However, because of the timings at Vocal Training and it's focus on 'training the trainers' there are a few important differences...

Training the Trainers

When planning a session Vocal Training, be thinking 'how do i help these people to do this locally', rather than 'what do i want to tell them'! This usually means that your session should/will incorporate a brainstorming or practicing element. For example, if you want to get people thinking how they make a media worthy moment in the Week of Action, getting people to brainstorm stunt ideas and press release headings and giving feedback would be great, as would role playing local radio interviews.

If you are involved in a specific strategy launch, going through how to use the related SPEAK resources, what we hope groups will do, and how they can do it is crucial.

It's also important to provide plenty of visuals, things to use in the session etc.

Working with Outside Speakers

We usually invite a few external speakers to Vocal Training. They may input on theology, the background to our campaigns, or bring a specific skills based workshop. Although they will bring an expertise we don't have, they are also not going to fully clued up on SPEAK's aims and strategies fo the year, so it's important that if your session includes an outside speaker, that you leave some time at the end for relating it back to SPEAK to help in the network building process.

Timings

The sessions at Vocal Training are usually longer than those at Soundcheck. You may be working with others in that time slot but the themes can usually take up a whole morning or afternoon. Think about how you want to divide up the time carefully - how long do you need to explain the area? What time is given over to outside input? Do you have enough brainstorming/interactive time? Can any of it continue as optional prayer/cretive time later, or lead in to a late night discussion?

In all of this you will be working with others, or alongside and someone will be co-ordinating the content and will let you know exactly what the timings and options are. Even if you'd rather have more time, please respect this as we always have loads to fit in!