Your heart is pounding, palms sweating, bright lights are shining, and a crowd of faces is waiting…..that's enough to make most people run out the door when it comes to public speaking. However, I feel that a successful practice needs to have a public representative that speaks, even if just occasionally, on its behalf. In most cases, this should be the doctor. I think you might be surprised at what I consider public speaking, so read on to find out how you can face this challenge.
You Already Do More Speaking Than You Think!
Every time you educate and speak to a patient in your exam room, you are speaking in public. Consider the times when there is an additional family member or multiple people accompanying the patient into the exam room. It's an audience! To start from the basics, I suggest building on this repartee.
If you consider the questions you encounter daily from your patient population, there are probably repeated concerns and, in turn, repeated explanations by you. The first step to brave some public speaking is to build on these everyday educational encounters. Most people just want to know the basics about their eyes. This would include what their prescription means, what options are available to them, how often should they see you, what eye diseases they are at risk for, and how they can best protect their eyes.
Start Local
A great place to start, in my opinion, would be a local networking group. Usually these groups require you to speak about yourself and your business for a minute or several minutes each meeting. This is a great way to build up your confidence in short bursts, and perfect the way to practice how to word and deliver the common messages you are sending out into the community. Remember, |