Glad you asked

So, what has happened that I haven’t been blogging at my normal (OK, abnormally spastic) pace? I’ve been getting ready for a CME lecture to nurses.

I was asked several months ago to give a lecture on Eye Trauma to a convention of nurses in conjunction with their CME activities. I was asked because I work at the host hospital and because I have given a lecture to the ED nurses before, and (as was related to me) I didn’t talk down to them or go over their heads.

So, I worked hard a few months ago to accumulate the basics of a talk (really gross eye trauma photos, etc). Unfortunately, I’m very deadline motivated, and about 4 days ago I had to finish the talk. So, before and after ED shifts, there I was, PowerPointing away. I finished Friday night, with the talk going Saturday morning. And, I’m a bit obsessive, and I like to be overprepared despite my deadline orientation (OK, it sounds pathologic, but it works for me), so I had 93 slides. For a 45 minute talk.

The talk went well, I suppose, as no one booed and I ended on time. I would have had a couple of extra minutes, but the speaker ahead of me unplugged not only his computer but the interface to the projector, resulting in some akward time spent pushing CTRL F8 over and over and assuring the tech people my computer was OK. The unplugged interface was found, and the race to complete the talk was on.

I enjoyed speaking professionally, and always have. I am a loud person by nature, but am not a talker naturally; however, give me a topic and a slideshow and I’m off to the races. I had a little joke ready about being glad to be asked to speak, and that usually people ask me to stop speaking, but the projector snafu screwed that one up. (Note to my own ED nurse readers: that joke will come out in the future, feel free to laugh).

Anyway, I had fun, and that’s why the posting has been light.