident that I know the answers to the questions that are likely to arise. Although very often I get the best feedback on the bits that were not in my notes at all, but came straight from the heart.
‘Authenticity is the most important thing’
Alexander Crossmanhead teacher of the London Academy of Excellence sixth form, Stratford, London
I’m pretty sure we didn’t do any debating or public speaking at my state school in the West Midlands. I think I learned how to do this from lecturers at university: how to engage an audience and convey complex or subtle ideas through powers of rhetoric and personality.
Authenticity is the most important thing. I’m very fortunate that I’m almost always asked to talk about things I genuinely care about. You can spend a lot of time worrying about where you stand or the intonation of your voice, but if you really want to connect with an audience, nothing is as important as meaning what you say.
At the LAE we have a wide range of opportunities for public speaking, including debating clubs, student societies and we take part in Model United Nations. Our gatherings are delivered almost exclusively by students: young people hearing from each other is ultimately much more impactful than hearing from older, crustier people like me. But the thing that is fundamental is the quality of dialogue in the classroom and the encouragement of students to express themselves clearly and appropriately using scholarly or professional language.
There is an element to overcoming impostor syndrome. Often young people, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, are reluctant to speak up because they think everyone else knows more than them or is more articulate than them. Actually, almost everyone has some uncertainty about those things, and that’s normal.
‘Take a deep breath and go for it’
James Oliveira-Agnew, advocate at Lamb Building rooms
A lot of lawyers has a natural affinity for performing. Most of us are failed actors or rock stars who needed to find something else to do. I enjoy this aspect of it. We had a very good drama department at our state school in Hamble near Southampton, which helped me with public speaking, projecting my voice and learning lines. But debating, getting your point across, listening to arguments and thinking on your feet was not something I learned at school.
If you’re looking to pursue law as a career, especially at the bar, you might think it’s not for you if you haven’t had those opportunities.
One of the problems people have with the bar is that they feel shut out before they even start because they don’t have that confidence to stand up and speak. When you’re at bar school, you do mock trials, but it’s in a classroom setting. Standing up in court in front of experienced judges, counsel and a jury can be very scary. The first time you do an ordeal and give a speech is terrifying – everyone is staring at you.
No one has the ability to stand up and make convincing legal arguments in court the first time they do so, no matter where they come from. My advice is to take a deep breath and go for it. If it all goes wrong, no one is going to remember, and you can learn from it and move on.
