Advice for Delivering a Dynamic Conference Podium Presentation

When Katie Vriezen, MSN, RN, first walked into the large ballroom where she would make a podium presentation at the ANCC National Magnet Conference®, she felt very nervous. Vriezen, a community outreach coordinator at Cleveland Clinic’s Hillcrest Hospital, was a first-time presenter at a national conference. She and co-presenter Toni Zito, MSN, RN, CPAN, a perioperative educator at Hillcrest Hospital, were scheduled for a one-hour presentation on “Empowering Clinical Nurses to Improve Quality Outcomes.”

“It was a little overwhelming,” says Vriezen. “But the process the conference had in place to help speakers was wonderful.” Onsite help, as well as support from Hillcrest Hospital and Cleveland Clinic nursing leaders enterprisewide, helped Vriezen overcome her anxieties and deliver a great podium presentation to a packed audience.

Just days after returning from the American Nurses Credentialing Center conference in Atlanta, Vriezen and Samantha Pon, BSN, RN, another first-time presenter from Hillcrest Hospital, offered advice to other nurses who have seized the opportunity to be a podium presenter at a national nursing conference or are considering submitting an abstract for presentation.

• Be an attendee first. Both Vriezen and Pon, assistant nurse manager in the ICU, attended the ANCC National Magnet Conference in Orlando, Florida in 2013 while Hillcrest Hospital was gearing up for Magnet certification. (The hospital earned its Magnet designation earlier this year.) They agree that attending the conference beforehand provided some insight into what to expect.
• Find supporters. Pon and her co-presenter Stephanie Morris, MT-BC, the music therapist at Hillcrest Hospital, had many ardent supporters, including three nursing leaders within the Cleveland Clinic healthcare system: Sue Collier, DNP, RN, CNS, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Hospital of Hillcrest Hospital; Nancy DeWalt, RN, PCCN, Magnet coordinator at Hillcrest Hospital; and Nancy Albert, PhD, RN, CCNS, CHFN, CCRN, NE-BC, FAAN, Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Research and Innovation for Cleveland Clinic. “Without their mentorship and backing, it would have been more difficult and we would have been less prepared,” says Pon. “We are very lucky at Hillcrest to have so many resources.” She and Morris gave a presentation on at this year’s Magnet conference.
• Ask for help. “I’m old enough to know I have learning needs when it comes to public speaking,” admits Vriezen. “So I was very vocal with our leaders that I needed help in preparing for the presentation.” The hospital enrolled Vriezen in a half-day public speaking class to boost her skills.
• Take a public speaking class. Vriezen and Zito participated in Presentation Zen, a workshop offered by Cleveland Clinic to help conference presenters design, produce and deliver great presentations. The workshop was led by Scott J. Allen, PhD, a professor from John Carroll University. Vriezen says Dr. Allen offered several practical tips on creating a more dynamic presentation, improving her speaking mechanics and using the presenter view in PowerPoint®.
• Practice your presentation – a lot! Vriezen and Zito practiced once a week for three months leading up to the conference. They ran through the entire presentation in an auditorium at the hospital to mimic the real presentation as closely as possible. They also presented to a room of nurses at Hillcrest Hospital’s Nursing Congress. “These practice sessions were the thing that helped us the most,” says Vriezen. “I recommend practicing your presentation until you can say it in your sleep.” Not only did this help the nurses speak clearly and loudly, but it also ensured that it fit into the allotted hour.
• Be open to constructive feedback. “Make sure you get input from lots of people,” says Pon. “You want feedback from seasoned nurses and nurse researchers, but you also want novice nurses to understand what you’re talking about, too. You really have to speak to a variety of audiences.”
• Have a cheering section, if possible. The team of nurses that worked with Vriezen and Zito on their research project attended the Magnet conference and sat in the front row at the presentation. “We could feel their support,” says Vriezen. “I felt so comfortable having people I know smiling at me.”
• Rely on conference organizers for help. When Vriezen met with Magnet organizers in the auditorium a couple days before her presentation, they saw how nervous she was. The organizers set up a special time for her and Zito to practice in the room, and the audiovisual team walked her step-by-step through the presentation process, ensuring her that the one-hour session would go off smoothly.

Vriezen went to the Magnet conference as an apprehensive first-time presenter, but came home with a sense of accomplishment. “Once we got on stage, we were so prepared that it went very well,” she says. “We were proud of ourselves!”

Pon and Morris returned from the conference energized and plan to continue their research on music therapy, focusing next on how music can alleviate nurse stress and help wean patients off ventilators. They hope this next phase of research will lead to a future podium presentation. “Magnet was a wonderful experience!” says Pon. “You really come back empowered.”