PUBLIC-SPEAKING WORKSHOP FOR GRADES 7–12
Speaking with Confidence: A Public Speaking Workshop for Students
One conversation can lead to an unexpected opportunity. Through personal stories, a partner activity, and a team game, Chris helps students see why speaking up matters. Students practice building connections, communicating clearly, and handling nerves, highlighting skills they can use in everyday conversations and classroom presentations.
Grades 7–12 · 60 Minutes · Up to 30 Students · $100 + HST
Help Students Approach
Public Speaking Differently
Confidence can grow through small conversations and speaking to a room. Students explore how communication creates opportunities and practice ways to make themselves heard.
See Why Speaking Matters
Personal stories show how asking a question, making a connection, or sharing an idea can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Connect and Communicate Clearly
Students practice asking thoughtful questions, finding common ground, and helping an audience understand what they mean.
Speak Even When Nervous
Simple preparation and delivery techniques help students begin, adjust, and recover when their words don’t come out as planned.
See recommended courses & how Speaking with Confidence supports Nova Scotia curriculum outcomes, with a one-page overview for teachers and administrators. View the One-Page Guide (PDF)
A Practical Path
Toward More Confident Speaking
The workshop moves from everyday conversations to speaking in front of a group, combining personal stories, practical techniques, and two interactive experiences.
A Reason to Speak Up
Through humour and personal stories, Chris shows how one conversation can lead to a new connection, a memorable experience, or an unexpected opportunity.
Finding Common Ground
In a partner activity, students use questions and follow-ups to discover a shared interest and experience how curiosity helps build connections.
Preparing and Delivering
Students learn simple ways to manage nerves, begin speaking, and make their message easier to follow through clear delivery and attention to their audience.
Putting It Into Practice
In Mystery Pitch, teams guess a secret product as volunteer speakers practice pitching it. Competitive and fun.
Giving the Next Opportunity a Chance
Stories about mistakes, rejection, and unexpected success reinforce that confidence doesn’t require perfection. Students consider one small speaking opportunity they could take next.
Experience Built Across Classrooms, Conferences, and Stages
With a degree in public relations and more than 1,500 school presentations across Nova Scotia, Chris Gallant has spent his career connecting with audiences. His experience includes emceeing corporate events, weddings, and conferences, as well as performing spoken-word poetry for thousands of people.
He still gets nervous, and brings that honesty into the classroom. Through stories of unexpected opportunities, forgotten words, and lessons learned along the way, Chris helps students see confident speaking as something they can practice and develop.
Chris Gallant
Author & Speaker
Everything Your School Needs to Know
- Grades: 7–12
- Length: 60 minutes
- Group size: Up to 30 students
- Format: Interactive and in person
- Availability: October through June
- Location: Schools across Nova Scotia
- Workshop price: $100 + HST
- Multiple sessions: Available during the same school day or across multiple days
Dates outside HRM are coordinated with Chris’s existing travel schedule. Out-of-province bookings may also be considered, although travel costs may apply.
Confidence Beyond the Workshop
Speaking with Confidence is designed to help students begin developing skills they can carry into school, work, and life.
- Classroom presentations and oral reports
- Group projects and class discussions
- Job, scholarship, and post-secondary interviews
- Leadership roles and extracurricular activities
- Everyday situations where students need to speak up
Watch Chris in Action
Get a feel for Chris’s speaking style in this five-minute DisruptHR talk, featuring the storytelling, humour, and audience connection he brings to the classroom.
A Speaker Who Knows How to
Connect With Students
Speaking with Confidence builds on more than a decade of presenting to students across Nova Scotia. The feedback below comes from Chris’s school presentations and speaking engagements, reflecting his ability to engage audiences and create a positive experience in the room.
Based on 974 student survey responses.
75% said he exceeded expectations and 25% said he met them.
Based on 56 educator responses.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Speaking with Confidence
Students hear personal stories, learn practical speaking techniques, and take part in a partner activity and a team game. They practice building connections, explaining ideas, and responding to others in a supportive setting.
Throughout the hour, Chris connects these experiences to managing nerves, communicating clearly, and feeling more willing to speak up.
Speaking in front of the full class is voluntary. Students begin with a partner and can participate in the team game through listening, asking questions, and contributing guesses. Chris encourages students to stretch their comfort zone without putting anyone on the spot.
Yes. Students start with a partner and build toward speaking in a group. Chris shares his own experiences with nerves and gives students simple ways to begin, slow down, and recover if they lose their place. Speaking in front of the full class is always voluntary.
Students practice starting conversations, asking follow-up questions, explaining ideas clearly, and speaking to a group. They also learn simple ways to manage nerves and continue when they lose their place.
Students don’t need to prepare anything. The school provides a projector or screen and access to a whiteboard or flip chart. Tables or desks are helpful for the partner activity, and a teacher or staff member stays with the class. Chris brings the workshop materials.
The workshop is designed for up to 30 students at a time. Schools can request multiple sessions, including sessions on the same day, subject to availability.
Each 60-minute session costs $100 plus HST. The workshop is available in person across Nova Scotia from October to June. Dates outside the Halifax area are coordinated with Chris’s existing school travel schedule.
Use the request form to share your school, student group, and preferred dates. Chris will follow up to discuss availability and confirm the details. Submitting a request does not reserve a date.
Ready to Bring Speaking with Confidence to Your Classroom?
Prefer email? Contact Chris directly at chris@chrisgallant.ca
Build Confidence Beyond the Workshop
Receive occasional updates about Speaking with Confidence, workshop availability, and Chris’s school speaking programs.
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