Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Public Speaking

I'm not a fan of being the speaker. So this Saturday I am speaking at a conference. I did not particularly volunteer for this speaking engagement. In fact I was originally scheduled to be in Atlanta this weekend in the audience listening to other speakers, who are in fact, not me. Melanoma Man's Pulmonary Embolism debacle and another recent health issue that lasted 10 days persuaded me to cancel my registration to attend the Atlanta conference. Four days out of town leaving imac, Butter and Melanoma Man to there own devices just doesn't seem prudent. Word got out around the clinic, that I wasn't going to Atlanta. Soon thereafter I received an email from an influential Nurse Practitioner/co-worker within my institution who is orchestrating a local conference for nurses. The email thanked me and all the other speakers for volunteering to speak at said conference.  The email was also sent to the Director of Nursing and the Nurse Manager of my division. A few minutes later I received an email from the Orchestrator with slides for my presentation. A rock and a hard place. That's where I am. Also aggravated.

I reviewed the slides. I didn't like them. I did a little research in between patients. I discussed and reviewed my slides with my physician and nurse colleagues. Tonight I asked Melanoma Man if I could practice, if he would be my audience. I was 60 seconds into my presentation, when Melanoma Man said "Is that on your slides, what you just said?"

"Yes," I replied.

"You know they can read. Your audience, they can read." This seemed like a good stopping point to me.

That's great, perfect in fact. Then there is no need for me to speak at all, just put my slides up and let 'em read.

What in God's name was I thinking when I asked MM to be my audience? Don't answer that, but do wish me luck on Saturday.




No comments:

Post a Comment