Last May during the pandemic, I reflected on my role as the sole owner of a consulting business. Now that the whole summer has passed and yet the pandemic remains ever so present, we have tried to move forward with our goals and to adapt to new working models.
On my side, my goal was to deliver a training on Physicochemical Properties applied to Drug Design. From March to July, I outlined the content of each session to provide pertinent and useful information, reading hundreds of articles to better understand all the concepts I had planned to teach, looking for examples and applications that would illustrate the theory, and finally rehearsing my speech to ensure proper diction, as the training was to be delivered via Zoom.
The first week of August, I finally delivered the training in 6 sessions over 3 days with a great sense of accomplishment, as the attendees enjoyed the science and the format.
This whole preparation was a challenging journey because there was a lot of information to summarize in a given amount of time, which required a daily drive and commitment.
The training became the priority of my life. I was driven to deliver a high-quality presentation and by a sense of completion.
Taking the time to study in depth the different concepts I presented, I have been rewarded by a strong feeling of achievement and a profound sense of mission accomplished.
I usually like short projects and problem-solving opportunities as they bring novelty and diversity, but this long project was based on endurance, testing my motivation to deliver high quality information on each of the 150 slides I crafted. I never thought I would be able to plan, design, and finish such a project. The confinement has, without any doubt, helped me as I had no other distraction.
My motivation to be successful in helping, impacting and enabling others through teaching was also beneficial.
Because teaching is exactly what it is about: helping others by providing the right tools they need to perform, impacting them by giving the opportunity to learn something new, and enabling them to use these teachings in their professional environment. And I like it!! I enjoy the preparation as much as the presentation and the exchange with people, scientists, students or attendees. I feel useful and helpful, and it is a way for me to give back what I have received during my college studies and my scientific career. I enjoy sharing, seeing the sparkling eye of attendees who suddenly understand a concept (not so easy on Zoom, I know !!), or seeing the nod of their head to let me know that they follow me. I am so grateful to be able to help, and, in a certain way, to pass the baton to younger generations!
What’s next now that I am done with this training?
First, this specific subject is not closed or not a done deal, as there is so many other information, new concepts, and applications to share!
I am considering extending this first training to other groups, departments, and companies.
Then there are so many other trainings I could prepare and convey, either on-line, live or recorded.
I now know what I am capable of, and I know I can even do better towards training and education!
Education brings an inherent and permanent change in a person’s thinking and capacity to do things.
So be prepared to see new scientific subjects coming your way, as I have lots of ideas and lots to tell!