Presentations – How to Approach Them

A well-done presentation reflects well on you. Those who do not see you in your clinical work usually have no other way of judging your competence, intelligence and abilities. In business, judging someone’s value by their presentation is common.

When you have a presentation, consider a couple, basic, but easily overlooked questions:

Who are you presenting to?

Different audiences will have different needs, different backgrounds, and different uses for the information you bring. For example, presenting the nursing workflow to senior nursing leadership will be different than presenting the same workflow information to a group of consultants who are engineers. Different audiences may even speak a different professional language. For example, physicians will use a different terminology than the hospital finance department.

Whenever possible, learn:

  • Your audience’s needs
  • Your audience’s background(s)
  •  How they may use the information you give them

What is your main takeaway point?

Make sure your main takeaway point is clear. Make it easy for your audience. Your audience should not have to do mental gymnastics to follow your main takeaway point. There are a few ways to do this. One reliable approach is to anchor your audience by plainly stating your conclusion and then explain what built up to it.

To learn more about how you as a health care professional can learn and refine your business writing, please check out my book: A Business Writing Toolkit For Healthcare Professionals

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