Recommendations for effective public speaking, from elevator speeches to short scientific presentations to plenary lectures.

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CREATING AN EFFECTIVE TALK
HARRIET W. HOPF, MD
PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIOLOGY
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
@HARRIETHOPFMD

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OUTLINE
• So you have a presentation…
– What content should you include?
– Making the slides
– Presenting the slides
– Answering questions

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GIVING A TALK
• Prepare
– Know your audience
– Know your time limits
– Practice OUT LOUD
• Memorize start and end
– Predict questions
• Dress for success
• Check out the podium

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AND, BUT, THEREFORE
• “And” is information mode
– Scientists often get stuck in information mode
• Replace “and” with “but”
– Adds interest, tension
• Synthesize with “therefore”
– Resolve the conflict
Randy Olson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERB7ITvabA4

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ELEVATOR SPEECH
• You find yourself in an elevator
with Vice President Good, who
asks “What do you do here?”
• Construct your answer as “and,
but, therefore” to pack a punch
between floors

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ELEVATOR SPEECH
The SOM is committed to advancing health
and
faculty are vital to this endeavor,
but
promotion criteria have not reflected the wide range of necessary
contributions;
therefore
I led an initiative to revise promotion criteria to value
accomplishments that advance health

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MAKING THE SLIDES
• Title slide
• Outline [no outline for talks ≤ 15 min]
– Especially for research talks
• Content
• Summary
– Strong conclusion!
• Questions?

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REFERENCES
• Insert on appropriate slide
– 1st author et al. Journal Volume:Page, Year.
– Gives audience ability to look it up
• No reference list slide
– You have an awesome conclusion
– Reference list takes the air out of it
https://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation

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SHORT TALKS
• Research podium: 10-20 min
– Brief background: 1-2 slides
– Study Question / Hypothesis
– Methods: 1-2 slides
– Data
• For research in progress: how you plan to present
– Conclusions
– Future plans See Research Talk Slide/Poster Template:
Pulse: http://bit.ly/2tVqrzl (oral); http://bit.ly/2tOilbE (poster)
Better poster: https://osf.io/8ajqs/

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MAKING THE SLIDES
• Simple background
• Good contrast
– Black on white
– White / yellow on dark blue
• Sans serif type
• Big font
– 18 minimum
– 24 better

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MAKING THE SLIDES
• 7 X 7
– Trigger
• <1 slide per minute
• Purposeful bells and whistles
• Videos with caution
Thanks to Michael Cahalan, MD

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SLIDE STRUCTURE - BAD
• This page contains too many words for a presentation
slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both
for your audience to read and for you to present each
point. Although there are the same number of points on
this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more
complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much
time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to
you.
Thanks to Michael Cahalan, MD

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FONTS - BAD
• If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written
• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT
IS DIFFICULT TO READ
• Don’t use a complicated font
Thanks to Michael Cahalan, MD

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COLOR - BAD
• Font color that does not contrast with the
background color is hard to read
• Color for decoration: distracting & annoying.
• Different color for each point unnecessary
– Using a different color for secondary points is also
unnecessary
• Trying to be creative can also be bad
• Be kind to the color blind
Thanks to Michael Cahalan, MD

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GRAPHS - GOOD
• Use graphs rather than just charts and words
– Graphs are easier to comprehend & retain than raw
data
– Trends are easier to visualize in graph form
– Show data only once
• Orient the audience

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TABLES - BAD
January February March April
Blue Balls 20.4 27.4 90 20.4
Red Balls 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6

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GRAPHS - GOOD
Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
January February March April
Blue Balls
Red Balls

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BAD GRAPHS - BAD
20.4
27.4
90
20.4
30.6
38.6
34.6
31.6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
January February March April
B lu e Ba ll s R ed B al ls

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PRESENTING THE SLIDES
• Don’t read
• Depend on notes with caution
• Focus: speaker and topic
• Tell one story
– Avoid blind alleys, diversions
– Leave stuff out
• What I will say / say it / what I did say

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PRESENTING THE SLIDES
• So…
• Eye contact
– Z
• Be able to do without slides
• Finish ON TIME
– Plenty of time for questions

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PRESENTING THE SLIDES
• Be careful with jokes
– But have a sense of humor
• Avoid jargon
• Speak SLOWLY

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ANSWERING QUESTIONS
• Most important part of talk
• Listen to questions
– “Good question”
• Don’t take it personally
• Respond to actual question
– “I don’t know”

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SUMMARY
• Take time to prepare
• Clear, clean slides
• Practice
• Welcome discussion

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QUESTIONS?