Dylan Clements, a senior student at Life West, won the first prize in the 2015 International Talk the ‘TIC competition held at the WAVE. The winner receives a $1,500 cash prize and possession of the Talk the ‘TIC trophy for the next year.
Talk the ‘TIC is a short form lay lecture competition which was created by Life West graduate Dr. Eric Van Slooten in 2006. This competition has drawn chiropractic student applicants from around the world and has raised the bar for developing and delivering an effective and memorable chiropractic lecture.
Dylan Clements, entered the competition because he wanted to develop his skills in communication. Dylan hails from Philadelphia, PA and has a bit of experience on the stage as a former actor.
Dylan’s preparation for Talk the ‘TIC began with reverse engineering. He started with the core ideas he wanted to make sure the audience would understand as his “skeleton” and then he layered on details, information, and stories to build an entire structure.
Life West had two on-campus rounds of competition to determine the Life West finalist and Dylan used those events to hone his talk and experiment with options. When he won the second round on campus he turned to the Life West community for mentors to help him up his game.
Dylan used what he calls an “inclusion strategy” to prepare for the big final competition. One of his highest values is the concept of contribution and this project gave him new ways to contribute and to receive help. Students listened to his talk and gave him feedback. Faculty and staff with expertise in speaking, like Dr. Mary Lucus-Flannery, Dr. Monique Andrews and Dr. Tamara MacIntyre, gave coaching notes.
Dylan says that the experience of using the community resources was invaluable to his success. He felt lifted up and connected to the community. Both inclusion and contribution are core values for the entire Life West community. Dylan has brought the community spirit back home to Life West with him after the competition. He wants to display the Talk the ‘TIC trophy on the Life West campus. Dylan believes he should include everyone in the celebration – because he believes we should celebrate the amazing things that are possible when we work together.
Dylan is passionate about communication and the idea that in chiropractic we need to value our ability to share the chiropractic message well. He is working with another student to translate his winning talk into Spanish and they plan to take it on the road together into the Hayward community to spread the big idea of chiropractic and generate new patients for the Life West Health Center.
We congratulate Dylan, not just for his prize winning talk, but for his commitment to collaboration and his leadership for the chiropractic profession.
