Public speaking and the ability to clearly communicate an idea to others is a powerful tool. It is a necessary skill that will help you reach many goals in life whether you are in college, business, or making positive changes in your community. In Warren County, a public
presentation is required to participate in teen leadership programs, Adirondack Guides, and to work at the fair.
The 4-H Public Presentations is a program in which you learn to create a presentation and develop the skills needed to present it before an audience. This is not a competition, rather an opportunity to become a better you! You cannot fail, but you will learn, grow and develop lifelong speaking abilities that will help you now in school, home and in club/community leadership opportunities.
We are trying something a little different this year for the 4-H Public Presentation Program that we hope will help you get organized and hopefully minimize last minute presentation planning. Beginning on January 30th we are encouraging youth to tackle a piece of their presentation each week leading up to delivering your presentation at either the Saturday event here in our office or the evening opportunity in Glens Falls. We hope this will reduce the hesitation about doing a presentation by taking the time to fully prepare and practice for it with our help along the way.
Each week we will share with you some tips around the presentation piece you will be working on for that specific week. For example, the week that you are working on your Introduction, we will share some tips for writing an attention grabbing intro and what we expect to hear from you when you introduce yourself and your topic. These tips and tricks will be sent out via e-mail, a Facebook post, and placed on our blog: http://warrencounty4-h.blogspot.com. To help keep you organized and on track, we have created a checklist that you can use during your planning. We are also adding a Q & A zoom over mid-winter break as an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
We have had many strong public speakers representing Warren County 4-H at the district, state and regional levels. These teens who have achieved personal success in public speaking often return to help judge presentations and share their knowledge with younger 4-H members.
We encourage all youth ages 5-19 to participate in this program. If you have any questions or would like to register for the January 28th training zoom or presentation day/evening, please contact Michele Baker at mlb222@cornell.edu or by phone at 518-668-4881. You will also have the option of recording your presentation again this year.
