Education “Presentation skills and public speaking” was held from 21. – 25. 10. 2019. in total duration of 15 hours through five days. The education was created for project “Employment club” which was organised by Makarska razvojna agencija – MARA. In total, six participants have gotten their certificate, though on individual training sessions there were more participants. Target group for the participants were unemployed people from 18 – 45 years old. This education is best done in small groups because that way participants get better quality of training session (and not quantity).
Topics during the education were: communication (verbal and non verbal and the components of public speaking), fear of public speaking (how to conquer the fear), start with “why” (how to create a memorable presentation and public speech), and we had six hours (two days) of just practice.
At the end of the education, the trainer has done an evaluation of the education in order to get feedback from the participants.
Maybe the best picture of the whole education we can see in the participant’s answers to the evaluation question “How satisfied are you with your progress during this education and how have this training sessions lived up to your expectations?”:
1) I have progressed in many more ways than I have hoped for. I thought that I had really good presentation skills during my studies and so, though now I see that there is much more room to grow. And in this short period, I have upgraded my presentation skills more than I have expected.
2) My expectations were surpassed by this education. I came here thinking “well, I may just see what is there to offer”. I was not expecting to be given such a gift. Thank you.
3) My expectations were met. Mostly because there was a lot of practice (!) and different activities where we could work on our skills. The theory is one thing, though here we had the chance to really get outside of our comfort zone and try by ourselves to implement, right away, the things we have been discussing. Those were, by far, the best parts of this education.
4) I was given a new tool to improve myself, a chance to work on myself as a person, support and a dose of self-awareness.
5) I am more than satisfied with my progress. I think that the best part was that I got the chance to work on my creativity, because I have suppressed it and thought I have lost it. I do not regret going through this education, on the contrary, I would do it again. My expectations were outdone.
6) This education has surpassed my expectations, the ones I have had at the beginning. I am most amazed by my own growth in such a short time – just five days. I thought that, maybe, the training will be a bit of a bore, that we will get lost or that it will take too much time, but it was interesting all the time, dynamic, and, at the moment, I thought that we were lacking time. I was not expecting that I would upgrade myself this much. First, I usually keep my ideas for myself. Secondly, it is hard for me to open up and to speak even in front of the people that I know. Third, I am more aware of my mistakes and the places where I need to keep working on, regarding public speaking and presentation skills. I was given the courage to stand in front of other people and to talk (about myself). As the days passed, I was having less and less fear and now my attitude (towards presentation skills and public speaking) is “what is the worst thing that can happen to me? Just go!”. This was an excellent experience, knowledge (activities) were great and I have met new people.