The 21st century has become the Information Age. The last ten to twenty years has seen incredible advancement in information technology. Home computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, smartwatches, and more, which once were considered a fad or something for ‘geeks’, have now become everyday household items, as society embraces technology.

The Information Age has also brought us a shift in relationships and social interaction. Are the days of young people sitting around chatting about their exploits, discussing who's doing what and where, and comparing what they got up to on the weekend, really gone? Many consider that to be the case. Millennials are technophiles, often seen with their heads down, texting, reading, or watching something on their phones or other devices, rather than conversing with those around them.

In fact, young people often find it difficult to interact face-to-face with people in general and, worse, with their peers! For most, this struggle is very real - they would prefer to take the opportunity, even when sitting across the table from each other, to communicate via SMS or messaging, rather than looking up, meeting the eye of their companion, and uttering the first words to commence a conversation. How, then, can we expect them to front at a job interview and appear confident, answer questions appropriately, and converse with their interviewer effectively?

Premier Public Speaking believes that introducing public speaking as a subject into the school curriculum is the answer. In their day-to-day lives, students are exposed to minimal formal face-to-face interaction with their peers, affording them little or no experience dealing with social interaction, confrontation, and impromptu speaking. Some schools require students to deliver short presentations or assignment reports to their class to demonstrate fundamental delivery skills, and are assessed, as such.

However, this does not prepare them nearly enough for when they leave school or university. Unless a student engages in some form of presenting outside of their classroom environment and in front of "strangers", they are never exposed to what they can expect in the real world. Introducing public speaking as a standalone subject and allowing students the opportunity to deliver presentations to unfamiliar audiences, such as other classes, school assemblies, the school faculty, or parent gatherings, will provide immeasurable public speaking experience, to help them develop confidence, plan and prepare effective presentations, understand, relate, and connect with their audience, and give them the foundations to build on into the future.

We believe it is now time schools included public speaking in the curriculum, teaching the fundamental skills needed to ensure our students become confident, clear, engaging, and articulate communicators.

If you are interested in PPS coming to your school for a public speaking incursion, feel free to contact us anytime for a chat or simply go to our Contact page to get started, today!