Public Speaking & Society (Symposium)

A Series of Quarterly Engagement Initiatives and Dialogues of the School of Eloquence on the subject of Oratory and its relevance to, and influence on the Nigerian social, cultural, professional, political and economic domains.

About the Initiative

Conceived and developed by Ubong Essien, CSP, the Dean of the School of Eloquence in  May, 2017, the name explains the aim: to make oratory more prominent within society, through a series of robust rhetorical engagements with various sections of our collective human interests.

For over twelve years the School of Eloquence has been at the forefront of helping Nigerians from all walks of life develop the all-too-important social and life skill of effective public speaking. The school is committed to extending its skill-specific advocacy for the imperative of good public speaking amongst the generality of Nigerians across a spectrum of all endeavours and professions thus keeping with our mandate of teaching the World to Speak. The purpose of this initiative, Public Speaking & society is to galvanize awareness towards mainstreaming the subject and practice of qualitative and effective public Speaking in Nigeria in a development-oriented fashion.

Good Leaders as Good Speakers.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, there has been a dearth of good and effective oral communication amongst the practicing political class. Key political actors in both the executive and legislative branches and across the federal, state and local government tiers have struggled with the art of public speaking thereby limiting their capacity to connect with the electorate.

This programme seeks to advance the cause of Nigeria’s democratic experience by advocating the communication imperative amongst elected and appointed government officials.  For democracy to be more experiential there must be on-going robust communication between the elected and the electorate. Political office holders must therefore master the skill of good public speaking to enable them connect with the citizens by way of policy articulation to gain wider acceptability and diminish the negative effects of speculative tendencies. This forum will surface this subject matter in a valuable manner and in the process challenge our current democratic culture towards growth and development as evidenced in some of the more advanced democratic climes we so often aspire to emulate.

Beyond the politics of society are the regular issues of development that the people grapple with as part of their lives ranging from business to education, from religion to socialization amongst several others. The Public Speaking & Society discourse will extend its tentacles to lend itself meaningfully to the issues that impact our collective living and how rhetoric can play a more central role in sustained societal enlightenment and resolution of thorny issues. Thus projecting and promoting the Eloquence Imperative as both an aspirational value as well as part and parcel of expected norm, especially for leaders and prominent figures in the various domains of society.

Public Speaking & Society is a School of Eloquence programme to be held quarterly in conjunction with various other willing organizations, agencies or stakeholders with Mr Ubong Essien, CSP, and the Dean of the School of Eloquence as its convener. As a framework, it would be held as a 3-hour conference-type event/forum targeting function and context-specific audiences and active stakeholders based on the sector or domain of focus per episode. It will be held at the School of Eloquence premises at 47b, Oduduwa Crescent, GRA Ikeja, Lagos except where for strategic reasons otherwise provided for.

Upcoming Thematic Areas for Quarterly Discourse

  • Public Speaking And Public Policy
  • Public Speaking And Law Making
  • Public Speaking and Civic Engagement
  • Public Speaking and Civil Society
  • Public Speaking and Civil Service
  • Speaking of Business – Presentation for Profitability
  • Eloquence for Entertainers
  • Public Speaking and Political Campaigning
  • Where have all the Speakers Gone?