Juergen Schoenstein, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication, and Anna Kohler, Senior Lecturer in Music and Theater Arts at MIT
Jan/17 Wed 09:30AM-12:30PM 2-147
Jan/18 Thu 09:30AM-12:30PM 1-273 and 1-277
Jan/18 Thu 02:00PM-04:00PM tbd
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/16
Limited to 18 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
As engineers and academics, we love to talk about our work – unless it is in front of an audience. For many, public speaking is one of the biggest fears they have to face; even experienced presenters often agonize over the prospect of facing an audience. This workshop will address not only the tasks of crafting a talk and designing the slides, but also how to become confident and comfortable as a speaker. This workshop is intended for graduate students and faculty members who want to improve their oral presentation skills, but undergraduates are welcome, too.
The first part will be a half-day workshop in crafting an audience-specific narrative, and designing professional slides; the next morning, we will do a “clinic” where participants get an opportunity to give a 5 to 10-minute presentation (about their thesis, current research, or any other topic they choose) to a friendly audience of peers, get feedback and practice how to handle the Q and A. In the afternoon, things will become more physical: Anna Kohler, Senior Lecturer for Theater at MIT, will lead a workshop on “Speaking with confidence”. In this workshop, you will do exercises that will enable you to find and fill both the space within you and the space immediately around you, so that you can confidently be yourself in front of a large audience. This workshop is not about oral performance and theatrical speech, but about physical presence and comfort on stage – wear loose clothing conducive for physical movement.
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Juergen Schoenstein, juergen@mit.edu
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CMS/W