The benefits of applying the lightning talk in child and youth care education

Child and youth care instructors often aspire to prepare students for unforeseen circumstances in the field, including circumstances that may require spontaneous advocacy and public speaking skills in various settings, such as an interdisciplinary case conference or a plan of care meeting. We suggest that one way of contributing to these goals is the pedagogy of the lightning talk. A lightning talk can be defined as a short (three minutes), time-limited, oral presentation on a particular subject without the use of supporting materials, such as Power Point slides, notes, an electronic device, or audience engagement, so as to simulate a practice context that was unexpected and for which the practitioner has no opportunity to plan or prepare (Jean-Pierre et al., 2020).