From time to time as a doctor or other healthcare provider, you will be asked to give a speech to either colleagues or to the lay public.
No doubt you certainly have amassed enough knowledge and have enough information for the subject, but what you actually say is important. What you leave out is equally or more important. Presumably, you are not there to give a presentation for your doctoral thesis. If you simply give a list of facts and statistics, your talk will be one big yawn. (Blinking eyes in the audience at the end is a great clue!)
Sit back and take a look at your speech while you craft it. Are you entertaining your crowd or boring them?
No problem- here are some tips to help you with your talk.
1) Tell people why you care about the topic- make it personal…the more personal the better. It shows authenticity. What’s more, people remember stories. Long after people have forgotten the statistics, they will remember and tell your story to others. An important thing to point out is that it must be YOUR story- don’t relate someone else’s tale
2) Work a funny situation or a joke into the talk. It lightens the load.
3) Keep the talk targeted to the one message that you would like to convey or get across. Give illustrations to enable people to understand the message.
4) Have a call to action that you weave into the last few minutes of your speech. What is it that you would like them to do? Make an appointment with you? Buy your book? Whatever it is, figure this out before you give your speech. Don’t keep this a secret and assume that the audience can figure this out. People need to actually be told and if they have learned from you and you have entertained them, they will want more of you, whether it is a book to take home, a newsletter or another contact.
If you need a speaker or you would like a free evaluation of one that you have written, send me an email at:
Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
