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CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

Fig. 1 28 I I special _ public speaking _Have you ever imagined yourself a leader in advancing digital restorative dentistry to our pro- fession? When you attend seminars and listen to speakers,doyoueverthink,“Icandothat!”Consider- ing the surge of interest in digital dentistry and the technologyadvanceshappeningeveryday,ifyouare ready to get up in front of an audience, lead a study club, or teach/mentor one-on-one, there is no better time than now to get started. _The Sirona Speakers’ Academy In December 2010, I partnered with Sirona Dental Systems to host the Sirona Speakers’ Academy, a speaker-development programme created to ad- vance digital, restorative dentistry and digital imag- ing. Speakers, experienced and inexperienced alike, attend a three-day workshop to learn the structure and delivery of presentations that encourage listen- ers to take the next steps to bringing digital restora- tive dentistry into their practices. Theacademy’scurriculumisbasedonthesuccess- fulprinciplesofinfluenceIhavetaughtforthelasttwo decades. Here, in a nutshell, is an explanation of the waytospeakinordertoinfluenceyourlistenerstotake action.Theexamplesthatfollowareforspeakingtoan audience. However, they also apply to one-on-one conversationswithpatients,staff,friendsandfamily. _It pays to be interesting I usually do not watch reality television shows. If I happen to catch a bit of one while channel surfing (…frenziedcontestantsracingacrossthewilderness…) Igetirritatedandthink,“Don’tthesepeoplehavejobs?” That was my thought when I accidentally caught the finale of 2008’s AmericanIdol. I was about to flip to the Golf Channel when David Cook, the winner of that year’s competition, glided up to the microphone, surged into his farewell anthem and in a heartbeat made it impossible for me to change the channel. So I flopped down on the couch and took my surround- sound volume way up to marvel at it all. As David crescendoed into his final verse a blizzard of confetti showered down. I can easily imagine thousands upon thousands of television audience viewers simultane- ouslyrisinguptocheerhimonandifitwerenotformy catsittingonmylap,Iwouldhavebeenonmyfeet,too! When it was over, I switched to the Golf Channel and turned the sound off (no need for a commenta- tor saying someone missed a putt). In the trance- inducing qualities of watching golf, my thoughts return to AmericanIdol. What is it about David Cook, a 25-year-old bartender, that earns him a roaring, standing ovation? How is it that a singing bartender can grip the attention of thousands when you and I have seen leading dental experts speaking at major meetings lose their audience’s interest seconds after they begin to speak? It happens to us, too. Think about the times when we are speaking to patients about important dental health issues and you cannot help but notice that CAD/CAM 3_2011 If you are smart enough to be a dentist, you are smart enough to be interesting Author_ Dr Paul Homoly, USA