What are the most effective team building activities for improving public speaking skills?

1 Impromptu Speeches

One of the most challenging aspects of public speaking is thinking on your feet and responding to unexpected situations. Impromptu speeches are a great way to train your team to be more spontaneous, creative, and adaptable. To do this activity, you need a list of random topics, a timer, and a volunteer. The volunteer picks a topic from the list and has to give a short speech (one or two minutes) on that topic without any preparation. The rest of the team can then offer feedback, praise, or suggestions. You can rotate the roles until everyone has a chance to speak.

2 Storytelling Relay

Storytelling is another important skill for public speaking, as it can help you engage your audience, convey your message, and create an emotional connection. Storytelling relay is a fun and collaborative activity that can help your team develop their storytelling skills. To do this activity, you need a prompt, such as a genre, a theme, or a character. The first person starts telling a story based on the prompt, and after a few sentences, passes the story to the next person, who has to continue it. The story goes on until everyone has contributed or until the time limit is reached. The goal is to make the story coherent, interesting, and entertaining.

3 TED Talk Challenge

TED talks are famous for being inspiring, informative, and persuasive presentations that cover a wide range of topics. TED talk challenge is an activity that can help your team learn from the best and improve their own public speaking skills. To do this activity, you need to assign each team member a TED talk to watch and analyze. They should pay attention to the speaker's style, structure, content, and delivery. Then, each team member has to give a summary of the TED talk they watched and explain what they liked, disliked, or learned from it. The rest of the team can then ask questions or share their opinions.

4 Pitch Perfect

Pitching is a vital skill for public speaking, especially if you want to sell your ideas, products, or services. Pitch perfect is an activity that can help your team practice their pitching skills and get feedback from their peers. To do this activity, you need to divide your team into small groups and give each group a product or service to pitch. It can be something real or imaginary, as long as it is relevant to your industry or field. Each group has to prepare a short pitch (three to five minutes) that explains the features, benefits, and value proposition of their product or service. Then, each group presents their pitch to the rest of the team, who can then vote on the best pitch or ask questions.

5 Debate Club

Debating is a skill that can help you improve your public speaking skills, as well as your critical thinking, research, and persuasion skills. Debate club is an activity that can help your team practice their debating skills and have a healthy discussion. To do this activity, you need to choose a controversial or relevant topic and divide your team into two sides: for and against. Each side has to research and prepare arguments to support their position and refute the other side. Then, each side takes turns to present their arguments, rebuttals, and conclusions. The rest of the team can then decide which side was more convincing or offer their own views.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?