Every EMS professionals has public speaking opportunities during every incident. Last month EMSWorld.com ran a series of public speaking tips. We will also be discussing public speaking on an early June episode of the EMSEduCast podcast with public speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite.
A few speaking tips that work well for me …
1. Anticipating Questions. When teaching a class repeatedly I have come to expect students to ask similar questions in each repetition. Since I am anticipating the question and already have the answer it is important to continue to listen to the question. If the student is slow to ask the question I can respectfully guide them to the question previous students have asked and an answer that will be helpful to the entire group.
2. Affirm the back channel. Texting and tweeting is an inevitable audience behavior. When making a key point I will specifically give the audience permission to use back channel communications. For example, I say this is an important point, “ext this to your friends, tweet it to their followers, or post it as your Facebook status.”
3. Build slides for picture taking. I have noticed a lot more attendees using their smartphones to photograph key slides during my presentations and fewer people are asking for slide handouts. To give the picture takers something helpful I use large fonts, simple figures, and color schemes that offer lots of contrast.
What are your public speaking tips?
