Professionally Speaking: Public Speaking for Health Professionals

Your knees are shaking, your throat is dry, and out in front of you in the Lerenbaum Room of the Ramada Inn is the 167th Annual Meeting of the Tucson Dentists Weekend Warrior Organization. You step to the podium, there#xE2;#xAC;"s a short crackle of microphone feedback, and all eyes are on you. What do you say? Are you prepared enough? Will your audience love you? Hate you? If these are your fears, put them away and open up Professionally Speaking: Public Speaking for Health Professionals. In it, you#xE2;#xAC;"ll learn how to turn weak knees and wishy-washy introductions into confident gestures and words of wisdom. Packed with examples and proven tips and techniques from the front lines of public convention speaking, this helpful volume has everything you need to transform your next presentation from so-so to successful. Professionally Speaking will help you in both professional speaking and teaching scenarios. You#xE2;#xAC;"ll find its practical advice and helpful guidelines will enhance your performance at the podium by one hundred percent. Specifically, you#xE2;#xAC;"ll get page after page of useful direction in these and other important but seldom-talked-about areas: how to select, write, and deliver a talk use of voice speech preparation and the use of slides icebreakers giving good introductions and avoiding trail-offs keeping on the audience#xE2;#xAC;"s "good side" chalk talks the proper use of humor Anyone who has faced or will face the potential disaster of addressing a large audience of colleagues--mental health professionals, dentists, physicians, pharmacists, for example--will want to consult Professionally Speaking before his or her next scheduled speech. Useful as an introductory guide for beginners or a supplementary text for seasoned veterans, this practical, one-of-a-kind look at public speaking will change the way you see your audience and improve the way they listen to you.

Arnold Melnick recently retired as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Health Professions Division, at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.