Public Speaking

Becoming a Great Speaker: How to Weave with Words

About the series

Weave is offering a series of six trainings to help you become a confident public speaker, skilled in telling your story and the story of the strong community you are working to create. Whether you are inspiring a group of neighbors, a community group, funders, students or anyone else, the workshops will help you develop your message and style to fit with the audience.

This workshop series is open to anyone who is weaving or wants to weave their communities together. Sign up for all six or focus on the skills you want to build. All live sessions are free and hosted on Zoom.

All materials and recordings of the training workshops will also be available in the Weave Online Learning Center in August 2023. These online resources offer a robust set of materials and tools, designed to help you understand, embrace, and use the skills shared in the trainings—all at your own pace and in your own time. We hope you’ll find robust resources that are practical, actionable, and easy-to-use in your daily work.

Attending part of this series (either live or through a self-paced module) will be a prerequisite for future cohorts of the Weave Speakers Bureau. If you want to apply to be a Weave speaker, you should attend the series to show your commitment. More details about the next Weave Speakers Bureau cohort applications will be linked here soon.

The Curriculum

The Secrets of a Great Speech

Great speeches are crafted and practiced. We will dissect one together and explore the elements that go into preparing and delivering a great speech. This session will set a course for the next five, in-depth workshops on each step in the process, from honing your story and message to knowing your audience and how to inspire them.

Know Your Story

Every great speech tells a story and every great speaker uses their own story to connect emotionally with the audience. The speech is not necessarily about you, yet you are the person delivering a message. Being authentic allows people to trust you. We’ll look at how to share enough about yourself to invite trust and empathy, so people will be open to hearing a message that may challenge their thinking. You’ll get the most from this workshop if you do the Story of Self exercise in the Weave Learning Center.

Know Your Audience

To truly connect with your audiences, you must understand them first. By starting with your audience in mind, you can make the most of each speaking opportunity to advance your goals and activate your community. In this session, we’ll take a deep dive into understanding your audience, their motivations, and their perspective; all to build a strong foundation for a presentation that connects authentically with your audience, and moves them to new perspectives and new possibilities.

Know Your Message

A great speech focuses on one compelling idea that sticks with people. Even if you are sharing your own story or describing your work, people want to know the takeaway idea. Great speakers hone their idea so an audience can take in new information, see things in a new light, and act from a new perspective. This session will help you clarify and sharpen your core message and establish yourself as a credible messenger.

Know Your Performance

We tend to think a speech is about the words we say, but a speech is a performance. How you deliver your words, from your energy to your body language to how you move on stage, all matter and can turn a good speech into a great one. Great speakers practice and use their notes and slides (when appropriate) to keep a speech moving and engaging. In this session, we’ll practice some of the tools for performing at your best. You’ll get the most from this workshop if you do the Story of Self exercise in the Weave Learning Center.

Know Your Growth Strategy

When a speech is finished, you aren’t done if you want to keep growing as a speaker and expanding the subjects you can address. This session will guide you through doing an honest evaluation of how you performed, determining what to do differently next time, and extending your comfort zone to address new topics, formats, and audiences. Speaking is a beautiful skill and you will get better with each new opportunity to speak.

Sign up for a workshop

Your Coaches

The training sessions are hosted by Lightbox Collaborative, a communications firm that works with community leaders nationwide to advance their vision of stronger, more connected communities. Trainers for the workshops include:

Holly Minch (she/her) brings decades of experience in strategy, training, and communications for social change. Holly was named by PR News as a creative practitioner in the industry and she is a frequent speaker for nonprofit and academic audiences. She regularly coaches speakers to hone messages, build confidence, and connect with audiences.

Anna Castro (she/he/they) builds culturally competent and trauma-informed communications strategies that restore power to impacted communities. Anna’s work focuses on practicing solidarity by supporting pro-Black, pro-LGBTQ, and multi-faith leadership. Whether it is reuniting families separated by deportation, motivating people to exercise their right to vote, or fighting for our right to joy and bodily autonomy, Anna’s storytelling charts the path to victory for our communities.

Reflection

Once you feel ready, click below to take the final Certificate of Completion. A Weave Leader will reach out with your results and next steps. You can retry later if needed.