Francine R. Gaillour, MD

Simple strategies can help spice up your speeches

In a previous column, I discussed easy, yet effective, ways to promote your practice, including giving talks in the community. If you're not sure of your speaking skills, you might have passed over that idea.

But think for a moment. Even if you don't routinely speak at your hospital grand rounds or local Rotary club, there are other situations in which your ability to communicate is just as important: educating colleagues about new therapeutics, promoting a service idea to your practice group or board, or leading a quality project.

Regardless of the venue, your goal as a speaker is to influence the audience in a way that leads them to take a specific action. Honing your speaking skills can assist you in a variety of settings.

When I work with clients on public speaking, we focus on these three key components: setting the stage for a connection, developing a key message, and emphasizing authenticity through personal stories.

To connect with the audience before you even meet them, do your homework: know who you are speaking to and understand their business problems or "hot buttons." Interview several audience members ahead of the event; listen for the words they use to describe the organization, the culture, and the issues. During your presentation, use these same words to make your points. 

Arrive early to the event or meeting venue to make sure the podium, audio visuals, and room arrangement are going to enhance, not detract, from your presentation. 

Greet several audience members individually as they arrive and introduce yourself. Learn a little bit about them and what they hope to gain from the meeting or presentation. They will warm up to you before you've even started your presentation. Personalize your presentation by referring to some of the conversations you had.

These strategies will help you with what I call stage management. The goals of stage management are to increase the audience's comfort with you and enhance your command of the issues. 

Stage management includes knowing where to sit or stand relative to a prospective listener or audience member, how to structure the agenda, how to introduce yourself or a colleague, and when to stand and sit during the meeting.

Give your audience an overarching "theme" or key message to take home. State the message in terms that relate to the audience, express it in the first two minutes of your talk, and repeat it often. Incorporate the message, or talking points, into any responses you give if there is a question-and-answer period.

An audience, board, or jury that you want to influence is ultimately buying into you, the person. Credibility and personal charisma are best earned by being authentic - coming across as real, being true to yourself. 

One way to achieve this is to weave personal stories that reflect who you are, what you care about, into your message or presentation, and describe how your experiences relate to the audience's problem or challenge. 

Be careful about relying too much on impressive credentials: this can backfire if you come across as being too "full of yourself." Audiences are more impressed with a high-credentialed professional who is "genuine" and "down to earth." When you demonstrate confidence and ease about who you are, your audience is likely to forgive any platform missteps. 

Tell the stories in the way you would tell family and friends. Always reinforce the point you are making either immediately before or after your story. 


You may choose to retell a story that you read in a newspaper, recount a scene from a movie, or create a story based on factual information - so long as the story supports a key point and that you personally find the story moving or relevant. However, do not imply that the situation actually happened to you.

You may not aspire to be a professional speaker, but when you get up in front of a group, you want to be perceived as polished and charismatic. You can make that happen by understanding your audience and carefully crafting and delivering your message. Make your next presentation your best ever.

Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA, FACPE, is a professional facilitator and executive coaching resource for physicians who want to develop their potential as leaders, entrepreneurs, and business professionals. Her transition into business management came after 10 years of practicing in internal medicine. She can be reached at 

, 888 562 7289, www.physicianleadership.com, or at 

This article originally appeared in the October 2005 issue of

Articles

Francine Gaillour, MD, on polishing your public speaking skills.

Stand and Deliver

"That meeting was a waste of time." How often do you say that? One of the biggest complaints I hear from busy physicians concerns the number of useless meetings they attend.

No doubt you have sat through department meetings, staff meetings, or other gatherings where nothing was really accomplished -- unless you count the political maneuvering and disrespectful comments.

Sadly, many of these meetings are run by physicians who ought to know better, especially when it comes to respecting time. 

Your meetings don't have to be this way. Make them more successful by carefully planning your agenda and communicating your goals clearly, either before the meeting or at the meeting itself. To hold meetings that are an efficient use of time for both you and your participants, focus on what I call the "Four Pillars of Meetings that Work."

State why every meeting has been called, and identify what you want to achieve for each agenda item. Objectives of meetings and agenda items should be stated as one of the following:

To solicit input to foster further analysis for an action to be taken in the future; or 

To impart information only. Time devoted to these kinds of meetings and agenda items should be brief.

The most important topic on your agenda should be the first order of business. Forget the idea that "old business" comes first. If you run out of time before you reach other agenda items or because your participants' energy levels have sunk, you will still have made progress on the most critical issues. 

State at the start of the meeting that you respect each other's input, and get agreement to keep everyone on task. While still respectful, these phrases can be used to keep the group focused on the objectives:

"I think we're getting off our topic here." 

"What about deferring that conversation to another time?" 

"What's on the table now? Are we staying with our objective of making a decision?" 

"How does this relate to our objective of making a decision?" 

"We have about 10 minutes left before we move on to our next item; how do we want to wrap this up?"

Typically, two or three vocal participants will take up a large percentage of discussion time. So be sure to solicit the input and ideas of the less-vocal attendees. Just because someone withholds their comments does not mean agreement or a lack of passion about a topic. People have different personality styles, and the less vocal often need more time to process their thoughts before making a tight, cogent argument. To gain input from all individuals, the leader or facilitator can say, "Let's get some thoughts from those of you who've been quietly thinking about this for the past 10 minutes," or specifically acknowledge individuals by name and ask for their input. 

These strategies will help with most meetings. In instances where the participation of "high ego" physicians or leaders is critical to moving an initiative forward, consider bringing in a neutral facilitator or coach. A professional facilitator will ensure that you get input from everyone and that you meet your stated objectives, while preserving the energy and good feeling within the group. 

The ability to run a meeting well is a critical skill for practice owners, department chairs, and others. Meetings are golden opportunities to shine as an even-handed, can-do, results-oriented "chief." Don't let them eat up precious time.

This article originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of

Francine Gaillour, MD, on making the most of meetings.

Not Another Pointless Meeting

You can promote your practice, and yourself, without resorting to sleazy sales tactics. Last month I told you about easy, effective ways to attract patients and referrals, such as writing articles and speaking in public. This time I'll show you a simple exercise to capitalize on your charisma.

People with charisma exude confidence and inspire it in others. They seem to effortlessly attract people and opportunities. And yes - you do have charisma, at least in a professional sense, whether you know it or not. 

It may need a little work, though. When I'm asked by organizations to help their leaders develop charisma, we always start with an exercise I call your personal elevator pitch, or PEP.Imagine this scenario: You walk into the doctors' lounge after a week away at a medical conference, and are greeted by a referring physician you haven't seen for more than a month. He asks, "Hey, how's it going?"

You could say: "Great! Just came back from vacation. Boy, did I need some rest. The beaches of Maui are really fantastic. And the conference wasn't too bad. How are you doing?"

But, how about this: "Great! I just got back from a conference on the latest thinking for GI reflux and peptic ulcer disease. What was refreshing was how honest the presenters seemed to be as they talked about what works, what doesn't, and what they recommend. I'm thinking about putting together a short newsletter or maybe a talk for my practice based on what I heard there."   

Both responses are friendly, but the second sends out specific signals about you that your colleague will intuitively pick up: You are optimistic, confident, charismatic, engaged in your work, and forward-looking - just the kind of physician most doctors would refer to.

This preferred response incorporates the PEP talk, which consists of several sentences that you speak when colleagues ask "How's it going?" or "What's new?" The PEP talk doesn't replace small talk, it precedes it - setting a tone of confidence and professionalism for the remainder of the conversation. 

Think of the template as having three parts:

 What professional experience have you had recently that was fun and enjoyable?

 What positive qualities did you discover about either yourself, your staff, or other people during that experience?

 What positive or creative action are you planning as a result?

Give yourself about an hour and think about professional experiences you've had in the past that were enjoyable.

Next, imagine yourself in those experiences again, and recall what you appreciated about the people involved. What attributes stick with you? Teamwork, fun, sensitivity, honesty, creativity?  This is the crux of the middle section of your PEP statement. 

Lastly, decide where you are going next, based on the pearls and the attributes. It could be a specific plan or an idea. Then consider opportunities you may have for trying out the PEP talk.

It is human nature to help others who are charismatic and "on the ball." We promote others who generate their own momentum and energy. Let your PEP talk naturally attract your allies and ambassadors. You can win the attention and respect of colleagues and individuals who will then cheerfully do your promotion for you. 

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2005 issue of 

Let your inner charisma out, and you'll be surrounded by allies and opportunities.

Tap into Your Inner Celebrity

Do the words "marketing" and "sales" conjure up unpleasant images of hucksters in ill-fitting suits? Don't despair - there are ways to promote yourself and your practice that are tasteful and consistent with the professional stature you've worked so hard to attain. 

First, I'll describe two simple yet highly effective ways to create awareness of you and your expertise. In part two, published next month, we'll delve into the mystery of "charisma" - and examine how to nurture this quality in yourself and attract the attention and respect of patients and colleagues.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to be published. You'll have instant credibility in the community, more so than by buying a glossy print ad. Pick up the local parenting newspaper, business journal, or giveaway weekly, and see if submitting an article might be appropriate. You can contact the editor in advance or submit a completed article that fits in with other kinds of topics published there. 

What can you write about? Think of the most common ailments your patients present, or that come up seasonally such as allergies or sports injuries. Choose a "hot" topic that's been in the news, or maybe a basic subject such as keeping a particular organ system healthy. Give it a catchy title that is upbeat. Examples: "The egg makes a comeback: What to eat to stay heart-healthy." Or, "Fifty may be the new 30, but what do I do about hot flashes?" 

If you think you can't write well, but like the idea of being in print, have a friend, colleague, or family member interview you about a topic, and record the conversation; the interview transcript itself could be submitted as a Q&A piece. Don't forget your byline. Always include your credentials and contact information.

Use those same article topics and develop a brief talk targeted to the community or to your peers. There are plenty of speaking forums out there: hospitals, churches, and other religious organizations, local colleges, the Rotary club, Chamber of Commerce, local chapters of professional organizations, lunchtime seminars at large corporations, health clubs. If most of your business comes from referring physicians, consider speaking at your hospital grand rounds, or to the local chapters of the medical societies. Depending on how much time you have, leave time for questions.

Consider investing some energy in sharpening your writing or speaking skills - they will help you create "buzz." That means people are talking about you; you've established trust and credibility.

Francine R. Gaillour, MD, MBA, FACPE, is president of The Gaillour Group, an executive coaching resource for physicians who want to develop their potential as leaders, entrepreneurs, and business professionals. Her transition into business management came after 10 years of practicing in internal medicine. She can be reached at 

This article originally appeared in the June 2005 issue of

In the first of two parts, Francine Gaillour, MD, tells how to create a buzz over your practice.  First, get the word out in print and in person.