Simon Valentine the founder and Managing Director of Speak and Win in the United Kingdom (Uk) has called on young people to develop the art of public speaking and maintain respect as culture demands.
Valentine emphasized the dare need for every adult to improve on their public speaking especially on what is affecting their personal lives.
“Our mission is to break down the fear of public speaking to young people,” Simon stated.
He narrated a story of how lake of public speaking affected his family greatly, Simon said his father was struggling with the problem of addiction to alcohol, but never spoke about it with anyone.
“I embraced public speaking when I saw my parents suffered greatly because they could not speak out,” Simon disclosed.
Speaking about the purpose of his visit to Sierra Leone, Simon said his organization which began about twenty years ago decided to extend their work in the country to promote public speaking among on thousand students within the provinces of Sierra Leone including Kailahun, Koindu and Kono.
“…I embarked on this journey to share my experience with the young people and try to help them…” he said.
Simon furthered that he will be targeting students in groups ranging from number of fifteen in small groups and twenty in the biggest groups.
“I will be breaking my teaching programme into twelve smaller workshops on four key topics,” Simon said.
He added that young people should practice public speaking daily rather than relying on some online applications and mechanics.
“Young people must practice public speaking at least fifteen minutes daily, speaking to themselves,” Simon pointed.
He said he will be using various means to cascade his message to young people in the following ares that have to do with; mastering public speaking, body language, face to face speaking and custofobia.
Simon said the reason for taking their work to of the provinces is to render help to those who need it greatly.
“We are going in to the provinces to give to the people who need it the must,” he noted.
He further mentioned that he believes that young people must speak out on issues that border them without any iota of the fear of retribution catching up with them.
He however pointed out that he is aware that culture varies between the UK and Africa. Simon then encouraged young people to speak out what they feel but must do so in line with what their culture say about public speaking.
“I believe in the culture of speaking out, because it makes you win or get what you want,”
“I also believe that African young people need to be respectful during public speaking,” simon admonished.
He disclosed that he used to struggle a lot while speaking in public or face to face but stated that he was able to overcome the phobia when he joined drama and theatre groups over the past thirty years.
