The document discusses communication skills for presenting scientific research. It provides tips on adapting presentations to different audiences, using examples and stories to increase understanding, and employing effective body language and visual aids. The key is to make the research relevant and understandable while maintaining scientific integrity.

1. “Some people talk in their sleep.
Lecturers talk while other people
sleep”
Albert Camus
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2. Part I: Introduction
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3. 05/09/2017 3
The art and science of communication:
from tribalism to understanding
Cormac McGrath, Ronny Sejersen, Anneliese Lilienthal
(special guest Houng Nguyen)
Cormac McGrath
© Erik G Svensson

4. §Why is your research important?
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5. 05/09/2017 Cormac McGrath 5

6. 05/09/2017 Cormac McGrath 6

7. Communication in the post truth era
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8. To communicate science
§ Orally present your research and adjust to different audiences
§ Reflect on presentation skills and ability to adjust to different audiences
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9. Milestones during the course
§ Introduction
§ Video recorded 4-5 minute
presentation for “Tailored” general
public
§ Literature seminar
§ Media facilitated 4-5 minute
presentation
§ Infograph presentation (with poster)
§ Individual reflective statement (with
references).
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10. 05/09/2017 Cormac McGrath 10

11. § Now organize in groups, based on the
schedule
§ Introduce yourselves, name,
department, one thing you would like
to share about yourself
§ Each person will introduce someone
else to the whole class. Make sure
you don’t say ehh, or mmmmmm
§ Make sure you know what you want to
say!
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12. 05/09/2017 12Cormac McGrath
Do’s and dont’s
In pairs
Think about a lecturer/presentation you have seen in action.
Present one/a few things you thought were good
Present one/a few things you thought were less good
What did s/he do?
Create two lists– do’s and dont’s
What should one do as a presenter?
What should one avoid?
List the three most important points in each

13. Part II: Cognition, perception & understanding
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14. Common Communication myths
§ Good communication has taken place
§ More communication is better
§ Communication ability is innate
§ The message sent is the message received
§ Intellectual intelligence is the same as good communication
§ Communication is unidirectional
§ Learning communication theory makes you a better communicator
§ Communication solves everything
§ Effective communication is about presenting the blunt truth
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15. Attention curve (Bligh 1971)
Start End20-30 min
Where would you introduce extra emphasis?
Level of
attention
Lecture
time
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16. Video viewing in MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses).
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17. How do I get/compete with the audience’s thoughts?
§ Processing information
§ Motivation and interest
§ Allocating cognitive resources
§ Elaboration, and
§ Transfer into long-term memory
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18. What hinders understanding?
§Information overload
§Too much information makes understanding
difficult
§Cognitive load (Sweller, Merrienboer 2009)
§ Our working memory is limited, overloading impairs understanding
§ Allow time to process new terminology, new concepts and complexity
§ Reduce extraneous load: make it easy for your audience to get and interpret the
message
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19. Biological limitations
of cognitive capacity
• Multi modal information encodes more information/time
and we remember the content better
• Dual coding theory. Visual and verbal channels, where
information are processed in different processes. (Paivio)
ØUse both images and speech in conjunction and
coherence
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20. Neurological limitations:
What reaches the consciuos level?
§ We perceive 11 million information bits/second from our senses
§ Only 40 information bits reach the conscious level
§ The conscious experience is delayed with half a second
§ Perceptions reach Cortex after 10-20msek
§ Consciuos experience after 0.5 second
§ The report suggests the average American consumes 34 gigabytes of content and 100,000 words of
information in a single day. (Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is only 460,000 words long.) This doesn’t
mean we read 100,000 words a day — it means that 100,000 words cross our eyes and ears in a
single 24-hour period. That information comes through various channels, including the television,
radio, the Web, text messages and video games.
• (NYT. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 2009)
§ Help your audience to sort out impressions to get the core of your message
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21. Meaning making
§Biological limitations are nessesary to consider, but
not sufficient to ensure understanding and
remembering
§How do you facilitate meaning making?
§ Relate to previous experience
§ Relate to our needs
§ Who’s your audience?
§ Why should your audience care?
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22. Chunking enhances memory of information
§ 524836107371213662 § 524 836 120 737 12 13 66
vs.
§ 5 2 4 8 3 6 1 2 0 7 3 7 1 2 1 3
6 6
§ G.A. Miller (1956) found the
optimal number of chunks to
be 7 when processing
information
§ ”The Magical Number Seven, Plus
or Minus Two”
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23. 05/09/2017 Cormac McGrath 23
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht
I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the
hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets
in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit
and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a
taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm.
Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig,
huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was
ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

24. How do we focus our audience’s attention?
Selective Attention Awareness
(Simon & Chabris, 1999)
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25. The curse of knowledge
§ Your everyday knowledge of your topic and scientific field is acquired since many
years. Eventually it becomes transparent to ourselves
§ What does it take for your audience to understand your message?
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26. Esoteric jargon
§ Given that we have a limited ability to retain
information, and then what is your stance on
esoteric jargon in your subjects.
§ Let’s play jeopardy:
§ This is an unobserved exposure associated with the
exposure of interest and is a potential cause of the
outcome of interest. This lead to bias that distorts the
magnitude of the relationship between two factors of
interest.
§ Suggested by Thomas Kuhn, this is a scientific
revolution and completely changes the way in which
science looks at the world.
§ The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its
methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction
between justified belief and opinion
§ Relating to or denoting the side of the body opposite to
that on which a particular structure or condition occurs.
§ What is a confounder
§ What is a paradigm shift
§ Epistemology
§ Contralateral
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27. Summary
§What is the most important things you picked up so
far?
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28. 05/09/2017 28Cormac McGrath
So far
• Communication, perception and limitations in understanding
& learning
• Good communication takes place when the presenter’s intended
message has been internalised by the listener
• Too much information, inhibits learning and understanding
• Too much one-way talking could be taxing for the audience
• Esoteric Jargon complicates things

29. Part III: Delivering your presentation
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30. Two fundamentally different questions
§ Have I spoken clearly, and logically
about my subject?
§ Have I spoken to the hearts and the
minds of my audience and in doing so
achieved understanding?
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31. Quick summary
What?
Why?Who?
How
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32. When it is important to convey your research?
§ Contexts § For whom is it important?
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33. How would you target these
audiences with your project?
Write down a killer opening
statement for each audience:
§ Basic researchers
§ Clinicians
§ Patient organisations
§ Your grandmother
Adapt your message to the audience
(discuss two and two, 5 minutes)
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34. Some things to consider
§ Be relevant
§ Be relevant
§ Be relevant
Your
research My life
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35. Using data
§ To evoke a sense of magnitude
§ Colorectal cancer
§ To evoke a sense of the unique but
equally “painful-disabling”
§ Progeria
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36. Body language, some tips.
§ Be conversational
§ Smile
§ Arms and hands
§ Eye contact
§ Walk it if you can!
§ Interact with specific elements of your
presentation, if you can!
§ Use the B button
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37. §Why is your research important?
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38. 05/09/2017 38Cormac McGrath
Elevator Pitch
Key Points
• Identify your goal.
• Explain what you do.
• Communicate your unique selling point.
• Engage with a question.
• Put it all together.
• Practice.
Try to keep a business card or other take-away item with you, which
helps the other person remember you and your message. And cut out
any information that doesn't absolutely need to be there.

39. Make sure that you are!
§ Clear
§ Conscise
§ Concrete
§ Correct (Truthful)
§ Coherent
§ Complete
§ Courteous
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40. Resources
§ http://www.ted.com/talks
§ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04/
§ http://rhetoric.byu.edu/
§ http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp
§ http://www.hemlin.pp.se/
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