I currently serve as the vice president for Sigma’s Xi Iota Chapter. For the past four years, I have been responsible for organizing the annual induction ceremony. Soon, I will be stepping into the role of president.
Preparing for the induction ceremony is no small feat, and typically takes a few months of planning. Earlier this year, we inducted 26 new members in the lobby of Centennial Hall at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. Our chapter likes to hold the ceremony in the lobby to showcase the building where our nurses spend most of their time. We also take the opportunity to let family and friends tour the simulation lab and the building's impressive simulation center, which opened in 2019. This year, we were fortunate to have 87 family and friends attend the ceremony to celebrate with the new inductees.
During the ceremony, I gave a welcome as the vice president of the chapter, but quickly handed over the reins to three students who each presented three slides explaining the mission, vision, and significance of Sigma to the audience. These students are carefully selected each year, with one from each semester who had the highest GPA (4th, 5th, and an Accel student).
This year, we added a new element to the ceremony. One of the student presenters who attended Sigma’s Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE) conference presented a PechaKucha about his experience. A PechaKucha presentation is a storytelling format where the speaker shows 20 slides for 20 seconds, and that works out to 6.6 minutes, which isn’t a lot of stress on a student speaker. Our student Nic was a very good speaker and was willing to participate.
Nic received assistance from a faculty member who accompanied him to the conference in creating his PechaKucha presentation. This collaboration allowed both the faculty member and the student to craft a dynamic and engaging presentation, while also helping Nic to learn and develop his presentation skills.
Nic presented 20 slides with just pictures and explained what it was like to attend a Sigma conference. He shared his experiences networking with nurses, meeting inspirational men in nursing, participating in conference activities, and even attending fun evening events (an escape room, watching bats fly out from under the state capitol building at dusk, and going to the music district). Presenting a PechaKucha allowed Nic to tell his story in a concise, dynamic, and visually appealing way, that held the audience's attention and generated excitement for future Sigma events.
As a faculty member, finding speakers who can connect with our students and deliver an inspirational speech can be challenging year after year. However, using the PechaKucha format with student speakers allows them to be more involved in the ceremony and relate better to the audience. We believe this format can benefit other chapters as well. By enforcing a strict 20 seconds per slide, speakers must focus on key points represented in the pictures they show. The speech remains dynamic and visually appealing, keeping the audience engaged.
Since the PechaKucha is only 6.6 minutes, we might even consider having two students present at the next ceremony. We are going to continue to use this format for our next Sigma induction ceremony.
Overall, the induction ceremony was a great success. Several of our new inductees expressed interest in attending the 47th Biennial Convention in San Antonio, Texas. It is exciting to see the new ways in which we can incorporate students into Sigma events and get younger nurses excited and involved in research, scholarship, and service.
Michelle Hall, DNP, RN, CNS, is an Assistant Professor at Midwestern State University in Texas, USA. She is a member of Sigma’s Xi Iota Chapter.