What are the best talks, lectures, or seminars you have ever attended? What stands out in your mind about those talks? Was it the speaker, the material, the energy? This article is about the posters and products used for external and internal lectures. However, even the best products in the industry won't sell you unless you have certainty and passion for what you are trying to communicate. More on this later. Many PowerPoint presentations, posters, and gadgets are available in the chiropractic product arena. Giving an outstanding lecture should be easy. So, where does one begin? At the end.

Before you can begin to prepare your lecture, you must determine which subject you want to discuss. What are you certain and passionate about? What is the message you are trying to convey? The chiropractic wellness lifestyle is my message. It is what I identify with. I feel very comfortable discussing this topic. Therefore, for myself, my practice, and my community, the chiropractic wellness lifestyle is what I am about. As a result, all of my posters, products, and examples support this message. To convey it, visual aids, research articles, analogies, and metaphors are necessary. Available posters and products supporting the chiropractic wellness lifestyle are easily accessible in today's market. Which ones resonate with you?

Wellness Wall Poster

The Wellness Wall Poster illustrates to patients that they must actively pursue good health. Click on image for larger version.

I truly enjoy and identify with the Wellness Wall. The Wellness Wall continuum poster is available through The Masters Circle. This poster with proper dialogue is immensely useful and powerful in communicating the chiropractic wellness message. Each person sitting in the audience can connect with specific criteria in the poster. People can place themselves where they "feel" they currently are with their health. With skillful presentation and the use of metaphors, several key points can be made here. A key point is that without actively pursuing health, it just doesn't stay the same.

The following are some suggested points of discussion. First, communicate the point of our health or wellness being continuous. Explain that the human body never stays the same. Provide examples such as: our hair is always growing, our heart is always beating, and our cells are always recycling. The human body is self-healing and self-regulating. Therefore, our health is always moving in one direction or the other. Our lifestyle impacts our direction. A good second point is to get agreement that each one of us is somewhere on this wellness continuum. The last point to get across is: "It is safe to say that without actively pursuing or working toward improving our health, we will move toward illness." A good example to use is: unhealthy cells will recycle unhealthy cells.

The bottom line is that this poster is an outstanding tool to communicate the chiropractic wellness lifestyle message with visual clarity.

Wellness Wheel

The next useful tool each chiropractor should have for promoting the chiropractic wellness lifestyle is the Wellness Wheel by Patient Media. This tool is absolutely priceless. It positions you as more than just a neck- and back-pain doctor. The insight you gather about the individual you are trying to help is amazing. It truly puts you in a position to provide higher-quality service simply because you know more about the person in front of you.

The Wellness Wheel has seven spokes to it. Each area represents a zone in our "life." Balance in all seven areas promotes a wellness lifestyle. Using this powerful tool in conjunction with the Wellness Wall poster assists in communicating the quality-of-life message. Simply put, true wellness is attained when there is a balance in all seven of these areas. The physical health aspect of the Wellness Wheel is my entry into the chiropractic discussion. Emphasizing the importance of physical health and how it can positively or negatively impact your quality of life is an important point here. Linking success in all other areas of their Wellness Wheel to their physical health is key.

Provide examples supporting the higher the patient's physical health number, the more effective he or she can be in all areas of life. Once this point has been made, this is where you can discuss what is required to attain physical health. Beginning with a healthy spine and nervous system makes sense. At this point, any chiropractor can discuss their three to five areas to connect chiropractic with physical health. Healthy eating habits, proper spinal posture in all areas of life (sleep, work, cleaning), and regular exercise are a few. By now, the audience member should have a good idea of what it takes to attain wellness and where he or she is at on the Wellness Wall continuum poster.

Stress Poster

The stress poster, or 3Ts poster, categorizes the types of stress as trauma, thoughts, and toxins. Click on image for larger version.

The question that still remains is, "What areas of our lifestyle move you toward or away from wellness?" This is where the 3Ts poster is very effective and informative. The poster, available through The Masters Circle, identifies what causes subluxations. It discusses the three types of stress—physical, emotional, and biochemical—and categorizes them into the 3Ts: Balance in all seven areas promotes a wellness lifestyle. This poster in itself contains valuable information not just for lectures but also for daily in-office use. A skillful presenter should link lifestyle choices to a cause-and-effect impacting one's direction on the Wellness Wall poster. The important message to portray here is that the more components of the three stresses a person has in his life, the further away from wellness they are headed. The bottom line is that lifestyle choices move you in one direction or the other.

All three products provide a powerful wellness message. Ending with an effective close helps put it all together. Tapping into people's emotions by discussing their wonderful possibilities of an enhanced life through chiropractic and ending with your own personal success story is a powerful closing.

A reality check: It's important to mention that giving an outstanding lecture is not all about the posters and props. It's your certainty and passion that will sell you. When communicating your message to large groups or individuals, it's your certainty and public speaking skills that get your message across. The good news is that public speaking is a learnable skill. The other—certainty and passion—is the "something" within you. Who do you need to be or become to communicate your message? What can you be authentic about? That, in itself, requires personal evaluation.

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Proper preparation cannot be overstated. Being properly prepared by knowing where to pause for impact, when to gather group feedback, and at what points to accentuate your voice are essential. Additional awareness, such as personality types and how to communicate your message to each type, must be thought through. The four personality types are expressive, drivers, amiable, and analytical. Your lecture needs to include examples that address each personality. Be clear about your objective. What is the message you are trying to portray? Simply put, begin with your end in mind. Then, gather the materials, posters, and products that support the message you are trying to convey. And finally, prepare!

Irma Palmer, DC, practices in Birmingham, Ala. Contact her at .