Improve Your Communication Skills

What do I write on a blog? Would other people be interested in what I have to say? Who knows? But here goes. I joined POWERtalk GB many years ago — long before I had even heard of the Internet, webpages and blogs. So I definitely did not join in order to become a blogger.

When the Edinburgh Toastmistress club was started up again in 1971 I was working as an Administrator but had just landed a job as a Further Education lecturer. It occurred to me that this might just give me more confidence to stand in front of a class of adults, some of whom could well be older than me, and teach them. I still remember the first topic I was given — “You have won £1 million. What would you spend it on?” I think I spoke for about a minute. But that was the start, both of my Further Education career and my ongoing fascination and involvement with communication in the widest sense.

 

Communication is so important in life. We are social beings, but not perfect, so to be able to hone our skills in speaking, listening, organising, debating, contributing to discussions in meetings, minute-taking and finally chairing meetings in a welcoming, friendly, supportive atmosphere of a club meeting is one of the major plus points of ITC, now POWERtalk.

At school I was terrified to open my mouth at a debate; at university it was an ordeal to present a paper to my tutorial group. Taking minutes was fine for me after my secretarial training, but to take part and to chair a meeting…

I enjoyed teaching in Further Education. Yes, some of the students were older than me. Some were men and women who wanted to change careers of get back into the workplace after a break. I enjoyed researching the subjects I taught — at the same time as I was enjoying researching for the speeches I was making in ITC. The opportunity for promotion came and I had the confidence to go for it and eventually became head of section. More communication skills were required now — delegating, listening, organising timetables, counselling and meetings.

In ITC I was taking part (and winning) speech contests and debating — how proud my parents were with my achievements. I held office, club right up to region and finally helped organize an international convention here in Scotland. This would not have happened without the support of fellow ITC members, each of us putting our ITC training into action.

I am still a member of POWERtalk, now retired from lecturing, but still learning and improving my communication skills with my friends in The Rovers Club and Stirling POWERtalk.

If you have just been surfing the internet and found yourself reading this, I hope it was of interest — it’s never too late to improve your communication skills for business or for pleasure.

Diana Porterfield