Course overview

Public speaking and communication skills are crucial for teachers, trainers and education staff. Public speaking is the process of performing a presentation or a speech to a live audience in a structured, deliberate manner in order to inform, influence, or entertain them. As for every process, it can be learned and improved. Meanwhile is true that some people have natural communication skills everyone can and shall work on his/her public speaking competences. By attending this course participants will practice and master public speaking techniques, learn how to structure effectively a speech or a presentation and how to listen and engage the audience, receive personalized feedback based on your professional and personal needs.

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MAIN Objectives

This Erasmus course aims to improve participants’ practical skills in designing and delivering effective public speeches and presentations. The general aim of this training course is to foster excellence in education by empowering teachers, trainers, headmasters and other education staff to communicate more effectively.
Thanks to this course the participants will:

• Acquire knowledge and practical information about public speaking, communication tecniques and learning styles;
• Learn how to structure and plan effectively a speech or a presentation and how to listen and engage the audience;
• Have the chance to practice and improve their public speaking and communication skills in a positive and supportive environment;
• Get personalized guidance and feedback on how to communicate more effectively;
• Learn best practices and concrete tips related to delivering effective public speeches and presentations.

target audience

This Erasmus course is open to: teachers, trainers, headmasters, school and education managers, educational counsellors,  career counsellors, human resources officers, other school staff, other adult education staff, other higher education staff, other non-governmental organization staff, public servants, policy makers.

standard daily programme

Please find below the standard indicative daily course programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles.
Our standard program comprises 7 days of course, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangement. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion. Upon specific request we can organize longer or shorter versions of this course.
For the courses in Palermo the cultural activities are slightly different and comprises visits to Palermo, Monreale or Cefalù.

Sunday	-  Participants arrival  -  Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city   -  Networking activities  -  Guided visit in Bologna (optional)  -  Welcome dinner
Monday	-  Course introduction  -  Competences ex-ante evaluation  -  Let’s present yourself: your “first” public speech  -  The basic elements about public speaking  -  Reviewing and discussing effective public speeches  -  Plenary discussion and review of participants public speeches
Tuesday	-  Communication and learning styles ​ -  How to plan a public speech or a presentation  -  Practical group work and exercise  -  Cultural activities in Bologna and traditional Italian aperitif
Wednesday	-  The audience: how to listen and engage it  -  Practical group work and exercises  -  Guided visit in Florence or Venice (optional)
Thursday	-  Design and delivering an effective presentation  -  Group work, design and delivering of an effective presentation
Friday	-  Non-verbal communication and body language  -  Practical group work and exercises  -  Let’s present yourself again  -  Dinner in traditional Italian restaurant
Saturday	-  Space for discussion of future cooperation and planning follow up activities  -  Course roundup and final evaluation  -  Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony  -  Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)  -  Cultural activities or additional guided visit in another major Italian city (optional)  -  Participants departure

methodology

We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
Our methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning outside the classroom in an interactive and international environment. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange.
During the course the participants will be designing and delivering public speeches and presentation receiving personalized feedback and advices. By working in group the participants will have the chance to learn by each other as well as the opportunity to practice and concretely improve their public speaking and communication skills.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
Free time has been planned to give to the participants time to assimilate the concepts, develop further the group activities, ask trainers for further clarifications, etc. Networking and cooperation among participants will be supported and stimulated at each stage.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.
The class-based course is completed by the support of the E-learning portal that is a great support both before and after the course in Italy.

sessions planned

You can find below the sessions planned. If none of these dates suits you please mind that we may organize an additional session ad-hoc for your school if there are at least 6 participants interested so feel welcome to contact us at office@ifom.info to let us know about your needs. When adding an ad-hoc session we may be able to organize it in your language.
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Bologna, Italy
15/07/2018 - 21/07/2018
30/06/2019 - 06/07/2019

Palermo, Italy
02/09/2018 - 08/09/2018
04/08/2019 - 10/08/2019

Tenerife, Spain
11/03/2018 - 17/03/2018
10/03/2019 - 16/03/2019

costs and erasmus+ funding

Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs to attend our training courses including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and we offer different options to ensure that the Erasmus+ grant will be sufficient. Read more about Erasmus+ funding, shall you have any problem with your grant please let us know and we will see how to accommodate your needs.
 
The most common option that we offer costs EUR 1220 and includes course fee, certification and support fee, accommodation in single room, all coffee breaks, 3 meals per day, walking tour in the venue’s city and local transport during the training course. Based on your preferences and budget you can request different services, a less inclusive/cheaper package or you can choose to organize the board and lodging by yourself and opt to just attend the training course. Read more about how we take care of your subsistence.

cERTIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance including a description of training content and as well as its starting and end date, together - if requested -  with the Europass Mobility Certificate.
We support the participants in every step of certification an d validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon request we can provide additional certification and reporting documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.

Language of the course

The course is held in English. For groups with at least 8 participants, we can organize an ad-hoc session in a different language. 
Please write an email to staff@ifom.info to get more information about it.