The world's biggest youth speaking event

20,000 Students              500 Schools             46 Regions                 1 Challenge

Overview

The “Speak Out” Challenge is now in its fifth year. During 2009/2010 every state school in London and Essex will be eligible to receive public speaking and effective communication training delivered by our SpeakersBank trainers.  To date over 48,000 teenagers have benefited from this training and by the end of June 2010 close to 65,000 teenagers will have completed the programme.

The workshops we run in state secondary schools give the students tools and techniques that they can use immediately to improve their communication skills and future prospects. At the end of the day students are able to:

• Deliver and present with confidence and impact
• Understand the importance of structured arguments
• Give and receive written and verbal evaluations

Feedback from both students and teachers has been exceptional. Students report an average increase in confidence of 61.4%, with 97% of them recommending the workshop to other students. Over 2,000 teachers have participated in the workshops and 100% say they would recommend the day to fellow teachers.

The one-day workshop is a dynamic programme that trains up to 25 students per workshop to communicate effectively and to think on their feet and culminates in a "Speak Out" speech contest where students can speak on any subject they feel strongly about.  There are no restrictions on what they talk about; no use of notes; no podiums and no barriers - only their voices, their words and their passion. A number of teenagers are then chosen to go through to the next stage - the “Speak Out” Assembly Final where the speakers present, X Factor style, in front of 250 fellow students.

Over the course of 550 school speech contests, judges select winners who go on to 36 regional finals climaxing in the Gala Grand Final on the 9th July 2010. On the night 18 speakers will `speak out` to become the 2010 Challenge! Champion and win a prize valued at £5,000.  

The Challenge! website (www.speakoutchallenge.com) contains other activities for the students. They can also complete the ONLINE Challenges to win an iPod every month.  Our thanks to the ongoing support and sponsorship of the Jack Petchey Foudation for making this tremendous speaking competition a reality!