Safety Consulting Corner

Technical Presentations with a bonus

After attending many presentations at the ASSE conference and the AIHce conferece, both held this past June, I saw that many safety consultants still don't understand how to properly create and use a PowerPoint presentation. Too many people try to cram as much information on the slide as possible - either because they are not confident remembering their content or because they hope everyone will read the slides instead of focusing on them. Fortunately, I just found a great post over at The Public Speaking blog (highly recommended by the way) that tells you how to put together a great technical presentation. Check it out here.  This post provides a bonus as well since the topic the author chose to use as a demonstration is social networking and I know many consultants are still confused about what this is as well. So  - kill two birds with one stone and check it out.

Speaking of Safety...

I just returned from the American Society of Safety Engineer's Professional Development Conference. Although the conference kept me busy for 4 full days, a great deal of the value I received from attending came down to 60 short minutes. These 60 minutes covered the 1 hour presentation I delivered. Speaking to a highly targeted group, in your area of expertise, cannot be overvalued. Yes it's a lot of work and often stressful but it is one of the best ways for a consultant to get their name out there. If you have not spoken at one of the big safety conferences (such as ASSE, AIHce or NSC), I strongly encourage you to do so.  One very inportant thing to keep in mind - you must submit a proposal to speak at these events well ahead of time - usually close to a year in advance. The deadline to speak at ASSE's June 2008 conference in Las Vegas is quickly approaching - July 31st - and will be here before you know it. To submit a proposal, visit http://www.asse.org/speakerpage08/. The deadline to submit a proposal to speak at AIHce's conference next June in Minneapolis is August 15th. To submit a proposal, visit http://www.aiha.org/callforpdcs.htm. The deadline for the NSC isn't posted on their website yet but if I remember right, the deadline is around December or January for the conference held the following October. (If anyone knows the details, please let me know).

If you know you should speak more in public but are still nervous about the idea, consider finding a partner or putting together a panel. Having someone to share the spotlight with can help put you at ease. You also have plenty of time to get some practice and/or instruction. Take advantage of opportunities to speak in front of local chapters and enroll in a course or two on public speaking. A few resources to try include Patricia Fripp at http://www.fripp.com; the National Speaker's Association at http://www.nsaspeaker.org/ (local meetings are usually open to non-members and are great) and the old standby, Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org/).  Whatever you do - take the first step. The ability to speak in public is very important if you are going to suceed as a consultant.