Page 8 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 113 - June 2023_Neat

REINVIGORATING THE PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

SOUTHERN ENGLAND AND WALES (SEW)

Post COVID 19, we committed to a restart of the competition in our area for
2022/2023. Well, you know how this pans out. You’re on a Zoom session and be-
fore you know it you’ve committed to taking over as co-organiser to give two of our
already very busy FEC members in SEW some breathing space. It is at this point
that I have to admit that it’s this competition more than anything else that has kept
me in BPW over the years so it wasn’t a hard decision to accept. Witnessing the en-
thusiasm that the students (and teachers) bring with them and the resultant increase
in confidence and self-esteem in the students makes all the challenges worthwhile.
There will be quite a few but it is worth the effort, so please don’t be put off from
taking this on in your area.

It can seem quite daunting starting from scratch. An awareness of the chal-
lenges you might face is always a plus before you get to the initial, very satisfying
part where the schools accept the invitation and submit their entry forms. I was
joined on the organising team by Judith Cook and together we took on the initial
challenge of the school websites. If you have anyone in your Area who has any influ-
ence in your local schools, make sure please that they feed back on the ease or oth-
erwise of finding relevant contact information on their websites. I have to say that
some required delving down many levels and, in some cases, finding the name of the
Head Teacher was a challenge never mind who might be in charge of English. An
open mind and having a few hours to spare will keep you sane – just.

We were quite lucky in having lists of the schools in our area from previous
competitions. Having said that, these were now a few years old so the first thing to
navigate was the said websites of all the schools to check contact details and in two
cases in our area even a change of name. This also gave an opportunity to search for
th
any others that might come into the category, e.g. 6 Form Colleges. I have to say
that the uptake was disappointing, especially from schools who used to enter every
year, but as with all organised events, those who take part are the winners.

It’s always worth bearing in mind the many time pressures for staff and for
some schools it became evident that the public speaking element was very much
down to one member of staff. Also, there are as many as six different public speak-
ing competitions available for them to enter, so you’re immediately in competition
before you start. One school in our area allocates a member of staff to each of the
competitions and has an internal ‘competition’ to select the students who will take
part, such is the interest. Very few schools are likely to have the resources for this
but it does show what can be done. …/...