Giving a Presentation
One of the very first steps in developing a presentation for delivery to a community group or organization as part of The Road to Resilience project is to identify your audience. Building an audience from scratch can take a lot of work, so reaching out to existing organizations and becoming part of their regular meeting agenda is the best approach.
To identify organizations where presentations can be made, start by talking to your colleagues and co-workers and review the cooperating organizations information provided in this toolkit. Also, consider consulting your local psychological association for insight into community needs and established channels through which you might share this information. Think about contacts you have already made or could form with the following types of organizations:
- Cooperating organization networks
- Local hospital and practitioner offices' staff and support groups
- Community groups, health-related, such as the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, etc.
- Community groups, social-related, such as Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.
- Parent groups, such as the PTA
- Trade associations and labor unions
- Neighborhood associations
Another important reason why you will want to identify your audience early on is because your resilience presentation should be customized to fit the audience you are addressing. While the materials provided as part of the public education campaign contain consistent and engaging messages about resilience, there is ample opportunity to alter the presentation to appeal to specific audiences.
The sample presentation is built around the concept of using two resources provided in this toolkit: the Aftermath: The Road to Resilience documentary and the Taking Stock: Growth Through Resilience -- the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory.
The documentary is 45 minutes long, so you may decide to show just a section of the program to engage audiences.
You may also consider showing just the last 26 minutes of the program, which covers many key points about resilience. Please review the discussion guide provided in this section for pointers about the best way to set up the documentary and for suggestions about describing the characters for audiences who may only be shown a portion of the program.
If you believe a 26-minute video presentation is too long, consider showing a small clip from the documentary. Many of the real stories in the program have appeal for multiple audiences and may be useful in illustrating several points. Once you've identified a section of the documentary that will appeal to your audience, just cue up the tape on your VCR. Be sure to provide the audience with a context for the scene you decide to show.
The presentation provided in the toolkit also gives you the option of using the Taking Stock exercise as part of your presentation. You should carefully read through the inventory and literature provided about this exercise and consider whether or not it is appropriate for the audience you are addressing. If you will be speaking to a group that includes many people who have recently experienced a hardship, this tool may not be appropriate.
