Reflections of the Virtual International Midwives Day 2010

Sarah Stewart and Dr Deborah Davis (UTS Sydney)did a fantastic job organising this day....This is what the program looked like, as you can see a 24 hr program takes some organising, you can follow Sarah Stewart's process by looking at her blog...she blogs every step of the way. What I admire about Sarah is that she is so willing to help and share her knowledge, she utilises almost every aspect of modern technology in her quest to spread the word and get the message out there.....It is clear that Facebook and Twitter play a huge part in getting messages out to people.


My presentation was (How Reflection can change your practice)at 6pm Perth time (10pm NZ), it is a different process working through the Elluminate Meeting Room (kindly sponsored by Otago Polytechnic). One great advantage is that you are in the comfort of your own home watching the screen and presenting to the world and you don't have to worry how you look!.....its great in one sense as you can read straight from your notes and no one would know... at first you have no idea of who your audience will be...also the biggest concern for me was "what if the technology failed... which most times is out of your control. It is strange talking into your computer and not getting audience feedback and no visual cues as to whether you are on track or boring the audience... the other difficult issue to judge is reading the text comments that come through...that can be quite a challenge... but the adrenaline is flowing, excitement is in the air and the buzz of the audience is palpable through your computer..... it is truly amazing.
What would I do differently next time? that's hard to say, there was a technology fail three quarters of the way through my presentation...that set the panic button...what was reassuring was that it happened to many others as well...Maybe it would be worth thinking about pre-recording your session, just in case technology fails.... will have a chat to Sarah about that....
I did participate in the day, being fortunate in hearing several key speakers, Carolyn Hastie, just brilliant talking about Keeping women safe: a psychophysiological approach to the third stage of labour.... Carolyn touched on several key factors.
Anna Hughes presented, Practice use of Natural Infant Hygiene or 'Nappy Free' in our society. I found this fascinating.... I have heard of babies toilet training early but not this early....interesting philosophy....
Beverley Walker, Looking at informed consent..this is a topic close to my heart as its my speciality.... Deb Davis: Place. Can birth place impact on clinical outcomes?
fantastic talk... very interesting statistics... there is some great work being done out there and it was great to be able to hear some of it....



My all time favourite was listening to Nicky Leap...what a superb woman... her talent in story telling is second to none....I hope that one day she sits and writes her memoirs including some of these wonderful stories, I would hope to get a signed copy......
Lisa Barrett and I shared some of the wee hours of the morning together, talking and sharing, it was fun... I met many other wonderful midwives through the 24 hours from Canada, US, UK, Switzerland,and lots of students..including some of my wonderful colleagues.....it really is a small world.....

This 24 hr celebration bought many midwives together without having to spend a cent...no airfares, hotels, expenses.... the only thing it cost me was coffee and Milo for the evening....possibly being tired the next day...I learned so much..... Thank you again Sarah & Deb for organising this and book me in again for next year.... I will also take on some planning and facilitating to help out.... around the same times as this year.....talk soon....