Alumni Catch Up!

At “Speak Out” Challenge! HQ, we continue to develop our engagement with Alumni and are always keen to hear from them on how the challenge has had a positive impact on their life.

This week, we hear from Artemis Irvine, Jack Petchey “Speak Out” Challenge! Grand Champion in 2014, on the benefits of the training she received and how it has contributed to her work as a Broadcast Journalist student:

“There are a few very practical lessons I learnt from the competition and the training with Speakers Trust. For example, how to write a speech. I learnt about how a speech is not an essay read aloud but a different medium which should be written differently. This has been particularly useful since I started writing scripts for radio and TV while studying for an MA in broadcast journalism.

The training from Speakers Trust also taught me how to pace myself when I speak and how to sound conversational, confident and relaxed. I think this has been hugely beneficial, not only for when I’ve done further public speaking but also for when I’ve been broadcasting, having one-on-one conversations or talking in front of small groups. During my undergraduate degree I chaired my college feminist society and I definitely noticed the benefit of the training in how confident I felt opening and leading the discussions. 

More generally, being given the opportunity to hone a skill like public speaking was a really powerful experience! It taught me that you can learn how to do something that you find scary and intimidating and you can learn to do it to a really high standard and excel in it. I think that’s a really powerful lesson for a young person to be taught and has definitely stood me well over the last seven years. “

If you have taken part in Jack Petchey’s “Speak Out” Challenge! over the last few years, we’d love to hear from you!  Please contact us at hello@speakerstrust.org.