A team of students with disabilities mentored by Spoken Word founder Dave Scallan recently participated in the Paving the Pathway to Success competition in Houston, Texas on Saturday June 22, 2024. 

Beginning in April

Dave gave the team a “problem statement” and asked them to complete a series of challenges related to the statement.  For this year’s group, Dave chose to simulate an explosion at a chemical plant in the Houston Ship Channel. 

Over the next two months

The team met three times each week. They learned how to write a press release, develop empathy statements and communicate with key stakeholders, including residents in the area of the plant as well as media outlets looking to cover the event. They also learned how to include empathy in all their communication, as well as how to become a credible source of information to both the public as well as the news media.

Finally, on June 22 after two months of hard work

The team presented their learnings in the form of a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation in front of an audience of over 100 guests.  Although they didn’t get the trophy this year, the team did an excellent job and received high marks from the judges. Most importantly, working with Dave helped the students build confidence in their abilities and increase their work readiness.

Paving the Pathway to Success is a program by the Gulf Coast Workforce Board and Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational Rehabilitation Services. The 7-month training program for young adults with disabilities (ages 16-22) helps students increase work readiness through a series of professional workshops designed to build confidence in their existing abilities by not focusing on their disabilities. The program’s vision is to bridge the gap between school and work by creating the same level of competitiveness with their peers who do not have a disability.

More about Paving the Pathway to Success

Contact Dave at Dave@spokenwordgroup.com

The post Spoken Word-Mentored Team Competes in Students with Disabilities Challenge first appeared on Spoken Word Communications.

All we have to do is watch the evening news to see how unexpected events suddenly explode into a public relations nightmare. We live in a world of an instant news cycle, which makes our immediate reaction and comments to any crisis so incredibly critical. Having a plan in place to deal with it is no longer discretionary—it’s essential.

So, perhaps you’re asking, what do I do about it?

Questions concerning crisis management are all the same: How do we react? What do we say? What should we NOT say? Who do we put in front of the media frenzy? And, how do we train and prepare for the inevitable?

Crisis Management is what we at Spoken Word do best.

We will put you and your executives through several challenging on-camera sessions. These are tough. They need to be. You may feel as though you have failed, but by the end of the day you’ll be amazed at the skills you’ve developed. You will be much more confident in your ability to handle the media and the public in whatever crisis occurs.

This training is especially important for mid- to upper-level executives.

It’s critical, because in the end, the public wants to see and hear from a person in charge. They want to know where the buck stops. It will be up to you to deliver the empathy, commitment and openness to calm their minds and reassure them that you have this crisis under control. We’ll teach you the skills on how to control an interview and maintain that proper narrative.

And if it’s been awhile since you have been through Crisis Training, it would be good to go through it again.

In my career as a journalist I have interviewed thousands of people and 95% of the time I was in control. For the remaining 5%, I would walk away from the interview and say to myself, “Wow, that person has been trained.” Bottom line is Crisis Management Training works.  Make it work for you for 2024!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and May the Peace of the Season be with you and your family throughout the New Year!

Spoken Word Communications can help you prepare for the unexpected.
Contact Dave.

Dave@spokenwordgroup.com

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