The Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau is growing rapidly! We are very excited to see such interest in ending homelessness in Baltimore. To better work with our speakers, Vanessa from Healthcare for the Homeless and Joanna from Beans & Bread Center have organized large group Speaker Trainings to help individuals learn to share their stories.

Joanna from Beans & Bread Center files the following report about those trainings:

On January 18^th & February 8^th Scott Gottbreht, a Johns Hopkins Instructor came to the Speakers’ Bureau and conducted public speaking training “the Zen of Speaking” with us.  Scott gave us a ton of great tips from how to go about the beginning stages of writing your speech to the delivery, and handling Q&As.  Scott also facilitated a great practice session with a public speaking exercise.    

On February 15^th we discussed handling Question & Answer sessions and read a little about how to handle some of the more difficult questions.  The group dynamic and our very helpful visitors from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health were a great addition to this discussion. 

In the future we’re looking at putting on mock debates, conflict resolution trainings, and fear/anxiety of public speaking trainings.

Any ideas for trainers or topics? 

Please feel free to share with us!