Why choose me as your speaker?
Hi, I'm Dr Kirsten Small. I am a retired specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist, and I work as an educator, writer, and researcher. I'm an experienced and engaging presenter with a detailed knowledge of the evidence base about all aspects of fetal heart rate monitoring.
I promise your audience will learn something new, be challenged to think differently, and inspired to contribute to efforts to improve maternity care.
My vision is to promote and protect respectful maternity care for women, babies, families, and their care providers through education and research. I am a feminist, so expect me to use words like "patriarchy" from time to time. I sometimes spice up presentations with the occasional well-placed swear word. If this makes you uncomfortable, I'm probably not the right fit for you and your event.
I welcome opportunities to speak with groups of maternity professionals, students, doulas, educators, researchers, and birthing women about any aspect of fetal heart rate monitoring.
Here's a sample of what I can speak about...
My area of research expertise is fetal monitoring. I can speak about:
- The evidence-base about the use of different fetal monitoring approaches during labour
- The evidence base about antenatal CTG use and admission CTGs
- Fetal heart rate physiology and what this means for fetal heart rate monitoring
- How to do evidence-based intermittent auscultation in a way that is professionally safe
- The history of fetal heart rate monitoring: How we got here and what we need to do now
- Fetal monitoring options for VBAC
- Fetal monitoring options for induction of labour
- Fetal monitoring options for (pretty much anything you want to put here!)
- Central fetal monitoring and whether it is safe or not
If you have another topic in mind, let's chat.
If it is something that requires extra prep time I can probably still do it, but will ask for a higher speakers fee to cover this.
Wish you could have me speak somewhere near you?
You probably can!
Having me speak at an event might be easier than you think!
If you are a planning an in-person or online event, or hosting a podcast and wish you could have me as a speaker - I can probably make that happen. Let me know some details and I'll get back to you with a plan about how we can work together.
Here's what to do...
Let me know when and where, what you are interested in, and what your budget is. I'll get back to you in the next few working days and see how we can work together.
Melanie Jackson, host of the Great Birth Rebellion and organiser of the Convergence of Rebellious Midwives Conference, Australia
Kirsten is an engaging, confident, and entertaining speaker and offers the audience high-quality information in a crafty and clever way. I have seen Kirsten present many times as an audience member and more recently invited her as a keynote speaker to our event 'The Convergence of Rebellious Midwives'. I had full confidence that Kirsten would create a presentation that matched the needs of the audience and uncompromising in quality. She did not disappoint. I have already lined her up for our 2026 event to speak again! The audience specifically requested her as a returning speaker and that says volumes about her ability to command a room and provide valuable content. I would not hesitate to recommend Kirsten as a speaker at your next event.
Anne Duggan, Midwife, Brighton UK
I asked Kirsten if she would consider giving a presentation on Fetal Monitoring in Labour to a group of midwives in my NHS Trust. Having done one of her courses, and feeling depressed about the state of affairs on labour ward, I wondered if this would be a good way to get some conversations started about the status quo. An initial encouraging show of interest from my colleagues gave me the courage to go ahead!
Kirsten was immediately on board, which made me very happy, and also determined to try and make a success of it. Kirsten was really flexible all the way, keeping the date open for me while I tried to muster up the numbers and money to pay for the event. She sent me the slides beforehand, and never seemed annoyed by my regular updates! Needless to say the event was a success, well attended, with lots of time for questions along the way, covering the research as well as top tips for how to improve intermittent auscultation during labour.
I would wholeheartedly recommend asking Kirsten to present to a group of interested midwives/doctors/birth workers. It is a great way to get the message to a number of people at the same time, and encourage conversations that we should be having about what is currently happening to women in labour.
