Public Speaking Tips for Your Medical Marketing Event

Public speaking for a medical marketing event begins with preparation. Properly preparing for communication of any public nature presents the greatest prospect for offering professional, intelligent, factual and objective information. In short, preparation helps a speaker to crystallize a message. Preparation equates to understanding the topic, the objective and the audience as well.

In one-on-one communication (by phone, person or email) used to et the word out for your event, question and answer scripts can be helpful preparation tools. In public audience communication, a speaker’s briefing book that discloses key information can help streamline a message and manage communication expectations. It’s important to know the basic groundwork behind one-on-one and public audience communication- the Message and the Q and A.

The Message

• Posture, body language and chosen words for your introduction create the first impression in any communication.
• Focus through eye contact, properly enunciated or spelled words can help maintain strong communication.
• Transferring a sense of confidence through motivating energy and a smile can help secure acceptance of the message.
• Pausing or summarizing back a positive question with an answer can help provide time to gather your thoughts.
• Delivery of the message in a humble tone can open lines of communication.
• Knowing your audience means understanding their specific needs to provide the best service.
• Using visuals such as slides can be helpful in elaborating on your message.
• Breathing is important in any communication.
• Distributing practice material, including a business card after communication can serve as a reminder of the benefits offered by your communication.
• Inviting questions serves to uncover questionable details that will better serve and be appreciated by the listener.
• Asking for referrals. After any communication that provides a positive service to the listener, it is acceptable to subtly ask for a referral.

The Q and A 

• Express clear and concise statements with fairness and objectivity.
• Support statements with examples or statistics.
• When asked a broad or “loaded” question, take a moment to formulate an answer, restate the objective of the message and support the objective with an example or statistic that relates to the question.
• When you don’t know the answer, say so, and let the audience know that you will do your best to find the answer and get back to them.
• Stick to your topic.
• When asked a question that may be negative, don’t repeat the question.
• Do your best to tactfully correct any possible errors.