Imagine . . . being
able to tell the chiropractic story to groups of people in a way that genuinely
motivates, captivates and persuades your listeners. Consider the following. As
you stand in front of an audience, you feel at ease, confident and prepared.
You deliver your special message with just the right balance of humor and
emotion. As you near the end of your speech, you maintain this balance and
level of comfort. You close with the talent and expertise of a professional
speaker—no hard sell closing techniques or gimmicky giveaways. As a result,
audience members choose you as their family chiropractor because you connected
with them in a positive way.
Now I know that what
I just described flies in the face of what most of us have been taught about
giving chiropractic presentations. We were told that we have to "step
outside of our comfort zone" and depend upon a confrontational close. If
we were not willing to take such a bold approach, no matter how uncomfortable,
we would lose our opportunity to turn audience members into new patients.
I have found,
however, that this is not true! After training with professional speakers and
marketing experts, I have learned that there are more effective and
professional ways to attract new patients through speaking. So to help you grow
your practice through public speaking with professionalism and ease, here are
three easy keys. These keys to successful public speaking will strengthen your
important message and boost your success as a chiropractic speaker.
"Connect to direct people to chiropractic" is the first easy key to strengthening
your communication skills. You may believe that when you speak to groups in
your community your primary objective is to educate them. And naturally, once
they learn about chiropractic, they will choose your care.
Now of course you
want your audiences to learn more about chiropractic when you speak to them.
However, simply teaching people facts about chiropractic does not usually
motivate them to choose chiropractic.
Instead, your primary
aim should be to allow your listeners to connect with you on an emotional
level. The first step is to create some rapport with your audience and earn
their trust. Then, the main focus of your presentation must concentrate on
touching them emotionally by speaking to their heart and soul.
The most successful
advertising and marketing campaigns sell products or services by appealing to
consumers' emotional needs. As a chiropractic speaker, it’s important to apply
the same principle to successfully attract new patients. So connect with your
listeners to direct them to your office!
"Refrain to retain a connection" is the second principle that will enable
you to be a more powerful chiropractic speaker. A chiropractic presentation
that is too long and filled with too much information will actually weaken your
connection with audience members.
I will never forget
the lesson I learned from Mary Lou who attended one of my stress reduction workshops.
On her first visit to our office, she told me that she appreciated how my
presentation wasn’t too long and how I understood the golden rule of public
speaking. I asked, “What golden rule are you referring too?” And she replied,
“The mind can only absorb what the rear end can tolerate!”
The bottom-line is
that most people in your community will prefer shorter, more concise
presentations. So be lighter with your content and make your talks entertaining
and you will be on target with your listeners.
"Slides may collide with the message." This is the third easy key to your
speaking success and it simply means that audiovisuals may not always enhance
your chiropractic talks. Audiovisual aids like PowerPoint are an excellent way
to help audience members understand and retain information. However, they must
be used in conjunction with solid speaking skills.
When you give a
chiropractic presentation, it’s important to depend on the same thing that top
speakers depend on, stagecraft. Stagecraft otherwise known as presentation
skills will help you to connect with your listeners, not computer generated
slides. In other words, audiovisuals don't make your chiropractic talks
successful, you do! So polish your speaking skills and you will shine on the
platform.
Growing your practice
through public speaking is easy. Simply tell the chiropractic story, tell it
well and tell it often. So use these three easy keys to boost your
communication power and talk your way to the top!
Larry Duboff, DC, is a speech coach and marketing mentor to
chiropractors worldwide. He shows fellow DCs easier and more effective ways to
attract new patients through public speaking. He can be reached at
lduboff@chirospeakers.com or though www.chirospeakers.com.
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Working-age adults who use two or more prescription medications may be at
risk for becoming seriously injured after falling in the home,
researchers found.
In a study of young and middle-age adults,
using at least two medications was associated with an increased
likelihood of dying from or being hospitalized for a falling injury ….
Antihypertensives and cholesterol-lowering drugs were the most common
medications involved.
"The risk
of falls may be increased as a result of both the intentional and
unintentional effects of pharmacological therapy such as orthostatic
hypotension, psychomotor impairment, extra-pyramidal symptoms, and
dizziness."
Overuse of therapeutic procedures, diagnostic tests, and medications is
an understudied problem that may account for as much as 30% of
healthcare spending in the United States and result in harm to patients.
The 4 most common health services examined in the studies included in the
review were antibiotics for upper respiratory infections, coronary
angiography, carotid endarterectomy, and coronary artery bypass grafting
and revascularization.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned it may downgrade "a
number of highly rated" Group of 20 countries from 2015 if their
governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising healthcare spending and
other costs related to ageing populations.
"If governments do not change their social protection systems, they will likely become unsustainable."
"If no reforms are adopted, healthcare-related credit
downgrades would likely start within three years..."
"... developed nations will eventually become the victims of their
social safety nets."
"S&P said it was not too late for G20 countries to
tackle the problem, but reforms to contain age-related spending needed
be coupled with efforts to balance budgets by 2016, which would be
enough to offset rising healthcare costs by 2050."
ACA needs your help! Over the course of the past several years, ACA has been examining the
practices of chiropractic networks. Recently, concerns about these
networks has increased dramatically to the point of additional
investigative efforts being put forth by ACA.
In order to
effectively capture the voice of DCs regarding these issues, a
questionnaire has been developed to give both members and non-members
the opportunity to share their experiences about chiropractic networks.
Responding to this questionnaire will help ACA understand the effects
these networks have on profession, and will also help the association
better position itself for future efforts.
Concussions are getting much-needed attention in the press, especially
given the short- and long-term cognitive loss, early-onset dementia,
physical disability and even death resulting from traumatic brain injury
(TBI).
This study suggests that the addition of an adjunct therapeutic mirthful
laughter Rx (a potential modulator of positive mood state) to standard
diabetes care may lower stress and inflammatory response and increase
“good” cholesterol levels.
The authors conclude that mirthful laughter
may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with
diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.
An FDA proposal to require dietary supplement manufacturers to submit
data proving their product is safe doesn't go far enough, according to a
physician writing in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A survey has suggested that most dentists tend to overprescribe
antibiotics in children. The study found that adherence to
professional prescribing guidelines ranged from 10% to 42%.
US dentists write between 200 million and 300 million antibiotic
prescriptions each year, accounting for about 10% of all such
prescriptions in the United States.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently ruled that
providers not successfully/satisfactorily participating in PQRS by the
2013 reporting period (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2013), will have their Medicare
reimbursement decreased by 1.5 percent beginning in 2015, and 2 percent
in 2016.
Therefore, the 2012 reporting period is the last opportunity
providers have to voluntarily participate in PQRS and learn how to
report successfully/satisfactorily while incentives are still offered
and their Medicare reimbursement is not subject to penalties.
The federal government on Friday refused to let Texas ease a requirement
that health insurers devote at least 80 percent of premium revenue to
medical care.
Officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Texas
insurance regulators did not convincingly back up their claim that
immediate enforcement of the medical-spending minimums would disrupt the
state's "individual market."
Health reform will increase the number of uninsured adults with diabetes
who will be covered by Medicaid, researchers found. That will expand
access and increase the use of healthcare in a population that has many
unmet healthcare needs.
In 2010, Medicaid covered about 60 million Americans, and in 2014 that
figure will expand by about 16 million as more uninsured patients become
eligible for the program as a result of the Affordable Care Act; about a
million of these patients will have diabetes.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has demanded that 33 states and the
District of Columbia explain what they plan to do about physicians who
hand out huge numbers of painkiller and psychiatric drug prescriptions
paid for by Medicaid.
Each of the letters said, "I have concerns about the oversight and
enforcement of Medicaid abuse in your state. ... the numbers
themselves are quite shocking. One ... doctor, for
example, had written 18,890 scrips for quetiapine (Seroquel) in 2009 --
'nearly 73 prescriptions per weekday or nine prescriptions per hour .... [another] physician who had
written 2,522 scrips for oxycodone (OxyContin) in 2009, and another with
more than 2,800 prescriptions for alprazolam (Xanax)."
Some of Grassley's letters highlighted a single Wyoming
doctor who wrote prescriptions for aripiprazole (Abilify) that cost the
state nearly $300,000.
The Surgeon General's Division of the Civilian Medical Reserve Corps
(MRC) is looking for doctors of chiropractic who want to make a
meaningful contribution to America's health structure and their
community.
The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), issued a public notice Monday in the
Federal Register that details the requirements for qualified health
professionals who may apply for funds available under the student loan
repayment program of IHS.
DCs are now
eligible to apply through this program.
Parker Seminars awarded some of the most influential leaders in the
profession during 2012 Parker Seminars Las Vegas. Erchonia Medical, a
leader in low level laser health care applications, was honored with the
coveted Philanthropy Award.
The Parker Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Terry Yochum
for enhancing the profession with his substantial contributions. Dr.
Yochum, director of Rocky Mountain Chiropractic Radiological Center in
Denver, Colorado, and adjunct professor of radiology at Southern
California University of Health Sciences, is well-known for his work in
radiology.
The World Congress of Women Chiropractors (WCWC) named Dr. Janette
Kurban as the Woman Chiropractor of the Year for her exemplary service
to the profession. A 2009, Parker graduate, Dr. Kurban is actively
involved in the profession and is a leader in chiropractic. She
maintains a practice in Arlington, Texas. In 2008, Dr. Kurban made
history as the first Parker graduate appointed to serve on the Board of
Chiropractic Examiners (TBCE).
More than 5,300 Parker Seminar attendees flocked to the fresh and
exciting line-up of courses designed to improve chiropractors,
chiropractic assistants, and chiropractic students.
Texas Chiropractic College is honored to announce that Dr. Howard
Wasdin, best-selling co-author of his memoir SEAL Team Six and
practicing chiropractor from Georgia, will be speaking at the College’s
Russell Auditorium on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 at 11 a.m.
Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation
(TDI-DWC) solicited and received input from workers’ compensation system
participants. All comments were carefully considered and discussed. The
Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Rod Bordelon approved the revised
CY (Calendar Year) 2012 Annual Audit Plan (Annual Plan) on January 11,
2012.
The TBCE has passed a new fee structure in order to comply with recently passed laws. The currently proposed rule raises fees for initial applications, jurisprudence exams, initial license, and license and facility renewal and reinstatement.
The TBCE would add the definition that "on-call means that the licensee
must be available for consultation within 15 minutes either in person or
by other means of telecommunication" for the provision of any or all treatment provided under the licensee direction.
At this point in the history of mankind, we have been conditioned to
abhor symptoms of any kind. Headaches, sneezing, coughing, colds,
allergies, pain, infections, hypertension, etc., are no longer tolerated
as a part of the process of living. Rather than look into the
mechanisms that may be causing these symptoms, we are reaching for the
medicine that will suppress them. In so doing, we may feel better, but
we now have no motive to look at causes and correct for the issues that
may be impairing our health, thus increasing our "need" for more
medications over time.
Without the
"gold standard" double blind, placebo controlled study there can be no FDA approval of a new drug. So let's look at this approval process more closely.
In years gone by, many children were afflicted with polio, measles,
mumps, Rubella, influenza, small pox, diphtheria, whooping cough and
others. Of course, the majority of these children recovered without
incident (other than polio, which caused permanent nerve damage most of
the time), but there were some children who had serious sequelae and
even some who died from these diseases. Modern science discovered a way
to confer immunity on these children so that they would never become
afflicted with these diseases, and for the most part, it has been
successful. The question is, at what price?"
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently ruled that
providers not successfully/satisfactorily participating in PQRS by the
2013 reporting period (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2013), will have their Medicare
reimbursement decreased by 1.5 percent beginning in 2015, and 2 percent
in 2016.
Therefore, the 2012 reporting period is the last opportunity
providers have to voluntarily participate in PQRS and learn how to
report successfully/satisfactorily while incentives are still offered
and their Medicare reimbursement is not subject to penalties.
ACA needs your help! Over the course of the past several years, ACA has been examining the
practices of chiropractic networks. Recently, concerns about these
networks has increased dramatically to the point of additional
investigative efforts being put forth by ACA.
In order to
effectively capture the voice of DCs regarding these issues, a
questionnaire has been developed to give both members and non-members
the opportunity to share their experiences about chiropractic networks.
Responding to this questionnaire will help ACA understand the effects
these networks have on profession, and will also help the association
better position itself for future efforts.
Concussions are getting much-needed attention in the press, especially
given the short- and long-term cognitive loss, early-onset dementia,
physical disability and even death resulting from traumatic brain injury
(TBI).
Smokers are no more likely to give up cigarettes for good by using
nicotine replacement products such as patches and gum than if they did
not use those quit-smoking aids, a prospective cohort study showed.
Working-age adults who use two or more prescription medications may be at
risk for becoming seriously injured after falling in the home,
researchers found.
In a study of young and middle-age adults,
using at least two medications was associated with an increased
likelihood of dying from or being hospitalized for a falling injury ….
Antihypertensives and cholesterol-lowering drugs were the most common
medications involved.
"The risk
of falls may be increased as a result of both the intentional and
unintentional effects of pharmacological therapy such as orthostatic
hypotension, psychomotor impairment, extra-pyramidal symptoms, and
dizziness."
This study suggests that the addition of an adjunct therapeutic mirthful
laughter Rx (a potential modulator of positive mood state) to standard
diabetes care may lower stress and inflammatory response and increase
“good” cholesterol levels.
The authors conclude that mirthful laughter
may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with
diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.
Copyright 2010 Texas Journal of Chiropractic. All Rights Reserved: Texas Chiropractic Association
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