Giving Medical Presentations
As if it weren't scary enough to be asked to give a presentation, the fact that it is to be on a medical topic is even more intimidating. Clearly you have the knowledge to pull it off or you wouldn't have been asked to speak in the first place. Giving medical presentations isn't really all that different than giving any other kind of talk. With some easy to remember tips and hints, you won't have any trouble convincing your audience that you are virtual warehouse of important information and are witty and entertaining as well. The first thing to concentrate on when beginning to prepare for medical presentations is your audience. You need to ask yourself what group of people you will be speaking to. Is this a group of your peers or supervisors? Are you planning to speak before patients and their families? Maybe you have been asked to speak to young students for a health class. How you present the information and how in depth you go with it will have direct bearing on the group you are speaking to. For example you aren't going to explicitly describe birth process to an audience of 3rd graders, and you wouldn't go back to basics with an audience of medically trained professionals. It's simple; know your audience.
There are so many little details that go into giving great medical presentations. One such detail that often gets overlooked is how you use your voice. It's only natural to rush through a presentation to get off the stage as fast as possible. However this isn't going to work well for you because no one will be able to understand all of your key points. You should also avoid speaking quietly; the people in the back of the room are there to hear you as well. The key element to public speaking in terms of how to use your voice is to project your voice to the back of the room, speak clearly, and use a moderate pace. While we are on the subject of voice, timing is also very important in making presentations. You don't want to be motoring along and allowing your audience to miss the vital points of your speech. Coach yourself to pause after you make your main points. This gives the group time to absorb what you said. After the pause, continue on with your supporting facts. Just give the audience time to concentrate on the main points. There are all kinds of other little details that can take you from being an adequate speaker to being a sensational one. Fortunately there are plenty of resources that can help you master each one. Giving medical presentations doesn't have to feel like a death sentence when you prepare and keep your audience in mind. |