Public Speaking for Kids
Public speaking is a skill set that does not discriminate.
Man, woman, short, tall, whatever religion…
Doesn’t matter.
The ability to express yourself is a skill for life.
‘Yo bro, do kids even fall into the equation?’
Absolutely.
It would be amazing if we were taught public speaking in a systematized fashion growing up.
Rather than just be thrown to the wolves.
Public speaking is a skill.
It requires knowledge to execute.
A lot of my clients ask for tips to get their kids started early.
In order to keep it simple, I am going to be sharing those tips in this blog post.
But don’t think this post excludes adults.
A lot of the tips will be applicable among friends, family members & co-workers.
All you need is 3-4 people to begin.
Let’s get started.
Creating the Right Atmosphere
Public speaking in general is not a ‘normal’ act.
The question is, what does that mean?
The mere act of having a bunch of eyeballs looking at us, as we speak, is out of the ordinary.
Throughout our days, weeks, or years…very few moments stick out where a bunch of eyeballs are looking at us, all at once.
Whenever we are placed in a new situation, we feel a sense of nerves.
Hence, why speech anxiety is born.
The very first thing you want to do is to create the right atmosphere.
Rather than being too critical & judgemental, value reps.
Value consistency.
That’s correct.
Public speaking is not a game of winning or failing.
It’s not like a basketball game or a boxing match.
It’s more so like a beautiful painting being created.
Have the mentality to not judge so you can create a warm atmosphere.
Enforce this philosophy from the beginning stages.
How does this look in a practical sense?
-Have everyone put their phones away.
-Audience members are to listen with intent to the speaker.
-When a speaker is struggling, there should be a few audience members who smile & gently nod, to encourage the speaker that they are still listening.
-Encourage everyone to participate.
These 4 simple acts build a great culture.
And this culture allows the kids to tie positive emotions with public speaking.
When a positive culture is created, you can always have awards & speech competitions down the line.
Each scenario is different.
Get a general feel for the type of people in your group & keep building from there.
Speech Creation: Impromptu & Planned
As we build the culture, I recommend having a special day for the public speaking meetings to hold place.
You know how a lot of families have ‘spaghetti night?’
Well, have a public speaking night.
This set day, allows the kids to build a routine towards public speaking.
If you can have at least 3 people, then the speeches will be on a good track.
The more the merrier.
However, you do not need a grand stage. You can work the kids up.
On this day, we are going to have 2 types of speeches.
- The impromptu speeches.
- And planned speeches.
Let’s leverage the activity that Toastmasters follows: Table Topics.
Table topics is the impromptu speech section of Toastmasters.
Have a person who will be in charge of picking random topics.
And this person will choose random participants to talk on the topic.
30 seconds to a minute
(Toastmasters Table topics follow 1-2 minutes. If your group feels comfortable with that, then happily do it.)
Next, ask for volunteers on who would like to create a planned speech.
You can either give the kids a theme to discuss or let them create the entire topic on their own.
Give them a week to prepare the speech.
No need to be too strict with the planned speech.
Allow the kids to discover their own content creation formula to drive a point home.
All speeches have a beginning, middle & end.
Allowing them to experiment builds more courage & creativity for the future.
The planned speeches should be 3-5 minutes.
(Toastmasters traditionally follows 5-7 minutes. And this is optional.)
So thus far, we talked about setting the right culture.
Having everyone participate.
And creating 2 speech types:
-Short impromptu talks.
-Longer planned speeches.
Bonus tip: I recommend recording the speeches.
This is optional.
However, allowing the speakers to review their tape afterward allows them to improve at significant rates.
How to Evaluate Speeches
Evaluating a speech is a tricky beast.
- Be too nice & the child will not improve.
- Be too mean & the child will feel discouraged.
Therefore, find the middle ground.
This is what the hamburger method is all about.
Hamburger Evaluation Method:
- Say what the person did right.
- Talk about how they can improve.
- Reinforce what they did right.
This simple strategy creates public speaking wizards.
The tonality is key in terms of delivering feedback.
Depending on the size of the group, I recommend doing the evaluation as a part of the meeting.
Rather than taking them out back & delivering it 1 on 1.
The truth about public speaking is that we all need to hear criticism at one point or another.
No need to be mean with the delivery.
However, do not be stingy with point 2.
Talk about their areas of improvement.
Simply saying what they did right & burying their quirks under the rug is trading short term pleasure for long term pain.
Evaluations are key to growth & will lead to improvement.
Practicing Public Speaking for Kids
It’s never too early to start public speaking.
When sentences can be formed….the game is on.
Thus far, we talked about different concepts on public speaking for kids.
So let’s tie it all together.
I recommend having a group of at least 3 people.
The more the merrier.
Just train the child to get comfortable speaking with eyes looking at them.
Next, we want to build a culture of an empowering attitude.
We do this by viewing public speaking as the creation of a beautiful painting, rather than a boxing match that is won or lost.
In order to amplify the culture, it’s great to have a set day & time that the meeting will be hosted.
This allows the child to associate that day & time with public speaking.
During the meeting, there will be impromptu speeches, planned speeches & evaluations.
Impromptu speeches will be based on a selection of topics chosen by one member.
That member will pick on speakers to speak for a set duration.
Planned speeches can either be assigned or built thru pure creativity.
And evaluations should be delivered in the Hamburger Method.
The more meetings you have, the more polished everything will become.
Allow it to be rough before it becomes smooth.
Teaching the Younger Generation Public Speaking
When I was a kid, I invested in Karate.
Worked my way up to a black belt.
This was instrumental in building confidence.
Building skills leads to enhancing self-image.
Likewise, public speaking is karate for the mind.
A game of mental chess that allows kids to enhance confidence.
Public speaking is a skillset that creates leaders.
The ability to speak with emotional stability is something that money cannot buy.
The younger a speaker starts, the more grit they have to make sense of future experiences.
Public speaking allows one to age with grace.
Teach the kids today & raise the leaders of tomorrow.
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– ArmaniTalks 
