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CONGRESS 2023 - Workshop: First impressions last the longest – how to be the best public face of your laboratory

This session is aimed at staff who are on the front line of Pathology services. Those who are in sample reception, taking calls and frequently being the interface between Pathology and our users. Human beings are built to size each other up quickly. These first impressions are influenced by a number of factors, such as facial shape, vocal inflection, attractiveness, and general emotional state. People tend to get attached to their initial impressions of others and find it very difficult to change their opinion, even when presented with lots of evidence to the contrary. As a result, it’s important to be aware of how we come across to others during a first meeting. Then we can employ impression management skills—modulating any irritating traits and accentuating one's strengths—to ensure that people have a more favourable opinion of one. Everything from clothing style and posture to conversational topics can be adjusted to form a better first impression. It takes a mere seven seconds to make a first impression. People thin-slice others based on how a person looks and sounds, more so than their explicit verbal statements. Often, someone's first impression is influenced by implicit attitudes of which they are unaware, which explains impulsive actions like giving special preference to those with physical beauty or more easily trusting a person who has a babyface. The observational powers (biases) of the observer are just as important as the qualities projected by the target, or person being judged, making these judgments a constant dance between objective information and selective signal-reading This presentation will create awareness of our own and others first impressions and allow us consider how to make a good and lasting first impression.

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26th September 2023
Venue: The International Convention Centre (ICC), Birmingham

This session is aimed at staff who are on the front line of Pathology services. Those who are in sample reception, taking calls and frequently being the interface between Pathology and our users.

Human beings are built to size each other up quickly. These first impressions are influenced by a number of factors, such as facial shape, vocal inflection, attractiveness, and general emotional state. People tend to get attached to their initial impressions of others and find it very difficult to change their opinion, even when presented with lots of evidence to the contrary.

As a result, it’s important to be aware of how we come across to others during a first meeting. Then we can employ impression management skills—modulating any irritating traits and accentuating one's strengths—to ensure that people have a more favourable opinion of one. Everything from clothing style and posture to conversational topics can be adjusted to form a better first impression.

It takes a mere seven seconds to make a first impression. People thin-slice others based on how a person looks and sounds, more so than their explicit verbal statements. Often, someone's first impression is influenced by implicit attitudes of which they are unaware, which explains impulsive actions like giving special preference to those with physical beauty or more easily trusting a person who has a babyface. The observational powers (biases) of the observer are just as important as the qualities projected by the target, or person being judged, making these judgments a constant dance between objective information and selective signal-reading

This presentation will create awareness of our own and others first impressions and allow us consider how to make a good and lasting first impression.