Saturday, November 3, 2012

Life of a PR & Theatre Student - Take one!


What do public relations and theatre have in common?

Why did you decide to minor in theatre?

The aforementioned questions are ones I encounter each day. Yes, I am completing a major in public relations and minor in theatre and guess what? I love it. Although this combination isn’t the norm, the differences between the two are amazing mainly because they create a balance in my life.
Public speaking plays a major role in PR and unfortunately public speaking isn’t one of my strong points. However, acting and playing the role of a character are strong points of mine.  Here are some things theatre has taught me, and how they help me develop as a PR professional:

Enunciate Your Words - Its important that your audience understands you clearly and theatre teaches you how not to gabble your words

Make eye contact with the audience- This factor is essential to a great speech and it keeps your audience engaged.  Theatre improves your ability to connect with an audience. 

Stand firm and grounded in your beliefs- This factor definitely adds to your deliverance. It’s important to believe in what you are saying as it permits your audience to be convinced and also gives them reason to believe you.  In theatre, the main objective is to convince your viewers and make them believe your character. 

Use different voice levels- This factor eliminates any form of monotony and it captures your audience attention. 

Breath control- This is important seeing that your speech should flow nicely. Theatre teaches you beats which is the pause or break you take while speaking. 

All in all theatre has allowed me to have confidence when I’m speaking in public. To all my communications and public relations majors, try taking an acting course as an elective and experience the beauty of the arts and witness yourself evolve into a stronger public speaker. I am certain that theatre can add to your development as communication/PR students. 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kadesha Holder.

3 comments:

Afiya said...

Sounds interesting. Companies pay millions for courses such as Dale Carnegie to accomplish those things you highlighted. So that's an interesting fun alternative. Thanks for the info.

Unknown said...

"the main objective is to convince your viewers and make them believe your character. " applies to everything in life.. We share the same brain Ms.Holder :D lol really good first blog post

Unknown said...

"the main objective is to convince your viewers and make them believe your character. " applies to everything in life.. we share the same brain Ms. Holder :D lol really good first blog post