Effective Presentations

Lessons from my residency

(with special thanks to Dr. Harvey Goldman)

Bruce R. Smoller, MD

Effective Presentations

• Substance

• Style

Substance

• Organization

• Presentation– Verbal– Visual

The “10 minute talk”

• Much more difficult than the 1 hour presentation

• Organization crucial - if you lose the listener, he/she cannot get back in

• Every word counts

• Cannot add too much detail

• Speed does not increase effectiveness

Organization• Start with an introduction of yourself - making

yourself a “person” helps attract listener attention

• Highlight your main thesis:– “tell them what you are going to tell them”– “tell them”– “tell them what you just told them”

• Adhere to outline rigorously!

Organization• Know the time allotted for the talk

• Budget accordingly:– Introductory material– Study design– Results– Take home points– (Future studies)

IntroductionStudy DesignResultsConclusions

Organization

• Begin with a clear thesis:– What is the purpose of your talk?– What is the background that led you to this

hypothesis?– Background information should be targeted

to audience and sufficient to understand study, but not comprehensive - “HIT THE HIGHLIGHTS”

– Define all terms VERY clearly

Organization

• How do you plan to make this case?– What was the experimental design?

• Know your audience: assume neither too little nor too much

• Not necessary to present exact dilutions, times for incubation, etc. - “HIT THE HIGHLIGHTS”

• Often good to mention controls (and rationale for choosing control groups)

Organization• What are the salient results?

– If you cannot remember them without prompting, the audience won’t care or remember

– Often good to present results compared with controls, if appropriate

– Tabular data easy to follow– Not every result is salient: remember the initial

thesis - only supporting or refuting data is salient!

– “HIT THE HIGHLIGHTS”

Organization

• “A picture is worth a thousand words”

• Show high quality photomicrographs (if appropriate) of salient results– Sharp focus– Sharp contrast– Label (arrows) if subtle– Appropriate magnification

CP ExpPath FacDev Educ. Finan. Progress report

Renovation in progress/ Negotiations for CP space in new hospital successful

x x Sayed conf.; no other volunteers - will keep trying/ Blackall course director

x x x System upgrade, Lynne Jetton project leader/ researching many systems

x Most up to AAMC mean

Molecular pathology x x Bellamy hired as new director of Molecular Pathology

Slide previewing x x Restructured surgical pathology to accommodate

Outreach program x x McKenney CPDF; Jetton managing/ attended Mayo Clinic meeting - lots to do!

Reg. and nat. reputation x x x 5 short courses, 1special course and 1 long course at USCAP this year!

Translational research x x x Multiple recruits, Vet. Path.

Tissue procurement facil. x ARDAIS contract; Yared to head - up and running

Increase research x Drs. Yang and Das added to faculty

Faculty mentoring x x x Mentoring program established

Secretarial support x x allocation done; fully implemented with move

Balance of protected time x x x current scheduling appears to be to faculty's liking

Graduate programs x x full participation in Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Telepathology x x no interest within our department

Incentives for tech. Staff x work in progress

Visiting professor program x x In place; sponsorships available

Hospital support x $100K raise in support this year

Expectations of faculty x Annual review - clearly stating

Integrity of promises x Trying to assure 100% compliance

Lack of direction x Have developed mission statement- "State of Dept" attempted to address progress

Fringe accounts x x x x Completed national survey - we are above avg.

Collegiality/morale x x Continue to sponsor events as allowed from Foundation accounts

Increase forensics x Still under negotiation with Dr. Kokes

Restructure autopsy rot. x Completely restructured

Resid. Remediation prog. x AP

New fellowships x Lack of space x

Course peer evaluations x ACH/VAH fac. Integration

x

Library x Informatics x

Contract equity Faculty salaries x

Foundation account x Marked growth in foundation acct

Conference scheduling x x Completely restructured conferences - move to AM, combined AP and CP

Core facilities x Immuno, ARDAIS, vet.path (pending)

Faculty finance education x Suskie monthly updates/education, also conferences for residents/faculty

“Too Much of a Good Thing”

S100 CD68 SMA MART-1 CK 5/6 CD31

Melanoma + +/- - - - -

AFX - + +/- - - -

SCC - - - - + -

Leiomyosarc. - - + - - -

Angiosarcoma - - - - - +

Organization(A Better Table)

Organization• How do we explain the results we

obtained?– Put together a reasonable story that helps

to hold the data together - why else would anyone want to remember what you said?

– Simplify, concentrating only on the big picture - the minute details will “lose the forest for the trees”

Organization

• What did we learn from this study?

• Why do we care?– If you cannot tell them, the only appropriate

audience response is, “So what?”– If you do not tell them, they may not

understand - they have only had one pass through to try to understand your point

Organized Chaos

Organized Conclusions

Organization

• Where do we go from here?– May be interesting to speculate on the next

step - helps to put into perspective

Organization• Recapitulate!

– “Tell them what you are going to tell them”– “Tell them”– “Tell them what you just told them”

Organization

• Thank your co-workers– It only makes you look better

• Thank your audience– It is arrogant to assume that the audience

has nothing better to do than to listen to you (even if it is true!)

• Solicit questions

Organization

• Questions: Coda– Repeat the question for audience

• Ensures all can hear• Stalls for time while you consider the answer

– Compliment the questioner – “I don’t know” is a perfectly valid response; DO

NOT BLUFF - you will be exposed!– Deferring to member of audience may be

appropriate in certain circumstances

Organization

• “Substance Abuse”:• “I need to hurry to get finished” • “I have a lot of material that I need to get through”

- Why bother? For whom are you giving the talk?

• Running over NEVER helps!• LESS IS MORE

Presentation

• Verbal:– Do not read slides to audience– Elaborate on your bullets!– Vary tone of voice – Use appropriate volumes - articulate

clearly!– Enthusiasm and eye contact are essential

Presentation• Verbal

– Pauses, fumbling, going back to previous slides, prolonged pauses:

• Loses interest for audience• Makes speaker appear incompetent and

confused

– PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!!!

Presentation

• Visual– Do not read slides to audience - “follow the

bouncing ball” is distracting and boring– Bullet points– Large font with good contrast– Proof read - SPELLING MISTEAKS

REFLECT POURLY ON YOU!– Busy slides do not improve presentation

Presentation - poor choices

• Visual– Do not read slides to audience - “follow the

bouncing ball” is distracting and boring– Bullet points– Large font with good contrast– Busy slides do not improve presentation

Presentation - poor choices

Presentation - poor choices

VisualDo not read slides to audience

- “follow the bouncing ball” is distracting and boring

Bullet pointsLarge font with good contrastBusy slides do not improve

presentation

VisualDo not read slides to audience

- “follow the bouncing ball” is distracting and boring

Bullet pointsLarge font with good contrastBusy slides do not improve

presentation

Presentation - poor choices

• Visual– Do not read slides to audience - “follow the

bouncing ball” is distracting and boring– Bullet points– Large font with good contrast– Busy slides do not improve presentation

Presentation - poor choices“Cutesy” is fine for some

audiences, but not for formal presentations

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

Style

• Dress

• Speech

• Posture

Style• Dress:

– It is ALWAYS better to over dress than to under dress

– Scrubs are almost never a good choice

– If you are presenting, you should always look professional!

Style• Speech

– Use grammatically correct, concise and clear sentences

– Finishing each sentence with, “Okay?” is only appropriate if you plan to take questions after each sentence

– “Um”, “ya know”, “so” are placeholders that detract from the impression that you make • If “we know”, why are you telling us?

– Slang terminology should be limited to appropriate, informal situations - assume a formal presentation until otherwise indicated

Style

• Speech– Humor is wonderful, but should be

temperate, moderate, and appropriate

– Anecdotes are wonderful tools for reinforcement, if appropriate setting

Style

• Posture– Stand upright – Appropriate hands:

• Not in pockets (or nose)• Laser pointer is not a crutch

– Convey confidence,

but not arrogance

StyleStyle

» “Out of style”» Um, like, ya know, I did this

project thing with . .. .. Wait, let me go back a slide to show you guys . . . .

» “Out of style”» Um, like, ya know, I did this

project thing with . .. .. Wait, let me go back a slide to show you guys . . . .

Summary

• Substance:– Organization– Less is more

• Style– Know your audience and be appropriate

and gracious!

Thank you for your attention! I hope that some of that some of these pointers will be useful to you in the

future!