As part of their ongoing leadership development, our Youth Councillors had the opportunity to attended public speaking training with Bendigo Toastmasters this year. The two two-hour workshops, held at YO Bendigo on 3 June and 15 July, provided participants with valuable communication skills and ways to become more confident and impactful speakers.

Our Youth Councillors learnt about what makes a good public speaker, speaking with your voice, speaking with your body, impromptu speaking, how to write a speech and how to give a speech. 

At the first session, our Youth Councillors had to participate in a ‘Round Robin’, which gave everyone the opportunity to speak. Individuals were given a topic on the spot, which they then had to speak about for 3 – 5 minutes. This was a really good way to allow everyone to get out of their comfort zone, and for the Toastmasters team to be able to provide feedback to our Youth Councillors, giving feedback on things they did well, but also on what they could work on.  

For the second session, our Youth Councillors were able to choose their own topic and provide another 3–5-minute speech using the feedback from the first session. Bendigo Toastmasters also gave feedback on these speeches and were able to see the improvement from the first session. 

The intended outcomes from these sessions were for participants to gain greater confidence when presenting to a group, for participants to have the opportunity to receive advice and constructive evaluation from experienced presenters and to have the opportunity to learn and put to practise key public speaking skills learned in real time.

Our Youth Councillors thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from the experience. Our Youth Mayor Alyssa Beaton reflected on the value of the experience, saying:

"Public speaking is such an incredible skill to have, and to be fortunate enough to work alongside the lovely Toastmasters crew to enhance this skill is such a privilege. Seeing the confidence growth of last year's attendees truly showcased how the Toastmasters' work has paid off at a night full of wonderful speeches."

Deputy Youth Mayor Ella Filsell said: "I loved getting to participate in the Public Speaking Workshop with Toastmasters. I did it last year and I feel that I've really grown so much as a speaker since."

Finally, Deputy Youth Mayor Bailey Dolan highlighted the importance of the discussions and learning opportunities throughout the sessions and said: "It was an incredible opportunity to hear and talk about such important topics for young people, while also improving our public speaking skills at the same time."

This is the second year in a row that Youth Councillors have participated in public speaking training. Both years have been so successful that we are already making plans to do it again next year!