The Reasons

Public speaking does not fall within most people’s comfort zone, but the skills can be very beneficial for communicating with both patients and staff. For years, I was involved with an organization called Toastmasters that taught me to communicate with greater impact (view their website at www.toastmasters.org ). Things like conveying a clear message, proper body language, storytelling, and making an emotional connection are not just impactful for public speakers, but anyone who aspires to influence others. In fact, many people in my Toastmasters group were not public speakers. They were in leadership, management, sales, and other roles where effective communication was critical to their success.

The Implementation

Here are a few considerations:

• Live options like Toastmasters are preferable, but there are other options like online courses or books on public speaking.
• Apply what you learn and observe results (i.e., are people more interested or engaged?).
• Track metrics (i.e., If I change how I present a treatment, does this impact patient acceptance?).
• Teach what you’ve learned to others on your team.
• If you’re up for the challenge, do a presentation for a school, mom’s group, etc., promoting your services. OM