Page 306 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

outlined, each of these situations warrants specific adaptations to be successful and effective in its own arena.

Group Workshop Format

Workshops are oral presentations of longer duration with multiple topics. Workshop leaders should plan on
using techniques that involve all participants. Open communication should occur between the leader and the
participants as well as among the participants themselves. This portion of the chapter on presentation skills
deals specifically with tips for leading and planning a group workshop format. More information can be found
in Chapter 15 on group learning strategies.

A presenter should arrange the seating area in advance.
Source: CDC.

Strategies to encourage participation include dividing the larger group into smaller groups, giving smaller
groups time to get to know one another, and then assigning each small group sets of activities related to the
workshop topic. These small group activities may include such things as case studies, role-playing,
questionnaire completion, brainstorming, or discussion. Participants can also become involved through the use
of digital audience-response systems where they can express their opinions anonymously yet their merged
responses can be shared for further discussion as a group. Occasionally, participants may be asked to complete
preworkshop assignments, such as filling out a questionnaire, reading material related to the workshop, or
performing some other task. Reactions to these tasks can be processed among the participants in small
groups.7

Media Interview Format

Increasingly, public health and dietetics interventions depend on effective health communication. This may
include the influence of media politics, the accuracy of media reporting, the use of media for health education
and advocacy, and the availability of training in media relations for staff members. An organization’s image
and credibility are clearly influenced by both the manner and content of its media spokespersons. This portion
of the chapter on presentation skills deals specifically with tips for presenting oneself or one’s organization in
the media.

When given the opportunity to present information through the mass media, one needs to understand the

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