Lessons Learned about Teaching Presentation Skills to the Young People in P4P

In 1978 I was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and got my first opportunity to teach the Public Speaking course. I taught five sections of that course that year and in the ensuing 43 years I taught that course more often than any other Communication Studies course and taught it at a variety of colleges and universities. The principles and standards I used in teaching the course and evaluating speeches were primarily based on the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Aristotle wrote “The Rhetoric” over 2500 hundred years ago, yet despite monumental changes in the world since then, Public Speaking courses and textbooks have changed little. Differences in gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, age, and technology are addressed, but have minimally affected the belief in what constitutes an “effective” speech.


​During the summers of 2017, 2019 and 2021 I taught Public Speaking workshops for the P4P Leadership Training Conferences, providing guidance on creating and performing informative, persuasive, and motivational speeches. I imparted my knowledge of public speaking principles to young adults who were hopeful of becoming part of P4P. What I learned from hearing and seeing the speeches they prepared gave me new insight into what really is critical to delivering an effective speech.


​Genuineness, sincerity, passion, and a strong desire on the part of the speaker for the audience to understand their experiences were the most important elements of the superior speeches.​ Audiences can sense when a speaker is being real, being their true self. They know when the words are coming from the heart. The speaker is not acting a part, putting on some artificial performance like an actor in a play. When the audience senses that the speaker is sharing her or his truth, speaking with genuine emotions, it resonates in a very powerful way. The speaker’s credibility is enhanced and there is a greater opportunity for the audience to understand, believe, and often be persuaded by what the speaking is saying.


​The perceived motivation of the speaker is also very critical to the presentation’s effect on the audience. If the speaker makes it clear that they are saying this to help people in the audience, to provide them with information or lived experiences that they can apply to their own lives, that they can relate to, then the speaker has succeeded. The focus always needs to be on the audience. The presentation is for them, not the speaker. The most valuable advice given in Public Speaking textbooks is to be “audience centered.” Attention-getting introductions, central ideas, main points, transitions, summaries, use of stylistic language, supporting one’s claims---all of that can be useful, but if the speaking is not perceived as being genuine and sincere, or not caring about their audience, then the speech loses its effectiveness.


​My advice to speakers is to be themselves, to speak from the heart, to talk to the audience like you would talk to your closest friend or significant other, or family member. Let them get to know you through your experiences. This does not mean disclosing every bit of who you are and what you have experienced—only what you feel comfortable sharing and what you believe will be helpful and useful for others to know. Practice, practice, practice. Being as prepared as possible is to the best way to manage any potential nervousness while speaking. And an added bonus is that if speaker follows this advice, they will learn more about who they are, too.

Blog Written by:

George Gaetano, Ph.D, P4P Board Member

© 2021 Partnerships for Permanence. All Rights Reserved

The Holiday Season

The holidays can be a challenging time for some foster and adopted youth. Some struggle with an inner sense of family, because it is the first time they have been away from their biological family. Some struggle with a sense of family because they have never met or no longer even maintain contact their biological families. Others struggle with a sense of belonging, because they are surrounded by unfamiliarity. Maybe traditions have changed. Maybe food has changed. Maybe everything has.

Friends with "ordinary" childhoods can be an added pressure for these foster and adopted youth, because they can be a reminder of what the foster or adopted youth used to have. Even if what they used to have could never or should never be described as “ordinary.” Friends can also be a reminder of what they could have had if circumstances had been different. If their biological family had been “ordinary.” If they had been dealt a different hand.

One of the things Partnerships for Permanence does around the holidays is host a holiday get-together. There is food. Gifts. Laughs. Love. And a whole lot of giving.

In the past we have used the opportunity as a fundraiser. After all, “‘tis the season of giving.” But this year we are doing something different - a smaller dinner with a renewed focus on what it means to be a family. What it means to have a family. What a family looks like. What a family does or does not do. What a family is. And what a family could be, if you wanted it to be.

Those invited are encouraged to bring some holiday cheer, and treat each other like family, because that is what the holidays are all about. Coming together as a family to do something special. And family is all about supporting each other through the rough times so you can enjoy the special times together.

For most people, family is their first and strongest form of support. Mom and Dad raise them. Grandma and Grandpa help. Aunts and Uncles visit. The list goes on and on. That is what we call a support network and it is something that many foster and adopted youth no longer have once they reach the system. If they manage to still have a support network, it has oftentimes been twisted into something negative. Weaponized into something that can be used against them.

And if you thought networking for your work life was important, imagine not having a support network for your personal life. Or having a toxic one.

Partnerships for Permanence does not host pity parties. But we do believe that sharing is healing. And there is no better time for sharing than the holiday season. Sharing struggles. Sharing accomplishments. Sharing life events. Sharing. And in those moments our holiday get-togethers become a celebration of what it means to be a current or former foster or adopted youth. They become about what we share as a wider community. And they become something we can use to turn what is oftentimes a dismal time of year for foster and adopted youth into something fun. Something real. Something that is missing.

Something good.

Written by: Alexander

© 2019 Partnerships for Permanence Inc. All Rights Reserved.