Did you know that Public Speaking holds the first place in the top of human fears and phobias? Are you willing to invest in your personal and professional development? Join the Impact Public Speaking training course that will take place in Brussels, 27 -28 of August 2011.

Designed for both those wishing to be initiated in the art of public speaking and for those who want to take their public speaking skills to the next level, the training is the first one in Brussels and comes after a series of similar trainings delivered all over Europe.

So, if:

• you are afraid of speaking in public
• you fail to capture or maintain attention throughout your presentations
• you would like to increase the impact that your presentations have
• you want to develop your own personal style for public speaking

I invite you to take part in a two days training course where you will discover which are the ingredients of a super-presentation and how to use them, you will work on your own personal presentation style and put everything into practice.

Sign up here!

Note: The training course is more than 80% practical and uses methods of non-formal learning such as presentations, role plays, group work, fish bowls, etc..

The agenda of the training course will be later defined taking into consideration the needs of the participants but will include:

• Ingredients of super-presentations
• Managing the audience (and difficult participants)
• Personal presentation styles
• Attracting and retaining attention
• Body language
• Super public speakers
• Communication. Persuasive communication. Impact communication
• Practice, practice and more practice …

At the end of the training course you will:

• be able to identify and optimise different parts of a presentation;
• apply the steps needed to develop a super-presentation;
• maximize the use of verbal and nonverbal communication in all processes
• know and use the ingredients needed for an impactful presentations
• have tested methods of speaking in public

The number of participants is limited to 12 and the enrollment is done on a first-come-first-served basis.

Sign up here!

For details, questions, registrations and comments, call me at +32 488 343 369 or e-mail me at contact@raduseuche.ro

The training course is a concept developed and implemented by Radu Seuche. More information about the trainer can be found here.

Everybody likes challenges. Or at least this is what they say. But how much are we actually willing to take a challenge, something that really takes us out of our comfort zone?

A couple of months ago, a dear friend of mine came with the idea of doing some ‘non-formal education’ magic for some of the students of Greenwich University in the UK doing an MBA there and without thinking too much about it, I took the challenge. Its not very usual that a university, by definition one of the greatest formal educational institutions, would give enough credit to non-formal education and even more, to ask for help.

Pre-event challenges

The preparations were long and many of the initial points changes throughout the way, but in the end the details were fixed: University of Greenwich, team building and project management, 2 days (30^th of April – 1^st of May), students of different MAs with no experience in other forms of education, 16 full hours, 65 participants, 7 working groups.

65!

Of course, the number of the participants was not the only issue, since they were divided into 7 teams, with 7 being an impossible number, since you are alone and cannot be in more than one place at a time. And to work with 65 participants at one time also seemed to be impossible.

One of the ideas was to have 5 or 6 of the 7 groups working individually and the other 1 or 2 to be facilitated – and have rotations (some sort of huge world café) for different workstations. Of course, because of the perfection of the number 7 and the total number of facilitators (me and one junior), rotations are not actually possible and also quality in the workgroups would be plummeting. The math was killing me!

Finally, the decision was made: we will be working all together, doing the exercises in the 7 teams but debriefing in 3 steps, workgroups – plenary – workgroups. This type of debriefing would be supported by the use of the ‘Do not panic’ Manual – a learning diary and self reflection tool that each of the teams developed during the weekend.

Also, having the individual/team learning points and conclusions compared with the results from other teams in the plenary and taking them back to the small teams was a good way of insuring a higher quality in the given circumstanced. The plenary discussion were also a strong indicator about the impact that the exercises had on the participants and how the next steps need to be adjusted.

The main challenge

The adventure began much earlier than expected since there was a signal failure on the Tube that morning and it took more than 3 hours (3 tubes and 2 busses) to get to Greenwich.

A classic university hall, old and dimly lit with 45 students ‘eagerly’ wanting to start was waiting for us. I couldn’t help myself and asked from the very beginning how many of them brought their laptops and I saw many hands up in the air: I had to disappoint them and explained that we will not be using them throughout the weekend, they might just as well put them aside.

While I was explaining why are we there and what we are going to do, there was a general ‘wow’ in the room. Unfortunately not a positive one – I understood immediately that I will have a rough crowd – I had to adjust. I learned that they would be graded depending on their attendance and that almost took the ‘non’ out of ‘non-formal education’…

We reached a consensus that they have to stay only if they find it useful and are learning new things – but if they are here, they need to actively get involved.

After the first activity, everyone was amazed how many things you can learn from playing – they were asking for more! It is true, some of them decided not to take the challenge and left – I was more and more convinced that it was their loss as time passed by and seeing the results of the activities.

Sunday, the second day, only 16 of them were present – the perfect size for the group. If Saturday was a good day, Sunday was amazing for the group – the morning was actually the point were learning started to hurt. Together with the participants, I was once more amazed by the effects of non-formal education and how it impacts the personal development of the participants.

Challenging formal education

Out of the 45, there were no native-speakers – they all came from different countries and cultures and of course different educational systems. Nevertheless, the educational systems seemed to have the same result: decreasing the creativity and the freedom of thought of the students, lowering their problem-solving capacity, teaching them to never question use the question WHY, always use the manual or never challenge the status-quo.

Overall, the experience was an amazing one and I believe the participants learned a lot, but the challenge that they face now is to put thing into practice. How many will actually take the challenge? Do you challenge yourself to learn more that the school teaches you?

Every day I meet people who I have something to learn from but, from time to time, I meet a person that inspires me deeply. Totally lost in Bruxelles, the first day I moved here, I met Mihaela. I wasn’t at all expecting to live in the same building with another Romanian and moreover, with a Romanian trainer. Sharing books and witty comments, we got along really well.

A few weeks back, she held a workshop for our colleagues at the ICA (the place where we live) on ‘Being irresistible – being true to yourself’, a workshop that inspired me to do a follow-up activity related to personal leadership, more specifically on long-term personal objectives and planning.

Therefore, during today’s workshop, I led a group of young people through an imagined forest to help them reach their true wishes about their future and, even more important, to put them on paper. For most of them it was a great challenge on one hand because they were not used to non-formal education methods and, on the other hand, because being true to yourself is not always easy (almost never is).

Based on the idea that 97% of the people on this planet never put down their objectives and that the 3% that do have a much higher chance of being successful, the participants mapped their objectives for the next 30 years, both on personal and professional level and discussed about ways of  avoiding the limitations that would come their way on the path of achieving their dreams.

I would like to congratulate my friends and colleagues that took this challenge and wish them all the best in making things happen. Because we do have inside everything that we need although sometimes we are just too afraid to let it out.

Thank you, Mihaela!

It’s been a time of silence on the blog although I cannot say the same thing about myself:  I moved to Bruxelles to be the Training Co-ordinator for EEE-YFU and a new adventure began here!

I re-discovered the city and many of the friends that I have here (and not only) who helped me a lot to adapt to the change. A few weeks ago, the Ice Queen moved here too, and now we might move in together – a new adventure.

The first event I co-ordinated for EEE-YFU was a Training Course on Volunteer Recruitment where I was in charge of not only the administrative part but also coaching the team of trainers. It was quite an experience letting go and not being in front of the group but rather asking questions and helping the fresh trainers develop. You can read more about the TCVR here (link to follow soon).

The next adventure begins next week, with the last Presidency Youth Event of the Trio – the Hungarian Presidency Youth Event (1-4 of March 2011) closely followed by the Open Networking and Synergy Meeting that I will be co-ordination for EEE-YFU also in Budapest (9 – 13 of March 2011).

‘Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride on Gendrian Spacelines! We would like to inform you that you have just been abducted from Earth and will travel with us to Planet Gendria to help our researchers discover more about gender issues’. This is how the training course “Mainstreamning Gender Isssues in organizing youth exchanges and training courses on international level” organised by YEU International in Azerbaijan from the 15 to the 21 of November 2010 kicked off.

During the 6 full days of training, participants from 22 countries explored gender issues from different point of views, from culture to policies and politics, from religion to identity, from gender roles and their evolution throughout the ages to stereotypes and taboos.

Using non-formal education methods, the team of 28 specialists had to solve a number of tasks and seize as many learning opportunities as possible inside the University of Gendria or the Gendrian Parliament, in the spaceship or during the field exploration (the Baku visit), developing both personal and social competences. The training course focused more on attitudes with an out-of-the-box approach creating challenging situations that helped participants to discover hidden resources in each other and within themselves.

Interacting with local people and connecting the local reality in Azerbaijan to the realities the participants have in their home organizations or countries were another important points of the training course.

As a result of the whole activity, the participants contributed to the creation of a booklet with concrete recommendations to youth NGOs for promoting gender equality in their activities and tackling the different elements covered by the training course.

În timpul T4T AEGEE din Izmir am zburat pentru 2 zile la Bruxelles pentru a fi din nou facilitator pentru Help Students Network, (15 – 16 octombrie 2010) o reţea de tineri şi studenţi creată în cadrul campaniei anti-fumat derulată de către Comisia Europeană.

Alături de aceeaşi 3 colegi din Pool of Trainers, European Youth Forum cu care am lucrat şi pentru prima întâlnire a reţelei de la Riga din mai 2010, am reuşit să ajutăm participaţii să producă într-un timp record un Commitment Paper care a stabilit modul de funcţionare a reţelei şi continuarea campaniei după finalul oficial (15 noiembrie).

Conform sitului oficial, “Uniunea Europeană a făcut din lupta împotriva fumatului una din priorităţile sale în domeniul sănătăţii publice. Bolile legate de consumul tutunului reprezintă azi prima şi cea mai importantă cauză a mortalităţii în Europa. Tutunul este responsabil de mai mult de 650 000 de decese în fiecare an în Uniunea Europeană, adică un deces din şapte. Această cifră include 19 000 de decese provocate de fumatul pasiv; aceste persoane nu au fumat niciodată!

Campania „Help – pentru o viaţă fără tutun”

Pe 31 mai 2009, de Ziua Mondială fără Tutun, Comisia Europeană a lansat a doua etapă a amplei sale campanii media destinată prevenirii şi stopării fumatului şi informării cu privire la pericolele fumatului pasiv în 27 de State Membre ale Uniunii Europene, în continuarea campaniei iniţiale de patru ani, desfăşurată între anii 2005 şi 2008.

Campania se adresează în mod special tinerilor. Desfăşurată în toate cele 27 de ţări membre U.E., campania Comisiei Europene „HELP – Pentru o viaţă fără tutun” a fost una dintre cele mai importante iniţiative de sensibilizare asupra unui aspect din domeniul sănătăţii organizată vreodată în lume.

Campania „Help” îşi propune să ofere sprijin tinerilor pentru a nu începe să fumeze, pentru a rezista presiunii anturajului sau pentru a face faţă fumatului pasiv.”

Imediat după primul curs de Seducţie am pornit spre Izmir, Turcia, pentru a fi trainer la Stagiul de Formare de Formatori al AEGEE (13 – 20 octombrie 2010). Echipa de traineri a fost formată din 4 persoane.

După câteva peripeţii pe drum, am reuşit să pregătim, alături de colegii mei, un super T4T pentru a forma noua generaţie de traineri din AEGEE şi BEST. Am trecut împreună cu participanţii prin elementele educaţiei nonfomale, metode specifice de training, tehnici de prezentare, gestionarea audienţei, dezvoltarea, implementarea şi evaluarea obiectivelor educaţionale şi multe altele.

Un aspect demn de menţionat şi nu foarte comun la alte ONGuri cu care am lucrat a fost sistemul de mentorat şi anume fiecare participant a avut oportunitatea de a-şi alege unul dintre traineri care să contribuie la dezvoltarea sa ulterioară. Din cei 13 participanţi, în prezent mentorez  5 participanţi şi un trainer.

A fost din nou o plăcere să interacţionez cu cultura organizaţională a AEGEE şi aştept cu interes o nouă invitaţie din partea lor.

2 ani de la prima idee, 1 an de la ideea de Seduţie, 8 luni de la ideea de a introduce NLP în training, 6 luni de când am prezentat ideea Ioanei şi lui Alex, 18 noi cărţi citite (nu am numărat cărţile Ioanei), zeci de pagini de idei, zeci de situri de internet pentru documentare, multe nopţi nedormite, sute de semne de întrebare (şi mii de răspunsuri – sic), 15 înscrieri, 8 participanţi, 2 zile pline…

Cam aşa ar arăta o parte din cifrele cu ajutorul cărora pot descrie super-trainingul de Seducţie de la Cluj Napoca din weekendul trecut (9-10 octombrie 2010).

A început cu o idee nebună, ceva ce nu mai exista în România, a urmat un deadline, doi colegi, multe prezentări a ideei şi multă reticenţă şi multe emoţii. Sunt fericit să spun, acum, după primul curs, că a meritat investiţia pe care am facut-o pentru a crea un astfel de curs.

Am primit feedback pozitiv, am adus deja îmbunătăţiri  şi împreună cu Ioana suntem gata pentru a duce cursul şi mai departe. În acest sens, urmează un nou curs de Seducţie la Cluj Napoca (30 – 31 octombrie 2010) la care vă puteţi înscrie aici cât şi la Braşov (6 -7 noiembrie 2010) la care vă puteţi înscrie aici.

Aşadar, dacă vrei să preiei controlul asupra relaţiilor pe care le ai cu societatea şi eşti dispus să deprinzi abilităţile sociale atât de necesare succesului personal sau profesional, te aşteptăm la training!

Trainingul de Seducţie: de la cunoaşterea şi acceptarea propriei persoane la întelegerea celor din jur, de la limbajul non-verbal la tehnici de programare neuro-lingvistică (NLP), de la tehnici de control a primei impresii la comunicarea umană, cursul trece prin etapele necesare “seducţiei” fie că vorbim de persoane necunoscute, prieteni, şefi sau, de ce nu, soţ/soţie.

PS. Am inaugurat cu ajutorul lui Bogdan şi #seductie pe Twitter, unde puteţi urmări trainingul în timp real.

După Eurogames 2010, tot în cadrul University for Youth and Development (UYD), Mollina, am avut ocazia să lucrez ca senior trainer la un alt curs de formare al Youth for Exchange and Understanding (YEU) şi anume Exchangology.

Da, primul obiectiv pe care îl aveam de îndeplinit cu participanţii era ca toată lumea să poată rosti corect cuvântul (care s-a tot complicat până în ultima zi când am avut o sesiune care se numea Exchangologing-it!).

Idea de bază a trainingului era să pregătim 20 de tineri din diferite organizaţii de tineret şi ţări care să poată evalua şi optimiza activităţi de tineret din punct de vedere al sustenabilităţii şi al impactului în mediu.

Pe lângă cunoştinşele şi abilităţile dobândite, trainingul a mai avut două rezultate marcabile: un studiu şi o serie de recomandări pentru reducerea impactului în mediu a UYD cât şi un manual despre optimizarea impactului în mediu al activităţilor de tineret destinat organizaţiilor, manual dispobibil din luna decembrie 2010.

Toate detaliile administrative au fost stabilite: Cluj Napoca va fi primul oraş în care se va desfăşura trainingul de SEDUCŢIE, între 9 şi 10 octombrie 2010!

Datorită faptului că este primul curs, am decis să avem un grup de doar 10 de participanţi iar înscrierile sunt deschide din acest moment.

Înscrie-te aici!

Taxa de participare este de 100 de RON şi include participarea şi materialul de curs cât şi pauzele de cafea.

Mulţumim pentru ajutor partenerilor noştri de la Cluj Community Center care ne vor găzdui pe parcursul celor două zile.

Pornind de la elemente de analiză tranzacţională, comunicare umană şi NLP, cursul de “Seducţie” este un curs special şi unic destinat oricări persoane care vrea să preia controlul asupra relaţiilor pe care le are cu societatea, tuturor celor dispuşi să deprindă abilităţile sociale atât de necesare succesului personal sau profesional.

De la cunoaşterea şi acceptarea propriei persoane la întelegerea celor din jur, de la limbajul non-verbal la tehnici de programare neuro-lingvistică (NLP), de la tehnici de control a primei impresii la comunicarea umană, cursul trece prin etapele necesare “seducţiei” fie că vorbim de persoane necunoscute, prieteni, şefi sau, de ce nu, soţ/soţie.

Înscrie-te aici!