Tag: Presentation skills

School Health Leadership applications still open

There are only four days left to apply for the Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership program! I can’t say enough great things about this program. For School Nurses, who may not ever had had any sort of formal leadership training, this is a fantastic opportunity to really challenge yourself.

Is there an issue on your campus you really want to try and fix, and but feel overwhelmed or unsure how to proceed? Are you a part of important health related decisions on your campus? Do you want to be at the table for those important decisions, but just are not sure how to get there? Twist the arms of some of your fellow School Nurses, and download the application ASAP. This week long program will change the way you see yourself as a School Nurse. You will learn presentation skills, how to network with colleagues and other stakeholders, and connect with some wonderful mentors who really want you to succeed.

JJSHLP mission

I never thought I would have the guts to present at a national conference, or present a poster on a topic important to me. But this program gave me the kick start I needed to accomplish both of those goals. I promise to anyone who attends this program you will come away changed for the better. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES! Seriously though, if you are on the fence about applying, just go for it. You’re welcome.

Presenting at #NASN2014

Twit pic right before Yvonne and I gave our presentation on EHR's at the NASN 2014 conference.
Twit pic right before Yvonne and I gave our presentation on EHR’s at the NASN 2014 conference.

I was SO NERVOUS when we took this picture. We were about to start our presentation titled “Making Effective Use of Electronic Student Health Data”, and as our School Nurse colleagues filed in to take a seat, we took this selfie and posted it to the #NASN Twitter feed. It helped to settle my butterflies somewhat.

My mind went from “What if no one shows up?” to “Oh thank goodness, some people have arrived” to “OMG there are a LOT of people in here now” in the 10 minutes before the presentation started. Once my colleague Yvonne started talking I scanned the audience for familiar faces, and was comforted to see several. By the time it was my turn to speak, I was much calmer and focused, and I actually surprised myself by being able to talk “about” the slides, as opposed to just reading from my notes. All in all I’m happy with the presentation, and I am glad we decided to speak on this topic. Sometimes people glaze over when I start talking to them about EHR’s and data, but the Nurses who attended the presentation were interested in the topic and asked great questions. Yeah for data geeks like me!

I saw a lot of great presentations at this conference. Among my favorites were:

National School Nurse Standardized Dataset: What Do I Collect and How Do I Use It? NASN is going to start capturing data points on staffing, student disposition, and chronic conditions. The wheels in my head started turning during the presentation as to how we can capture this info in our District. Some of the data points we are already collecting, which is even better!

How to Turn Your Project into a Manuscript: Really You Can! This presentation was so informative, and the speakers were honest yet encouraging. I was really impressed by their willingness to share their knowledge and encourage everyone in the room to consider submitting a publication to the NASN School Nurse journal or the Journal of School Nursing. (Also an FYI, the JOSN does podcasts!)

Ordinary School Nurses are Extraordinary Leaders. Two past NASN Presidents spoke during this session, and I really enjoyed the contrast between their presentation styles. They talked about different leadership styles, and how “all School Nurses are leaders”. Inspiring stuff.

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