By REBECCA BILLS
SEVEN Country Fire Association (CFA) members from around the Hills have recently completed a public speaking introduction program.
Jim Armstrong from the Mount Evelyn brigade, Vickie Linaker and Dave Evered from The Basin, Elle Saber and Peter Haddow from Macclesfield, Peter Baxter from Lilydale and Laura Wood from the Rowville Brigade all successfully completed the 2013 EMR Speech Craft Program.
The program aims to develop skills in public speaking and confidence through the completion of practical activities including presenting speeches focusing on eye contact, pace, tone, body language, gestures and the use of appropriate language.
Mount Evelyn CFA Captain and successful course participant Jim Armstrong said that in his role as captain he needed to attend different events and give talks and public speaking was a crucial element to the communication element in his role.
“The course was extremely beneficial to me and it really helped me learn more about body language and different styles and inflections that can enhance what you are saying,” he said.
“I think the best part of the experience was we all saw a lot of growth in all the other participants over the eight weeks.
“We didn’t really know many of the other people in the course so it formed a good little group of people who all had a common goal of trying to improve that aspect of their skill set.”
Mr Armstrong said he believed this was a course that everybody should do and he has been encouraging other CFA members in management positions to complete the program.
“I didn’t tell people I was doing the course and after speaking at both our recent brigade dinner and garage sale dinner I had so many comments on how well I was speaking,” he said.
“It is really positive feedback that shows how important good speech is.”
A statement from CFA Eastern Metropolitan Region said the participants who completed the program gained such confidence in public speaking that it resulted in two of the participants being selected to read out the names of the hundreds of recipients who were recently awarded the National Emergency Medal.
For more information on joining the CFA or the Speech Craft program, call the CFA Eastern Metropolitan Region office on 8739 1300.
