TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Milosz Baldyga
"Speak Factor IV" Training Course was focused on improving youth workers' public speaking competencies, such as:
– Efficient communication in given situations
– Improvisation
– Preparation and presentation of an official speech
– Expressing thoughts and feelings
– Giving and receiving constructive feedback
– Managing stress when speaking in public
– Conscious use of body language
– Acting
– Team work
– Intercultural dialogue
The project team consisted of two trainers coming from Slovakia and Poland, a project coordinator coming from Spain, and a young volunteer coming from Austria.
The group consisted of 25 participants - Youth workers, Trainers, Youth leaders, Youth project managers, Volunteering mentors and Youth coaches coming from different European countries.
The training was based on non-formal education and participative methods including role-plays, body expression exercises, self-reflection, learning trios for daily reflection, guided meditation for stress management, as well as team building activities and energizers based on partner and individual juggling practice. The climax of the learning experience was achieved during the final event - a public speaking gala which was organised in a public place in the city of Vigo, followed by reflection and sharing feedback session, in order to take away importants conclusions and lessons for future speeches or other stresfull situations.
The training was successful and had a visible impact on several different levels:
- boosting self-confidence of youth workers, which further improves the work quality that they deliver in their home countries, working with young people
- building a stron network of personal and professional relations, which creates a peer support system and many possibilities for future cooperations within the Erasmus Plus programme and beyond
- recording and publishing 5 videos that promote different European values and reflect a variety of experiences and points of view of youth workers and young people coming from different European countries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-mUS8mslX0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED832zgBm90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhplMO3qLCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsyAbOloUmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skwAzjvrRKQ
My main responsibilities within the training included:
- preparation of the overall programme structure of the trainig course, in cooperation with the other trainer and the project coordinating team
- preparation of the materials needed for the activities
- preparation and delivering of all the activities planned
- online and stationary cooperation with the rest of the project team (both before, during and after the mobility)
- supporting and supervising the participants in their personal and group work, especially in the process of the speech preparation and delivering
- collecting and analysing the participants' feedback after the training
It was a pleasure to count with Milosz in the trainers team. He manage to create very dynamic sessions with participants super engaged. His flexibility and calmness also was really helpful when we designed and structured the programme.