EucXylo attends a very informative public speaking workshop

Post authored by Lucy Nevhungwili

Public speaking is one of the most important skills in science, however it is often difficult for the speakers to present a talk that is interesting and more receivable by the audience. To tackle that problem, the EucXylo research group attended a 3-day public speaking workshop from 20-22 June 2022, which was facilitated by Miss Zimbili Sibiya (Figure 1). The workshop took place at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) (Figure 2), which is known as a ‘creative space for the mind’.

 

Figure 1: Miss Zimbili Sibiya, PhD candidate in Forest Operations, acted as workshop facilitator.

Figure 2: The auditorium at STIAS, with superb acoustics and modern technology, provided an ideal venue for the workshop.

The workshop focused on exploring our capacity as a communicator, improving our public speaking skills and equipping us with techniques we can use to enhance our skills. In this workshop Zimbili walked us through the process of becoming a better public speaker, allowing us to discuss the concerns and challenges we have when presenting and suggesting approaches we can use to improve.

Apart from the public speaking skills that we learned as a group; the sessions also provided an interactive environment that enabled the group to get to know each other better.

“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them!”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.