Developing Public Speaking Skills in Undergraduates: A Two-Day Event

Public Speaking for First-Year Historians was an initiative which ran for the first time in June 2016 in the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London. The 2-day event was proposed and designed by 2 postgraduate research students who wanted to address the lack of formal training for presentations in history degree programmes. In particular, a key aim of the event was to engage students in skills and techniques for oral communication, especially practical exercises that could be implemented throughout their studies. In outlining the aims of the initiative and the methods used to deliver the training, this article evaluates the success of student engagement strategies and analyses its potential for future development.