4-H Manitoba held their provincial Communications event at Canad Inns in Portage this past weekend. Participants delivered speeches covering a variety of topics, including surfing, hockey, things my parents say, and many more.

Julie Labossiere, the chair of the provincial communications committee for 4-H Manitoba, described the two types of presentations that went on throughout the day.

"You know, we have two the first speeches and then there's visual presentations. So, speeches are members educating us on a topic. Visuals are actually showing us how to do something; everything from agriculture to things they love doing to travelling, the sky's the limit," Labossiere shared. She continued by adding, "If you were to ask everybody in this room about their favourite presentation, it'd be a different answer for everyone."

At the end of the morning and afternoon sessions, the attendees gathered in the Ambassador A Room to receive awards for placing first and second in each category.

Labossiere added that the skills learned by members in these competitions will serve them well as they move forward in life.

"One of the wonderful things about our organization is we teach members from a very young age how to speak in front of a crowd. We did welcome approximately 400 people here. So, it gives our members opportunity to speak in front of a large group today. So, kids get to learn this still right off the hop. They get the confidence as they grow in the program, the more years they do it, it'll set them up for success in the future in anything that they do."

Sophie Williams and Joelle Philippot from St. Claude gave their presentation on three different science experiments: elephant toothpaste, a lava lamp and a rocket.

The girls shared their perspective on competing and their enjoyment of the process.

Sophie shared first.

"We were teaching about how to do science experiments, and then about safety, too," Williams said. "It was really fun. I was a little nervous at first, but I got through it. It's hard to prepare for, but it's fun."

Joelle had this to say about the experiments they performed.

"My favourite experiment was probably the rocket because when it launched up into the air, it was really loud, and it's fun to watch people laugh and scream at it, and to say the fun facts before."