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Nurses need to accept the challenge of public speaking
AORN education
Nurses need to accept the challenge of public speaking -
Your turn is coming. Sooner or later you will be given the opportunity to present your views in front of an audience, and you believe so strongly in the issue that you will not be able to say "no." What do you do now? If you use the information given here, chances are you will find the experience educational, challenging, and even exciting. The first thing you must do is determine who the audience will be. A talk given to a high school class on opportunities in OR nursing is planned at a different level than that same topic presented to senior nursing students. If your audience does not understand you, you've failed before you've begun. You should take into consideration the setting for your presentation. Is it a public rally in the park for unionization of nurses, or is it a one-hour portion of a workshop on nurse's rights? Each setting dictates a different type of approach to the subject. When you are ready to put thoughis into words, begin with an outline, keeping your time limit in mind. Do not attempt to include too much content in a short presentation; you may lose your audience. As you expand your outline by adding subtopics and ideas, try to envision teaching techniques to use in your presentation. Perhaps audiovisual materials or group activities will enhance your presentation. The probability of learning and retention increases in adult learners when participation is encouraged. If you choose to use a technique other than,
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or in addition to, lecturing, you should exercise caution to limit it to what you are comfortable with or what you can control. For instance, role playing is an excellent teaching method, but unless you are experienced in that particular method, it can be stressful to participants. You need to be ready to intervene, when and if appropriate, and be skilled at that intervention. Small group activities and problem solving with the audience might be less involved methods for beginning speakers. When choosing audiovisual material, remember that the most important visual aid is you! The manner in which you present yourself is an immediate visual aid and one that the audience will have in view for the entire presentation. If you are blond and light complected, a white dress is a poor choice. Choose a more complementary color, such as red, blue, or green. Stay away from elaborate earrings or pendants that will detract attention from you and your content. Rattling charm bracelets or jingling coins in a pocket are especially distracting. The beginning public speaker often has anxiety about self-image. If you can incorporate some group activities or question-and-answer pertods during the presentation, s o m e of the focus may shift from you for a short period of time and give you some relief. Audiovisual aids should be used to enhance your content, not replace it. Slides and transparencies should be kept simple, each with only a limited number of words, statistics, or graphs that emphasize your point. Suppose you are describing acute glomerulonephritis, leading into a discussion on nursing care of the patient with renal disorders and preoperative assessment of those patients by the OR nurse. Figure 1 illustrates how you can get carried
dAORN Journal, March 1980, V o l 3 1 , No 4
577
away with transparencies or slides. Your listeners will be diverted to the screen as they try to read and take notes on all the information there. They will not listen to your presentation. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show much better use of visual aids. They tell your audience what you are going to discuss, in what order, and in this case, give the spelling of a commonly misspelled word. The audience will listen to you give the etiology, the signs, symptoms, and can relate this information to your visual presentation In this manner, visual aids can enhance, rather than replace, your presentation. Be sure to check all equipment prior to your presentation. Does the blackboard have both chalk and eraser? Does the overhead projector work, and where in the room do you need to place it? Does the slide projector work? Can your visuals be seen from the back of the room? How long is the cord on the microphone? Will it reach to the blackboard or screen if you wish to walk over to emphasize a point? If you deal with these details prior to your presentation, all your energy and concentration can be focused on your content. You have now outlined and limited your content, put your visual aids together, and organized your entire presentation. The final step in preparation is practice. Practice with a mirror, a clock, a tape recorder, and friends. Try to include those "intangibles" that you admire in other speakers. Good eye contact, gestures, voice rate and inflection, use of humor (if appropriate), and calling participants by name are all aspects of effective presentation that can be accomplished with practice. As nurses, we need to speak out and represent our profession and be comfortable in that role. Experienced public speakers admit to some degree of anxiety and stage fright, but have learned ways to overcome it through experience and repetition. When you are given the opportunity to speak, what will be your answer?
~~~
'ig 1 Glomerulonephritis - Definition - Causes - Signs, symptoms - Complications - Treatment
rig
2
Definition Nephritis with inflammation of capillary loops in glomeruli Fig 3
Janet G Sabbe, RN Credentialing specialist Editor's note A session on this topic will be presented at Congress in Atlanta Techniques for the Novice Speaker is scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, at 8 45 am
580
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~
Glomerulonephritis: Definition: Nephritis with inflammation of the capillary loops in glomeruli of the kidneys. Acute Glomerulonephritis: Cause thought to be a result of autosensitivity or antibody reaction following bacterial or chemical exposure. Usually follows untreated upper respiratory infection. Signs and symptoms: Hypertension, edema, headache, malaise, fever, facial puffiness, costal vertibral angle tenderness.
AORN Journal, March 1980, V o l 3 1 , No 4
Nurses need to accept the challenge of public speaking -
Your turn is coming. Sooner or later you will be given the opportunity to present your views in front of an audience, and you believe so strongly in the issue that you will not be able to say "no." What do you do now? If you use the information given here, chances are you will find the experience educational, challenging, and even exciting. The first thing you must do is determine who the audience will be. A talk given to a high school class on opportunities in OR nursing is planned at a different level than that same topic presented to senior nursing students. If your audience does not understand you, you've failed before you've begun. You should take into consideration the setting for your presentation. Is it a public rally in the park for unionization of nurses, or is it a one-hour portion of a workshop on nurse's rights? Each setting dictates a different type of approach to the subject. When you are ready to put thoughis into words, begin with an outline, keeping your time limit in mind. Do not attempt to include too much content in a short presentation; you may lose your audience. As you expand your outline by adding subtopics and ideas, try to envision teaching techniques to use in your presentation. Perhaps audiovisual materials or group activities will enhance your presentation. The probability of learning and retention increases in adult learners when participation is encouraged. If you choose to use a technique other than,
g b J
or in addition to, lecturing, you should exercise caution to limit it to what you are comfortable with or what you can control. For instance, role playing is an excellent teaching method, but unless you are experienced in that particular method, it can be stressful to participants. You need to be ready to intervene, when and if appropriate, and be skilled at that intervention. Small group activities and problem solving with the audience might be less involved methods for beginning speakers. When choosing audiovisual material, remember that the most important visual aid is you! The manner in which you present yourself is an immediate visual aid and one that the audience will have in view for the entire presentation. If you are blond and light complected, a white dress is a poor choice. Choose a more complementary color, such as red, blue, or green. Stay away from elaborate earrings or pendants that will detract attention from you and your content. Rattling charm bracelets or jingling coins in a pocket are especially distracting. The beginning public speaker often has anxiety about self-image. If you can incorporate some group activities or question-and-answer pertods during the presentation, s o m e of the focus may shift from you for a short period of time and give you some relief. Audiovisual aids should be used to enhance your content, not replace it. Slides and transparencies should be kept simple, each with only a limited number of words, statistics, or graphs that emphasize your point. Suppose you are describing acute glomerulonephritis, leading into a discussion on nursing care of the patient with renal disorders and preoperative assessment of those patients by the OR nurse. Figure 1 illustrates how you can get carried
dAORN Journal, March 1980, V o l 3 1 , No 4
577
away with transparencies or slides. Your listeners will be diverted to the screen as they try to read and take notes on all the information there. They will not listen to your presentation. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show much better use of visual aids. They tell your audience what you are going to discuss, in what order, and in this case, give the spelling of a commonly misspelled word. The audience will listen to you give the etiology, the signs, symptoms, and can relate this information to your visual presentation In this manner, visual aids can enhance, rather than replace, your presentation. Be sure to check all equipment prior to your presentation. Does the blackboard have both chalk and eraser? Does the overhead projector work, and where in the room do you need to place it? Does the slide projector work? Can your visuals be seen from the back of the room? How long is the cord on the microphone? Will it reach to the blackboard or screen if you wish to walk over to emphasize a point? If you deal with these details prior to your presentation, all your energy and concentration can be focused on your content. You have now outlined and limited your content, put your visual aids together, and organized your entire presentation. The final step in preparation is practice. Practice with a mirror, a clock, a tape recorder, and friends. Try to include those "intangibles" that you admire in other speakers. Good eye contact, gestures, voice rate and inflection, use of humor (if appropriate), and calling participants by name are all aspects of effective presentation that can be accomplished with practice. As nurses, we need to speak out and represent our profession and be comfortable in that role. Experienced public speakers admit to some degree of anxiety and stage fright, but have learned ways to overcome it through experience and repetition. When you are given the opportunity to speak, what will be your answer?
~~~
'ig 1 Glomerulonephritis - Definition - Causes - Signs, symptoms - Complications - Treatment
rig
2
Definition Nephritis with inflammation of capillary loops in glomeruli Fig 3
Janet G Sabbe, RN Credentialing specialist Editor's note A session on this topic will be presented at Congress in Atlanta Techniques for the Novice Speaker is scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, at 8 45 am
580
~
~
Glomerulonephritis: Definition: Nephritis with inflammation of the capillary loops in glomeruli of the kidneys. Acute Glomerulonephritis: Cause thought to be a result of autosensitivity or antibody reaction following bacterial or chemical exposure. Usually follows untreated upper respiratory infection. Signs and symptoms: Hypertension, edema, headache, malaise, fever, facial puffiness, costal vertibral angle tenderness.
AORN Journal, March 1980, V o l 3 1 , No 4