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Search for Britain's best young speaker down to final eight

By Martin Kornacki (15-04-2009)
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Learning and Development News - Search for Britain's best young speaker down to final eight

Many people find public speaking uncomfortable - so imagine if you were one of the final eight contestants on a TV program aiming to find Britain’s best young speaker.

To add to the pressure, BBC2’s The Speaker is judged by a panel that includes former basketball star turned motivational speaker, John Amaechi (pictured).

The former NBA player - now a psychologist, New York Times best-selling author and businessman - has developed a reputation for straight-talking and no-nonsense advice.

Speaking on the BBC website, he said: “I have always seen The Speaker as a show about more than public speaking – it's about communication in general.

“The advice rendered by the mentors will help people with every communication they ever undertake: parents talking to their children, children to teachers, candidates to interviewers, partners with each other and on and on.

"But, most of all, while you applaud the achievements, laugh with the successes and commiserate with those who fall, you will also have learned something useful and transferable."

Over the next four shows the final eight contestants, aged 14-17, will be helped to hone their technique by celebrity mentors.

It is then left to the judges to eliminate the weakest speakers each week, leaving three teenagers from an initial 160 to battle it out in the final. 
See John at work on The Speaker, tonight on BBC Two at 8pm.

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