Incorporating Oral Presentation Lessons Tailored to your Students’ Interests

For educators, the balmy, relaxing days of summer are often spent teaching summer courses, conducting research, writing, or planning for the following school year. You may be thinking about adding some new features to an existing course, or you may be creating a new one from scratch!

As you plan, consider the importance of communication skills for your students’ success, as all future professionals and leaders need to be taught to present their ideas clearly. Whether you are teaching future scientists, engineers, computer programmers, artists, mathematicians, linguists, or musicians, all will benefit from the ability to speak in front of others and present ideas effectively.

Consider incorporating oral presentation lessons tailored to your students’ interests. Cross-curricular lessons help students understand how specialized knowledge can make an impact on the world. Perhaps a presentation – based on reality or a future fantasy – about their latest scientific breakthrough, masterpiece, or creative writing will get them excited about expressing themselves as only they can. Students may want to deliver their Nobel Prize or Kennedy Center Honors speech, including details about why they won their award.

Make sure to have a portable or permanent lectern in your classroom, or consider a portable voice amplifier for public speaking practice. Help your students understand that whatever their interests are, telling others about them is important to future success. Practicing in small groups, in front of the classroom, or at a school assembly will help students become comfortable discussing their unique skills in front of others.

Pinnacle Tabletop Lectern

EZ Speak Folding Lectern

Travel-Lite Folding Tabletop Lectern

Small, portable tabletop lecterns, such as the Travel-Lite Folding Tabletop Lectern and the EZ Speak Folding Lectern are excellent choices for classrooms as they both fold and store in compact areas. AmpliVox carries a wide variety of full height lecterns and portable sound systems as well.

Custom Logo for Lecterns

As an added bonus, lecterns may be customized with school, club, or team logos! Our friendly customer service team members are always happy to discuss your goals and objectives, and make recommendations for your particular class and room size.

Learning is rewarding, and the ability to share knowledge with others is a skill your students will benefit from for the rest of their lives. Who knows, in the future your student may thank you in a Grammy, Clio, or Pulitzer Prize Speech!

By Vita Schweighart

Half Mile Hailer Making a Difference in Africa

Every once in a while, we hear from a customer whose experience with their AmpliVox product really made a difference in their life. We recently heard from one such customer, Barry Webb, who purchased two of our Half Mile Hailer sound systems before traveling to Africa on a mission trip. He checked in to let us know how well the devices have worked for him, and we thought we would share it with you. Read below!

Greetings from Malawi, Africa! I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that the two Wireless Half Mile Hailer sound systems we purchased from you have been such a big help!  

We are running a month of day camps on the weekdays and combined church rallies on Sundays. Every day, we travel one to three hours to a different village. On average, we minister between 200 and 700 people each day. We set up a portable puppet stage at the main meeting area and one of the Half Mile Hailer systems at each place. The Half Mile Hailer system works well for us because of our need for audio inputs and the wireless capability. When we arrive at the meeting site and set up the equipment, I hook up my MP3 player and play music over the system to let the surrounding area know where we are and that something special is going on.   

We have a wired mic on a stand for announcements and for the program director and song leader to use. We then switch to the on-board wireless with one of the headset mics. The translator for the puppets uses the second add-on wireless kit. When the puppets and singing are over, we dismiss the children to their meeting place, and use the on-board wireless system with the lavalier mic to teach the children, while their translator uses the other secondary wireless add-on kit. At the main meeting with the teens and adults, I switch to the lavalier mic to preach with.   

The Wireless Half Mile Hailer systems have performed flawlessly. I am using good Ansmann 2850 rechargeable batteries for the wireless packs. We purchased the battery packs for the two Hailer systems as well. There is no electrical power in our villages, so we needed the rechargeable systems. We have run our programs from 8:30 AM through 4:00 PM and neither system has had any power loss problems. We also bought the compact stands and the cases for them as well as the cases for the Hailer systems and it has been very helpful, since we need things to be highly compact and portable.   

We recently drove an hour to a tributary of the Shire River in lower Malawi. We were going to a meeting of several churches on an island in the middle of the river. We had to board dugout canoes to get over to the island. Having a light portable sound system and a smaller stand allowed us to carry all of that to our meeting destination and back. Each night when we return to the guesthouse where we are staying, I plug in the systems and pop the rechargeable batteries into a charger to get everything charged up for the next day.   

We are very thankful for these systems and I would be happy to recommend them to others who want a portable, rechargeable, economical, sound system for use with large or small crowds anywhere in the world.   

--Evangelist Barry Webb
Board Member, EurAsian and EuroAfrican Baptist Missions

We appreciate Barry’s kind words, and are glad the Half Mile Hailer is serving as a perfect audio solution for his needs.

With a 50 watt amplifier that projects sound up to a half mile, and at only ten pounds, the Half Mile Hailer embodies both sound power and portability. What’s more, the simple, straightforward controls and auxiliary port that syncs to your multimedia devices ensures the versatility necessary to thrive in both indoor and outdoor environments. Offered in three models, the S610A comes with a dynamic corded microphone, the SW610A is equipped with a wireless lapel and headset mic, and the SW615A includes a handheld wireless mic.

As Barry’s story proves, the Half Mile Hailer will ensure your outdoor sound needs are covered, whether your event is here in the States, or all the way in Africa.

Tanaka Farms uses the Audio Portable Buddy as their Tour Guide PA System

Tanaka Farms is a family owned and operated farm situated in the heart of Irvine California.

The 30-acre farm produces organic fruits and vegetables that supplies their produce stand and drives their CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture), providing farm fresh produce and fruit delivered to local businesses, company sites, schools and churches.

The real treat at Tanaka Farms is all the Guided Tours on the farm offers throughout the seasons, allowing for kids and adults alike to get a closer glimpse into the workings of a real farm.

The Tanaka family wanted to educate children where fruits and vegetables come from, where and how they grow. So back in 1998 they began to offer their Strawberry Tours, a guided wagon ride taking groups around their farm teaching them how different fruits and vegetables grow, sample various fruits and vegetables that are in season and also give tour groups a chance to pick and eat their very own strawberries.

Tanaka Farms uses the AmpliVox Audio Portable Buddy as their tour guide PA system to amplify their voice to the crowd. The Audio Portable Buddy gave them a moderate improvement in their sound coverage and voice clarity while comfortably being heard throughout the tour group and all along their wagon ride across the farm.

The Audio Portable Buddy is a battery powered public address system that goes anywhere you go and runs for up to 200 hours on 10 D-Cell batteries, or up to 10 hours of talk time with the optional S1465 rechargeable NiCad Battery Pack.

Its durable case stands up to rugged use, with its 50 watt stereo amplifier that can reach and audience size of up to 1000 people.

The headset microphones used by the tour guides at Tanaka Farms allowed for their hands to be free during their presentation, permitting the tour guide to simply point out areas of the farm and pick up different plants and fruits to show to the group while discussing them on the tour.

The Audio Portable Buddy can easily be heard over the tractor pulled wagon, allowing the for the tour guide to continue their presentation as the wagon is in motion and on its way to its next destination.

Seasonal tours extend into the summer with Watermelon Tours during the months of July/August, Pumpkin Tours during October and ongoing Cookout Tours from March throughout August where guests get a chance to pick their own vegetables, get them prepped and grilled for a lunch outing.

For more information on AmpliVox Tour Guide PA Systems or the Audio Portable Buddy please visit:
http://www.ampli.com/personal-pa-system/

Product Spec Sheet: Audio Portable Buddy

A Moment to Celebrate

On behalf of everyone at AmpliVox Sounds Systems, we would like to take a moment to congratulate Carolyn Roth and Pedro de Oliveira Fiuza on their upcoming wedding this Saturday, June 15 at the University Club in Chicago. Carolyn is the daughter of Don Roth, AmpliVox’s founder and CEO.

Pedro and Carolyn met in the fall of 2009 in Rio de Janeiro while Carolyn was in Brazil on a business trip. The two stayed in touch, and even though Carolyn lived in San Francisco at the time, they overcame the six-hour time difference using Skype, email, and talking on the phone. Pedro and Carolyn soon knew their relationship was special, and they made an effort to see each other once a month. In 2012, Pedro surprised Carolyn with a proposal during a trip to visit his family in Rio de Janeiro. 

Today, Carolyn is the Director of Investor Relations and Marketing in New York City for Stone Lion Capital Partners. Pedro is a partner at Gávea Investimentos (majority owned by J.P. Morgan Asset Management) and is also based in New York City. The couple currently lives in the Upper West Side in Manhattan. 

Carolyn and Pedro have traveled the world with each other, from San Francisco to Brazil, Chicago to France, New York to Italy.  They look forward to many more adventures to come in their married life together (beginning with their honeymoon to Greece!).

Congratulations Carolyn and Pedro! We wish you all the best! 

10 Summer Attractions to See In Chicago

Good news! After months of feeling like it would never it end, it appears that winter, in fact, is over. As the weather warms for good and we enter the summer season, everyone is excited to get outside and do something fun. At AmpliVox, we call Chicago home, and know our way around the city’s marquee attractions and activities, so we thought we would put together a list of 10 of the city’s must-do attractions to complete over the summer, whether you are a resident or tourist. Click the read more button below to see the list.

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