Speaking is a form of expression that can influence others. Most of the people fear speaking in front of people. However, speaking is one of the essential skills required in our day-to-day life. In the 21st century, effective communication is one of the basic elements in personal and professional achievement.
Learning public speaking from experienced trainer is an opportunity to fulfill one’s desire to be successful in respective fields. Rajesh Panday, an eloquent trainer in Nepal, has been conducting impactful public speaking trainings since the last 5 years.
Panday, who has a work-history in radio for about 15 years, had carried out extensive research on public speaking before embarking his journey as a public speaking trainer. He had to work hard to research about public speaking as there was almost no culture of public speaking in Nepal that time, as is the situation now.
Though various organizations, including Jaycees, Rotary, Rotaract, Lions and Toastmasters clubs used to conduct public speaking trainings, they were organized in very small scale and limited to their own members, and there were no proper public speaking trainings conducted in mass scale.
“As I grew interest in public speaking training, and started to read books on public speaking training, I used to visualize it in a way that I was teaching in a class. While going through the books, I used to reflect everything inside me: the experience of working in media, emceeing for a number of years, and study of mass communication among others. It all started to come into my mind, and build a structure. As I continued reading the book, the realization of the fact that public speaking is my area, and, I can and should train people on public speaking became stronger,†he reflects his beginning days into the journey of public speaking training.
Immediately after he was done with the curriculum and syllabus for the training, he along with his friends conducted 34 different training sessions in 16 districts, every day, over a duration of 40 days. In the course of conducting the trainings, they traveled to Lumbini, Illam, Dharan, Pokhara, and Kathmandu. “I enjoyed that,†Panday reminisces, adding “It refined me as a trainer. It polished me, and my course. After the trainings, I got to know where I needed to improve. I also took feedbacks from all these trainees, numbering more than 1200. And, based on the feedbacks, I further refined the course.â€
His first training session in Kathmandu was for the team of Byakul Maila (Pradeep Kumar Rai), the lyricist of Nepal’s national anthem. “In the team, Byakul Maila never wanted to speak, as he was the senior most in class, and was nationally recognized for his work. He didn’t speak for four days in a row. On the fifth day, I said to him, “As four days have already been over, it’s only 3 days left for training, you must speak“. For the first time, he realized that someone was clearing a picture for him. Next day, he spoke from the podium in such a way that the whole class wept.
Panday is of the opinion that public speaking training is not always about talking in front of mass and giving a speech. It helps to develop one’s interpersonal skill. “It’s the same body language, it’s the same voice, same gesture, same enunciation and pronunciation and same eye contacts, used in both types of communications. Public speaking is sharing something in front of a mass. So, more and more people are coming for the training, from various professions and strata of life,” shares Panday.
Public Speaking workshop at Glocal After School
Since our childhood, we have been taught that Bolne ko pitho bikchha, na bolne ko chamal pani bikdaina. However, we don’t have the habit of speaking that influentially.
With an aim of bringing transformations in people’s speaking skills, Glocal After School(GAS) is conducting a public speaking workshop. It will run for seven days, three hours every day, and 21 hours in total, with 24 participants in the session. “After attending the sessions, people who can’t speak in front of public can start speaking comfortably and those who already have spoken in front of a mass can speak in a superb way,†says Panday, adding that the course is sure to bring a noticeable result in every participant.
“The workshop will be through lecture, audio-visual method, PowerPoint and interaction sessions. The trainees will apply the skills from the very first day; from the very first second actually,†Panday shares about his workshops, adding “The introduction itself will start from the interaction. The course is designed in such a way that people start speaking from the Day One itself. In the workshop, the participants will choose their topic, and they’ll polish it till the 7th day, and develop it into a full-length speech, which they’ll deliver in front of the mass on the last day, before graduation. At that time, every one of them will deliver their message in an impactful way,†shares Panday about the working model of the course.
Talking about how the workshop helps the participants in their life, Panday says, “The workshop first develops the personality of every trainee. As BBA/MBA students have to make presentations every day/week in their classes, it’ll also help them in academics. For entrepreneurs, it’ll help while pitching their business idea, interpersonal speaking and networking. They can use that skill everywhere. It helps in one’s business, academics and improving interpersonal communication, ultimately bringing a transformation in their life.â€
The course seeks to transform the communicator inside a person. After the course, one can present his/her opinion and ideas more effectively, and in a convincing way. The 7-days course will work not only for 7 days, but will last their whole life, as the training will be delivered through the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)-techniques. Its impression will be long lasting, as the training modules will connect with the brains of people. The result will be seen in the participants, and the trainees can feel that on their own, every single day, as the training progresses.
More than 2000 people have been benefitted from his public speaking trainings so far. But, he is of the opinion that the number 2000 is nothing, as there are more than 2 crores people living in Nepal, and as all need public speaking skills to perform their life in a better way, the training needs to take it in a bigger way.
The workshop is not only for the students but also for the government and non-government officers, teachers, lecturers, professors, doctors, engineers, professionals, entrepreneurs and all those who need to speak.
Sharing a memorable experience from one of his trainings, Panday says that there was one person who hardly stayed for 9 seconds at the podium in his first day into the workshop. “He was blushed and shaking when he had to speak from the podium for the first time. The whole hall hooted his name when he spoke on the last day of the workshop. That moment is memorable for me, and gave me the confidence that my training course works and gives a result,†he shares with satisfaction. “If a person who has never been to the podium, and hasn’t ever spoken in front of a mass can transform in such a way, I’m of the opinion that the BBA/MBA students should set the stage on fire. They should surprise me, and improve speaking in such a way that, they will become capable of teaching myself at the end of the workshop,†he further shared.
You can register for the workshop at https://www.glocalafterschool.com/course/public-speaking/.
