Heart of America ASSP Professional Development Workshop

Location UCM Innovation Campus (Room B252) – Lee’s Summit, MO

Topic Presentation Skills and the Art of Public Speaking

Join us for a 3-hour Professional Development Workshop led by Erin Blocher, Associate Teaching Professor at UMKC’s Bloch School of Management, and Ravi Narayan, Director of Risk Management at John Knox Village and Past President/Current VP Education of the Toastmasters Freedom to Speak Club. This interactive session will focus on how to prepare presentations and trainings with a clear purpose, apply techniques to keep content relevant and engaging, and deliver your message with confidence.

Learning Objectives

1. Gain new insights into effective presentation skills.
2. Explore strategies for public speaking across different generations.
3. Learn techniques to prepare clear, engaging, and impactful presentations.
4. Practice your speaking skills for a few minutes in a supportive environment.

Speakers

Erin Blocher

As a coach and presenter, Erin Blocher has collaborated with winning companies and leaders in the non-profit, health care, and government fields. She has over 15 years of experience working with clients and teaching communication theory, public speaking, and effective business communication.  Erin holds a Master’s in Communication and Rhetoric from the University of Kansas and a Graduate Certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching from the University of Texas at Dallas. In her role as a Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management, she helps students build a bridge between communication theory and practice. She is the faculty advisor for Enactus, UMKC’s student-led social venture incubator, and works with students in the Bloch School’s MBA, undergraduate, and executive programs. Erin enjoys helping clients apply effective business communication strategies and tactics to real-world situations.

Ravi Narayan

Ravi Narayan is a safety professional with over 30 years of experience, and his international background has fueled a lifelong passion for improving communication. In 2019, he discovered Toastmasters as a way to build confidence in public speaking, and he’s been hooked ever since. Today, Ravi continues to grow as a communicator while also sharing his skills with students as an adjunct professor at JCCC—where they often become the audience for his latest Toastmasters practice.

Earn 0.3 CEU’s for attending.

Agenda

11:30 am Check-in & Lunch (catered lunch included in cost)
12:00 pm Training (Erin Blocher)
1:15 pm  Break
1:30 pm  Training (Erin Blocher)
2:45 pm  Break
3:00 pm Presentation with Toastmasters Concepts (Ravi Narayan)