From Fear to Stage: Submitting to Speak at Conferences

By the end of 2023, I will have presented at seven professional conferences this year. SEVEN.

Here’s the thing.. before this year, I had a
* very* real fear of public speaking and had never stepped on a stage to present my own material. Even the idea of submitting an outline to speak at a conference gave me anxiety, so much so that I once had to call a PA colleague to convince me it would be ok (they know who they are). But I KNEW I needed to do it to grow.

I realized I had put a lot of time into growing my professional portfolio as a nonclinical PA and there was a gaping hole that really needed to close.

And now, here I am, preparing to speak at the FAPA Annual Symposium next week (come see me Friday August 4th at noon) and while I’m still a little nervous, I’m in a very different place than I was this time last year. I’m still very new and still have a lot to learn, but it was that first step, that first submission last year that set me on a “tour” this year and I’m SO glad I took that step.

My bias is that I think ALL PAs should consider speaking at a conference during their career.

I do plan to share all the details about how I chose my topic, what went into preparations, and why the heck I ended up with SEVEN presentations rather than the one I initially submitted. I also want to talk about how it can grow your nonclinical career and how it leads to other opportunities. But- in the interest of time (I’ve had SO many people ask me about submitting an outline) I wanted to share my outline with you before this year’s AAPA submission deadline of July 31st.

I believe you should choose something you are passionate about and then pick the format. I LOVE talking about pediatric sepsis because I’ve led my own QI research on it and I’m comfortable with the literature that’s out there. There also happened to be a recent guideline update, so I took advantage and included it in my presentation.

Regarding formats, there are many different options when you submit to present at AAPA, the largest national PA conference. According to their call for presentations :

“AAPA 2024 has different presentation options including hour-long lectures, hands-on workshops, and small, case-based interactive sessions. You can also submit a Fast-15 proposal to provide a quick, 15-minute guidelines update, with an additional 15 minutes for questions. Those with limited national speaking experience can submit a New to the Stage proposal and, if accepted, will be matched with a seasoned speaker to guide them through the faculty experience.“

They do suggest you start with smaller conferences when possible- which I 100% agree with- but it’s not absolutely necessary and shouldn’t hold you back. You have PLENTY of time to develop an amazing presentation and practice it everywhere. I knew this and planned for it by presenting my lecture to PA students at Gannon University and found that my experience with webinars came in handy when it came to learning how to feel comfortable talking to an audience.

I’m still a total rookie- but truly the more times you can get on a stage, the better prepared you’ll be for the next time.

I think there’s a lot of hesitation because people are uncertain about what exactly they need to include in the document itself. How much is too much? What’s too basic? Do I need to have EVERYTHING outlined almost a full year in advance? Can I change the outline as I build my presentation? How long does the presentation need to be?

An important thing to note is that you just have to submit an outline, not a full PowerPoint presentation at this stage. This means you have plenty of time to work out the details, cite references etc. And, my understanding is that you don’t have to have EVERYTHING outlined in great detail. AAPA gives pretty good recommendations on how to make your submission successful so I’d definitely review them and use them as a guide.

I’m still learning, so take my advice with a grain of salt, BUT I thought I’d share the hour-long CME outline that I submitted and was accepted to AAPA for the 2023 conference…