Our LEWIS Media Centre played host to an event for one of our pro-bono campaigns last weekend. The McGuire Programme, which is a speech course run for and by recovering stutterers was running a Speech Improvement Day in London where graduates of the programme could practice their speaking skills and challenge themselves in new ways.
The day started in our Media Centre which, being the former HQ of the Labour Party and where Tony Blair used to practice his New Labour speeches on stage, was a great venue for us to improve our speaking skills. Later in the day the graduates practiced their speech on the streets of London by asking strangers for directions, something that many out of control stutterers would often avoid at any cost. The final challenge for the day was to congregate at the world famous Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park which is famous for being a pillar of free speech and where the likes of Winston Churchill and Karl Marx have honed their skills. This was a great challenge for recovering stutterers to be speaking alongside other established public speakers and potential hecklers.
Being a recovering stutterer myself, and the organiser of the day, it was great to be able to host the event in such a great venue and end up at such an auspicious speaking location. I started the day off by doing a live radio interview to publicise the speaking at Speakers' Corner and not only was this a great challenge for me but it also managed to get some people along to the public speaking who wanted to find out more.
Stuttering is based upon fear and the only way to get over fear is to look it in the eye. It doesn't like confrontation. Several people confronted their fears on Saturday and are all the more stronger for it.
For more information on stuttering you can visit The McGuire Programme or the British Stammering Association homepages.
Technorati Tags: stuttering, McGuire Programme, Speakers Corner
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