MSOP Sponsors Speaker Training in Portland

Seven more people gave up a Saturday in early April to be trained as MSOP speakers at Williston West Church in Portland. Louise Tate and David Jacobs were the trainers. Everyone agreed that David and Louise's training was an extremely well planned and well-run experience, making for a very full day. Comments included "excellent training"; "appreciated the time management"; "it was excellent and I can't think of any way to improve on it"; "the training was really focused, with no down time -- I really liked it!"

The first part of the MSOP speaker training is a primer on effective public speaking. Various strategies for coping with nerves, for establishing a connection with the audience, and the importance of details like body language, naturalness, and pacing are all presented and discussed. Louise and David next described the standard speakout format -- introductions, a personal story, a Q & A period, and closure.

This introductory part of the training is followed by a demonstration of a speakout, followed by a thorough speaker debriefing and a chance to ask questions. Lenora Trussel and Jim Estes were our model speakers, and they were wonderful in all respects. Their stories were absorbing, emotional but full of humor; and their approach to all questions, even the moot hostile ones, was poised, honest, and respectful. They set a high standard for all of us.

The training moves on to address the structure of a speaker's personal speakout story, time to discuss it with one's co-trainees, and practice in delivering it. There is also practice in answering uninformed and hostile questions. Louise has real flair for asking these.

But what ultimately makes the MSOP speaker training such a rewarding experience is the power of the stories from people's lives. Speaking as a straight male, I now have a much more concrete sense of what diversity really is: women and men, a wealth of sexual identities, a wealth of different stages in life, all sharing in the satisfaction of work towards the common goal of a truly just and civil society. Is there any better realization of e pluribus unum (out of many, one), the motto of the United States?

--Stephen Farrand
Venues Coordinator