Speakers Trust Speakers Trust

Speakers Trust

Speakers Trust is a charity whose mission is to promote the lifetime benefits of effective public speaking and communication skills. Our vision is a society where everybody has the skills, confidence and desire to speak in public.

Speakers Trust has a professional network of speakers and facilitators who deliver workshops designed to boost confidence and self-esteem by enabling people to speak with clarity and impact. Participants learn essential public speaking skills whilst increasing their awareness of the importance of speaking up and speaking out. Having the confidence and skills to speak in public – whether that’s on a formal stage, raising your hand in class, or answering the telephone – improves both education and employment prospects. Helping young people to find their voices can also increase their desire to use the power of their voice to bring about positive change for themselves and their communities.

Speakers Trust’s youth based programmes seek to work in partnership with schools and youth focused organisations to promote the benefit of public speaking as a life skill. These partnerships enable us to take an informed approach to how we work to meet the needs of the young people as individuals, and how to support organisations in a wider context. To date we have worked in over 600 schools and trained over 70,000 young people.

Although speaking and listening is part of the English Language GCSE curriculum, there is recognition that too many young people are leaving school or formal education without the confidence and/or ability to speak in a public environment. A recent survey of London employers reported a number of mismatches between the skills and attitudes they require, and the skills and attitudes that young people have when they leave education. 55% reported that an inability to communicate effectively was posing a serious problem for their business.  

We recognise that speaking in a formal context in front of others can be a real issue for many young people. We tackle these issues by using a flexible approach to the training. The trainer creates a safe and supportive atmosphere where group participation and peer feedback is used to encourage active involvement in the learning process.