Presentation Prepared

I had another one of those nights where I didn't need medication to help me sleep; what I needed was something to wake me up this morning. It took me until nearly midday to get to a state where I knew what I was doing. I popped round to the local Tesco Express to get a few essentials and then came home and heated up my lunch in the microwave.

This afternoon I have spent my time moving from one computer to another to get the screen shots that I needed for my presentation. It's a real pain when you don't have the same applications on each computer and this is something that I must remedy in the near future.

I have now managed to get everything together on one computer (thank goodness for USB memory sticks), completed the PowerPoint presentation, including adding a couple more slides to round up the presentation and I have emailed it to the person indicated on the letter inviting me to interview. I have also loaded it on to one of my USB memory sticks and put it in my handbag so if there are any problems with the emailed version I still have a copy of it that can be loaded on to a computer.

Tomorrow I just have to finish getting all the paperwork together and then I will be ready. Well, as ready as I can be.

I am now thinking about getting myself something to eat again. I have decided that soup fits the bill with a bread roll to dip in it. I've decided on soup because I have got a cold starting and a nice big bowl of mulligatawny soup, which is both filling and spicy will hopefully help to drive the cold away. I just don't need a runny nose at the moment.

Tomorrow I have to go to see the HTT first thing in the morning, well 10am actually, so I should be home by midday and I aim to have a relaxing afternoon before having an early night in preparation for the dreaded interview.

Preparing For The Interview

I know that I still have to finish my presentation, and it's still quite a few days until my interview but worrybones that I am means that this afternoon I have been making sure that I have done all the things that I need to do.

Over the last hour I have managed to confirm that I will be attending the interview. This was relatively easy in that it just required me to go to the NHS Jobs website, login to my account on it, and then mark the confirm interview box. Not exactly rocket science but it needed to be done. I have made a list of the documentation that I need to take with me. Tomorrow I will have to fire up the printer so that I can get my academic summary from the OU website because I am not going armed with my framed degree diploma, and I must sort out three items for identification. This seems a little bit silly as one of the interview panel knows me so I couldn't send someone in my place if I wanted to.

I have also logged on to the Transport for London website to check how I get to the place where the interview is being held. I knew which bus I needed to get already but I needed confirmation of where I had to go when I got off the bus. I will have to make an early start from home on Tuesday morning so that means that I will have to make sure that I get to bed early on Monday night.

Tomorrow morning I will sit down at the computer again to finish the slides for my presentation and write the notes. Then I shall print the relevant pages out so that I have them to refer to if necessary. I also have to email the PowerPoint presentation to one of the interview panel by 3pm on Monday, so if I am happy with everything I will do that tomorrow too.

That leaves just sorting out what I am going to wear. This should be fairly easy as I have just invested in a new suit for the occasion so I should only have to check that it is pressed and ready for me to put on, that I have all the necessary other items (shoes, blouse, handbag) placed conveniently, and this is something that I shall do on Sunday.

I think that covers all that I need to do and by having made sure of what was necessary a few days in advance I shouldn't be running around like a headless chicken when Monday arrives. I have to go to see the Home Treatment Team on Monday morning for my weekly appointment with them and it is important for me to have as easy a time as possible for the rest of the day so that I don't get more anxious than is necessary. I am reasonably calm at the moment because I have taken it easy over the last few days; now I just have to maintain that level of calmness until Tuesday. The only problem is that it is easy for me to say that but how things turn out in reality could be something completely different.

Creating A Presentation

I have been good. I have actually sat down to work on the presentation that I have to give at my interview next week. Talking for 5-8 minutes is not normally a problem for me once I get started but that is when I know the subject well. The subject for the interview is not one that I would normally tackle.

I could create stunning PowerPoint slides but fail to get my message across. So I have decided to go for something fairly simple. Some of my slides will have screen shots on them of things that I want to talk about; others will consist of words alone. It's always a problem trying to get the mix just right but I hope that I will achieve this with the presentation that I am creating.

One mistake that many people make when creating presentations is that they fill the slides with words. No-one can take in the information if it is given in this way; it's always easier to understand something that you have heard in a presentation rather than trying to get the information by reading a slide that will have gone from the screen before you have finished reading it.

The old saying 'a picture speaks a thousand words' can be very true when you are trying to get information across to an audience in what is usually a time frame that is not long enough for you to do the subject justice. I am used to having at least 20 minutes when I am doing my presentations about patients having online access to their GP records. This means that I can tailor my presentation to the audience. If I am talking to an audience of doctors I know that I have to spend far more time telling them about the benefits that I believe accrue from having this access. If the audience is made up of practice manages then I have to emphasize the time that can be saved through not having phone calls asking if test results are back yet. If I am talking to an audience of patients the emphasis is on what online access can mean to them; an example would be that links could be available to take you to relevant, reliable, good quality information about a condition that they may suffer from.

It is never possible to create a presentation that will sort every audience, but if you know your subject well that need not be a problem. I often do my presentations live. By that I mean that I use the online access system that my GP surgery uses, not as a series of screen shots but by using the Internet and a real patient record (mine). The benefits of this can be amazing because it allows you to show your audience that it is not difficult to use and that it does not require doctors to change what they are already doing when compiling your medical record at an appointment.

Creating a presentation is not a 5-minute job. It requires you to have some idea of what you are going to say during the presentation so that you can ensure that your slides are relevant. There is no point in creating a lot of slides and then not being able to use them because they don't 'answer the exam question'. So with that in mind I have looked at what I have been asked to talk about; I have selected what I think are the most important points to make on the subject; and all I have to do now is finish creating the slides and write the notes to accompany each of the slides. With a bit of luck I can manage that today and then I can relax a little knowing that it is done.

But I will still be worrying about the interview itself!