Oxfam - Voice Coaching in Oxford
In December 2007, the College of Public Speaking responded to a training request through the Charity Days Programme for a voice coaching workshop in Oxford.
When we were told that the request had come from Oxfam, a charity world famous for its international crisis management, we could not have been more delighted.
Below are a sample of the comments received following the training of 30 Oxfam staff at Oxfam's premises in Oxford:
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Hi Vince,
Thank you once again for the workshop you did. Everybody has said how much they enjoyed it and have been talking about it all week!
Here is some of the feedback for you:
I thought the session was really effective, particularly from the perspective of getting us all to work together in different ways. Having us operate outside of our normal roles for half a day was a great way to do this. As you mentioned, everyone was surprised by the hidden talent in the team!
I really enjoyed it, it was nice to do something so active with different members of the team and so on.
I thought the voice workshop was a nice way to spend an afternoon and I did find parts of it very useful. It was really interesting (even if a bit uncomfortable) watching ourselves on TV so we could see how we come across to others. I thought Vince was very good at explaining how to improve our speaking and the handout we received at the end of the workshop is full of great tips consolidating what he said.
A really good opportunity to get to know more about the team and gain experience of giving each other feedback, which I think is really important for the team to work together well. I think public speaking is a very important skill to practice, and it was really good for everybody's development to have a course to help us to do this.
Although the focus on public speaking made for some interesting exercises (watching ourselves talk, in particular), I thought that the session could have had a stronger focus on telephone communication.
I thought the workshop was really good. I learned some new tips for public speeching (use of metaphors, long and natural pauses, repetition i.e saying things in 3s). I was glad that I didn't know before hand that we would be filmed because that would have made me nervous. It was good that we found out on the spot.
Thanks once again for what you did with the team.
Many Thanks
Joe
Medicins sans Frontieres is a leading independent humanitarian organisation for emergency medical aid. In more than 60 countries worldwide Medicins sans Frontieres provides relief to the victims of war, natural disasters and epidemics irrespective of race, religion, or political affiliations. Medicins sans Frontieres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
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Again through the Charity Days programme in May 2009, we were invited specifically by Breast Cancer Care to facilitate some telephone training for one of their support teams. This was a pleasure to deliver and it was a thoroughly rewarding experience for both trainer and staff.
Once more through the Charity Days programme in June 2009, we were invited to work with the Marie Curie Cancer Care team and develop lunchtime communication skills sessions for their support teams. Not an easy task to squeeze the complex subject of effective communication skills into a 90 minute session, but great fun and a great experience for us to utilise our skills in assisting organisations on the cutting edge of paliative care.
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Hi Vince
You are absolutely a hit at MCCC, I've attached some of the feedback from today and as you can see it's great. So I can't thank you enough!
Not only did the group have fun and get something valuable from the workshop they also started talking and discussing ideas with one another. This is excellent as most of these people were meeting for the first time today. You were right, it was a great team building exercise. You were also right about the photo, you are a handsome bunch!
I would love to work with you again and will be in touch with Jane Tregett from Charity Days on Monday so we can grab you as soon as possible!
Have a lovely weekend and thank you again.
Best wishes,
Janu
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Hi Janu,
I just wanted to say thank you for organising today's Presentation Skills workshop - I got a lot of out the session and really valued being able to attend. The ease of being able to fit it in to the normal working day was extremely beneficial.If you could pass on my thanks again to Vince Stevenson for giving up his time to lead the session, that would be great. Whilst I hated seeing myself on the big screen, I found it really useful and would recommend the session to all at MCCC if they were given the opportunity.
Kind regards - Nardia
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Hurrah, well said Nardia! I second that, I was v nervous but actually really enjoyed it and found it very useful. I thought the trainer was really good.
Emma
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That's the best training session yet Janu - and a lovely bunch to be with too.
Bobbie
In August 2009, we were invited to work with the Marie Curie Cancer Care team for a second time.
I am happy tell you that Vince ran a second session with us today and it was thoroughly enjoyed. He went down so well he scored a 100% on our feedback forms.
Regards Janu
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A thoroughly well planned session. Vince has really helped me to not only prepare my mind, body and voice, but he also helped me prepare my presentation. He gave me constructive feedback and enabled me to really focus on how I come across to my audience. It was a really fantastic experience.
Emily Handy
Hi Vince, Just to say - thanks for arranging for Richard to come last week. The attendees have all said that they got some really valuable feedback and tips from the session so thanks again for your help,
Andrea Heffernan
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Emerging Leaders in Social Innovation, honing their presentation and communication skills in preparation for the Skoll Emerge Final.
Bringing together some of the best young entrepreneurs, the Skoll Emerge Competition for Social Entrepreneurship offers £15,000 in prize money to the winning proposals.
Good sustainable and marketable ideas are obviously vital, but they will not attract the judges' attention unless they are well presented.
Understanding this, the Oxford Branch of the Student Hubs arranged for the College of Public Speaking to cast an experienced professional eye over the young presenters to make sure good ideas were not lost in poor presentation.
Michael Ronayne |
The Oxford Hub is the focal point for charitable activity at Oxford University, connecting students with causes - whether local, national, or international. It's the place to go to get involved in charitable, volunteer and socially entrepreneurial activities, and for training and information on a range of social and environmental issues, events, and careers.
With a website, email bulletins, weekly events and termly social networking meetings the Hub works to develop a new generation of socially and environmentally conscious students who are empowered and educated to tackle today's social and environmental challenges, both at university and afterwards. The Hub is run by students, for the benefit of students and student societies.
The Hub promotes volunteering and works to help student societies, charities and social enterprises become more than the sum of their parts through the exchange of experience, ideas and information. It encourages all member societies to forge strong strategic links with each other, academic institutions and the wider community.
Vince Stevenson |
Hello Vince, I've started a business plan competition for students at my university (King's College) to encourage them to be entrepreneurial and at its culmination will require the student to present their idea to a panel of judges (a la Dragons' Den) and in front of an audience. Speaking at our session today, all of the students thought that a suggestion I thought of; to have a session on presenting/speaking in front of an audience would be highly beneficial.
Because this is a philanthropic initiative and none of the people who are running the competition with me are receiving a salary (we are solely running the competition to inspire entrepreneurial thinking amongst the students). Could you help us? Jack Smith
Hello Vince, yesterday's session was by far the best speaking course I have ever attended, and I learnt more yesterday than I did from four months of "Communication skills", a course I took last year. Once again, a million thanks for helping us improve, we all appreciate it deeply! I will let you know how the final goes!
Bo-Erik Abrahamsson - Kings College |
As luck would have it, I am currently working on a CPID Certified Trainer Course in Euston. One day I was talking to my colleague Corrine Farrugia who is Learning and Development Manager at 2Care, a charity with a speciality of working with dementia. It was a pleasure to offer them a pro bono session at their offices in Fulham.
Vince Stevenson |
'I found the communication skills course really valuable. It not only helped increase the confidence of everyone who participated but also drew out our existing skills. By the end of the day every delegate had improved demonstrably and we all felt really motivated.' Helen Becket – Head of Communications - Media Trust