Resuscitation Program and FEMinEM discussion on Women as Conference Speakers and Unconscious Bias - a podcast by Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM

If you are interested in the ART Program, please go to the program page

Advanced Resuscitation Training (ART) Program



FEMinEM Discussion

So we have our RESUSCITATE NYC conference coming up soon. On the day we listed the program, we got this tweet from @First_do_noharm







Well, needless to say, I was a bit upset by the tone of this tweet--but the issues raised were incredibly important. Hence, instead of touching off a tweet-war, I instead reached out to the FEMinEM folks to see if they would host a discussion. Dara Kass (@darakass) and Jenny Beck-Esmay (@jbeckesmay) were kind enough to set up a google hangout to discuss the issues. Simon Carley (@EMManchester) has been doing research on this topic and was kind enough to join us as well.







I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and felt it was balanced and hopefully raises some things to think about. Especially in the setting of this kind of ridiculous sexist trolling:



thanks to S. Carley for Sending this Example

Update

Ashley Liebig wrote with this message:

What are you waiting for?



In 7th grade, I was at a school dance. Everyone was dressed in their best; boys and girls stood, clustered together, on opposite sides of a vacant dance floor.



I loved to dance, and at the age of 12, this wasted opportunity was a tragedy. “Why isn't anyone dancing?”



“None of the boys have asked us.”



I recall this conversation like it was yesterday. I remember the look on my friend’s face as the words came out of her mouth. Even as a young girl, she nearly choked on them as she realized what she was saying. Almost as quickly as they passed her lips, she grabbed my hand, and marched across the gymnasium floor to the boys and commanded, “Let’s go! We are dancing!”



I couldn’t help but recall this story as I listened to the #feminEM forum addressing the need for more female conference speakers.



From this, and the conversations I have had in person and viewed in the Twittersphere, it seems that women are waiting for an invitation to be heard. Women: smart, powerful, articulate professionals are WAITING for someone to invite them to the stage and then become frustrated when no one does! Wouldn’t that energy be better spent in active pursuit of that opportunity?



Public speaking can be terrifying and becoming a great public speaker doesn’t just happen organically. It takes work, a massive amounts of time and practice. Ask women like Natalie May, Liz Crowe and Victoria Brazil. All brilliant speakers, whose craft has been honed over countless hours of commitment to the design and choreography of great lectures. This is not said to deter anyone, but rather to provide an appreciation of the effort involved. Submitting ideas, preparing for and giving lectures is a job in and of itself. Great speakers don’t just appear, they build a name for themselves, they work “the circuit”. They give lectures on a small scale, at grand rounds, and at regional conferences until they establish a reputation that propels them to the national level.



With this in mind, have you submitted proposals to speak? Granted not all conferences call for speakers, but most do.

Further episodes of EMCrit Podcast

Further podcasts by Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM

Website of Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM