I am just about to start my travels again. I have had an abstract accepted to present a paper about the potential of e-mentoring for recruitment and retention of health professionals. This conference is at the Gold Coast in Queensland. The conference is called 'Recruitment and Retention in the Health Workforce'. I am really looking forward to attending this conference because I hope it will answer some of the questions I have raised in previous posts in this blog. Submitting this abstract has been an interesting exercise in thinking beyond my first professional interest/skill, midwifery ie recruitment and retention issues facing midwives are equally as relevant to health professionals, whatever their profession or geographical location. It is easy to get so immersed in one's own profession that one forgets the lessons that can be learnt from other professions and the valuable collaboration that can take place. I plan to have a go at either putting my slides and vocal commentary on 'SlideShare' or develop a small podcast. But it's a scary prospect. Talking to a small audience at a conference is one thing: putting your words and thoughts out for the whole world to see is a very intimidating thought.
The other place I am off to is Singapore to attend the annual ASCILITE conference in December. ASCILITE is The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education which 'is a society for those involved in tertiary computer-based education and training'. I have been very fortunate to work with a mentor to develop a paper that has been accepted about the design of an e-mentoring system. My mentor talked me into writing a 7ooo word paper, which sounds great in theory but now I have to present it in a 30 minute plus presentation slot. To say I am nervous at the prospect is an understatement. If it was a midwifery or nursing conference, I would not think twice. But this is the first educators' conference I have attended, so it will be a very interesting experience for me because it will take me out of my comfort zone. What have you done recently that has challenged you or put you outside your comfort zone?
2 comments:
Congratulations Sarah that is so cool. I believe almost every day I feel like I am going out of my comfort zone. A wise mentor told me when you are invited to speak forget about stressing about it -- take it as an opportunity to say what needs to be said.
So think about what you really want to say and say it! Can't be harder than delivering babies?
Sue
Thanks for that, Sue. On the whole I really enjoy going out of my comfort zone and really enjoy a challenge. Anything like this is a great opportunity for personal development. Plus, I did this as part of a mentoring scheme by ASCILITE. I was mentored by an academic to produce this paper and a part of the scheme is free registration at the conference, so thats an opportunity I cannot miss. Have you heard of ASCILITE and are you going to the conference?
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