session (be sure to return all telephone calls) or (2) assign  one  of  your  staff  members  to  answer  the telephones  and  greet  visitors.  The  latter  method  is preferable, and if chosen, make sure someone from the staff takes comprehensive notes to pass along to this person. METHODS Contrary to popular belief, professional training sessions do not have to be mundane affairs accentuated with  yawns  and  sighs.  There  are  no  set  rules  or guidelines for the ways in which you administer the program.  Some  recommendations  include  using  NRTC questions, a thought/teaching point of the day, the  Public Affairs Communicator, handouts, guest speakers and encouraging  outside  participation. NRTC Questions Copy  a  block  of  questions  from  the  JO  3  &  2, JO 1 & C and PA Regs nonresident  training  courses (NRTCs) and direct your staff to complete them in a specified amount of time. Do not allow them to use the training manuals or PA Regs to research the questions. When time is called, review the questions with your staff,  assign  scores  and  chart  individual  progress  on  a bulletin board or a score sheet. In larger staffs, you can pair  off  staff  members  and  compete  in  teams.  Any variation of this theme will work. Regardless of the road you take, the benefits remain the same, as described below: Hundreds  of  questions  exist  from  which  to choose from. Very little preparation time is needed. Office  competition  keeps  everybody  sharp. The staff remains geared up for the Navywide exams. It is fun! Thought/Teaching Point of the Day Supplementing weekly training is the “thought” or “teaching point of the day.” This is best delivered during morning quarters or at some similar point in the workday when the staff is together. It can go something like this: “. . . And the ship’s library  will  be  secured  today  and  tomorrow  because  of painting. That is all I have–here is your professional teaching point of the day: The Navy internal audience is   broken   down   into   five   primary   divisions: Active-duty  Navy  personnel,  family  members  of active-duty  Navy  personnel,  Naval  Reserve  personnel and  families,  Navy  civilian  employees  and  Navy retirees and families. . . .” Public Affairs Communicator Each issue of the  Public  Affairs  Communicator contains  a  multitude  of  professional  development articles  perfectly  suited  for  training.  Distribute  copies  of one or two articles to your staff per training session and hold a discussion on them. Handouts Use  any  handouts  available  from  the  Defense Information School (DINFOS) (check to make sure you have the most current copies), PA Regs, instructions, notices,  and  so  forth,  as  training  tools.  The  yellow guidance  pages  in  PA  Regs  are   excellent   sources. Localize the materials and conduct training in an open discussion format. Guest  Speakers If you cannot get out to that radio station for training, maybe a representative of the news department can visit your office to talk for an hour about its operations. Otherwise, you can contact journalists and PAOs from nearby commands and request they give a talk on a specific  training  topic.  Guest  speakers  are  out there-however, it is up to you to find them. Outside Participation Do not subscribe to the theory that your training program is limited to your staff. When you are lining up guest speakers for training, try to establish a system that allows  staff  members  from  other  public  affairs  offices to  attend  your  sessions,  and  vice  versa.  The  more participation you have (in one or several directions), the better your training program will be. Your making a simple telephone call or having a conversation over lunch with a colleague is usually all that is required to make  the  necessary  arrangements. CROSS-TRAINING In this day and age of doing more with less, you have to be sure the members of your staff are interchangeable. That is where cross-training comes in. 1-12