Training and Accreditation Programmes

A ‘Master’ training manual, which is a comprehensive guide to speaking and presentation, is available for all members to download free of charge from the POWERtalk International Headquarters website powertalkinternational.com

The manual also contains many practical ‘projects’ to provide experience in a variety of different speaking situations including the ‘leading’ of club meetings and the ‘evaluation’ of other speakers.

Other projects include:

• Speech to entertain
• Speech to persuade
• Speech using visual aids
• Storytelling
• Book review

The projects may be completed in any order with no fixed time period though experience suggests that around 2 years provides the optimum level of personal development.

The project ‘specifications’ are not intended to be mandatory and may be adapted to individual needs.

Evaluation

Each speaker at a meeting is normally assigned an ‘evaluator’ who will provide a realistic assessment of the speech together with helpful suggestions for improvement.

The whole concept is to support each other and to gain greater understanding of speaking techniques from analysing the work of fellow club members.

The General Evaluator provides an overall assessment of the meeting.

Of course, evaluations are themselves a speaking opportunity and should be delivered as a ‘structured’ speech.

Accreditation

The POWERtalk accreditation programme is a more formal system of qualifications based on 5 courses leading to the award of certificates for each level of achievement;

• Effective Communicator (E.C.)
• Proficient Communicator (P.C.)
• Skilled Communicator (S.C.)
• Accomplished Communicator (A.C.)
• Distinguished Communicator (D.C.)

Training and accreditation programmes are regularly updated to meet changing presentation techniques.

PowerTalk Training Programme

PowerTalk Training Programme is a modular training programme. Each module may be tailored by a club to its own specifications and needs and takes a minimum of six months to complete. The programme presents opportunities to challenge continuing members with higher levels of training and for new members to learn the latest and the best skills in communication. After having completed the six months and met all the requirements, a certificate will be awarded to the successful members and Accreditation at Level 4 of the Accreditation Programme.

Competitions

All clubs participate in the annual speech contest which progresses though club, national and international levels.

There is also a very popular writing contest with sections for fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Speech Contest Judge Certification

Club members may apply for POWERtalk Speech Contest Judge certification once all necessary criteria are met. Candidates are assessed at the annual Region POWERtalk Speech Contest Final.

POWERtalk Corporate Trainer

The Corporate Trainer Programme offers a pathway towards professional training. It can be used to train on behalf of POWERtalk or as a career option.