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The experience demonstrates how communication training becomes practical beyond the classroom, improving confidence, adaptability, and civic participation for both speakers and volunteers.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lifestyle/","Lifestyle",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/communication-and-the-community-using-outreach-to-enrich-consultants-and-the-public/599151/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/communication-and-the-community-using-outreach-to-enrich-consultants-and-the-public/599151.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"kopisore","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How did the speaking center volunteers prepare for the outreach setting?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The director explained it was not a classroom environment, so academic feedback norms and academic jargon mattered less. She also highlighted different time constraints and reminded volunteers that some participants might not be able to read or write.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What problems or constraints shaped the coaching process?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Unlike typical consultations, the speech deadlines were close, the sessions were not grade-focused, and literacy barriers could require alternative methods like note-taking and having notes read back.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What were the observed benefits of this community advocacy work?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The volunteers found the experience strengthened adaptability and showed that communication center skills support civic participation outside campus. 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More specifically, our director, myself, and a number of undergraduate volunteers worked with the Homeless Union of Greensboro on their communication skills to aid in the delivery of speeches they were preparing in order to advocate for themselves later that night with the Greensboro City Council. There has been previous research on advocacy outside the Speaking Center which discusses the positive effects of such volunteering efforts on the community (Cuny, Thompson, Naidu, 2014) . This essay will assert that this experience was valuable not only to the Greensboro Community but also to the Speaking Center consultants who volunteered, and that similar opportunities should therefore be afforded to employees at other Speaking Centers as well.  \nBefore we arrived at the venue where our volunteer work occurred, our director laid out the circumstances for which we should be prepared. Firstly, she told us this was not a classroom setting, which meant that our usual avoidance of value statements (implemented to ensure that feedback from consultants could not be seen as a guarantee of a certain grade on an assignment) was of less importance in this non-academic setting. Similarly, jargon we would utilize in an academic setting might not necessarily translate to the broad spectrum of individual educational backgrounds and learning styles with which we would be working. Also  \ndifferent from our usual operations was the timeframe in which we were working. At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Speaking Center, we have a rule that we refer to as the Two-Day Violation Policy where we do not provide feedback to students whose speech due date is less than two days from the day they come to the center seeking our help. The reasoning for such a policy is that while a speech changed at the last minute could theoretically be more technically competent, the confidence of the speaker would be hampered, making the overall consultation not particularly useful to the speaker. In this case, however, a grade was not at stake, and the individuals involved did not have the luxury of scheduling an appointment two days in advance and devoting a great deal of time to practice. Finally, she reminded us that we could not necessarily expect every individual we worked with to be able to read or write. These were all conditions which were far removed from the usual consultation space, which is often defined by well-formatted and structured paperwork, a specific set of instructions to follow based on the type of consultation requested, and an undergraduate academic speaker with whom to work. This situation was certainly different from any of our experiences in the traditional consultation space.  \nWhen we actually sat down with the homeless individuals to consult with them on their upcoming speeches, I was incredibly impressed with the undergraduate volunteers. While it is undoubtedly true that“[t]he concrete benefits that communication centers can provide for students are  \nnumerous”(Pensoneau-Conway & Romerhausen, 2012, p. 39), the benefits of exposing consultants to opportunities to utilize their skillsets away from campus became apparent in this situation. They showed a remarkable level of adaptability to an unfamiliar situation. For a woman who could not read or write, one consultant immediately volunteered as a note taker, and would read back her notes to her so that she could more easily keep track of her ideas. Another consultant devoted herself to harnessing the anger one individual was feeling into a format which could be more readily digested by the intended aud","cbCaijBsyRxdtdKE","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijBsyRxdtdKE","pdf",48566,"English","# Communication and the community\n## Working outside the classroom\n## Adaptation during consultations\n## Benefits for the community and volunteers","[{\"question\":\"How did the speaking center volunteers prepare for the outreach setting?\",\"answer\":\"The director explained it was not a classroom environment, so academic feedback norms and academic jargon mattered less. She also highlighted different time constraints and reminded volunteers that some participants might not be able to read or write.\"},{\"question\":\"What problems or constraints shaped the coaching process?\",\"answer\":\"Unlike typical consultations, the speech deadlines were close, the sessions were not grade-focused, and literacy barriers could require alternative methods like note-taking and having notes read back.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the observed benefits of this community advocacy work?\",\"answer\":\"The volunteers found the experience strengthened adaptability and showed that communication center skills support civic participation outside campus. The community also benefited through improved speech preparation and more effective advocacy to decision makers.\"}]","Communication and the community - Using outreach to enrich consultants and the public | PDF",1792088253]