Nutrition/Dietitian Guest Speaker

On Monday, October 25, 2010 I attended a lecture that pertained to sports and athlete nutrition.  As a college athlete, I found the lecture to be very valuable because I learned about what I should include in my diet and what I should leave out of it.  The lecturer was Leslie Schilling, who is a Dietitian that works with athletes in the Memphis, Tennessee area.  In addition, she has been a teacher and professor before at the University of Memphis, so she was very well equipped to develop a lecture.

Mrs. Shilling's presentation was very good.  She set up a PowerPoint presentation, but it was not your usual boring bullet by bullet presentation.  Her lecture was very informal, which kept everyone in the audience attentive and engaged.  I thought she was a great speaker, as she understood her content very well, but still was able to put her personality into the lecture.  She used humor and videos to make the presentation enjoyable.  Although it was a PowerPoint presentation, it was very entertaining because of her presentation skills and enthusiasm in presenting her speech.

Her lecture may have been very informal and a question and answer format, but she was very knowledgeable in her area.  The participants in the lecture hall were all athletes, and the speaker's specialty is working with athletes, so she could very easily relate to the audience.  As a dietitian she needs to know almost everything there is to know, and sitting in the audience, I felt like she knew everything about nutrition and its relationship with athletes.  I thought I knew a lot about nutrition, but after the lecture, I feel so much more informed and understand what my body really needs as an athlete. 

As for the content she talked about, she really covered everything.  She talked about proper eating habits and about including carbohydrates, protein, and fat in our diets.  In addition, she talked about nutritional supplements and the positives and negatives in using supplements.  Her main goal was to inform us that every meal serves a purpose, and it is vital that we eat three meals a day because if we lose a meal, we are losing several needed nutrients and calories. 

From a teaching standpoint, I learned how to develop and present a successful speech to a class.  After her lecture, I know how important it is to be enthusiastic and have knowledge in what you are presenting.  You don't want to be dull, instead you want to be informative, but engaging at the same time.  In addition, don't be afraid to make jokes and put yourself into the lecture.  Most importantly, be yourself and talk to the class like you were talking informally in the hallway with a friend.  As for a PowerPoint presentation, I now know it is ok to use if it is not a bullet by bullet presentation.  Be engaging and enthusiastic, and use videos and several pictures to make it appealing to the class.  In essence, I learned a lot about presentation and being an expert in what you are presenting to a class as an educator.