Training course “‘Megaphone Europe: Tune Up Your Voice Louder!” Viena, Austria

 

The Training course “‘Megaphone Europe: Tune Up Your Voice Louder!” which was held on 24 – 29 October 2017, gathered 27 youth workers from 9 countries for a youth mobility training course in Vienna, Austria.

The training focused on how to improve young people’s level of key competencies and skills in the field of communications, storytelling, PR and social media; exploring ways to build a positive image of youth organizations in their societies; developing ways to increase the visibility of Erasmus+ learning mobility projects.

The method used during the project is non-formal education: learning by doing, peer-to-peer learning, intercultural dialogue.

The previous knowledge of participants was obvious as they were not only listening but also participating in the discussion. Following days the theme of social media put its focus on Instagram and practical examples and recommendation for the personal or professional usage. Similarly, LinkedIn and PR were discussed what made clear some steps and ways of implementing these tools. While talking about the importance of the content and storytelling, also to the youth participants were introduced some graphics tools – Illustrator, Canva etc.

At the end of the sessions, the participants also presented the best PR campaigns from their countries or organisations which inspired them and the rest of the group as well.

All the gained knowledge was in the end put into developing ways to increase the visibility of Erasmus+ learning mobility projects.

All the activities created a natural group bond and all participants felt included.  The training course was intensive but variously which made it an enriching experience.  The course content gave a broad overview of what is needed to know regarding the topics discussed.
Storytelling was an important part of the course content because the visuals and tools do not make an impact by themselves. Storytelling makes people emotionally connected to the message you want to address.

In the end, the question remains… Can we speak louder?

Yes, we can and we will not hold back!