Have you ever come home from IKEA with a box of pieces and bits for a shelving unit, a book of instructions in four languages and an Allen wrench? You have all the parts laid out on your living room floor; you have the detailed ‘how-to’ instructions and you have the little key that is supposed to make it all easy for you
Is it easy? Do you feel enthusiastic and confident? Are you eager and excited about getting started? Or do you just feel overwhelmed? I have often come home from dental conferences with handouts and good ideas in my conference bag. Sadly, many of them remain there, sitting at the bottom of the bag, tossed into a corner of my office and abandoned. Does that happen to you?
Yet some ideas and learning resonate. I find myself thinking about them days later.Often I will fish out that handout and refresh my memory, do something different because of the learning. What makes the difference?
Mostly, the learning that ‘sticks’ has a secret ingredient; it doesn’t stop at how. Too often, we are told what to do and how to do it, without going deeper into WHY. In order to implement a change in the way we do things, we have to be able to see the problem from a fresh perspective and have a real desire for change. It’s not enough to be told we should; we have to want it, really want it, and grasp how it will apply to our lives.
Presenters at dental conferences often leave us with the tools and the instructions, but fail 
to deliver their message in a way that turns lightbulbs on for us and changes our lives. As a speaker I know that I have made this same mistake many times. The reframing skills I use as a coach to motivate you to think differently, are the same ones needed to present an idea or new skill to an audience. That’s the difference for you! That’s when it gets exciting for us both! That’s when I see lightbulbs going off. That’s when I know that you will leave with so much more than a set of instructions and an Allen wrench – you are leaving with the desire to apply your learning and you’ll be ready to leap right in on Monday morning.
Dental convention season is about to start. Which presentations will change your thinking? Which ones will just be a box of bits and a wrench, resulting in abandoned handouts in your conference bag? Never mine, if I can help it! I work tirelessly to make sure of it!
