When giving an effective speech, it is common to use cue cards (or palm cards) as a reference to your key talking points. But how should you hold your palm cards? Here are 5 tips to help you hold your palm cards appropriately when giving a speech: Hold the cards in your non-dominant hand (the hand you do not write with or throw a ball with) so you can use your dominant hand to make hand gestures and to turn the cards over. Hold the cards with one hand using you thumb & forefinger to hold them on the bottom corner; or have your cards flat against your palm. Changing cards: use you dominant ..read more

Helping your child become a confident and effective public speaker is a gradual process that takes time. Whilst some tips and tweaks can be applied with immediate effect, seeing true life-changing results happens over many months and many speeches. Here are some practical ways to help your child with their public speaking: Encourage your child to practice their speech out loud, in front of a mirror or with a friend. You could also record their speech for them to watch back. This can help them to become more comfortable with their words and improve their delivery. Help your child structure the ..read more

Public speaking competitions for kids are a great way for aspiring & competitive young speakers to develop their formal public speaking skills, gain confidence and showcase their talents. But not all children like competing when it comes to public speaking, and that is perfectly fine too. The most important thing is for children to gain experience speaking in front of a range of different types of live audiences. At Super Speak, all our students gain experience presenting in front of their peers, teachers & adults with varying sized audiences during each enrolment period. For students ..read more

Here are 11 tips to help kids prepare & deliver a great story: Create a story bank: every time something interesting happens to your child, encourage them to make a note of it, or make a note of it yourself. You would be surprised with how much they can draw from the many personal stories/experiences they have had when storytelling. And kids are often more excited & passionate about re-telling personal stories, even if they are embellished a bit! Start with a strong opening: grab the audience’s attention in the very beginning with a strong opening line or anecdote that sets the stage ..read more

When it comes to knowing how to help your child give a great speech, much of the magic comes from the top & tail of the process. The top of the process being how you prepare your speech before you write it, and the tail of the process being lots of practice after you have written your speech. Practicing and preparing thoroughly before a presentation is an important skill for kids to learn. This will ensure you have a clear and well-organized message AND help boost your child’s confidence and reduce anxiety. Here are some tips for kids to practice and prepare thoroughly before their present ..read more

When you help your child select a great speech topic for a school presentation, there are several key steps you can follow to ensure the topic is engaging, relevant and appropriate for your audience. Consider the audience you will be speaking to: What are their interests and needs? What topics would be relevant and engaging to them? Be sure you choose a topic that will be of interest to your audience and that they will be motivated to listen to. Think about the purpose of your presentation: What do you want to achieve with your speech? What key message do you want to communicate? Choose a foc ..read more

There are various types of speeches, generally speaking, the purpose of a speech can be grouped into three categories: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Today we focus on techniques that can be used to persuade others when speaking. Here are some common persuasive speaking structures your child can use in general communication: Problem-solution: here your child can explain an issue or problem that needs to be addressed, and then presents a solution to that problem and explain why it would be helpful to the audience. This structure helps to engage your audience by identifying a problem ..read more

Have your ever wanted to persuade others more effectively, whether that be with family members at home, at school leadership meetings, in the workplace office, or even in a more structured debating scenario? Focusing on rebuttals is a good place to start. Rebuttals are the techniques and strategies used to respond to and challenge the arguments & evidence presented by the opposing side. Rebuttals are an important part of many speaking occasions including debates, because they allow the speaker to address and counter the other side’s arguments, and to present their own evidence and argument ..read more

When giving a speech, palm cards can be your greatest asset or greatest liability. If you learn how to use palm cards effectively, they can support the delivery of a wonderful speech. But if you do not use them correctly, palm cards can become a distraction to the audience and detract from your ability to deliver your key message. Here are 12 tips for using palm cards effectively when giving a speech: Keep them roughly the size of your palm: there is a reason they are called “palm” cards. Do not use A4 paper as this can distract your audience & reduce your ability to make effective hand g ..read more