"Your verbal and written words describing your
personal medical skills and abilities are the
truthful means others use to judge your
credibility, integrity, and love for your profession."
Do you do public speaking? Perhaps, you are sometimes asked to teach a class for the local college relating to healthcare or medicine or invite you to give a public speaking talk at the local Kiwanis or Lions Club meeting. Physician marketing starts the time you walk on stage and before you speak.
Most physicians during their career have many opportunities for public speaking activities before a live audience. Some delight in that process, while others fulfill their speaking options haphazardly by standing up during the medical staff meeting or hospital committee meetings at the hospital and voice their opinion.
Almost all people, regardless of age, education, or celebrity status know what “stage fright” or fear of public speaking means.
Although some physicians respond to public speaking jobs before an audience instantaneously, most are rather hesitant to agree to do a public speaking presentation for many reasons--commonly don’t have time, fear of making a fool out of themselves, don’t have topics to speak about, have difficulty organizing a speech, among others.
Without a doubt, giving a speech or presentation in a formal manner, creates for you considerably more publicity, promotional advertising, positional status, and reputation in one hour than months of behind the scenes efforts. Your medical practice business management reveals the quality of physician you are and is directly related to practice marketing integrity and medical practice business success.
It’s acutely personal between you and every person in the audience. And, you have the perfect opportunity, more than any other effort I can think of, to influence people’s thoughts about your personal dedication to deliver top medical care to them whether it is in the form of a “speech full of words and information,” or "in an office visit."
When you understand that the process of making a public speaking presentation in front of any audience in your community, as well as out in the world anywhere, gives you unending power and prestige, which leads to more success in your medical practice business, then you will automatically overcome any stage fright you will ever feel. Sounds easy… but we all have hang-ups that we prefer not to show.
The solution to speaking in front of groups of people is the same as going through the desensitization treatment for pollen allergies. You start with small groups of people you already know and gradually speak to larger groups over time. You’ll find it easier and easier to speak in front of larger audiences.
The most effective means for some speakers to connect rapidly with their audience is to use eye to eye contact with the nearest people in the audience and speak directly to them, while ignoring the background audience. Others feel more comfortable focusing on the wall behind the audience to avoid eye to eye contact.
You lose the public speaking fear factor to a huge degree because you quickly improve your public speaking and presentation skills (builds your confidence) for the speech in order to get as much information out to the audience in the shortest time allowed.
When you are knowledgeable about your topic, you are confident enough in public speaking to almost go without notes or prompts. However, experts in public speaking advise having a checklist of important points to make during your talk.
It can be in the form of slides, teleprompters, blackboards, large flippable paper tablets or handwritten notes in front of you. You might like to know that in spite of one’s regard for president speeches, some never appear in public to speak without a teleprompter present, even in a news conference with reporters. The only single exception is when any president moves out into a crowd to shake hands and make comments directly to people.
Remember that your body language is an inherent part of what comes out of your mouth and is most often complimentary to your words and your facial expressions.
“By inflection, you can say much
more than your words do.”
---Malcolm S. Forbes
Sure-Fire Ways To Begin Your Public Speaking Presentation With Maximum Impact...
Now, imagine yourself standing up there on the stage. You’ve just been introduced. At that second in time, you are wondering, “Why did I ever agree to do this? I must be masochistic.” The critical issue is what you do next. And, that is right at the same instant you are thinking, “Damn, I’ve forgotten everything I was going to say.”
It’s the exact time when you must rapidly and powerfully get your audience’s complete attention. If you believe that first impressions count, then this is the time you have to make your move, because there isn’t enough time to pray, or change your sweaty shirt or blouse.
The tone, ambiance, body language, and well-spoken opening words set the pace of your presentation. You want to draw the audience's attention immediately using a smile and
speaking confidently.
Remember, that every person in the audience at that moment is talking or thinking mentally along with their own mental conscious agenda.
Your job is to dislodge, or even jerk every person out of their conscious mental path they are on, so they are mentally and consciously open-minded to listen to you.
Interrupting their thought pattern (the internal silent mental conversation that person is already having with themself, when you walk up to them) is the hook you use to get attention. Of course, a gunshot would do the same thing. But, you are empowered to do it only while using a
voice silencer.
First, you introduce yourself and mention what you are there to speak about in one sentence if possible, and thank the audience for being there. Always use eye contact with the front row while using a lower voice tone.
Best choices you have for grabbing the audience's attention...
1. Use A Thought-Provoking Question
Like, you would say to an audience of healthcare personnel, “Did you know everyone in this room faces death from a hip fracture?” Or, “Are you aware everyone in this room has some significant contact with cancer which affects them in some way?” It allows you a moment to gather your thoughts and head towards the “hot buttons” of your audience. A provocative question
works every time.
2. Use Story Telling
Most people remember a story far longer than facts, statistics, and information. Starting out with a story containing the theme and essence of the topic of the presentation forces people to listen—a natural instinct down through time and history. People love stories. Make the story personal.
3. Use A Direct Question
Pick out a person in the front row that you know by the first name. Jerry, let me present you with a question to answer. “Do you have a concern about the issue of topic?” Whatever Jerry answers, enables you to then go on to present the pro and con issues about the topic being presented. The question leads to the presentation of your talk.
It gives you a chance to set the tone of the presentation and allows you to present your compelling evidence for your point of view. You, can “feel” how the audience would like you to proceed.
4. Create An Exercise
It creates a physical exercise that the whole audience participates in. Often, the late afternoon speaker is the one who finds this process quite helpful. By then, the audience is getting bored, sleepy, preoccupied, gluteus numbness, and lack concentration.
In one conference I attended, the speaker had everyone learning the true secret of relaxation by having everyone stretch out their arms and legs in certain postures then move their heads in certain awkward positions while changing their arm and leg positions over a good 5 minutes time. It did awaken my mind and consciousness, as well as contribute to my aching muscles for
the next three days.
5. Use a Controversial Statement
I remember attending a lecture about skin lesions. While moving from one slide photo of a dangerous skin lesion to another on real people, suddenly a slide on the screen showed a naked shapely woman riding a bicycle along a path. Of course, her positioning in the photo protected her private components from view.
The medical audience remained very alert and attentive awaiting another surprise photo after that. The speaker pretended that he didn’t know where that slide came from like you or I
might have done.
6. Use An Outlandish Visual Presentation
By doing this you will face some resentment or jeers from the audience. Your job is then to recruit them back into the topic as you continue... win them back over.
With a live audience, it’s much more problematic and potentially risky because certain highly argumentative topics bring out more than usual emotional responses. Making such statements online, on radio and TV, or in articles makes you less accessible to the readers and listeners who can only reply from a distance.
Rules for public speaking...
A. Avoid boring your audience. (Be Creative)
- Use humor when appropriate but only if you are adept at using humor.
- Use pauses in your speaking which causes people to wonder why, and pay closer attention.
- Have a box of colored (with your logo or promotion on them) T-shirts rolled up so you can stop and throw them out into the audience at some time in your presentation.
- Show the audience how you escape from a straight-jacket by demonstrating how it's done.
- Put on a weird hat or hair piece while you are speaking.
- Walk down into the audience while speaking—ask people along the isles questions to get their interaction.
B. Avoid offending your audience
- Although profanity is in common use everywhere, don’t use any, even generic profanity
in your speech.
- Most speakers avoid using religious, political, and racial comparisons.
- Don’t ever agree to give a public speaking presentation, then drop out of the agreement.
- Begin promptly at the scheduled time... don’t be late.
- Allow time for questions and answers after the speech. Have the audience write down their questions, hand them in, a way of making them interactive with you.
- Smart to provide the audience with handouts, brochures, or related reports on the topic. Or sell your book at the back of the room.
- Avoid wandering away from your topic because of distractions... unless you use the distraction to wake your audience up.
- Don’t fabricate answers to questions you don’t know the answer to. Admit you don’t know and agree to get the person’s name and email so you can send them the answer promptly.
C. Proper preparation for public speaking
- Extensively research your speaking topic. Being able to answer unexpected questions truthfully increases your credibility and reliability.
- When using PowerPoint slides or screen images to emphasize your primary important messages or lessons to the audience...
---never use more than 20 slides in a 45-minute talk
---on the screen, never have more than 3 or 4 lines to be read
---avoid turning to screen and reading your own slides to the
audience (means you don't know your subject well).
- Create an outline on paper, not in your head, of every point you need to make. Prioritize them. Then fill in content, evidence, or statistics that support each point.
- Good speakers practice their speech in front of a mirror several times—where you can see your body language, expressions, and weak points of the talk. Then correct those problems that
make them look awkward.
- Many speakers record their speech beforehand, listen to the recording and make corrections where needed.
- Make every effort to avoid speaking fast, because many will not hear all you said. It results in hands going up to ask questions and interruptions of your talk.
- Speak in a lower speech voice tone as it adds authority to your message. When speakers become excited, insecure, and lose composure, their voice tone goes higher... sometimes soprano.
Summarizing—Following the above steps and advice to a reasonable degree will give you the personal confidence to speak in front of any size group no matter what the composition
of the group is.
Public speaking is one area of promotion many physicians and healthcare professionals often avoid at their peril. The ideas I have written about above I learned from public speaking experts, Peter Fogle, Tom Antion, and others.
----Professional Probe----
"If your speech ends up like this, try a
different approach next time."
The one thing that has happened to me and that succeeded in making this introvert become a far better public speaker, a reasonable conversation connoisseur, and a more humble individual was a recognition that has stuck with me for over 50 years.
I discovered that having a very heavy knowledge of all aspects of the topic of the lecture not only eliminates stage fright to a significant degree but enables one to have such a repertoire of confidence that anyone can talk about, explain, discuss, and answer 99% of any questions asked by the audience.
I believe stagefright is the emotional response one feels when in front of an intelligent audience that is derived from the thought that you might slip, say the wrong thing, make a fool out of yourself in front of the audience, or places yourself in a position of ignorance about the topic. And therefore, the audience is wasting their time listening to you.
My issue began at eight years old. We were at the top end of the poverty classification, and my mother was determined to have me take piano lessons. She paid $5 a lesson for 4 years just after WWII, to Eula Coats to teach me. My father was a great piano player and singer and being the first born she "knew" I must have the same talents.
Over the four years I actually hated to practice piano lessons, but eventually learned what the black keys were for and even to play simple tunes. My mother told me to get ready for the piano recital and I needed to play a song in front of the group. When I got up to the new big piano I had completely forgot everything, sat there silent for a minute or so as I remember, walked back head down to my chair totally a mental wreck.
The piano lessons stopped. And the saxophone lessons began. Same results. My medical talents ended completely when I flunked "choir" in high school. However, I did manage to make it in the church choir, trying to stay in tune or faking it, because they felt sorry for me. I was a quiet singer.
Articles © 2013-2022/CGG INVESTMENTS LLC. All rights reserved. #17 3-16-22
