Articulation

Are you looking to identify, nurture and polish your communication skills? The right place has just opened for you. Articulation, a division of Rhymin & Partners (Coaching and Consultancy), is a training centre that specializes in communication courses and programs segmented for organizations, adults and youth.

All the courses are conducted by Stuart Lee, who is a seasoned trainer and Toastmasters member. Stuart has been training in Brunei for the past few years to government agencies and corporates. I attended his “Getting Things Done” (GTD) course before and I was amazed at how comprehensive he was in helping us understand how to be productive and I was quite moved, considering how unproductive I can be and a huge procrastinator. It’s not surprising since he is a speaker who has won many speech contests, the most significant being the first District (Brunei, East Malaysia, Indonesia) champion from Brunei in 2013.

Stuart Lee mentored two speakers,Pooja Shivanand and Allen Ang and both were successful, reaching the highest accolade in respective categories of Toastmasters contest. This contest was held in Brunei last October 2016 where they competed against Malaysia and Indonesia for the contest.

Since then, he has trained hundreds of speakers. He has an innate ability to identify potential in speakers and nurture their talents to proper skills. He has mentored a few international speech champions in Toastmasters, and one even made it to Finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. That’s one impressive record!

One thing about Stuart is he uses somewhat unconventional methods in his training, not just textbook theories. He understands the psyche of speakers who have stage fright or going blank during presentations, so his courses are suited to help nervous speakers overcome these problems. He also believes it takes meticulous trainings to convert ‘talent’ into skills, as he has seen many speakers who are even naturally talented, but are unable to channel the gift into proper, controlled skills. So being talented doesn’t mean you have what it takes.

An auditorium for training purposes

Over the years of training adults in government agencies and corporate companies, Stuart realized it’s best to start speakers early, especially during their teenage years. Good news is that he now even has courses specially catered to youth. Stuart believes the youth must be able to communicate to complement academic excellence. So among the many courses that Articulation offers, I find “Presentation Skills for Youth” to be of much value. I’ve seen many students in our local schools fear speaking and presenting in public. Even some of the smartest students are uncomfortable when asked to verbalise their thoughts in front of people. This could hinder not only their academic performance but also their future career opportunities. These are soft skills that are not taught in local schools. So this course is meant to prepare the youth to speak up in schools and tertiary to achieve their full potential.

Another flagship course is “Presentation Skills for Adults”, which is designed to help working individuals who are afraid to speak up at work and miss opportunities for growth in career. The course teaches them to deliver presentations, and articulate ideas during meetings among others. Both these presentation courses are over 8-weeks period.

There are also many other courses such as skills for interview, pitching, business English etc. that you might be interested in.

The courses will be conducted at Articulation Training Centre which is a customized stage to simulate public speaking experience. Speaking on the stage will definitely be a tough experience, but it will help to prepare the participants to battle stage fright. I think this is a great venture since communication is a life skill and being able to communicate effectively can take us places.

Personally I always learned a thing or two whenever Stuart gives his evaluations in toastmasters when it comes to speaking and presentation skills. It was also one of the main reasons I joined toastmasters so I have more opportunities to benefit from his sharing. I’m glad that he has ventured into training of his own. Congratulations, Stuart!

If you wish to know more, go to www.articulation.co or visit his Facebook Page or simply contact him at stu@rticulation.com