In the blink of an eye, it was already the end of March 2019!
This also denoted the annual signature event by Johan Speaking Academy – “Johan Speaking Academy Term Graduation” for students from the respective programs namely Kiddos Public Speaking, Kids Public Speaking, Kids Youtubing and Kids Emcee.
This time the graduation was held at Wisma Wah Chan located at Petaling Jaya. What made the venue unique was its auditorium seating layout, similar to a movie theatre hall setting.
While setting up before the first segment by Kiddos Public Speaking, both Johan and Cherry were cordially greeting and welcoming the parents into the hall.
When the hall began to be filled with crowd, Johan briefly explained that each seating arrangement had its own strengths and psychology. Due to its rising slope of seating rows as such, the speaker indirectly faced a stationary, forced-forward attention from the audiences. In other words, this depicted a power imbalance between the speaker and the audiences, which may contribute pressure towards the speaker. Having to conduct the graduation in such auditorium layout for the first time; Johan found this to be a great opportunity for his students to not only learn how to handle such challenging situation, but to also conquer the stage with an impactful impression.
In no time, the day continued with kids going onto the stage one by one. Some were anxious with sweaty palms but eventually gotten better thanks to their parents’ encouragement whilst some were extremely excited, looking forward to take the stage confidently. There was a child who did become too nervous and started crying profusely in the arms of her parent. After much motivation and support from parents and Teacher Johan and Cherry, the girl managed to go on stage to present her story. Performance anxiety is extremely common among children. It is okay to feel vulnerable, as long as you are willing to confront your fears and change to be better. As the saying goes, “it is the first step that counts.”
The graduation event ended on a high note by 4pm. As parents and students were leaving the hall, Johan and Cherry waved goodbyes and thanked them for their support and attending the event.
For more info, visit www.KidsPublicSpeaking.com
