When Jessica Dumas, Chair of The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, was a child, she loved to head out to bingo with her Grandma. She would sit down with a bag of chips and a drink in hand and be content for the evening. As she was enjoying her chips, she looked up and something in that moment was different.
“I remember watching the bingo caller, and I just thought it was so cool because everyone is listening to him and waiting to hear what he is going to say,” said Dumas, as she bursts into laughter. “He was the man of the night. I started to think I wanted to be a bingo caller. That was the first time that I had ever seen someone with a microphone that had all the attention.” She’s amused at this priceless memory.
Fast forward years later, and Jessica is President of Jessica Dumas Coaching and Training, a known facilitator, Indigenous Advisor and Speaker Coach. For Jessica, public speaking didn’t come easy at first, but the rush she felt each time was unparalleled.
“As I began to have more and more opportunities to speak at events, I started to get a rush from it, and I wanted to continue to feel that,” smiled Jessica. “At first, I may have sucked, but if I worked at it, I believed I could get really good at this. I was all in.”
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Jessica’s Top 5 Benefits of Public Speaking
- Advance your career
Speaking up and demonstrating leadership is as easy as speaking up. - Make more money
Get called on to speak, ask for that raise and expand your skill repertoire! - Grow your business
Public speaking is an effective way to grow your brand. - Grow your audience
Communicate in a way that gets their attention. - Promote your message
People are looking for good ideas, it could be yours!
Jessica has seen the issues her clients are experiencing throughout the pandemic when they don’t have the opportunity to network or gather in person. That’s where Jessica says public speaking skills come in handy.
“With speaking skills today, you have the benefits of feeling heard, even if you don’t yet have your community network yet, speaking skills can help you find them.”
At The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, we bring people together. Our events are your opportunity to meet with like-minded business professionals and dive into thought-provoking business trends and topics.
With over 150+ events each year, we are always looking for diverse speakers within our membership to share their big idea on stage. ​If you have an idea for a presentation that would be valuable to our membership, please fill out our submission form below and submit a short video (1-3 minutes) pitching your idea.
The deadline to apply to be a speaker for events from September – December 2020 will be August 31, 2020 at noon.
Please note, only successful speaker applications will be contacted at this time. We will be keeping a record of all applications for future events past December 2020.
A note from Jessica:
Currently, I am helping professional women clarify their message, so they can connect with their audience. We often question ourselves with ‘Was I clear?’, ‘Did I make sense?’ and ‘Am I worthy of listening to?’ If any of this resonates with you, send me an email at jessica@jessicadumas.com that says ‘Me!’ in the subject line.Follow Jessica at the social links below!
