Lecturer Lisa Oakes will bring lessons learned from her work as an instructor, journalist and public relations practitioner to the community in 2018 as a speaker for the [Midwest Speakers Bureau](https://www.speakernow.com/), a regional organization that connects meeting planners with professional speakers.
Oakes will address persuasive communication, women and the workplace, millennials and professional personas and navigating a work-home balance during speaking engagements at annual meetings, trainings, conventions and other events.
Oakes said the opportunity is a natural fit because she touches on these topics in her Greenlee courses, especially Reporting and Writing for the Mass Media (Jl MC 201) and Intermediate Reporting (Jl MC 302).
While lessons in persuasive communication may apply to students now as they learn to conduct interviews with sources or acquire background information from clients, they also translate to situations they may later encounter in any professional setting – from asking for a raise to having a difficult conversation with a colleague.
“I talk to them about conveying confidence and competence even when you don’t necessarily feel that way. I talk very specifically about body language, vocal tonality and ways to harness those things. You’re always sending out these messages, but you don’t necessarily know that you are. If you don’t know you are, you’re not able to manage what you’re sending out,” Oakes said.
As an ambassador for the Greenlee School, she also hopes future speaking engagements will provide opportunities to learn more about what industry leaders are looking for when seeking interns and position the school as a subject-matter expert in areas relevant to industry professionals.