UVA School of Medicine

cise involves a ritual of quiet in which partici- pants are asked to bring an object that repre- sents their work and share how it represents meaning. Hostler recalled an anesthesiologist who brought a nest, part of her collection of birds' nests that she feels symbolize the meaning of her work. In presenting the object to the group, she talked about being the nest of safety around her patient, the egg. And when they are in the operating room, it's her In the Media W hen public relations director Peter Jump gets a call from a producer at NBC asking for an interview with an ex- pert on toxic substances that have been discovered in children's toys made in China, he knows just who to call. Thanks to the media training that all participants in the Leadership in Academic Matters program experience, he now has a significant cadre of professionals at the UVA Health System who know some- thing about what to expect when a camera is pointed their way. "We are always looking for experts to talk with the media," Jump said. "Because LAM has been running for so long now, we are fortunate that many faculty, executives and staff have had a very thorough introduction to media presentations." Together with executive communication coach Tom Hoagwood of Susan Peterson Productions, Jump works with LAM participants to improve their media savvy. Groups of five to seven people spend a full afternoon learning the basics of preparing for and presenting themselves during a media interview. Then the team gets out the camera and the questions begin. Participants practice speaking on camera about what they do and why it's important. They also gain some experience in responding to difficult or leading questions from an interviewer. 26 Vitals Fall 2011 Afterward, group members offer positive feedback on the partici- pant's performance. The session also offers other advice on what to wear and how to present oneself on camera. While the message is important, no matter how knowledgeable one might be, surveys have found that only 7-8% of a viewer's impression is based on what the speaker says; the rest is body language and how they say what they say. While some participants may never need to worry about wheth- er they're wearing stripes or playing with their hair during an inter- view with Ann Curry on The Today Show, everyone benefits from LAM's media training. "We want to train people who may be called upon to talk to the media so they can put their best foot forward and do a good job of representing themselves, their department and the Univer- sity of Virginia," Jump said. "But this training is equally beneficial for presentations. If a faculty member is going to a conference or speaking to a group of colleagues, they can use a lot of the things they're learning in the media training. Once they've gone through the program, they have a fairly good idea what to expect from either situation." job to surround, guard, protect and maintain that patient during surgery. No one resists this exercise, Hostler said. No one makes fun of the process or the objects. Even individuals like neuroscientist Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, who chose not to par- ticipate in the morning meditation or writing sessions because they were not his style, felt this session around meaning was his favorite. Kipnis, who participated in LAM during the spring 2011 session, spent a long time trying to find an object that would say some- thing about how he feels about his work. "I was holding my hand open and staring at my palm and thinking what would fit in it that would represent my work—not repre- sent my work to others, but for me," he said. "I realized that actually what I have right now in my hand is air, and my work for me is air. I need my work, my lab, my research as much as I need air." There are plenty of these "ah ha" mo-

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