This is a YouTube video titled "Why My First Ever Lecture Was a Total FAILURE!" created in February 2023. The content is a personal monologue by a single speaker reflecting on their experience giving a lecture to students about their early career as a chiropractor. The speaker discusses the mismatch between what they prepared and what the students actually wanted to learn, emphasizing the importance of understanding the audience's needs and being patient-centered. The video is educational and motivational, aimed at helping others improve their communication and teaching approach.
The first ever lecture I gave was a complete failure. This was many, many years ago. I've been out, I think, about two years at the time, and I was invited back to my old college to give a talk to the students about what it was like being a chiropractor, what it was like those first couple years, advice for the graduates. And I was really excited because I thought, I've never given a lecture before, but I quite like the idea of it and I'd love to help them out and share a bit of my knowledge and my experience as well. And was really quite keen and fired up to do it and I spent a lot of time thinking about it and planning it and making notes and putting the slides together and this sort of thing, and made a whole trip of it, Went back to Cardiff where I trained, you know, we made a weekend out of it and was really, really keen. And on the day I turned up, you know, in the evenings, quite a lot of students there, a good chunk of the third and fourth years were there. I don't remember numbers, but it was fuller than I expected and I was really quite nervous. But I started giving the talk and I kind of found my flow and I was sharing all these things. I'm like, oh, yeah, this would be really helpful and I wish I knew this and I wish I knew that. And I really thought it went well. And there were some questions afterwards, and then we went to the pub with a handful of them and they were asking a few other questions and I left being, hey, that went really well. I really enjoyed that. I'd love to do this again in the future. And then it was about a year later, I was at a conference and I got chatting to somebody who was in the audience and, you know, I was chatting, oh, yeah, Like, I gave that talk a while ago, like, how did it go? And we'd had a couple of drinks, so inhibitions were a little bit lowered and they were quite blunt. They said, yeah, to be honest, like, we were all a bit disappointed with it. Like, none of that wasn't really what we wanted. And I was quite shocked. I was like, what do you mean? Like, I. I gave all this advice about what I thought you would. You would want and what I thought you needed, that sort of thing. They were like, yeah, we kind of. What we really wanted was, like, advice on how to get a job and, like, you know, how to get started and do you need an account and this sort of thing. Like, we didn't really want that. That sort of stuff was a Little bit later on. And I remember getting a little bit annoyed at the time, put all this effort in and all this time and that's not what you wanted and you know, was a little bit put out. And to be honest, I think I went to bed a little bit because of it. And I dwelled on this for a while and was a little bit annoyed. And you know, it's a bit like, oh, they were a bit resentful, if I'm honest. They weren't a bit ungrateful. I made the effort. I traveled three hours to do this thing. I spent all this time in advance and it was only later sort of reflecting on it. I sat back and I thought, well, fair play, like, to be honest, that's that is what they wanted. And if I thought back to hang on a minute, put myself in their shoes there, they haven't even graduated yet. And I'm telling them about what I think they should be doing, like technique wise in their first 12 months and this kind of stuff. So actually, yeah, a lot of like, I was fortunate I had a job lined up at that point, but a lot of people didn't. And I realized, you know what, I can sit here and I can be annoyed and resentful that they didn't get it, that I shared this expert knowledge that could have really helped them. And they chose not to take me up on that and they chose to want something else. And well, that's their fault. These entitled kids, you know, three years older than I wasn't older than some of them there, I could have gone that path. But I realized instead, no, you know what, if I'm going to give a talk to these students, it's on me. Like I should find out what they want to know first. I shouldn't come in and go, listen here, kids, I know what you need, especially not when they're not kids to me. But you know, it's about finding out what they wanted. And actually it was really as I started developing my skills, connecting with patients and operating in a genuinely patient centered way. Not patient centered, light. You know, I'll be nice and friendly to people, but actually realizing, yeah, I might want something for them. I might want them to have a biomechanically, perfectly musculoskeletal system or the optimal nervous system with as little interference as possible. Like whatever it might be, I might want that for them. But me coming in and just telling them, here's what you should want and I'm going to try and give that to you, that's not Patient centered. That's not even that ethical, really. What I should be doing is finding out what does this patient want and how can I get them there as quickly as possible. And if I have goals for them that would help them reach and attain that and maybe help them beyond that, I can share those with them, but they're secondary to what they actually want. So I'm going to be giving a talk to some osteopathic students next week and instead of going and saying, here's what you need, I've made a point of going, well, actually, what is it? They want to know what would help them because I've got a bunch of things I could share with them that I think they'd need. But that's a bit Dr. Centered of me in the same way. And it wouldn't really fit me saying, hey, I'm Chris from Patient Centered Training. Here's what you need. So that's what I learned, that my first lecture failed because I didn't bother to take the time to find out what they want and I didn't meet them where they're at. And that's something that I've learned again and again with patients. And it's something that I want you to make sure you're doing with your patients as well. Yes, you probably have goals for them that are laudable, goals that are helpful for them. Maybe they're better than their current goals, but they won't trust you until you've shown them you can help them get what they want. If you can't do that, they're not interested in other goals you may have for them. So think about that with your patients. Don't be like me. Don't come in all enthusiastic and fired up because you know how to help this person without stopping and checking, without what is it they need right now? What are they struggling with? And then thinking about how can I help them get there? And then maybe beyond that we can add some things in as well. You want some help with that? Many courses coming out very, very soon that will help you with that as well. So keep an eye out there. But as always, any questions, anything you're not sure about, drop me a message. Otherwise I'll see you soon for another video.
