I still remember one of the first radiology conferences i attended . One of the lectures is still vivid in my memory . Not that it was the most interesting topic in radiology, but i still remember many of the slides . Whenever i prepare any topic i still remember the way he presented .
For starters, always his talks were interspersed with humor. There were picture cartoons after a set of 7 or 8 slides . So even the most ardently sleepy person will still look forward to the slides . And in the process , even the sleepiest will take a note of his radiology slides too Also his lectures were always concise to the point and practically focussed . I still remember though other topics took years to master , his interstitial lung disease topic you could apply immediately after coming out of the lecture . And remember i was still an absolute beginner that time ., a fresh postgraduate trainee . The objective of any lecture is to apply that knowledge on the field unless one is going to do focussed research on a core topic .
Another point i tried to imbibe from him is the body language . Though a personality trait , its difficult to sleep in a lecture if the speaker is lively . Maybe lecturing has got elements of public speaking in it and here too to some extent liveliness can be incorporated into your lecture .
Speaking about liveliness its very important that you are passionate about the topic you are lecturing . Passion for anything is innate to some extent , its difficult to be passionate about siberian crane if you hate birds . But still thinking about the impact of the knowledge you impart will help develop increase your passion for the topic at hand .
Radiology is a picture oriented specialty so its more difficult to sleep unless the lecture is very boring . And increasingly thanks to color doppler , VRT images in CT etc color pictures keep you further glued to the screen .
Being in the training field i am called upon all my skills to keep my audience engaged usually doctors and biomedical engineers . But still even now whenever i take a lecture my mind visits the first lecture i attended around 15 years back . I still remember the cartoon too along with the differential diagnosis of interstial lung disease . Yes , i didnt sleep in that lecture :) i promise
