[Jessica Boucher]

Babson requires every student fulfill a public speaking requirement in their freshman year. This is fulfilled across all subjects (business and lib arts classes), and in various environments (different audiences, different styles, with and without media etc).

I saw a lot of very smart people struggle with it my freshman year, but my experience doing presentations for 237 allowed me to get acquainted with public speaking before it counted for a grade, and I am very thankful for that opportunity.

I would suggest to any FIRSTers out there who are nervous about speaking to start off easy, and then move up to the harder audiences. Setup some robot presentations to elementary school children - they are the least likely to be critical of a flub or two.

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We are all FIRST's best spokespeople. It really frustrates me to see people who are well-regarded in FIRST have very little public speaking or conversation skills. These people are in the minority, but when we have the chance to impress an audience, whether it be potential sponsors, students, or anyone - quite simply, not putting our best foot forward leaves us open to shooting ourselves in the foot. Poor speaking affects relationships: with sponsors, participants, just about anyone, and thus it affects opportunity.

I hope that as time progresses we become more selective in who is representing us to the outside audience, but for now, the best way for the FIRST Community to combat this issue is to get as much experience as we can. It's a necessary evil, but it can be learned...and baby steps are the best way to ease into it. There are lots of tips out there (such as what SciGuy mentioned about eye contact), and it's a great idea to post them. Good luck!