The Royal Anguilla Police Force has taken a step aimed at making its members more effective public speakers and has involved the participation of other department representatives to improve their communication skills as well.

Participants in the public speaking workshop

It was a three-day Public Speaking Skills Workshop held at the Police Training Room from Monday to Wednesday this week, September 11-13. The facilitator was Lorna Barrow, a Learning Solution Specialist from Barbados. She has assisted hundreds of persons and many organisations in improving their effectiveness and increasing their earnings through training which improved their productivity and capacity to provide customers with superior service and solutions. She is a public speaker who has been a member of Toast Masters International for over fifteen years.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Inspector Sylvia Hodge, hoped that the workshop, hosted by the police, would help improve the fluency and confidence of the participants. She implored them to apply the skills taught to them in relevant situations on the job as they could be extremely beneficial.

Participants in the public speaking workshop

Commissioner of Police, Keithley Benjamin, declared the workshop open. He said the subject was an important one and for that reason representatives from various government departments were invited to participate. These included Customs, Immigration, the Fire Service, Police and the Department of Information and Broadcasting.

“All of you in some way, during the discharge of your duties, have to interact with the public and it is important that you are able to properly represent your organisation,” he stated. “As Anguilla develops it is required of all of us to speak to the public and to convey the messages that we want to put out… Your focus must be on how you intend to sell the organisation and that is why we brought in someone from Barbados who has that type of background.”

Participants in the public speaking workshop

The trainer, Miss Barrow, said the workshop would expose the participants to new skills, allow adequate opportunity for practice, thus enabling the rapid transfer of knowledge from the classroom to the workplace. She noted that at the end of the workshop participants would be able to deliver speeches with more confidence, effortlessly handle interviews and effectively present technical information.

The broad topics covered by the workshop were fundamentals of public speaking; becoming the organisation’s spokesperson, general points on presentations and learning the outcomes.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Constable Bernadette Carbon and prayers were said by Special Constable Michael Fleming.

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