Within 24 hours, Elena advised that 13 students had responded and could we start on 22nd June! What had I let myself in for?!!
That did not leave much time, so Noel and I called on the resources within the club. Ngaire Cannon, with a teaching and training background, and Ken McNamara with his experience in local government and dealing with people, responded enthusiastically.
We prepared a program of four seminars of 2.5 hours each for 4 consecutive Wednesdays.
At the first session, Ngaire gave a detailed presentation on all the issues of public speaking with good interaction with students. The second week, Noel presented on meeting procedures, the decision making process and time management, again with participation. The third session was a debate on the topic “That freedom of speech is paramount”. Each team had two members as mentors to assist with the proper structure for presentation and to develop the arguments.
The students rose to the occasion and spoke fluently while thinking quickly on their feet. We could see the skills that Ngaire had presented coming to the fore!
Our fourth session was the real highlight. Each student gave an address (without notes!) on a theme explained by Ngaire. The speech had to describe an incident or some circumstances in their life, explain its significance and what was the lesson derived.
The speeches were simply brilliant. Some were quite emotional, others inspiring and motivating while others humorous, but all captivating.
At the end of the program students were presented with Certificates of Participation from Swinburne University and Rotary Club of Hawthorn.
It was a delight for us to see the confidence of the students and how they had grown during the training. The students all had English as a second language, which presented an extra challenge for them.
It was also very rewarding at the end the session to chat informally with the students, who were an outstanding group of young people from different parts of the world.
The results of a post program survey showed that all students indicated their increase in confidence, considered materials presented in the program engaging and informative and enjoyed presenting in front of their peers and coaches at the last session. The students also stated that they would recommend this program to other Swinburne students.
Special thanks go to Noel, Ngaire and Ken. It was a significant commitment, and their experience and professionalism ensured that this was a successful Rotary project. And a special acknowledgement to the District Governor Neville John, who with some of our club members, attended our final session.
David Rush
