SAJ strengthens industry leadership through communication training

The Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) is continuing its investment in workforce development with a practical public speaking workshop designed to help managers, executives and emerging leaders communicate more effectively in professional settings.

Speak with Impact: Public Speaking and Presentation Skills for Leaders will be held on Wednesday, August 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the SAJ’s offices at 4 Fort Street, Newport West. The four-hour, in-person session will be facilitated by the association’s Business Development and Communications Manager, Akeela Marin.

The workshop forms part of the SAJ Academy’s growing programme of courses aimed at strengthening the technical, professional and leadership capabilities available to Jamaica’s shipping and maritime industry.

Its focus reflects a challenge faced across many workplaces. Professionals may understand their subject and have a well-supported recommendation, but still find it difficult to structure their ideas, hold an audience’s attention or respond confidently when questioned.

In the shipping and maritime sector, those skills are required well beyond formal speeches. Managers must brief teams, explain operational developments, present recommendations, lead meetings and communicate with customers, regulators and other stakeholders. In each instance, the clarity of the message can affect how quickly information is understood and whether action follows.

“Leadership is exercised through communication,” Marin said. “A leader may have the right strategy or a strong technical recommendation but, if that idea is not structured clearly, presented credibly and adapted to the audience, it may not gain the understanding or support it needs.”

Unlike a lecture-based public speaking course, Speak with Impact will require participants to apply the principles during the session. They will deliver short presentations, practise stronger openings, and respond to audience questions. Participants will also receive individual feedback on their delivery and guidance on changes they can make.

The workshop will address message structure, vocal delivery, body language, managing nervousness. and recovering from mistakes. It will also examine how professionals can use slides and notes as supporting tools without becoming overly dependent on them.

“Many professionals know their material but their delivery does not always reflect the strength of that knowledge,” Marin said. “Some rush through their most important points, overload their slides or become unsettled when an audience asks a difficult question. The workshop is intended to help participants remain clear and composed when those moments arise.”

Marin has worked across strategic communications, government, higher education and executive coaching. She has taught communications at the tertiary level since 2018 and previously served as a senior government communications specialist in the Office of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Her experience includes coaching government ministers and private-sector executives in public speaking, presentation skills and media engagement. In 2018, she placed third in the public-speaking competition at the World Universities Debating Championship in Mexico City, becoming the first Trinidadian to rank among the competition’s top three speakers. The championship, recognised as the world’s largest university debating tournament, attracted more than 300 teams from approximately 90 countries that year.

Speak with Impact follows several other professional-development programmes delivered by the SAJ Academy during 2026. The association has facilitated two artificial intelligence workshops to help participants use AI more effectively in their everyday work, along with customer service and Microsoft Excel training.

The range of courses reflects the SAJ’s position that industry development must include the people and skills supporting maritime operations. As technology, customer expectations and workplace responsibilities change, professionals must be able to use new tools, work effectively with others, and communicate information across different levels of an organisation.

For the association, strengthening those wider capabilities is part of building a more responsive and competitive shipping and maritime sector. Public speaking and presentation skills are particularly important for professionals moving into management, where technical competence must increasingly be matched by the ability to influence decisions and provide clear direction.

Speak with Impact is targeted at managers, supervisors, executives, technical professionals, team leaders and emerging leaders who deliver presentations, lead meetings, brief stakeholders or represent their organisations publicly.

The workshop costs JMD $35,000, and only a few spaces remain. Interested persons may contact the SAJ Academy at (876) 923-3491 or sajacademy@jamports.com for registration information.