Presentation Skills and Voice Projection are Key for Immigrants Who Want to Advance Their Career in Canada.
Skilled immigrants don’t only face barriers in getting a job, but continue to struggle even after finding employment.
Jennifer Madigan, who is an Accent Reduction Specialist and Director at L2 Accent Reduction Centre states “ It is not just the language, but other aspects of speech, such as the way the voice sounds, that can influence how one may perceive an individual who has an accent.”
“When I was a girl, my mom always told me that I sounded like a man. She said that little girls were supposed to speak softly and sound more feminine. So try as I did, I couldn’t do it and I just ended up sounding like an Asian cartoon character. It totally wasn’t me. For some, the way in which one speaks has strong cultural influences and this can affect how that individual may be stereotyped”, says Madigan.
In the summer of 2012, L2 Accent Reduction Centre partnered with Jan Cooper from Pump Records to offer immigrants a one day workshop to help individuals create a powerful voice.
Voice Training Coach – Pump Records, Jan Cooper
Jan has seen an increase in working professionals who seek his services to help them find their inner self and unleash the full power of their spoken voice. “I mean think about it. If your committee spent $25,000 to do an assessment on a $1 million project and now you’re presenting that to a panel of city politicians, if your voice leaves your presentation falling flat, then you won’t get the million dollar project, and you’ll be out all the time and money spent in developing the plan.” Jan says.
For skilled immigrants who struggle delivering presentations or communicating, L2 and Pump Record’s workshop will help to:
• capture the attention of your audience
• communicate clearly and confidently
• use a confident voice to get your ideas across
• prevent vocal fold damage after long presentations
• adjust your pitch and control your sound
The next workshop will be on Sunday, November 25th at L2 Accent Reduction Centre located at 6093 West Boulevard, Vancouver, BC from 10:00 am- 4:00 pm.
Jennifer Madigan’s passion to help improve the communication skills of skilled immigrants comes from watching the struggles of her immigrant father. As a child of immigrant parents she was very sensitive to the opportunities that were missed due to her father’s thick accent.