Smithsonian Trained Docent / Speaker

Robert P.

Are you looking to improve your ability to speak in front of others? With practice, it IS possible to feel comfortable in front of an audience. For the past 20 years I have been speaking to groups of people of various sizes and knowledge levels. My speaking opportunities have included delivering project status briefings to NASA and Boeing management for various technical projects as well as providing educational experiences for visitors to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum and the Gateway Canyons Auto Museum. The museum experience has been particularly useful as I learned to be prepared to talk to random groups of people at a moment's notice. While some of these groups were homogenous, many of them consisted of a range of ages from elementary school to retirement age. This required me to learn how to adjust my message to educate the entire group without making anyone feel left out.

During my time with the Smithsonian I was also chosen to be a new docent mentor. As a mentor, I trained incoming docents on the fine art of speaking to the public. I would like to use the lessons I have learned as a mentor to help each of you feel more comfortable speaking in front of others. In our time together we will go over your materials to make sure you understand what you are speaking about, record your practice sessions and review your body language. While not everyone will ever feel completely comfortable in front of others, I promise that as we progress you will become much more comfortable speaking with others whether you are speaking to fellow students in school or staff members at work.