Public Speaking: The development and implementation of an internal public speaking training series designed to facilitate skills-building that promotes development of leaders within the public health workforce

Background/Purpose: As the challenge of securing funding for contracted public speaking courses began to dwindle like a drying well, and the demand for such courses swelled like rising tides, it became evident that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health needed to create offerings that were a continuous internal resource for leadership development among its workforce. The response that arose was a public speaking training series containing two course levels. The purpose of these trainings is to enhance public speaking skills across all staff levels in order to prepare and support the workforce in their roles as leaders within the Department. Methods: Key methods include project planning, online needs assessment, curricula research and development, media design, course pilot testing and focus group analysis, and implementation and evaluation. Results/Outcome: The public speaking series has had 235 participants since implementation in July 2007. Strong support was expressed and demonstrated by 95% of participants being “satisfied or very satisfied” with the course and willing to “recommend to others”. Requests have been ongoing and led to a projected number of 200 staff to be trained in 2009. Skills practiced and built upon in this series were recognized as essential and significant qualities of leaders in public health. The courses were therefore incorporated into the Department's recently implemented 6-month New Supervisor Development Program. Conclusion: Effective public speaking skills are essential in communications across and extending beyond public health. This series offers a feasible, useful, and replicable training for departments of public health.