Hello PPMA members and friends

Last week our joint Apprentice of the Year Winner 2019, Kirsten Moore shared with us her experience of taking part in the competition and this week we hear from her inspirational fellow winner, Daniel John. Daniel is from South Gloucestershire Council and here is his story:

“I decided to enter the PPMA Apprentice of the Year as the idea of testing my abilities against other apprentices in a competitive environment greatly appealed to me as well as development opportunities to develop my career. I was thrilled to be shortlisted along with 15 other great apprentices from across the country and was looking forward to the challenge.

The morning of the first day was focused around training and development. The emphasis was on developing the core being of who we are as individuals and how to increase our confidence to help us get our message across. We learned different techniques for public speaking such as how to breathe and how to hold people’s attention using silence. I found the morning challenging as it took me out of my comfort zone, although when the competition started I felt confident in applying what I had learned in the morning.

During the afternoon of day one we had to perform a team activity that focused on time forecasting, individually answer questions from the judges, and deliver a short pitch on our legacy presentation that we had to deliver the next day.

The second day consisted of an individual task in which we had to show how well we could cope under pressure and the legacy presentations. For my presentation, I talked about how my passion for improving conditions for people with Autism has been shaped by my life story. My apprenticeship finishes in July and I would like to gain a permanent job which would enable me to make a difference for people with Autism.

Overall, I found the experience wonderfully enjoyable and precious. I found everyone involved to be so friendly and inspiring and I will cherish the memories for the rest of my life.”

Daniel John, PPMA Joint Apprentice of the Year 2019

We hope that Daniel has an amazing year and we look forward to celebrating with him and all of our other talent programme winners at this year’s PPMA Conference, which will be held at The Hilton Metropole Birmingham, on 14th to 16th May. If you’d like to join us, then book your place here.