Speaking Center

The Speaking Center is located at 217 Barnard Hall (not LeFrak).

When arriving for an appointment in the Speaking Center, use the south entrance on the 2nd floor of Barnard Hall (the side closest to Sulzberger Hall).  Have a seat on the green couches, and your Speaking Fellow will come out to greet you at the start time of your appointment.

Note: You should see a "Meet the Speaking Fellows" wall sharing information about the various Fellows that work in the Center. If you don't see that information, you're probably on the north side of the 2nd floor and should walk down to the "other" set of green couches.

We encourage all Barnard students to sign up for a one-on-one session or group workshop in the Speaking Center. Columbia students are welcome to participate if enrolled in a Barnard course and hoping to work on an assignment for that course.

To make an appointment with a Speaking Fellow, you need to register for an account with our online scheduler. Once you register, you will have access to make appointments.

The schedule for each day opens one week in advance  and closes 24-hours before the scheduled conference.  For instance, if you would like to make an appointment for October 8th, you can sign up for an appointment on that day no earlier than October 1st and no later than October 7th.  

We encourage you to meet with a Speaking Fellow about a week before your presentation date. This'll give you ample time to revise what you want to say and practice how you want to say it. Know that you are welcome to make follow-up appointments or to meet sooner!

Appointments made in the Speaking Center are 1-hour long. Almost always the Speaking Fellow and student will use the full hour allotted for each appointment, but you don't have to! If you are able to work on what you need in less time, that's fine. Speaking Fellows are here to help you at whatever stage of your process for however long you need. 

You can request a one-on-one session to work on a specific presentation at any stage of its development.  A Speaking Fellow can work with you on everything from major structural revisions to polishing your delivery.  To reserve an appointment, sign up online.

One group member can log into their account through our online scheduler. When filling out the pre-appointment questionnaire, indicate that the appointment is for your group and continue by answering the questions according to what your group would like to accomplish. 

You can bring an outline, any visual aids you plan to use, a practiced speech, or even just some ideas. Speaking Fellows can work with you at any stage in the presentation-building process; the more material you bring to your session the more you will benefit.

Speaking Fellows are trained to work with students at every level of ability—including those who have a lot of speaking experience. In all sessions, Speaking Fellows work with you to meet your speaking goals, which look differently for everybody.

The Speaking Fellows Program celebrates students who speak more than one language, encouraging non-native English speakers to feel at ease in the sessions. Also, we have Speaking Fellows who speak more than one language. If you have any concerns about language barriers, please indicate your concern in the pre-appointment questionnaire. Also, refer to our drop-down menu under the "limit to" resource, to see if any of the Speaking Fellows speak the language you are most comfortable with.

Some Some Speaking Fellows are able to conference in a language other than English. Some of these languages include: French, Spanish, or Hebrew.

If you would like to make a conference with a Speaking Fellow who speaks a language other than English, sign in to the online scheduler to make an appointment.

Click the drop-down menu next to “Limit to,” then click the corresponding language that you would like to have the conference. Be sure to tell your fellow in the pre-conference questionnaire your language preference or if you will be practicing your presentation in another language. 

If you are 5 minutes late for your appointment, the Speaking Fellow will call you to confirm whether you are still coming.  If you have not arrived 10 minutes after the start time of your appointment, the Speaking Fellow will mark you as a "No-Show."

You won't be able to make an appointment for the remainder of the week. To reactivate your account, email speaking@barnard.edu.

You may cancel your appointment through the online scheduler up to 24 hours in advance.  If you have an emergency and cannot make it to your session last-minute, please email speaking@barnard.edu or call the Speaking Program office at 212-854-8941 immediately.

If you do not cancel within the 24-hour timeframe, you may be marked as no-show. 

If you do not show up to your workshop or one-on-one OR cancel with less than 24 hours notice you will be marked in our system as a “No-Show.”  If you are marked as a No-Show, you cannot make reservations in the Speaking Center for the remainder of the week, and all existing reservations in that week will be cancelled.  If you are marked as a No-Show twice in one semester, you will not be able to make appointments for the remainder of the semester. We make exceptions to this policy only in emergency situations.

All appointments occur and are booked according to Eastern Standard Time Zones. 

You can now attach documents to appointments. By doing so, you give the Fellow the opportunity to access the presentation material during the appointments. Fellows are not required or expected to read the attachment prior to an appointment in the Speaking Center.

To access your online appointment, click the appointment you made. You will be directed to a screen shows your existing appointment. There you will see in the "location" section a Zoom link for you to access the appointment.