Members are encouraged to become involved in POWERtalk at all levels, thus giving them the opportunity to develop and reinforce organisational, leadership, management skills and hands on participation.

These skills are useful in all walks of life from chairing local community committees to organising international conferences with hundreds of delegates. Members learn to delegate, prioritise and manage their time effectively, thus achieving their personal and professional goals. Team work is valued, and members gain experience in meeting procedure, report writing, planning and organising functions, marketing, budgeting and giving sales presentations.

Speaking competitions are held annually at club, council and region level with the winner of Region progressing to the International contest which is conducted in conjunction with the international convention held every two years. Competition is enthusiastic and of a high quality, with members keen to receive the prestige of winning this competition.

In addition to open speech contests, Cosmopolitan Speech Contest provides an opportunity for speakers who have been schooled in languages other than English to compete in an International forum.

Writing competitions in fiction, non-fiction and poetry are held yearly at region level with winners progressing to an annual international competition which is also hotly contested. POWERtalk clubs also are often called upon to judge speech competitions throughout their local communities.

Isaac Newton said: If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. What better way to conquer your fears than to learn from others who have been on the same journey? At POWERtalk you will be assigned a mentor who will assist you with practical, sensible advice and hints for improvement.

Many of the world’s most successful people have benefited from coaching or facilitation by individuals who provide leadership, direction and the benefit of personal experience. Mentoring is encouraged at all levels in the POWERtalk organisation. Mentoring is a powerful strategy for personal growth for both the mentor and the mentee and has significant benefits to the organisation as a whole.

Evaluative feeback an important part of our organisation and takes place at all meetings. Evaluation is carried out in a supportive and nurturing manner and will usually contain both commendations and recommendations. The evaluator is always aware of the level of the one being evaluated and will take that into consideration when performing the evaluation. At most meetings there is a general evaluation session at the end of the meeting at which the entire evening is evaluated including the running of the business session, thus providing continued training and education. One cannot underestimate the importance of effective evaluation in the field of training.

POWERtalk members have the opportunity to work their way through an internationally recognised accreditation process consisting of 5 levels. The accreditation journey allows for personal growth and development through systematic training, encourages a high standard of performance, encourages self evaluation and provides detailed feedback to members on their individual growth.

In short, the accreditation process consists of two positive actions that of officially recognizing achievement and guaranteeing quality. All POWERtalk short course presenters are specially accredited.