Trainees in gastroenterology are now living in a tech-heavy environment. Whilst traditionally the focus was on teaching in large lecture halls, there has been a shift away from this approach to more small-group learning. Here, we highlight our tips for delivering an educational talk to gastroenterology trainees.
Neel Sharma (junior perspective):
Create a safe learning environment. Decades past, there was emphasis on learning through humiliation or ‘pimping’, where learners were pinpointed and questioned in an often hostile fashion. For educational talks to be beneficial in today’s setting, it is worthwhile creating a safe learning environment. Allow your learners to understand no one will be unfairly picked on in the audience and expected to answer questions. Instead, ensure they are aware that every learner will have different perspectives and that each one has something valuable to contribute.
Keep sessions short. Don’t expect today’s learners to maintain their focus during a prolonged educational session. Instead, ensure didactic learning is focused and delivered in short bursts. Millennials may be engaged in reviewing and searching for additional learning material on their phone or laptop or responding to social messages whilst an educational session is being delivered. Therefore, delivering a prolonged talk may be ineffective and lose their interest. Ensure the session is focused and delivers the necessary learning points as they multi-task. Of course, that is not to say you should allow the audience to set the agenda – if overuse of their own technology during your talk becomes off-putting, set boundaries. You can always request that learners have a personal device-free moment when you are emphasising key points.
Make it interactive through multimedia. Today’s learners engage heavily with videos. Ensure your talk is not just a single speaker, but rather a combination of the speaker and video-based material. In gastroenterology, this could comprise videos focused on how best to undertake a consultation or perform endoscopy. The options are numerous. Learners will find it of little value if the talk is simply based on a speaker without material with which to engage. They want to see all educational platforms incorporated and videos can do just that.
Achieve best practice. Often, preparation of educational talks is left to the last minute. In order to achieve best practice, it is important to understand the above points and start preparation early. Experiment with sample talks to your fellow faculty members. What works and what doesn’t? Is there too much multimedia or too little? Does your line of questioning come across as hostile? Is there too much interactivity or not enough? The best way to assess how effective your talk may be is to practice and showcase your efforts before the day. After the talk, aim to achieve feedback. Again, what worked well and what didn’t? It is difficult to please everyone, but usually audiences achieve consensus on how things can be improved. It is useful to adjust your talk soon after you gave it. This way you can also recall more accurately what worked effectively.
Evelien Dekker (senior perspective):
Show your own enthusiasm about the topic you are lecturing on and try to make the audience understand the reasons for your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is key. By demonstrating your passion for the topic, your energy will filter through the audience. They will become engaged by default. Why are you presenting the topic? What made you choose that area of interest? By revealing your personal side, audience members will find it enlightening and inspiring. When choosing presenters, ensure that they are the ones truly engaged with the topic, rather than presenters picked simply to fill the teaching session gaps.
Interact with the audience. As highlighted above, this element is crucial. Learners want to feel engaged in their learning journey. Keep questions non-individual targeted but open. Provide prompts. You may utilise clickers for question voting, but if devoid of such technology, asking for a show of hands is a good alternative. If the audience collectively votes in a split fashion, explore why. Understand the merits in the different ways of thinking that the audience holds. The likelihood is that most audience members will have some experience and that experience will be drawn from working across an array of different centres. Understanding how they are thinking may be truly fascinating for the speaker as well as the audience.
Make it fun. How many times does a speaker try to wow an audience with graphs, charts and figures shown at high speed, giving little time for the audience to grasp fully what each figure means? Talks can sometimes be overtly serious as well. Take the edge off. Topics may be sensitive, but there is always room to bring in some light heartedness. This could be through animation or poking fun at mistakes once made in your own career for example. A happy audience is a motivated one.
Good luck!
Declaration of conflicting interests
N.S. received educational training funding from Tillots Pharma. E.D. has endoscopic equipment on loan from FujiFilm and received a research grant from FujiFilm; received a honorarium for consultancy from FujiFilm, Olympus, Tillots, GI Supply and CPP-FAP and a speakers’ fee from Olympus, Roche and GI Supply; and is on the supervisory board of eNose.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.