20141115 Edanz Hiroshima

Jeffrey Robens, PhD Senior Research Consultant

Education Group Leader

Effectively Presenting Your Research

Hiroshima University

November 2014

Today’s presentation

• Importance of presenting your work

• Poster presentations

• Oral presentations

• Professional presentation skills

Importance of presenting your work

Section 1

Customer Service Presenting your work Research goals

What are your goals?

Your goal should be to share your work with others in your field

• Publish articles • Poster presentations • Oral presentations

Meetings/ conferences

Customer Service Presenting your work

When should you present your work?

Before you publish?

After you publish?

BOTH!


Presenting before you publish

Advantages

Identify new trends Meet similar researchers

Get advice Identify problems

Customer Service Presenting your work Identify problems early

Unclear aims Methodological

problems

Unclear figures Missing data

Unclear relevance

Lack of interest

“Why is this important for the field?”

Lack of interest in your published article


Presenting after you publish

Advantages

Actively promote your article

Advice on future directions

Networking with researchers

Networking with journal editors

Poster presentations

Section 2

Coverage and Staffing Plan


Benefits of poster presentations

Gives you the opportunity to interact with other researchers in your field

Allows you to share pre-published results with your peers

Allows you to discuss one-on-one with other researchers about your study

• More interactive than oral presentations • Improve discussing your research in English • Help build international collaborations


Poster presentations Poster layout

Logo Short Descriptive Title of Your Research

Authors and Affiliations

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Results

Methods References

Discussion Results

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 3 Fig. 6

Model

Aims



What’s wrong with this poster?

Title and Authors

Asymmetrical Not practical for reading Not aesthetic (pleasing to the eye,美的)



Poster layout – Symmetry

Title and Authors

Asymmetry

Title and Authors

Horizontal symmetry

Title and Authors

Horizontal & vertical symmetry

Title and Authors

Diagonal symmetry


Poster presentations Poster formatting

Colors

• 2–3 colors maximum • Light background with dark letters

• Title: 85 pt • Authors: 50 pt • Headings: 36–44 pt • Text: 24–34 pt

• Read from 1.5 m • Use sans serif font

(Arial, Calibri)

Font


Poster presentations Preparing your poster

Important points to include

Not necessary

Brief introduction General methodology

Results Brief Discussion

Abstract Detailed methods Many references


Poster presentations Brief introduction

Why your work should be done

Current state of the field Identify knowledge gaps

State your objectives

Keep it short 2–3 paragraphs 200–300 words

Illustrations Use schematics or models to help

explain your hypothesis


Poster presentations General methodology

Briefly describe techniques in logical order

Don’t include specific details (e.g. what concentration buffer was used)

Use flow charts and illustrations for clarity


Poster presentations Results

Most of your poster

Large and clearly labeled figures

Figure legends Should explain technical details as

well as factually explain results

Image quality 300 vs 72 ppi CMYK vs RGB


Poster presentations Figures

Clear figure legend

Kindlin-2 knockdown and focal adhesion localization. Confocal immunofluorescent microscopy with anti-β1 integrin and anti-paxillin on C2C12 cells transfected with RNAi and then changed to differentiation media for 2 days. Control cells show linear staining consistent with localization to costameres (arrows), as well as punctate focal contact staining (arrowheads). Focal contact proteins in the kindlin-2 RNAi cells fail to form linear structures and instead are concentrated in unusual appearing puncta (*). (Scale bar = 20 μM).

Dowling et al. (2008) BMC Cell Biol 9:36.

Clear indicators

Title of the experiment

Brief methodology

Key findings



Data aligned and formatted

Table formatting

Muñoz et al. New Engl J Med. 2003;348:518−527.

Clear and concise table caption

Abbreviations defined


Poster presentations Conclusions

Summarize important points

Use bullet points for emphasis

Illustrate your model with a schematic

Do not place too low on the poster


Poster presentations Example poster

Clear title

Concise Introduction

Schematics

Graphical Methods

Large figures with clear

figure legends

Bullet point Conclusions with model

Contact info



Additional tips

Export as PDF for printing

Distribute A4-sized copies

Include contact information

Prepare 30-second speech

Present in 3–5 minutes

Encourage discussion

Section 3

Oral presentations

Oral presentations Comparing manuscripts and presentations

Time

Flow of information

Not limited Readers can take

their time

Limited Limited attention

No control Readers can skip

sections

Control Audience has to

listen to everything

Manuscript Presentation

Oral presentations Telling a story

Beginning Introduction

Middle Methods/figures

End Conclusion

Oral presentations Beginning

Brief introduction

Background information

Aims of your study

Use pictures and diagrams

Oral presentations Example

• Lumenal structures (bile canaliculi, BC) between hepatocytes are difficult to maintain in vitro

• Sandwich culture configurations promote BC maturation

• Intracellular mechanisms unclear

AIM: Determine if intracellular tension promotes or maintains BC maturation in vitro

Actomyosin Activity

Actomyosin Activity

Oral presentations Middle

Methods

Flow chart or schematic

Figures

Important results

Oral presentations Example

Seed primary rat hepatocytes (d1)

Collagen overlay (d2)

Treat cells with inhibitors (d3)

Fix cells (d4)

Confocal microscopy

Oral presentations Figures

Main limitation? Space!

Only choose most important data

Organize clearly

Oral presentations Selecting important data

Want et al. BMC Cell Biol. 2011;12:49.

Colocalization of tyrosine phosphorylated cortactin and active Src at focal adhesions

Localization at focal adhesions

Localization at the leading edge


Colocalization of tyrosine phosphorylated cortactin and active Src at focal adhesions


Localization at the leading edge


Oral presentations Black and white images




Often helpful to display images in a dark room


Modified from: Go et al. New Engl J Med. 2004;351:1296.

Characteristic Total Cohort (N=1,120,295)

≥ 60 ml/min/1.73 m2

(N=924,136)

< 60 ml/min/1.73 m2

(N=196,159)*

Age (yr) 52.2 ± 16.3 49.1 ± 15.1 66.6 ± 13.0

Female sex (%) 54.6 53.4 60.2

Ethnic group

White 50.9 47.2 68.6

Black 7.4 7.2 5.3

Hispanic 5.9 6.3 4.1

Asian 8.1 8.5 6.7

Mixed 2.4 2.4 2.8

Other 25.3 28.4 12.5

Medical history

Coronary heart disease

6.3 4.5 17.8

Stroke 2.6 1.7 8.3

Peripheral arterial disease

1.8 1.1 6.7

Chronic heart failure

2.1 1.0 19.8 * estimations

Important

Oral presentations Often graphs are better than tables

Modified from: Go et al. New Engl J Med. 2014;351:1296.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Coronary heartdisease

Stroke Peripheralarterial disease

Chronic heartfailure

Healthy

Kidney disease

Perc

ent

of

pat

ien

ts w

ith

at

leas

t

on

e ca

rdio

vasc

ula

r ev

ent

Oral presentations End

Conclusions

Summary and implications

Future directions

How is this being further developed?

Oral presentations Slide layout

Font

• Sans serif (Arial, Calibri, etc.) • 40 pt for titles • 30+ pt for major points • 24+ pt for minor points

Layout • Limit 8 lines of text per slide • Use bullet points, not sentences • High contrast colors

Oral presentations

Contrasting colors, easy to read

Simple and organized

For information, not decoration

For pictures, use compressed images

Distracting

Lack of contrast = difficult to read

Graphics

Oral presentations

Audience cannot read ahead

Focus the attention of your audience

Keep it simple: appear, fade, wipe

Do not distract from your information!

Animation

Presentation skills

Section 4

Presentation skills Before you present…

Most important thing you can do…

Practice

Learn your presentation, don’t read it

Don’t memorize, these are your ideas

Practice alone and with others, record yourself

Practice builds confidence!

Presentation skills Presentation tips – Appear confident

Non-verbal

Use hand gestures

Make eye contact Always face

your audience

Smile!

Stand upright

Don’t be stiff, move naturally

Presentation skills Presentation tips – Speaking style

Verbal

Avoid filler words (“eeto”)

Pause for emphasis

Speak slowly

Show enthusiasm

Vary tone and pitch

Don’t talk to the screen

Presentation skills Start positive

Introduction

Thank the organizers

Opening comments

Start your presentation

“I would like to thank [organizer] for kindly inviting me here today.”

“I’m very happy to be able to speak to you today.”

“Today, I would like to talk about...”

Never apologize for your English or being nervous

Presentation skills Figures – Guide the audience

Describing data/figures

Introduce the figures

Talking about the data

Focus on important information

“Now, I’d like to show you data from our recent experiments.”

“Here, you can see...”

“I’d like to draw your attention to...”

Presentation skills Finishing your presentation

Conclusions

Main conclusions

Thank the audience

Acknowledgments

“In conclusion, the main findings of this study are...”

“Thank you for your attention today.”

“I’d like to thank the people who were involved in this project.”

“I’d now be happy to answer any questions that you may have.”

Invite questions

Presentation skills Answering questions

1. Thank the audience member

2. Understand the question

3. Clarify the question (if necessary)

4. Answer the question (be concise!)

5. Ensure you have answered the question

6. Thank the audience member again

Gives you time to think

of the answer!

Presentation skills Handling questions –

Understand the question

Could you hear it clearly?

Do you understand the question?

Is the question appropriate for the audience?

Could the audience hear it clearly?

What do they want to know?

What is the most relevant question?

Presentation skills Handling questions

Understand the question

Ask them to repeat

Ask for clarification

Repeat the question

“Would you mind repeating your question, please?”

“I’m sorry, I would like to clarify. Are you asking about…?”

“Okay, so this question is about...”

Presentation skills Handling questions –

Difficult questions

Unsure of the answer

You don’t know the answer

Unrelated questions

You are the expert, answer with confidence

Be honest, but give your expert opinion

Politely address the question

Presentation skills Handling questions

Difficult questions

Tentative answers

Unanswerable

Unrelated questions

“I’m afraid I cannot give you a definite answer, but I think that…”

“Unfortunately we don’t have an answer at this time, but probably...”

“I’m sorry, but we didn’t look at that in this study.”

“Does that answer your question?”

Checking your answers

Presentation skills Additional tips – time management

Stay within your time limit

Use a clock, watch, or mobile phone

Rushing and skipping slides make you look unorganized

Practice often and keep track of each section

Presentation skills Additional tips

“B” key makes the screen black

“W” key makes the screen white

Hold the laser pointer against your body to prevent shaking

Remember, you are having a conversation with your audience

If using clip-on microphone, clip centrally and try to avoid turning your head when speaking

Presentation skills Connect with your audience

Presenters share with their audience

Non-verbal tips

Greet audience members before your presentation

Verbal tips

Colleague/mentor Not a lecturer!

Eye contact, smiling, relaxed, confident

Enthusiastic, not monotonous

Presentation skills Connect with your audience

Presentation activity

Based on what we have covered today, one attendee will present their slides in 10 minutes. They will then need to answer one question from the group.

Thank you!

Any questions?

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Jeffrey Robens: [email protected]