The document discusses best practices for communicating science to different audiences. It covers topics like adjusting presentations for different audiences, avoiding information overload, using visuals and speech together, relating new information to prior knowledge, and overcoming the "curse of knowledge" as a presenter. The course will involve students developing and refining their presentation skills through activities like video recorded presentations, literature seminars, and poster presentations.

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The art and science of communication
Cormac McGrath
Director of Unit for Medical Education
Cormac McGrath
© Erik G Svensson

3. To communicate science
§ Orally present your research and
adjust to different audiences
§ Reflect on presentation skills and
ability to adjust to different audiences
§ Wakefield scandal (Moore, 2006)
§ The “Werther” effect
(Niederkrotenthaler et al 2006)
§ Reporting on suicide
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5. Milestones during the course
§ Introduction
§ Video recorded 4-5 minute
presentation for general public
§ Literature seminar
§ Media facilitated 4-5 minute
presentation
§ Poster presentation (with poster)
§ Individual reflective statement (with
references).
§ Now organize in groups after the date
that suits you the best.
§ 4-6 groups
§ 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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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

7. Quick summary
What?
Why?Who?
How
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8. 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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9. §Part one
§Communication,
perception and
learning
§Part two/three
§Posture, body
language, gestures
and interaction
§To communicate a
message
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10. Common Communication myths
§ Good communication has taken place
§ More communication is better
§ Communication ability is innate
§ The message sent is the message received
§ Communication is unidirectional
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11. Different communicative contexts
• Scientific contexts
– Conferences
– Seminars
– Thesis defence
• Popular scientific contexts
– Media
– Funding organisations
– Society and patient organisations
– Practitioners
§ Focus of this course is the person
on the street.
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12. How do I get/compete with the audience’s thoughts?
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You need to be more interesting than the audiences’
own thoughts.
§ What am I going to make for dinner?
§ What time do I have practice this afternoon?
§ I wonder what’s bothering my boyfriend/girlfriend?
http://www.hemlin.pp.se/
12

13. Lecturing and attention
“Some people talk in their sleep.
Lecturers talk while other people
sleep”
Albert Camus
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14. Attention curve (Bligh 1971)
Start End20-30 min
Where to introduce extra
emphasis?Level of
attention
Lecture
time
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15. Attention
Level of
attention
Effect of rest or change in activity on learning (Biggs, 2003 from Bligh 1971)
Start End Lecture
time
Short brake
Our sensory system adapts to the
humming of the air-conditioner
when it is consistent.
We notice the changes
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16. Information overload
§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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17. 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)
• Which sense (channel) is dominant for our perceptions?
ØUse both images and speech in conjunction and
coherence
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18. Chunking enhances memory of information
§ 52483612345789654 §52483612345789654 vs.
524 836 12345 789 654
§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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19. Interpretation – search for meaning
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20. 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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21. Interpretation
We
§ Relate to previous knowledge
§ Fill in the gaps
§ Disregard information that is
perceived as redundant
We want to understand and make sense of the world!
Create meaning
This is an old house! Don’t flush tampons
down the toilet.
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22. 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
§ Help your audience to sort out impressions to get the core of your message
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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. Set the context for interpretation
§ Our expectations or model of the world determines what we see
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26. 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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27. Summary
§What are the most important things you picked up
so far?
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So far
• 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

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Your presentation
• What is the basic information you wish to convey?
• What is the right amount of information?
• Be specific, share with your partner!
• Critique each other

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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.

31. 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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