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Presenting Your Speech with Confidence and Charisma

You’ve written your Oratorical speech using our five preparation tips. But writing is just one part of making a great speech, now you have to present it in front of an audience. If you’re nervous, that’s completely normal. Everyone gets nervous about public speaking. But with practice (in front of a mirror or other people), you will build up your confidence. And if you learn to use your charisma, you can be interesting and persuasive when sharing your message with the world. Here are some speaking strategies that will help you give an effective speech
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 03/04/2019 religious education st. john oratorical festival st. john chrysostom oratorical festival History History 970 Views
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Meet Mike Emanuel: An Oratorical Teen turned Political Correspondent

  In the fall of 1983 -- the very first year of the Oratorical Festival -- Mike Emanuel’s parish priest, Father Alexander Leondis encouraged all the GOYAns to participate in the...
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 02/22/2019 religious education st. john oratorical festival st. john chrysostom oratorical festival where are they now History History 1843 Views
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5 Tips on Preparing Your Speech

So, your Sunday School teacher, parent, Godparent, or friend told you about the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. After some consideration, you are leaning towards trying it. Besides getting up in front of an audience to present your speech, one other thing is holding you back...actually writing a speech. While this might be your first time writing a speech, this skill is something that you’ll use throughout your life. Learning it now will help you in the future.
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 02/15/2019 religious education st. john oratorical festival st. john chrysostom oratorical festival History History 880 Views
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Meet George Psomas: An Oratorical Teen turned Professional Actor

In 1996, George Psomas stepped up to the podium for the first time as a Junior Division participant at the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. Now, he is a professional actor in New York City who was in the 2015 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, and the 2008 Broadway production of South Pacific. George took part in the Tony Awards and the NBC Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He recently won Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Fidel Castro in the new musical Errol and Fidel with the New York Musical Theatre Festival.
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 02/08/2019 religious education st. john oratorical festival st. john chrysostom oratorical festival where are they now History History 843 Views
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How to Market the Oratorical Festival

Introduced in 1983, the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival provides Greek Orthodox teenagers the opportunity to write and talk about their faith. Over 200 parishes and 1,000 participants take part in the festival each year. As with any church program, our goal is to always increase participation and keep people interested in the event year after year. With that in mind, we wanted to provide you, the chairperson, a few tips you can utilize to market the Oratorical Festival in your parish.
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 02/01/2019 religious education sunday school st. john oratorical festival st. john chrysostom oratorical festival History History 945 Views
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How the Oratorical Festival can help your children become active learners in their Orthodox faith

As the daughter of Presvytera Margaret Orfanakos and Fr. John Orfanakos – the former national chairpersons of the National Oratorical Festival from 1986 through 2018 – I am a passionate advocate for the program. I like to say that I grew up attending Oratorical Festivals the way other kids my age attended baseball games. With the repose of my dear parents, I am honored to be stepping into their shoes and serving as the National Oratorical Festival chairperson. Together with my niece, Stephanie Orfanakos, we plan to create a regular blog presence for the Oratorical Festival on this site – where you can see what former participants are up to today and get expert advice from former participants and parish, district and metropolis chairpersons.
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By Stephanie Orfanakos 01/25/2019 religious education parenting st. john oratorical festival History History 1379 Views
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Teach the Faith

Now that we are a couple of months into our Sunday Church school year, I want to ask, “Are we teaching the Faith?” Our task is to hand on the contents of the Orthodox Christian Faith to another...
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By Rev. Dr. Tony Vrame 10/12/2018 religious education teachers orthodox theology teaching methods History History 2302 Views
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Think Outside the Box for a Renewed Sunday Church School Year

  It’s that time of year again! The time of year where you are starting to realize that summer vacation is over and that the Sunday Church School year is starting up any day now!...
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By Angeliki Constantine 09/19/2018 religious education History History 3613 Views
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Planning your Parish Adult Education Program

Because so much of parish life functions like the school year (September through May, or whatever it is in your area!) now’s the time of year to start planning and organizing the program ideas and...
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By Rev. Dr. Tony Vrame 06/27/2018 religious education adult education ministry planning History History 1999 Views
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Adult Education in Practice: The Case of Emerging Adults

Let’s consider a concrete example of what’s been written so far about adult education. To summarize, the earlier posts discussed that there are different ways of organizing content in adult...
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By Rev. Dr. Tony Vrame 03/16/2018 religious education young adult parish life adult education emerging adults History History 4650 Views
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