The Power in an Idea

I am home from my professional conference, exhausted but exuberant. Why? The exhaustion comes from late nights of networking/conversing/laughing with fellow care professionals. The exuberance? I did my first individual presentation at our annual conference; and the content of what I spoke on created new ideas for those who listened. In essence; the content of what I spoke on was a new concept and idea that many had not known/thought or expended time on. I am in lack of better terms; "geeked" by the feedback and that I had an idea that was new; fresh and different to train and speak on.

As a speaker, my voice was not on my A game. Unfortunate for me, (Murphy's law aside); I have a nasty cold that came home with me from New Orleans. I could not use much inflection or tone change without having a coughing fit..Not pretty...however, the outcome of the content that I presented appeared to be very new ideas for most in the audience, and it caused discussion at the post lunch tables.

Having people talk about what you said indicates that they are thinking about a new idea. I don't care if the conversation is negative or positive; the mere fact that a conversation is happening indicates that they are thinking about something you said and it put a new thought in their head. In essence, your education was successful.

So what new ideas have you triggered in your teams? your consumers, your elders? As I sit here typing; it occurs to me that the power of placing an idea in someones head is incredible. As a provider and leader I am driven to put new thoughts about long term care, our industry, our profession into the minds of society. Imagine the collect power of our voices speaking the same language about who we are; what we do, and why we do it. Imagine the speed at which we could change the culture of care in America, one simple idea or thought at a time spoken to 200 and the rest could be history...

Thank you to those who attended my presentation; and welcome to my blog. I will be working with HCAM to set up a longer/more involved hands on training. Thank you for the feedback and idea to create a more involved training; I am looking forward to getting you all writing, and sharing. Watch the Pulse/HCAM publications for further information and dates.

Jana