I’ve been very busy this summer!  You can’t tell by the postings because there haven’t been any!! Why?  Because I’ve spent a good portion of my time writing THE MOST comprehensive learning package on interviewing skills.  I’m very excited about this.

The short audio book from Macmillan will be out in October 2009. In addition, there will be several companion public seminars to learn the material “hands-on” and also a comprehensive e-book.  All will be available withing the next few months.

The very first of these public seminars will be held in New York City on September 9th at the New York Academy of Science.

Here’s the description of the event:

How To Build a Powerful Online Presence to Advance Your Career

Don’t underestimate the power of a first impression–today it starts online.  to attract opportunities that align with your skills, passions, and strengths you need to consistently develop your reputation and purposefully project a powerful online presence.  A poor image or no image at all can negatively impact your job search and just posting an online profile is not enough.  Learn how to build a powerful online presence to advance your career.

Registration information coming soon…we ran into a minor glitch at NYAS.  We are hoping to have the event listed by Friday, August 14, 2009.

I’ve been waiting for someone to come out with something like this.  An official “Twitter policy”.  Well, it’s not exactly that, but it is a policy about disseminating information to “anonymous third parties”.

I copied the policy below.  I suspect others will be showing up very soon, if they haven’t already.

Here it is.  What do you think?

UPDATED REPORTING POLICY
(June 2009)

Abstracts and presentations at Cold Spring Harbor meetings must be considered as personal communications. With the growth of internet and social networking tools, the Laboratory is introducing an updated reporting policy that is intended to protect the right of presenting authors to discuss unpublished data at our meetings.

By registering for the meeting, you agree to abide by the following policy.

Any participant intending to blog, twitter or otherwise communicate or disseminate results or discussion presented at the meeting to anonymous third parties must obtain permission from the relevant presenting author BEFORE communicating any results or discussion to third party groups, message boards, blogs or other online resources (other than your own lab or departments).

As a matter of courtesy, we would be grateful it if you would let us notify in advance of your intentions by emailing meetings@cshl.edu.

Professional media participants (editors, journalists, science writers etc) should register via our media registration page.

The Laboratory reserves the right to take appropriate action in the event of abuse of this policy.

How to Run an Effective and Productive Meeting

This week on the Public Speaker I talk about how to plan and deliver effective and productive business meetings.  Here’s a quick summary, but you can listen to the episode here. (It’s less than 10 minutes.)

• Know and state the purpose of your meeting.  Meetings are good for coming to resolution.  If you are sharing information perhaps another approach is better.
• Know and state the idea outcome.  This motivates participants to achieve it.
• Include the purpose and outcome on the agenda.
• List required and optional attendees.
• For each topic list who, what, and how long.  Ex.  Review conference location – Paul G. 3 min
• Include breaks and social time on the agenda.
• Send out agenda at least a day in advance.
• Start and end on time, even if everyone is not there. Return from breaks on time too.
• Mange time by assigning limits to each segment and using a timer.
• Use a two-minute warning system to alert participants they are about to go over.
• After each segment get explicit, public ownership of tasks.
• Maintain a positive engaged environment by assigning a facilitator who asks questions and encourages feedback from all participants.
• Have a rule that only one person speaks at a time.
• Latecomers shouldn’t be embarrassed, but they shouldn’t be “caught-up” either.
• Be sure to greet and say good-bye to all meeting participants.  It’s good manners and it’s good for networking.
• Verbally express support of good ideas.
• Insist on no blackberries, no phone conversations in room, and maybe even no laptops!
• Follow-up the meeting by distributing the notes quickly and updating project plans.

While researching for this episode I found a few, fresh, interesting ideas. I talked about them in this posting on my Art of Speaking Business Blog.  Look at the bottom of the post.

I’m looking for creative, low-cost, or no-cost ideas to get more people listening to my show.

If you’ve got a crazy idea or even just a regular idea submit it publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com with “crazy idea” in the subject.

All ideas will be considered until May 15, 2009.

I need your help !

As you may know I am the host of The Public Speaker: Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Communication Skills. I end every show by saying “I’m passionate about communication your success is my business.”

That’s not just a “marketing” tag line. I sincerely believe that improving communication skills is the single most important investment a person can make in themselves. Better communication and leadership skills lead to personal and professional success. It’s my dream to help as many people as I can. That’s why I chose to be host of the podcast and that’s why I chose my profession.

My dream is to reach business professionals, teachers, collage students, high school and middle school students, ministers, really everyone who is interested in improving his or her communication skills. I’m confident I can help, but I need your help to reach out to a broader audience.

If you’ve got a idea that might help me reach this goal, I’d love to hear it. Again, I’m looking for creative, low-cost or no-cost ideas to get more people listening to the show.

If you’ve got a crazy idea or even just a regular idea submit it publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com with “crazy idea” in the subject.

All ideas will be considered until May 15, 2009. If I end up choosing and using YOUR idea this year (2009), in return, I’ll offer you a gift certificate for six hours of one-on-one private coaching (which is currently worth approximately $1,000). You can use it or you can give it to someone.

How will the winning idea(s) be selected? Good question! I can only say that my decision will be biased and based on my personal preferences. I’d like something that is fun, simple, and not pushy. I’d like it to be no cost or very low cost. The best idea would have the potential to double or triple the current number monthly listeners. I’m hoping the best idea will be obvious when I see it. I am really very anxious to reach out and hope that you can help me to achieve my dream.

Thanks in advance for reading this and I look forward to reading your idea.

Lisa

P.S. If more than one person submits the same or very similar ideas (as determinded by me), the first person to submit the idea will be considered the winner. So please submit your ideas as soon as you can.

This month both the AMA and Oprah jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon. I’m not sure which is more surprising to me.

If you still yet don’t know what Twitter is click this link to find out the basics of Twitter.

In science, here are a few that are tweeting:

Science Daily
MedPage Today
AMA
ACC’s annual meeting
AACR
Science News Blog
Wired Science
Science Friday
Scientific American
NIH for Health

I have noticed more and more individual scientists joining in as well.

I’m looking for case studies of prominent people in science using Twitter effectively. If you know of someone, please let me know. I’d like to interview them!

“Impact is a function of knowledge (K), practice (P), and talent (T) — in decreasing order of importance.” – MIT Computer Science Professor Patrick Henry Winston

Every January, during MIT’s Independent Activities Period, Computer Science Professor Patrick Henry Winston a lecture titled: How to Speak. In 1997 Harvard made a recording of the presentation. Although it’s covers only the very basics of delivering a lecture, he covers many important fundamental presentations skills that I agree with.

Here’s are the videos for the talk

How to Speak:
Lecture Tips from Patrick Winston

1. Prelude (1:36, 2.2 MB)

2. Introduction (2:45, 6.5 MB)

3. How to Start (2:15, 5.8 MB)

4. The Big Four (6:30, 17.1 MB)

5. Time & Place (3:01, 8.7 MB)

6. The Blackboard (3:19, 9.8 MB)

7. Overheads (4:03, 11.3 MB)

8. Props (2:37, 5.4 MB)

9. Style (4:12, 10.2 MB)

10. How to Stop (4:00, 10.5 MB)

11. Questions (1) (3:31, 8.4 MB)

12. Questions (2 – 4) (3:48, 7.0 MB)

13. Postlude (3:09, 5.3 MB)

Here’s a link to a video from Scott Morgan, Premier Public Speaking.

While I don’t agree with everything he says, I do think hearing another perspective about scientific presentation is worthwhile.

Here’s the video Help, I Have to Give a Presentation

I watched this newly released video from TED today. I enjoyed the talk. It was interesting to see how she was able to communicate science in a way that was accessible to a broader audience. One of the reasons she was successful was because she used lots of analogies that the audience already understood. And in fact, she chose interesting analogies that often even got a laugh from the audience. Another things she did well was to use many internal summaries or reviews to emphasize her key points and she was good at talking about the science in story form. Finally, she did a nice job of acknowledging her team that helped to make the discovers that she spoke about.

Even thought this is not a science talk for a science audience, still you can use the same principles to make all talks effective.

Today I’ll be presenting at the National Institute of Health / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in Washington, DC.   Last week I was at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.  This post is mostly intended for those participants.  However, I decided to open it up to new readers (who haven’t yet subscribed to my newsletter).

What I have for you is some bonus materials for your use, including  a presentation on networking skills, and presentation on interviewing skills, and one dedicated to the job talk (Academic seminar for the interview, Teaching seminar, Chalk Talk, Industry research presentation, or industry scenario).  Of course, these are all specific to scientific audiences. In addition, there is a links resource page.

In order to get these goodies, you just need to register for the Art of Speaking Newsletter.  These bonus materials will only be available for a limited time, so please if you are interested register now. I don’t send many email updates, so go ahead the resources are definitely worth it.

If you are considering a job at a big pharma, you’ll want to read this article about the current mergers and acquisitions.

I need your help.  I want you to help me decide on my new logo.

I am finally getting a website makeover for my main website.  The programmers are busy creating new functionality and the web page designers are busy creating new layouts.  BUT they are all waiting for me to send them my NEW LOGO.

I decided to run a CONTEST to find a great logo.
Click the link or you just go to the first page of contests and it’s listed under my name (Lisa B. Marshall).

If you are a designer, you can find the details of how to enter on the contest site.

But most importantly,  I’d like for you to leave your feedback as a comment HERE on this post.

Please, DO NOT leave a comment on the contest website or change any of the rankings.

This contest will conclude the end of February in 2009.  So if it’s already after that date, it’s too late to help.

Thanks for helping out! Really, I would love to get your feedback.

After my seminars people come up to ask questions they don’t want to ask publicly.  Without a doubt the most common “private” question I get is about accents.  People want to know how they can reduce their accents.

For me, it’s not about reducing an accent, it’s about acquiring accent options.  So you can turn on and turn off an accent as needed. This week on The Public Speaker, I talk about ways you can learn to modify  the way you speak.  The show is about 10 minutes long, so go ahead and listen.  I’ll wait…

I mentioned several resources on the show and I wanted to give a bit more information.

Literacy Volunteers = They help people for whom English is a second language, as well as native speakers. This is a great place to start to get some individual or group help. Just Google “Literacy Volunteers near 19102″ of course, with your zip code. This should help you find your local group. If this doesn’t work, ask you local librarian to help you.

Toastmasters International = This is an organization to help native speakers and non-native speakers to improve their speaking skills. Part of each meeting is devoted to helping attendees with grammar and pronunciation. Here you’ll likely find people that are willing to help you improve.

Conversation Partner = Try MeetUp, or your local college campus, or a language exchange program. I would try a mix of online and in-person partners to see what works best for you.

Compton P-ESL Method = This link will tell you more about this particular method and will also help you find people who have gone through the certification program.

Free Pronunciation Software = This software was originally created for a school project. It’s pretty extensive and provides great information to get you started. There’s a forum to get some help and Rebecca, the creator of the software, is very passionate about helping people succeed.

Accent Student Notebook = This is a PDF from Accent School that includes materials and exercises for accent reduction. It’s 40 pages long and worth reviewing.

Here are some of the things that I didn’t mention in the show but are worth exploring:

Quiz of your American Accent = This is a short eye-opening quiz that everyone should take. It will tell you what your regional American accent is.

Pronunciation Patterns = This is very highly rated software that people seem to enjoy. It was created by a Carnegie Mellon MBA graduate student. Many people sing it’s praises, but I don’t have personal experience with it.

American Accent Training = Book and Audio CD. Highly rated in Amazon.

Lose Your Accent in 28 Days = Audio CD and workbook.

Finally, on a related but separate topic, I wanted to link to this very unusual story that I read about a woman that acquired an accent after having a stroke. It’s found the article fascinating and wanted to share it with you.

I hope these resources help and let us know in the comments if you give them a try!

In this tough job market, this news is good news.  Turns out some of the smaller schools are taking advantage of the downturn to scoop up highly qualified candidates.  I’ll be delivering a talk at Harvard University in February on interviewing and networking.  Maybe I can help  a little too <smile>?

Below is a link to the full article.

Despite crunch, some colleges go on hiring spree – The Boston Globe

According the Ignite Seattle website, “Ignite Seattle is a geek event that combines on-site geekery, sharing, innovation (and drinking).” Oh and admission is free!

What more could you want? <smile>

This week (Hoochy Coochy? No. It’s Pecha Kucha!) in The Public Speaker, I talk what Ignite (and Pecha Kucha) are and also about the pros and cons of these presentation formats. If you haven’t listened to the show, go ahead, it’s only about 7 minutes. In a nutshell, the talks that use this format are quick (5-6 minutes) and concise and usually use great images.

I highly recommend giving this technique a try–even if only to strengthen and build your presentation skills.

In this blog, instead of describing the Ignite format in detail, I wanted to give you an opportunity to see it for yourself. Keep in mind each one is only five minutes long. I hope you’ll invest the time and take a look. I think it’s worth the time.

The first one is called…How the Hell Did Matt Get People to Dance with Him?

It’s a great example of a successful Ignite talk. Notice the simplistic graphics. (Oh, and if you haven’t seen Matt’s videos you need to check them out too.)

The next one I picked because it’s a good example of Ignite, but it’s also content I think you would be interested in. It’s called Hacking the Technical Interview. I liked it because he outlines three main ideas, but he does struggle to keep synchronized (one of the flaws I mentioned in The Public Speaker podcast). I also like it because it’s talking about effective communication <smile>.

This very short clip above gives you an idea of the room set-up and the interactivity. You don’t see any presentations, but it’s still worth looking at.

As you may know I live in the Philadelphia area and wanted to give the nod to someone local. In the next Ignite presentation the content is good. You can see the problem I mentioned about the presenter having difficulty keeping the words coordinated with the images. (Also, notice right at the beginning the networking aspect.)

OK, so I hope you enjoyed watching these and I hope that you might have picked up an idea or two about making your presentations better.

Maybe I’ve even motivated you to give it a try? I hope so.

Usually in this blog I focus on science specific techniques, but scientists also find themselves in need of making speeches at weddings, at memorial services and also informally when meeting people.  The following podcast is a technique I created to develop a speech in six steps.  It’s really simple to create, easy to deliver, and fun to listen to because the technique is based in storytelling.

Check it out and give it a try.  Let us know what you think!

Lisa B. Marshall’s Six Step Technique to Making a Speech http://preview.tinyurl.com/3nme83

A basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop is definitely a skill needed for the science professional.

Did you know that HP offers a free online course for Adobe Photoshop? The  course has gotten some good feedback, so if you want to learn or brush-up on your skills this is good resource.

The course is designed primarily for Adobe Photoshop CS2. Although Adobe has come up with the latest CS3, the course includes fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop and you could benefit even if you are a CS3 user.

I know many of you would like help with your writing skills. Here are two courses (one free, one fee) and a link free videos and handout from writing workshops.

Fee Online Academic Writing Course:

The first one, is a fee online academic writing course from University of Pennsylvania. I have heard fabulous reviews from people who have gone through this training. Well worth the fee.

Then BPP and Penn’s English Language Program (ELP) have designed the perfect online courses for you. No assigned class times, flexible due dates, and only a 3-5 hour time commitment per week over a 14-week period. The courses are designed for non-native, as well as native English speakers.

Click here for the course descriptions
Click here for registration instructions

Free Online Academic Writing Course:

This free course is designed to help you successfully publish biomedical papers in English. It provides a full outline of the preparation of manuscripts with regards to planning, style, structure and composition.

They also offer a free email newsletter that regularly provides additional tips and advice on every aspect of writing and publishing a biomedical manuscript.

Free Online Video for Postdocs:

The Office of Intramural training at NIH has a great training program and they record the video and usually post the slides and handouts. The quality is excellent. The only downfall, is that you didn’t get to attend the session live! These are worth your time.

Here are three titles:

Workshop: Scientific Writing from the Reader’s Perspective
Workshop: Written Communication Skills
Workshop: CV and Resume Writing: Preparing Effective Job Search Correspondence

I did!

I LOVE this video…especially since my nephew is a particle physicist at Harvard!

If you are a fellow geek you’ve got to view this video that explains particle physics and the new accelerator using rap music…Here’s the video.

Oh, and in case you are wondering what jiggy means….you can learn more here.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Turns out Charles Darwin took this question very seriously! Who knew?

He was interested in understanding if hair color had effects on mate selection. Here’s an article from UK’s Telegraph describing what was uncovered as a result of the Darwin Correspondence Project which is attempting to compile 15,000 of the letters that Darwin wrote and received during his lifetime.

Oh, and Darwin initially thought perhaps dark hair in the general population was increasing because brunettes were more likely to get married while blondes tended to stay single and childless. Eventually he gave up on the notion and came to the conclusion that the experimental basis was not good enough.

For those that have attended my professional networking seminars you’ve already heard many of my ideas on how to start a conversation and for those that haven’t yet attended I created the list below.

In addition, you can listen to an the very first episode of my new show that I create for Macmillan.

The name of the show is The Public Speaker: Quick and Dirty Tip for Improving Your Communication Skills and the first episode is called “How to Start a Conversation”

(yes, the name was changed from People Skills Pro to The Public Speaker for those that heard me talking about the show). The show is full of ideas and what you see below are some of the highlights.

After a recent seminar, a participant asked me the following…

“Can you tell me what to do if I don’t know how to pronounce someone’s name. For example when I am referring to their work in a presentation and when I meet someone in person?”

I think it might be better to refer this to a manner’s expert, but I’ll give it a shot. Purely from a manners or respect standpoint, I think it is important to always try to learn the proper pronunciation of someone’s name.

My maiden name was “Boehm” and our family pronounced it “Bame” as if it rhymed with “fame” –as you might imagine, very few people ever got that right. I did, however, very much appreciate when someone would ask me how to pronounce it. It was even better if they practiced a few aloud rehearsals in front of me just to check their pronunciation.

I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask someone, “I am not sure how to pronounce your last name, I was wondering if you might help me to say it correctly” or simply “Can you tell me how to properly pronounce your name?” Most people with difficult names recognize that their name is difficult and are happy to help. Let them tell you their name, then you should practice it until they say you’ve got it right. Even if you never get it exactly right, most will appreciate your efforts.

Of course, this process can be done easily when you are standing with the person, face-to-face. So what do you do if you are making a presentation. If that person is going to be in the audience, it is important to ask. In fact, you should ask them to spell it for you phonetically, so that you are sure to get it right, when you are in the front of the room. You can do this via the telephone, via email, or via Twitter, if you want. What if you don’t get a reply?  Simply call and listen to the person’s voice message or perhaps ask his/her assistant.  Again, you are asking out of respect and it is likely the request will be welcome.

What if none of the above techniques worked and you still don’t know? During the presentation, you can simply have the person’s name in text on the bottom of the slide, and reference the work in some other way. This way, you won’t have to pronounce the name at all. Of course, you could always TRY to pronounce it, who knows you may actually get it right.

In the long run, mispronouncing a person’s name just once isn’t a big deal. However, repeatedly mispronouncing a person’s name because you didn’t get the extra step of asking and practicing, is, well, less than polite.  Addressing someone respectfully and properly is expected in all professional settings.

Recently, I received an email from one of my online public speaking workshop participants.

She wrote, “I am interviewing for a position and I am deeply pregnant. Should I somehow mention this just before my job talk? From one point of view, it sounds unprofessional. On the other hand, some people might focus more on the fact that I am pregnant than on my talk. Any advice?”

Here was my reply…
________________________

Hmm… that’s a tough one. I think that if you are obviously pregnant there really is no need to draw additional attention. However, like anything that is a little out of the ordinary, some audience members will be distracted by it.

The “safe” suggestion is to not say anything at all. However, on the other hand, depending on your personality, you may be able to get away with a short quip to lighten the situation. Honestly, I think it depends a lot on your personality. It takes skill to deliver a quip and still appear very professional.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any ready-made quips about pregnancy. I am NOT a humorist, but here are three quips that came to my mind. You are free to use one of them or make up your own. The important thing is that you are comfortable delivering the line.

1) “Thanks for inviting “both” of us here today (and pat your belly and smile when you say the word “both”)

Or (if you are really BIG and close to delivery)

2) Don’t worry, I don’t plan to delivery here in this room–but you better go easy on me– just in case.  (This one might backfire if it is perceived as you being weak, instead of funny.)

Or

3) Haven’t you ever heard…two heads (pat your belly and smile) are better than one?

For me personally, I would be willing to say the third one. I think you would get a small chuckle or at least a smile from your audience and then you could move one.

Let me know what you decide to do.
_______________________________________

What do you think? Should a pregnant woman say something? If so, what? I am very curious to hear what my readers think about this. Tell us in the comments, and don’t forget you can easily video record your comments just by clicking the “add video comment” below.

Today is a MOMENTOUS day in science. I am thrilled because I FINALLY have the answer!

Let me back track a bit, before I tell you the “big news”. You see, about a year or so ago, I started telling my then 3 year old identical twin daughters, “I loved you from here to Pluto and back.” Of course, they asked the natural question, “Mommy, what’s Pluto?”

My first response was, “Well, Pluto is a planet very far away.” Then because I’m a geek, I said, “Well, actually, Pluto not technically a planet anymore.” (These were words I would later regret.)

What do you think they asked?

Of course, “Mommy, If Pluto’s not a planet then what is Pluto?”

For over a year, I didn’t have an answer. And at every opportunity, I would ask a scientist, well, what exactly is Pluto? (I am not sure why it never occurred to me to try to google the answer.) The response was often, well I’m not quite sure. Then one day, someone responded, “Pluto is huge chunk of rock.”

I shared THAT answer with my daughters, but apparently that wasn’t good enough because my daughters CONTINUED to ask the question, almost daily. Yes, daily! They say, “Mommy, if Pluto’s not a planet anymore , what is it?” You have to keep in mind they are identical twins– so the question cames to my ears in loud STEREO –EVERY DAY, for over a year!

So you can imagine my relief today when it was announced that “Plutoid” is the name chosen for solar system objects like Pluto. Guess what GREAT NEWS I will be sharing with my daughters tomorrow?

So, it may not be BIG news for you, but in our household, this is GREAT NEWS!

Recently I delivered a seminar on Scientific Poster Presentation. I made a handout to provide details on what you should include (and exclude) for each section of the poster.

I thought you might find this useful so I decided to post.

If you disagree or have something to add or modify it would be great if contributed via the comments. I will update based on feedback. Oh, here ya go..

Sections to be included in your scientific poster presentation

Title: Used to convey the single overall main message
• Headline title with noun and verb – quantified if possible
• 1-2 lines max using sentence case
• NOT for keyword search – it can be straightforward (or catchy?)
• Max 25 words

Abstract: Do not include an abstract on a poster – unless it is a (dumb) requirement.

Introduction: Get viewer interest about issue or question
• State the purpose/aim/goal (long-term and short-term may be different) using bullets
• Place work in context (where does it fit in overall field)
• Give background minimum
• Might end/start with some bullet statements of your hypotheses
(Hypotheses may be coupled with results in results section)
• Max 125 words

Methods/Materials: (Skip if standard, include if science) Describes experiment
• Use figures, photos, drawings to illustrate experimental design if possible;
• Use flow charts (the type with text, numbers and drawings within boxes) to summarize steps or timing
• Perhaps mention statistical analyses used and how they address hypothesis
• Max 150 words

Results: Summarizes what you found
• Result graphs support only your conclusion bullet points (3-5)
• Each graphs/chart/table provides quantitative and qualitative/descriptive results
• Each graph/chart should contain headline title and/or takeaway conveying understandable main point (may be the only thing read, needs to be clear)
• Negative/positive controls should be labeled and consistent in color (dk grey/ blk suggested)
• Graphs indicate exactly (via arrows, circles, highlights) where to look to see evidence of result
• Do not use legends, instead direct label data elements, remove unneeded grid lines
• Cut down to key words only, remove punctuation
• Bullets OK
• If method/process important can be in smaller under takeaway or bottom of chart
• Max approx 250 words – this should be your largest section

Conclusions: (Conclusions and future directions)
• Should be summary of results in bullet form
• Can include a one or two bullets for future directions (don’t make future directions separate)
• Max 150 words

Literature cited:
• Follow standard format exactly
• Maximum approximately 5 citations

Acknowledgments:
• Mention who has provided funding
• Include disclosures for any type of conflicts
• Possibly include SIGNIFICANT contributors – name and contribution (not title)
• Max 40 words

Further information:
• Your e-mail address and web site address
• Perhaps a URLs – to download PDFs of poster or related papers or your CV
(edit URL – don’t leave blue or underlined)
• Maximum 30 words

This past Thursday the Chronicle of Higher Education reported “Journals Find Fakery in Many Images Submitted to Support Research“.

I was astounded. How could this happen?

In two weeks I’ll be at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center delivering a talk to “young scientists” and I am now wondering if I should add a piece in that says…

“Hey, don’t do this! Why risk your career?”

I was preparing for a networking seminar, so I decided to use my own professional network to prepare for the seminar (tricky, huh?). Anyway, while speaking with Julian Lum, Ph.D. he mentioned two great resources aimed at post-docs and early career scientists. These two books can be downloaded for free (for non-commercial use) from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Here’s the link to both of the books and other great resources.

I highly recommend reading these long BEFORE you start looking for a job in academia and long before you are ready to start you own lab. You’ll need to be doing things NOW in preparation for when you do have your own lab. Read the books to learn more!

Here are links to each of the books:

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT FOR POSTDOCS AND NEW FACULTY, SECOND EDITION
Based on courses held in 2002 and 2005 by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and HHMI, this book is a collection of practical advice and experiences from seasoned biomedical investigators.

TRAINING SCIENTISTS TO MAKE THE RIGHT MOVES
These publications can help universities and professional societies develop programs in scientific management.

If you have found these helpful or you know of other helpful resources let us know in the comments!

“Enthusiasm finds the opportunities, and energy makes the most of them.” — Henry Hoskins

For those that have seen me in person you know that I am BIG on PASSION!! Tonight I was watching NOVA and they had a program on the history of the first flowering plant. There was a scene where the scientists suddenly tells his driver to pull over to the side of the road. The scientists gets out of the car and proceeds to show us several rare flowers that are just growing naturally on the side of the road. At one point, he was so excited and overwhelmed that both my husband and I thought he had hurt himself, but it turned out he was just overwhelmed at seeing a rare orchid. I turned to my husband and said, “I just love to watch a person, like him, who is so excited by their work–it is inspirational.”

Again, I think passion is SO IMPORTANT- for everyone!

Not only do I think that “science rocks” I also think that most scientists are extremely passionate about their work–that’s why I love working with science and technology professionals.

I know that at times, in the lab it feels like you know less this week than last week. It’s these times you have to give yourself a little boost. I found this link a while back but have been saving it. But today I think is the day I am going to share this little gem.

So if your science has got you down…take this very quick break. I promise this will put a smile on your face and perhaps remind you that you are following a dream.

Check it out for you yourself!

(Note: I originally wrote this article in September 2006. For this post, I made a few minor very minor updates. I think since this writing, some conferences are moving in this direction. Comment below about your experiences and thoughts on this.)

One person recently commented to me, “Often times, I look at a poster for 5 minutes and am unsure of the important points, but when I hear just a few minutes from the scientist I find the work so much easier to understand”.

If you read my previous post you already know that I think the landscape for scientific poster presentation is changing. This post will describe more details of my vision, but first you’ll need to allow me a digression.

Up to this point, my writing suggests that poster podcasts are in addition to the poster itself. However, what I didn’t specifically mention is that I believe the form of the actual poster may be changing as well. With the ability to easily create posters electronically, the visual form is likely (and should change) as well.

With a static “linear” printed poster, we present data visually so it can meet the needs of both general and advanced users. However, using a printed, linear format, makes it difficult to meet both groups effectively and often is the reason why posters become overcrowded with text and details. I often hear “We can’t leave that out, because someone might ask”.

As an alternative posters could become purely electronic or “e-posters” if you will. Yes, I know e-posters exist, but right now e-posters are usually just PDFs of the printed poster. But what if we created them in a form that took advantage of web linking, audio and video files? In this linked form, users could collapse or expand the details and navigate through the poster in the manner that works the best for them. What if you could easily project the overall image and simply by touching different sections of the poster it would drill down the next level of detail. This would certainly allow interested parties to first view a more simplified version of the work and allow each viewer to choose to view only the details that are important to them. Now image being able to click to hear the voice of the scientist when you click on the section of interest–that is without the scientist actually being physically there.

Of course, we aren’t quite there with the technology—yet. But we certainly can do more than we currently do.

Today, posters are typically supported by the voice of the creator during the conference (at least for a limited period of time). Like the person in the quote above, I think most would agree that hearing the work in conversational form directly from the scientist would make the work easier to understand.

My vision is that the poster podcast provides the science directly from the scientist in audio/visual form. To be very clear, I am not suggesting that the podcast replace in-person discussions. I view them as a supplement and means to provide the “conversation” when the scientist isn’t available –that is to provide the audio/video in a time-shifted manner so interested parties can hear the the stories behind the science directly from the scientists via the poster podcast. After all, it the story of the scientific process that is so interesting. Poster podcasts make the work more interesting and gives the scientist a way of sharing his passion for the work using his own voice.

As I said in the previous post, for little or no money, it is possible to create a podcast of your work. You could then submit this podcast, along with a PDF of the poster, to the conference organizers for consolidation. Using existing audio search engines, like Alta Vista (remember them?), conference attendees could search the audio files (and of course, the keyword tags associated with the files) along with the text abstracts to determine which posters were of the most interest to them. Because of the detail provided in the audio content, this searchable audio would allow for better, more refined searching. In the current environment, you need to rely on the abstract to include the specific related keywords.

So, once the podcasts are electronically consolidated into a searchable database, the next step is to provide an easy method to listen to this audio. Right now, this type of technology is available (think art museum tours or walking tours in cities). You can visit the art museum and they will give you a portable devise that you simply put the number of painting in and the audio tells you about the painting. You get to go at your own pace, you can pause, go back, and skip ahead. Nice. Why not do this for scientific posters? You can go to the independence area in Philadelphia (and many areas of interest in other cities) and use your i-pod to download MP3 audio walking tours or you can even use your cell phone to listen to the tour.

Again, why don’t we utilize this same types of technology for listening to scientific poster podcasts? This would enable anyone to listen at any time before, during, or after the conference and alleviate conference overload. It would help participants to focus and plan their interactions during the live poster sessions. With the near ubiquity of iPods and other portable MP3 players, the platform is already out there, in our bags, our coat pockets, on our belts.

To be very clear, I am not suggesting that the poster podcasts should replace the human-to-human interaction and discussion. What I am suggesting is that it would help to creator of posters to be able to spend more time with those that would benefit the most from in-person conversation about the work. Nothing can replace human interaction.

I am simply suggesting podcasts (like websites did not so many years ago) will provide yet another avenue of communication about your science. And, it is important to communicate your message through as many routes as possible, after all, the communication of your science to a broad audience should be your goal.

As evidence, a study showed that medical articles reported in The New England Journal of Medicine and then reported in The New York Times receive about 73 percent more citations in medical reports than do articles not reported in The New York Times (cited in Whiteman, Scientists Need Plain Language). Of course, if the work makes it to the New York Times, it probably means the work is significant to begin with.

Speaking of the importance of human interaction, why not use portable technology (you can get a reasonably high quality set-up for less than $100) to capture the interesting conversations you have during the conference itself. Maybe you can even interview someone who’s work is related.

After the conference, or even during the conference, post both the recorded conversations and the previously prepared podcasts to your own blog, the conference blog and any other appropriate location on the web including e-galleries and podcast aggregators like Apple I-Tunes. Again, the last and perhaps most important step in science is communication of the science. You want to be sure that people interested in your very specific topic will be able to find your science this way. Of course, you’ll might need to be careful with what and when you publish to the internet and how decide exactly how public it can be.

I look forward to LISTENING to your next poster presentation. Oh, and if you are inspired by this post and create your poster podcast, be sure to post a link to the podcast. I am hoping some of the work will inspire others to do the same thing.

Note: Again, keep in mind I originally wrote this article in September of 2006. Some progress has been made, but we still have a long way to go.

I want to encourage you to be not only on the leading edge with your science, but also be leading edge with your communication.

How can you do that? By allowing the form to follow function. What do I mean? Read on!

The basic rule for any design is “form follows function.” If an object has to perform a certain function, its design must support that function to the fullest extent possible.

So in terms of poster presentations what exactly is the function of poster presentations? I think most would agree, when you are the creator of the poster, you are most interested in valuable feedback and detailed discussion of the science—you want constructive interaction with others to help you improve the work and take the science to the next level. In short your aims are feedback and professional networking. From the point of view of a poster viewer, you are usually most interested in understanding what others in similar areas (and perhaps not so similar areas) are doing in hopes of shedding new perspectives on your own work.

So this begs the question, is a traditional poster presentation the best means to achieve these goals?

I know many people would say, yes, poster presentation sessions do create the opportunity for interaction. Viewers can not only ask questions but also share ideas and experiences; much more so than oral presentation and therefore posters are wanted and needed in science. In fact, some might argue that for preliminary work, the poster presentation is perhaps the most favorable format.

However, I do not believe that traditional poster sessions, alone, are the best approach, that is not anymore. We are all familiar with the drawbacks of poster sessions, particularly crowded long sessions with hundreds if not thousands of posters. How does one effectively sort through choosing the “right” posters and ensure the presenter is available and keenly alert for conversation when, you, the viewer are ready for that conversation; not to mention the strain of information overload in the conference setting. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to hear directly from the scientists at your convenience? Perhaps before the conference, during the conference, during the poster session, and any time after? Wouldn’t it great to be able to electronically search not only the abstracts (like a few conferences now provide) but also to have the ability to search either on key words or more importantly the actual words delivered by the scientists themselves when describing the posters? Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk up to a poster or view a poster on line and hear the verbal description directly from the researcher, weather or not he was actually physically present or not?

My vision may take some time to unfold in the world of science (I originally wrote this article in September of 2006 – see note below), but I am confidant that “poster presentations” will look and feel a lot different in the very near future and will be better able to meet the goals of both the creator and the viewer.

So what exactly do I have in mind?

Before I share the details, I want to draw attention to the fact that there is revolution going on—a media revolution. In this new era, consumers of content want the ability to easily seek out content and consume it when and how they want it. This combined with the use of time-shifting technology (think TIVO) and the trend of individuals producing content at broadcast quality (think podcasts and vlogs) at little or no cost is having profound effects on everyone, including the world of science.

It’s already happening. Many prestigious scientific journals, including New England Journal of Medicine and Nature have podcasts available for download and blogs for interactive discussion and comment.

Companies (ePosters, Scifor, rnai, etc.) are starting to offer electronic galleries of posters with both public and restricted access. Other scientific professionals are creating “wiki-like” (peer-reviewed in some cases) sites to providing a collaborative environment that maintains the rigor of science but most importantly brings the science to their colleagues “faster” than the traditional routes (See Useful Chemistry – to learn more about open notebook science see the Scholar2Scholar Friday April 18, 2008 post).

Why did I point all that out? Because poster presentations will be influenced by this “revolution” and we will be seeing changes soon.

Exactly how am I envisioning the use of these latest technologies specifically for “poster presentations”?

Let’s start with the initial development and refinement of the poster. Participants in my poster presentation workshop (and my public speaking workshop) use an electronic collaborative blog site for posting content and receiving feedback (both video and text). This provides a unique platform for candid, time-shifted, detailed review. For sure, using this electronic review process clearly facilitates and improves the interaction itself resulting in an improvement in the overall design and content of your poster (or presentation). I would encourage everyone to do the same thing by posting your poster drafts to a private blog and asking for feedback. You could post not only the poster itself in PDF form. An alternative, is to convert the poster image to a .jpg image and post to flickr (or other photo sharing site) and ask for feedback there.

Once you have taken advantage of today’s technology to create a well-designed, visually appealing, effective poster the next step is to develop and practice delivering your key messages. In addition to posting the PDF of the poster itself, you will also want to post audio and/or video recordings of you presenting the work.

You will want to capture and deliver these messages via a “poster podcast” (audio or audio/video downloadable content ). Why? Because a poster podcast provides a low or no cost route of additional communication allowing for time-shifted review, interactivity and searchable content. Besides it simply is easier and more interesting to hear scientific information in interview format (think NPR’s Science Friday or CBS’s Quirks & Quarks).

To get an idea of what I have in mind, listen to the following two podcasts.

The first podcast while interesting for a general audience, may be a bit too simplistic for an advanced scientific audience. Have a listen.

CBS’s Quirks & Quarks

For the second example, I created this podcast with a poster presentation workshop participant! (Thanks Debra!) The workshop helps participants to first develop and then deliver concise, clear, effective messages via “posters”. This is what is typically done in science today, but I wanted to take poster presentation to the natural next level.

So, after the in-person portion of this workshop, I worked one-on-one with a few people. I asked a few basic questions, that, in essence, weaved together their practiced messages into a 3 minute story about the work. I wanted to show, by example, how effective a podcast poster can be and also how easy it is (using low to no cost technology) to create a “poster podcast”.

Debra’s Poster Presentation
(To listen to the podcast, click on the link below then once you are on the page click on one of the streaming links on the left to listen, or download the MP3 from the Other Files section of the page).

Ok, I know, I know…Debra’s portion is pretty good, but my questions were lame; generic and not well thought through. However, rest assured, with more time, more interesting and appropriate questions could be asked. I just wanted to create a quick sample so that you had a better idea of what I was referring to. Notice you can include other files like the PDF of the poster as well as perhaps the full text of the paper and perhaps a copy of your CV. Notice the comments section that could be used to encourage feedback and discussion. Of course, you could embed this on your website and protect with password if necessary until the work can be published publicly.

So how do I envision that these podcasts will be used at an actual conference? Stay tuned…I’ll be writing more about that tomorrow! This is where we’ll put to good use existing technologies that truly will take “poster presentations” to the next level. In addition, I’ll hope to convince you podcasts and my vision will be the standard operating procedure in the very near future and you need to start learning how to become a leading edge communicator using these technologies.

Special Note: I originally wrote this article in September of 2006 and I don’t think scientists were quite ready for my message at the time. However, l am also old enough to remember when I first told scientists that they would one day be using PowerPoint and I was also “poo-pooed” then too! Today, however, I think the younger generation of scientists not only recognize the importance of “on-demand” communication but will demand it. It is time to take these ideas seriously and begin creating your poster podcasts.

To be very clear, I am NOT an expert on grant proposals. However, I get asked the question so often, I thought I provide some links (from the experts) on how to do this right. I hope this helps!

If YOU have a great resource, let us know in the comments! Thanks!

• Inside the NIH Grant Review Process This is a NIH Video cast of the NIH Grant Scientific Peer Review Process (39 minutes)
• What You Need to Know About Electronic R01 Submissions, Alan Kotok (ScienceCareers.org)
  Getting Ready for Electronic R01 Submissions, Alan Kotok (ScienceCareers.org) NIH now requires that applicants submit proposals for its R01 research grants in electronic, rather than paper, form. These 2 articles, parts 1 and 2 of a 2-part series, provide some background, explain the process NIH has devised for submitting electronic R01 applications and the key steps researchers and grant administrators should have taken before the February deadline, and report on how NIH prepared for this process.
• An Evidence-Based Guide to Writing Grant Proposals for Clinical Research. Inouye and Fiellin (Ann Intern Med 2005; 142: 274-282) [PDF document is free] — Describes types and sources of grant funds, provides key recommendations regarding the grant-writing process, and highlights grant
  

Here’s a great link for all of the “pre-professionals” reading this blog. There are a number of free workshops available for viewing including topics such as:

• Applying to Medical School: Preparing for the MCAT
• Career Counseling Workshop: Planning for Career Satisfaction and Success
• CV and Resume Writing: Preparing Effective Job Search Correspondence
• Getting the Most Out of a Job Fair
• Applying for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
• Science Policy: Shaping the Role of Science in Society

There are many more workshops and they often include not only the slides, but also audio and video recordings. Check it out. Some good stuff! If you view one, leave a comment on the quality below.

When I am making presentations about public speaking or delivering a podcast (yes, that really is me in the picture above), I often talk about the perceptions formed based on the rate of speech of the presenter. Inevitably someone in the audience asks me,

“Lisa, how fast do YOU speak?”

If you have attended one of my seminars or spoken with me on the phone you would know that my natural rate of speech is quite fast. When making presentations I speak at approximately 145-160 words per minute (wpm), while an average American English speaker engaged in a friendly conversation speaks at a rate of approximately 110–150 wpm. (Interestingly, publishers recommend books on tape to be voiced at 150-160 wpm, auctioneers are generally 250-400 wpm while the average reading rate is about 200-300 wpm).

However, as you may know, people speak at different rates at different times. Natural speech includes bursts of more rapid speech and in addition, we are all capable of speaking faster and slower when we want. Of course, there are also variations in speed associated with the situation in which the speech is being produced.

We speak more rapidly if we are in a hurry, or saying something urgent, or trying not to be interrupted in a conversation. For many people, nervousness or excitement will also increase the rate of speech. Conversely, we tend to speak more slowly when we are tired or bored. I know for me, I tend to talk more slowly and with more non-words (um, ah, pauses, etc.) when making impromptu presentations and while practicing delivery of new presentation materials. Clearly the emotional state of the speaker greatly influences the rate of speaking.

Finally, I think there is also a cultural and personal element. In some places, like New York City people tend to naturally talk faster, while in other locales people talk much slower. Culturally, if English isn’t the speakers first language, that can also slow down the rate of speech. In addition, some people are naturally fast talkers, while others habitually speak slowly. I was a fast talker even as a child. My mother was constantly telling me to slow down and breathe!

So how do you calculate how your rate of speech?

We are used to measuring the speed at which someone can type, write or take shorthand dictation in terms of how many words per minute are taken down. Some adjustment usually has to be made to penalize someone for going so rapidly that they make mistakes. In measuring speech, we can do the same thing – we can give someone a speaking task such as describing what their research is or what they did on their last vacation – and count how many words they speak in a given time period.

So, are your ready to calculate your speech rate? You have two options. The first option is a more accurate measure of your speech rate, but requires you to speak extemporaneously about a topic for one minute. While the alternative method, isn’t quite as accurate, but does give you a general idea of your speech rate.

Option One: Talk, Tape and Count

Take out your tape recorder. Think of a topic you have a genuine interest in…your family, your research, and your favorite hobby. Once you are ready, begin speaking and begin recording yourself. Be sure to speak for at least one minute on the topic. Then using the rewind function, play the tape back several times to count the number of words you uttered in one minute. It is even better if you extemporaneously present and record one minute of your most recent presentation. This way, your score will be a more accurate measure of your “presentation” speech rate.

Option Two: Read and Count

For those of you that would prefer not to record yourself, here is another way to measure your speech rate. Read the following “test” paragraph aloud. Try to pace yourself as if you are presenting or talking at your “normal” rate. This method isn’t as accurate but it is easier to count.

Start “presenting” the paragraph below. See how far you get after a minute has gone by. Count the number of words you were able to express in one minute. This is your presentation speech rate.

Start your timing, then stop, after one minute.

This begins my test of my presentation speech rate. Using this method, I will measure my speech rate by reading the following sentences as if I am actually speaking in my normal manner.

In our lab, we are determining what is required to turn designed proteins into active enzymes. Specifically, I am working with Bill Smith to add the functions of dinuclear enzymes to our designs. Our work has the potential to create small enzymes capable of replacing large natural ones that are difficult to express and purify.

We found that opening the active site to substrate required using smaller side chains that resulted in destabilization of the protein structure.

(Word count 110)

A detailed analysis suggested that we could stabilize the new enzyme structure by reengineering the turn in our protein.

(Word count 129)

We demonstrated that the new enzyme adopts the desired conformation and can perform several reactions naturally catalyzed by much larger proteins.

(Word count 150)

This work demonstrates that we can design new active sites, and is the first step to the design of active sites capable of novel chemistry.

(Word count 175)

This is a test. This is only a test of my speech rate.

~end~ (Word count 183)
So does your rate of speaking matter?

Yes! It does. Research has shown that speaking rate influences perceptions. In fact, a positive linear relationship has repeatedly been found between speech rate and perceived competence. In fact several studies found that faster rates of speech are associated with perceptions of competence, extraversion, and social attractiveness. In other similar studies, listeners rated competence and social attractiveness higher for those speakers whose perceived and actual speaking rates were similar to their own than to those whose rates they believed to be different from their own.

Obviously, other factors also influence perceptions of competence, extraversion and social attractiveness. What is important to remember is that your rate of speech does have an impact on the perceptions of your audience.

So what is your rate of speech? Let us know in the comments.

I hope you’ll indulge me! I spent all day working on this introduction (when I should have been reviewing contracts and sending out invoices!). As you may know, I am a “one-man-band” (a sole proprietor) which means I never have anyone sitting near my desk (except when I am working at Panera Bread – my “home away from home” office) to ask, “Hey, how does this look? Got any ideas?”

I would be VERY GRATEFUL for YOUR comments, suggestions, improvements.

Really! Both bad and good. I am not creative, or an artist, or videographer or regular vlogger so this was a BIG step for me! I would be delighted to hear what you have to say. Either post your comments here or send me an email if you don’t want them public.

Come on…really, take a minute to give me some feedback! I can take it!

By the way…Expert Presenter is the six week internet delivered workshop that I have been developing. At this point I have all the text created (well, almost all, I keep thinking of new stuff to add, but a year is long enough!) and now I am the process of audio recording the learning modules. I plan to add in a bit more video, similar to what I created today, but with less “fluff” in the beginning.

Right now, the New York Academy of Science in interested in co-branding (and selling) this internet delivered public speaking workshop for life sciences professionals. The idea is provide a low cost alternative to in-person training that still maintains quality AND most importantly, allows professionals to take the training at the bench via their computer or IPod (or any MP3 player). We plan to offer an option for in-person group coaching for graduates in different cities across the world.

Again, if you have thoughts or ideas on this, I’m all ears. I really hope you’ll take a minute to write.

This past fall the University of Pennsylvania hosted a symposium for biomedical postdocs and they wanted me to provide feedback for a few of the presenters. I wasn’t able to attend, so I asked them to record and upload the video using www.viddler.com. This is a tool I started using about six months ago and I LOVE it.

This tool allows me to provide audio and video comments (think YouTube) but here’s the twist (and best part)…I can insert the comments into SPECIFIC points within the talk. So I can “interrupt” the talk with my comments! How cool is that? Oh, and others can add their comments too or reply to comments that have already been left. Check it out…

So how can YOU use this tool? Watching yourself on video is one of the best ways to improve your presentations. With the prevalence of webcams today and cheap video cameras there is no reason NOT to record yourself. Oh, and don’t wait until you’ve finished all of your slides. When you get a section done, go ahead and practice delivering just that section. Do one or two rehearsals, then go ahead and press record. (If you have a webcam on your computer, all you need to do is go to the Viddler website, go to the record tab and choose the big red record button). It really is quick and painless (and no I don’t get a commission from them).

Once you have reviewed your own video three times (one time for organization, one time for delivery and one time to just to get used to looking at your mug and listening to your voice <smile>) then be brave and send the video to a few friends and colleagues and ask them for feedback.

You need to be specific, tell them, ” Please give me two or three things that worked well, and two or three things that I could improve on”. It is important to specifically invite suggestions for improvement otherwise you are likely to get “Oh, yeah, your talk looked fine. Good job.”

Better, yet, use your extended network (see my post about LinkedIn) to find someone that doesn’t know you very well but is in a related area and then ask them to be your “video presentation partner”. (When they ask you what the heck that is…just send them here to this blog post! …clever marketing for me, huh? <smile>) The point is that your sisters, brothers, and friends are less likely to tell the honest truth, whereas someone who committed to improving their communication skills will likely give your great feedback because they understand just how important it is.

Anyway, the idea is to use Viddler’s social networking (the “friend” function or better yet, use a buddy list) to send your short clips out for review. Think of like the process you follow when you send a paper out for review. You do it then, why not for presentations?

By creating videos you won’t be nervous (you are only performing for the camera) and your “friends” will be able to review when they have time. Oh and one last thing, if you want REALLY HONEST feedback, you could use the account I set up so that folks can provide ANONYMOUS feedback. (Contact me and I’ll tell you the login and password for the account. ) This way you’ll never know which friend to thank (or be mad at!) Oh, and of course, you could always ask me to review as well.

Here’s an example below. Take a look. And be sure to insert a comment, especially if you have an idea to improve the presentation, but even just to insert a test comment to try out the technology.

P.S. Oh, and I am looking for a few more video volunteers to post on this blog. So if you want the opportunity to get some free help from me, send me a link to your video that you have uploaded to Viddler. (And I promise to provide positive as well as constructive comments.)

Check it out!! I inserted a video comment right at the start so you could see how it works. The rest are text comments. Let us know what you think in the comments.

A few weeks ago, I was “on the fence” about going to a Jeff Pulver social media networking breakfast. The main reason I was even considering this event was to meet a particular person who had RSVP’d a confirmation. I was thinking, “Hmmmm…but what if he decides not to go–will it really be worth my time?”

Then my brother emailed me to let me know he had been laid off from his job (after 13 years of employment with the same company) and was wondering if I could help with his job search. I immediate thought about the networking event and told him it might be a good idea to attend the event–even if just to brush-up on his networking skills. So I directed him to the Facebook event page detailing the event and told him to review the profiles of the people who had confirmed attendance.

On the day of the event I met my brother at the train station. On our ride in I asked my brother, “Hey Ron, did you have a chance to review the profiles and set your goals?” He told me he didn’t have a chance to review and then said, “I need goals?”

I responded “Here’s the thing, if you don’t have goals for attending an event, how will you know if was worthwhile?” I then went on to say, if it’s possible, it’s always a good idea to plan who you want to meet and want you want to accomplish BEFORE the event.

Why are goals important? First, if you can’t come up with at least 2 or 3 specific, obtainable objectives, then attending the event is probably not worth your time. Second, goals helps you to focus your time (and choices) while you are at the event. Finally, when the event is over, you can measure your level of success which can then help you decide if you should do it (or something like it ) again.

However, I’ll admit you also need to consider  the “you don’t know, what you don’t know” factor. For example, the two things biggest benefits I gained from attending that event were things I couldn’t have anticipated ahead of time.

Unexpectedly I met a fiction writer, Christine Cavalier (aka Purplecar) so I mentioned to her a new “writing” project I am developing with a major NY publisher. She made a suggestion that was incredibly insightful. I knew immediately that her idea was going to make a significant positive impact on the project. I was even somewhat embarrassed that I hadn’t come up with idea. Of course, I thanked her over and over again! (Thanks, Christine – again!)

The second biggest benefit was learning about a possible source of seed money for a community service project that I have been thinking about. I have a great idea that with a small amount of money could really make a major impact on the lives of people in my local community. In fact, I would like to ask for YOUR help. How can you help? Well, the more votes I get for the project, the more likely it is that I will get the funding. Once I find a few moments to post my idea, I’ll post a link here so you can cast your vote for me! (That is, if you agree that it is a fabulous idea!)

Finally, my goal of meeting Kevin, never panned out. (Kevin Werbach, if you are reading this, I will be at University of Pennsylvania delivering seminars in both April and May and I would like to meet you.) So although I met my goal of helping my brother brush-up on his networking skills and I gained two pearls of wisdom, I did not achieve all of my up-front goals.

Was the event worth my time? For me, family always come first and if I was able to help my brother in some small way, then for sure it was worth my time. (In fact, he just called to update me on his job search. Sounds like he will be gainfully employed very soon!) In addition, the idea from Christine, for sure, was worth the time investment and my guess is that I’ll get a chance to meet Kevin soon.

So, my question for you is…what goals will you set for your next event? How will you know if you have been successful? Tell us about it in the comments.
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If you don’t already think I’m a geek…then this post will surely convince you of that.

Today, I was listening to NPR’s Studio 360. The host, Kurt Andersen, was doing a segment with Gary Hustwit, the director of the recently released documentary “Helvetica.” (It’s a feature-length film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture.)

At the end the segment, Kurt asks, “Do you have any strong feelings about fonts? How much do you hate Comic Sans?” (Ok, here’s the geeky part, ready?) I actually responded by looking in the general direction of my stereo speakers, rolling my eyes up (as if the host could actually see and hear me) and I said aloud, “Don’t get me started!”

Just last week I had been invited to the School of Medicine at Harvard University to work with postdoctoral researchers. One of the PowerPoint presentations that I reviewed used Comic Sans. I politely explained that this font was originally created for cartoon text and in general, communicates silliness and fun.

I suggested instead that she pick a more neutral, professional font – like Helvetica – to communicate her very serious scientific work. It’s simple, well-proportioned, and modern (even though this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of this typeface). For PC users, I should mention that Arial, is Microsoft’s version of Helvetica (although there are differences).

It’s not that I dislike Comic Sans, or think that it should be banned, it’s just that I believe that the characteristics of a font convey tone or meaning (like the tone of your voice) and I think for presentations (or any visual display of information) it is important that the tone match the content.

If you are communicating serious, significant, scientific findings, then a serious, neutral font should be chosen so that the content itself is concentrated on (not the feeling communicated by the font). If someone asks you about the font you are using and not about the science, something has gone wrong!

What I don’t understand is the increased use of this silly font among scientists. With each passing month I see more and more presentations using the font. I don’t get it? What is the attraction? Is it just the novelty? Can’t they see how this how this font can create a negative impression and impact their credibility? (Comic Sans users, I invite you to comment below because I really don’t get understand this increasing trend.)

So, do I think there is ANY use for Comic Sans? Sure, it can be used, but sparingly and thoughtfully. When communicating in a casual manner or in an effort to communicate fun and frivolity then I say- go for it! (In fact, I admit I have used it when communicating with young students in online forums.)

Here’s the bottom line for you, my clients and regular blog readers:

You are a very smart person who is communicating very important, complex ideas, please, don’t EVER use Comic Sans for work. If you do, it will just make you appear unprofessional or worse, not serious about your work.

Yep, Kurt, I guess I do have a strong opinion about a font, I suppose I just didn’t realize it until you asked!

This past week I delivered two seminars for the School of Medicine at Harvard University. At the end of my first seminar something surprising happened.

As you might expect, after seminars, participants often come up to ask questions they didn’t want to ask in front of the entire group. Of course, I answer what I can and if I have supplemental materials that pertains to the question, I usually offer to send the person more information. I always ask for the person’s business card so that I can follow-up with the requested information.

Well, this typical scenario played out again at Harvard, except, this time, each time I asked for a card, the response was “I don’t have a business card.” (It wasn’t just that they didn’t have the cards WITH them–they DIDN’T HAVE business cards at all! Well, to be fair, one guy did have a card, but he was the exception.)

I thought to myself…”What??? No business cards???” The audience was made up of postdoctoral researchers, who by definition, either are currently looking for a job or very soon will be seeking a new position. Hadn’t someone explained the need for business cards?

So, why do I think postdocs (for that matter – anyone trying to advance their career) should absolutely have a business card? Because to most, the very presence of a business card means that a person is serious about their career and they recognize the value of looking professional in all interactions. Besides cards are so cheap (you can get 100 full-color cards for approximately US$15) there is no reason NOT to have them.

So what does a scientific researcher do with business cards?

First and foremost, a card should be exchanged anytime there is an exchange of ideas, a possible collaboration. Certainly, you should be handing them out during poster presentations, after conference talks, during professional meetings with people outside of your lab. You should even consider giving a stack of cards to you mentor/collaborators so that they can network on your behalf. Of course, business cards can also be used to conveniently leave a note or to easily provide your contact info–you’re never stuck looking around for a pen and paper. (For a more unusual use of your business card, read about speed-networking for science geeks).

Those early in their career can also use business cards to make important contacts. When you hand someone a business card, “card courtesy”, dictates that they give you one in return. For senior people, it’s almost a reflex. You can take advantage of this by giving your card to senior research professionals (you won’t have to “work up the nerve” to approach them for their contact information). Simply hand them your card at an appropriate moment.

So what exactly should your card look like?

First and foremost, it should be simple and professional. (For inspiration, take a look at the professional layouts chosen by the postdocs at University of Pennsylvania or perhaps you prefer a more unusual approach). It should be on standard weight card stock and should include the full color logo of your institution. Of course, you’ll want to include your full contact information.

If you have a famous boss, be sure to include “Famous Name Laboratory” in the address of the institution. You’ll also want to include your cell phone and permanent email (institutional email accounts are fleeting) address so that someone can connect with you during personal time or even a few years later.

Finally, you’re card should have a link to your professional blog/website (If you don’t have one, these are free and easy to set-up and are also a job search networking essential) that includes links to your work, your updated CV, and your professional frequently asked questions document.

Every time you meet someone you should be networking. Even when you meet someone at the local coffee house or a wedding, it’s good practice to explain your work and then exchange business cards. It is NEVER to early to start building your professional network –in fact, it’s best to develop it BEFORE you need it. With this in mind, if you don’t have a card, you should get one now!

You should keep some in your wallet/purse, in your glovebox, in your laptop case, in your desk at work, in your desk at home…everywhere, really. You never want to be caught without your card. You never know when you might meet someone that can help you. A professional card can speak volumes about how you care for yourself and how you interact with others.

Oh, and don’t forget, to create the digital equivalent of your business card. There are a number of professional networking sites (I use and have had good success with LinkedIn …see my previous blog post.)

The day after Thanksgiving, my husband and I decided to go out on an “date” — our first evening out past 9:00 pm since the birth of our 3 1/2 year old identical twins. (Yep, I know, it’s a sad statement about our social life, but unfortunately it’s true.) We chose to visit our local Comedy Cabaret to decompress–to get away from work.

I was really looking forward to releasing endorphins and reducing my stress through laughter–especially after my early morning (4:30 AM) “Black Friday” skirmishes. I didn’t think it would be possible to be thinking about work while enjoying local comedians, but then, out of the mouth of the very first comedian, came that dreaded phrase –”Thank-you and that’s my time”. Immediately my mind flashed to the many scientific presentations that I have seen when the speaker ends with “Thank-you. Are there any questions?”

Comedians, at least have an excuse for ending this way. Comedic routines lack a rigid organization structure. Comedians are told to put their second funniest joke at the beginning, while saving their “funniest” joke for the end. However, a good comedian understands that audiences react differently to jokes and therefore prepares a few “best” jokes. During each performance, he then chooses which joke to end with based on the audience response. The idea is to finish with a big laugh and then then say “Thank-you, that’s my time” as the signal indicating that the set is complete (and it’s time to clap for the performer).

A good scientific presenter also uses signals to indicate that the presentation has come to end. The first most obvious signal is the conclusion. When the speaker reviews the main ideas in summary form, this indicates that the presentation is coming to an end. To be effective as a signal, it’s important to remember that the conclusion needs to be proportional (about 10-15% of the talk)–the longer the talk, the longer the conclusion needs to be. If the conclusion is missing or too short (common errors in scientific presentations) the conclusion is an ineffective signal.

Many presenters end after a short summary, however, an excellent presenter uses one additional final signal to indicate that their presentation is complete. Strong communicators, follow a solid conclusion with a very short “closer”. For an informative speech, the closer is called a “residual message”, while a persuasive speech uses a “call to action”. The idea of the residual message is to make a brief, broader statement that sums up THE main message you want your audience to remember and hints at the broader speech theme. A call to action, is a statement that specifically tells the audience what you want them to do. Closers need to be short, efficient, and memorable. Weather it’s a residual message or call to action, the main purpose of the closer is to SIGNAL that you have come to the end of the presentation. A well-done “closer” will have your audience automatically clapping BEFORE you utter “Thank-you are there any questions?”

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that some of you are thinking and wondering…but what’s wrong with asking if there are any questions? To be clear, it’s not the phrase that I object to, it’s when and how this phrase is used. If it is used as the ONLY signal that the talk in ending–INSTEAD of using a strong conclusion and closer, then it is not appropriate. But if you have already finished with a strong conclusion and closer–then, of course, you can ask if there any questions–that is AFTER the appreciative clapping has quieted down!

The night of our “date” I noticed that the most experienced comedian (the headliner) didn’t resort to the phrase and used a more creative way to signal the end of his set. His last joke circled back to the very beginning of his routine. I had to laugh–not only because the joke was funny, but also because that is exactly the technique that I advocate for scientific presenters. Returning back to opening, coming “full circle” so to speak, is a common cinematic technique for signaling the end has come. It works equally well for movies, presentations and comedians.

So much for a night out to forget about work!

No, no, not to your upcoming social event–I’m talking about a LinkedIn invitation to join your professional network.

When I was first introduced to LinkedIn I thought it was a scam! It wasn’t until a very trusted friend invited me to join, I checked it out and realized the potential professional benefit.

If you haven’t heard about it yet, it is a very popular networking site for people to maintain their professional contacts while also making new connections, finding jobs, people and business opportunities and to asking and answering questions related to your work. According to Wikipedia as of October 2007, it had more than 15 million registered users, spanning 150 industries and more than 400 economic regions.

How have I used it?

For me it has solved an on-going problem I had with maintaining my professional network. Although I am good at initially collecting contact information, I’m not very good at regular follow-up. At times, when I did need to reconnect with someone I would spend much wasted time trying to find current contact information. With this system everyone maintains their own information and when contacts in your network make changes, you automatically have the updates! For me, that functionality alone was a big enough benefit for me to join the network.

But it much more than that! Recently, through LinkedIn, I was able to not only find out that one of my old bosses moved to a new company. Then just two days later, serendipitously he contacted me about a potential business opportunity in my local area.

I also have used it to expand my business in the South San Fransisco biotechnology cluster. Just before my last trip to deliver a seminar at Standford University, I used LinkedIn to offer a few free seats to industry professionals. This way, they got a some free training and I had the potential of follow-on business at their company. It worked! I was recently contacted to deliver a few workshops over the next few months for a pharmaceutical company in that area as a result of those previous seminars.

Just last week, I contacted someone in my local area because I was intrigued with his professional skill set. Since we were close, he invited me for coffee and during our short meeting we decided to barter for our respective services.

Finally, one of my main goals for using LinkedIn is to benefit YOU! Yes, you! The folks that come to my seminars and read this blog. I would like to be able to help you expand your professional networks. I want to be able to help science professionals make connections–especially in today’s very competitive job market– to help you obtain your “dream job”.

So I invite you to send me an invitation to join your network. As I spread the word at my seminars and workshops, I expect that my network will grow quite extensively. If you haven’t joined yet, please at least check it out. If you are already a member, please send me an invitation to join your network. Be sure to mention you “met” me via my blog!

Oh, if you just want to check out my profile on linked in…here it is.

View Lisa B. Marshall’s profile

Use lisabmarshall {AT} gmail {DOT} com to send me an invitation to join your professional network!

If you’ve had some success at using this networking tool, leave a comment below.

As you many know, my training center is in center city Philadelphia, close to my favorite, and somewhat famous science museum,  The Franklin Institute.  I saw that they were  looking “for individuals with a science, technology, or education background to volunteer as Science Presenters in our many exhibits. Science Presenters answer questions, explain science concepts, and do demonstrations.”I thought to myself, “Wow–what a great opportunity for those in the sciences to practice talking about science in an interesting, clear, and concise manner”.

In fact, I strongly believe (and research supports this) that consistent, regular practice is the best way to become a captivating, concise, and compelling speaker.

Why?  The more you practice, the more you speak, which gives you more opportunities for successful speaking experiences.  With each repeated success in public speaking your skill and confidence will build.  As your confidence builds, so does your ability to share your natural enthusiasm for your passions.  It really is that simple.  The more you present and the more regularly you present, the better and more confident you will become.

So how do you get more practice (in addition to volunteering at your local science museum)?

If you haven’t heard of it by now, there’s an non-profit organization, Toastmaster’s International, that is specifically dedicated to helping leaders build their communication skills. With clubs around the world, it’s a good place to get  regular practice and good feedback.

Make short videos highlighting your current published work.  It’s easy to do with the webcam and simple microphones found on your computer.  Then submit to SciVee, Viddler, Revver, or even YouTube.  The advantage of submitting to SciVee is that your work (and your communication skills) will get broad exposure into the scientific community.  If you use viddler.com, you can forward the video to a few friends and they can insert text and  audio/video comments directly into your presentation (I use this frequently with my clients! ) No matter how you decide to do it, this makes for great practice and will certainly help you to improve.

Finally, it is important to look for and enthusiastically say “yes” to any and every opportunity to speak.  Practice in the lab, practice at journal club, practice in student organizations, practice at your church, practice at parties, practice in your community.  When someone backs out at the last minute, be the first one to volunteer to fill-in. Don’t be like most  people who try to avoid speaking situations because it makes them uncomfortable.  It is very important to think of those opportunities as a chance to improve.

I’ll be looking for you the next time I visit my favorite science museum!

The work of a scientist isn’t finished until it has been communicated.  Of course, you’ll want to publish and present at conferences, but now you have a third alternative to help you reach the broader scientific community.  Visit SciVee –they are pioneering new modes of dissemination of scientific information.  Think of it as “you tube” for the scientific community.  According to their website  “Created for scientists, by scientists, SciVee moves science beyond the printed word and lecture theater taking advantage of the internet as a communication medium where scientists young and old have a place and a voice.”  You can submit links to published papers and you can also upload a short video of yourself talking about highlights from the research.  How cool is that?

Check it out.  Oh… and if you want help with making your video presentation, drop me a line <smile>. I know a little about scientific communication!

I was searching the internet archive today and stumbled across a manual for public speaking written in 1922! So I decided to give it a read. I’m so glad I did. Wow what a resource!

The introduction –oratory still the supreme art–applies today just as much today as it did then. It starts “the demand for good public speaking is as great as it ever was. Some years ago there was a prevailing belief that the spoken word had lost its power as a real force in shaping men’s opinions and influencing their actions. It was commonly thought that that the newspaper and the magazine were about to take the place of the preacher, the lecturer, and the stump speaker. But such is not been the case…Society still cherishes its gifted speakers…Chauncey Depew says There is no accomplishment which any man can have which so quickly make for him a career and secure recognition as the ability to speak acceptably.”

What I found most interesting was the level of detail–far more than I usually found today for basic areas such as voice, loudness, variety, pitch, enunciation, pronunciation, etc. For example, it details how to use the tongue, the lips and breath control. It has diagrams of how the lungs work and describes in detail the proper way to breath to have the best voice control–great stuff!

So why did I include it here? Because I think it includes many ideas are particularly helpful for the non-native English speaker. I particularly like this manual because it contains many helpful exercises that build fundamental skills. I plan to spend more time with this “oldie but goodie” and perhaps start incorporating some of the exercises into my workshops!

Hope you find it a useful resource too. Let me know what YOU think.

Want to see something cool?

Here’s a video from Harvard that is an animation of life within a cell.

(Show your kids too. My three year old twins were mesmerized. )

P.S. If you know of a text description for this video, I would love to see it. Please send it to me!

As part of my final preparation for a presentation at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA), I found this great little article titled “How to Read a Scientific Paper” written by John W. Little and Roy Parker at University of Arizona. (Especially for young scientists this is a “must read”).

What I found really interesting was the section “Difficulties in Reading a Paper”. I have said the very same thing about consequences of poorly organized talks.

Here’s what the author says: (I added the bold below for emphasis.)

“Bad writing has several consequences for the reader… logical connections are often left out. Instead of saying why an experiment was done, or what ideas were being tested, the experiment is simply described.”

This paragraph could easily have been written about poorly developed scientific talks. I have noticed the same trouble spots; transitions are often left out. Typically a series are experiments are described with little, if any, connection between each step shown.

However, effective transitions are not only important for flow, but more importantly they are what make the science presentation INTERESTING!

All scientists are interested in the discovery process. The understanding of the journey. Why one idea lead to another. Why one method was chosen over another. What stumbling blocks were encountered? What were the “aha” moments? The answers to these questions are the fascinating part of scientific inquiry, The logical connections–not just the experiment described–is what makes it interesting. You need to be sure you audience understand why the ideas were being tested.

Why do we need to gain attention with our first words?

1.Quite simply, if you deliver your main message and you audience is doing something else–they have missed the main organizing structure they need to understand your materials.

Do you remember a time when the speaker quickly blurted the title, but, you missed it–you were busy shuffling papers, moving your coat or perhaps putting sugar in your coffee. You missed it.

The result?

You spent the next few minutes, as the speaker rattled on, trying to figure out how the material all hinges together-you were trying to ferret out the main message by looking for clues in the content.

You don’t want that!

Keep in mind that your job is to make the talk as easy to understand and follow as possible.  For scientific speakers it’s easy to loose your audience at the start and it’s easy to loose them along the way.  Because science presentations progress in a logical progressive fashion it is even more important to be sure your audience is right there with you.  Once you loose them they are gone for the remainder of the presentation!

2.  Within minutes, (or even seconds, depending on who you ask) people have formed an opinion and made their minds up about you. “Look how short she is…wow, that’s an annoying voice….bbbbooooorrrriiiiiinnnngggggg! … these initial impressions are powerful, important, and researchers say surprising hard to change.

In his book Blink, Malcom Gladwell refers to “thin slicing” – ability of human beings to make sense of a situation based on a thin slice of experience. The book is full of examples of how people use this ability and just how powerful it really is. (If you haven’t read this book, it’s a “high recommend.”)

He’s trying to get people to consider just how important this is..he says on his website that he wants “to get people to take rapid cognition seriously. When it comes to something like dating, we all readily admit to the importance of what happens in the first instant when two people meet. But we won’t admit to the importance of what happens in the first two seconds when we talk about what happens when someone encounters a new idea, or when we interview someone for a job”…

So what can you do? How do you make a good impression? Say something interesting!  Use a case history, a story, an analogy, a quote, a generalization, a surprising statement.  Do what you need to do to distract your audience from negative judgments and instead have them engaged and thinking about the content. Have them thinking, why is he telling me this?

When you finally deliver your main message and the audience says, ”Oh..I get it-that’s interesting.” You’ve got them. Now you’ve got them primed and waiting for more and you’ve sealed the deal on that very important first impression.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause — Samuel Clemens

Tip: Use pauses for attention, emphasis, and mental digestion. This is an important technique that can be useful in a variety of situations.

Allow me to explain…

Pause for attention
When you want to gain the attention of your audience, simply pause. Pause long enough and all eyes will be on you. Then once you have their attention, you should deliver an important point.

Pause for emphasis
If you combine the above pause with some words that indicate the next idea is important, you have created a “must listen” situation for your audience.

You might say, “This next idea is probably the most important idea that I am going to share with you today…. < P A U S E >….< then fill in your main point here>”.

The pause, especially combined with emphasis words will cause your audience to pay special attention and place more importance on those particular ideas. Of course, you can only use this one during a speech, so save this technique for the most important message.

Pause for mental digestion
When you want your audience to think over what you just said, or feel the impact of your words, a simple pause AFTER you have delivered your words will leave space for the mental digestion. It’s like the “rest” in music. Your are giving your audience a moment to think it through.

Mostly due to nerves, many folks rush through presentations and don’t pause enough. A well delivered pause will help your audience to understand and remember your idea and it also shows confidence–all very important parts of effective presentation.

In both academia and industry a large part of professional success depends on the important ability to network effectively. Networking isn’t just about handing out business cards, asking for referrals and attending meetings. Networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships and today you can begin developing relationships by participating in social media (like this blog).

I know, I know, you want to meet other scientists, right…Well, many scientific journals and magazines are adding social media aspects that provide the opportunity to begin developing important relationships online.

Here’s a free blog area from the Nature that I found recently.

Here’s what you can do on it:* Create your own personal profile page and describe yourself and your research.
* Set up a group for your lab, department or institution.
* Join and have discussions with group members.
* Build your own online network of likeminded people.
* On the city pages, search listing of upcoming seminars and conferences.
* Browse local jobs listings.

Check it out. If you are already using it-let us know your experience.

Finally, it is always important to begin building your network BEFORE you need it! So even if you decide not to participate in this network, try to connect with just one person today. (Hey, you could like to me on my LinkedIn network if you haven’t already done that…)

After many years of working one-on-one with private coaching clients, I have noticed that some mistakes are very common. I would have say the number one top delivery mistake is not enough direct eye contact.

Many studies indicate that making eye contact is the most powerful mode of establishing a communicative link between humans. It has been shown to be vital to human social development, important to information recall, and important for persuasion. Your goal should be to have direct eye contact with someone in your audience at much as possible. I usually tell clients, 90% of the time you should be gazing directly into the eyes of an audience member. Yep, that much!

The specific problem that I see the most is that people tend to rely on their slides as their notes so they turn to face the screen and end up talking to the screen–not to audience members. The best thing to do is to practice so that you don’t need to rely on the slides. If necessary, you can print out your some brief notes that you can keep in front of you. In any case, if you feel the need to sneak a peek. Keep this advice in mind…”look, lock, and talk”. That is, “look” quickly at the notes/screen to remind yourself where you are heading, then “lock” in on someone’s eyes in the audience and “talk” to them directly.

I have noticed with overachievers (most of my clients) they often know the material very well, yet still feels the need to look at the slides just to be “sure they don’t leave anything important out.” However, in this case, the “looking” is just an unnecessary distracting habit and it significantly detracts from the presentation. It is always better to connect with your audience talking (eye to eye) in a comfortable conversational manner…even if you do accidentally leave something out.

Don’t worry, really. An interested person can read the missing detail in your paper or simply ask you during the Q&A. Again, making the connection with your audience is MOST important and eye contact is essential to achieving that.

Finally, since many of my clients are foreign nationals, sometimes this problem with eye contact simply stems from cultural differences in the social meaning of eye contact. In Native American, many Asian, and some Hispanic cultures, looking down and avoiding direct eye contact is a sign of respect. However, most scientific conferences are held in English and follow North American communication standards. In this style of communication, trust is developed through eye contact and it is eye contact that allows you to make a connection with your audience.

Have you ever wondered how to handle the rambler?  The guy that talks and talks, but you are not sure what the question was?  Or the stage hog…the guy that comments on his own work or asks many questions all at once?  Or that most difficult person…the curmugeon?

In this audio broadcast, which is a excerpt from a live Art of Speaking Science program,  I provide specific guidelines to handle the stickiest situations you might face during your Q & A period… the rambler, the stage hog, and (heavens no) the hostile questioner. Listen to find out how to tells to handle these and other problem questioners during your presentations.

Listen and you will learn how to demonstrate control and quick thinking by using these solutions for problem questioners.

Do you dread the Q&A? Most people receive little or no training in for the Q&A portion of your talk.  You ability for quick thinking is judged and  for some this can be the toughest part of a presentation:  answering tough questions from your audience.  In this Lisa Live Audio Broadcast , an excerpt from a live Art of Speaking Science program, I’ll teach you how to be smooth and professional.

Do you get nervous before or during a presentation?  In this audio broadcast, I share several practical solutions to this very common problem.  To learn how to appear relaxed and under control listen to an excerpt from a live program delivered at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I love to hear from her listeners.
Call the listener line with your questions or comments:  206-984-4278 .

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is a proud sponsor of this podcast.

In science, it is critical that your slides communicate your work in a clear, efficient manner.  Don’t make the mistake that most scientist make…”the figure dump”.

Learn how to create great slides in this audio broadcast that was recorded live in NYC.

Your Challenge:

Submit a few of your slides here for review! See if you can apply the ideas for effective display of quantitative information.

After a recent seminar, Despina, stayed afterward to share some exciting news. I remembered Despina, she had attended a Poster Presentation Workshop the year before.

She told me, “After our workshop I submitted a poster in a contest and I won an award for my poster!” She then shared with me that her results at the time were very preliminary and that she attributed her success to the skills she had learned in the workshop. I think she was being kind and humble, but I was very glad she shared her success with me. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to know that I helped someone with their scientific career. It’s why I do this job. It’s why I am so passionate about communication because I know it has a direct impact on personal and professional success.
I asked her if she was willing to share her award winning poster on this blog and she graciously agreed.

Here it is. Of course, I can’t resist giving a brief review.

Three things I like about the poster:

* I liked that she used a mix of fonts. She used a sans-serif font for “far-away viewing” text like the titles and then used a serif font for close-up text. This use of fonts makes it the most efficient for reading.

* The purpose is crisp, clear, and concise. Most importantly it is the first item a viewer reads in the purpose section. Perfect!

* The poster is not overloaded with results. In posters particularly, less is more. She very clearly demonstrated that.

Three things I might have done differently had it been my poster:

* I would not have used red as the highlight color. Red is extremely difficult to read. I would have picked dark blue as the highlight color. Especially because she uses dark blue in other parts of the poster. (I would have also removed that orange background on the DBT image.)

* I would have bulleted text for faster reading. At a minimum removed the sentence punctuation and removed “extra” words and used only key words and phrases.

* For the graphs, direct label data lines (when possible eliminate graph legends) because it speeds up the reading and understanding of the graph.

Despina, thanks for sharing your poster and congratulatons on your success.

Your Challenge:
Critical review the last poster you completed and see if you can’t make some improvements now that you’ve seen an award winner!

Want to learn more about effective poster presentations? Consider attending a poster presenation seminar or workshop.

Learn how to improve your scientific posters by reviewing samples. You can see first hand what works and what doesn’t.

I have viewed hundreds, if not thousands of posters, and this first example is pretty good. Well, honestly, even this one could use some improvement, but it still is among the best.

Take a look for yourself…

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/examples/Flounder.html

In my opinion, the best part of this poster is that it is SIMPLE and EFFICIENT. That should ALWAYS be your primary goal. The main message is OBVIOUS, that should be your secondary goal. Be sure to read the evaluation below the poster, I definitely agree with both the positive and negative points mentioned.

Here’s another example. Take a look.

http://www.retroconference.org/2006/PDFs/489.pdf

Here’s my quick evaluation of this one. The title could be clearer…perhaps “Remune increases CD8+ HIV-1 specific cytotoxic responses reducing viral load in patients with chronic HIV-1 infection” Of course, I would need to confirm with the author that this is scientifically accurate. The idea is to include the quantification of the result in the title. Again, to be as SPECIFIC as possible in your title. Your title should be “the quantified simple answer” to the ONE central question that your poster addresses.

One of the nice features of this poster is the use of callouts on the tables to provide the “takeaway” information. However, the red color makes it harder to read; perhaps a darker color would have worked better. Notice the nice use of white space in this poster. But even this could have been improved by removing the box lines around the sections (Tufte refers to this kind of extra stuff as “chart junk”) and changing the text alignment to left justified. The left justification would have first made the text easier to read and second would have provided the visual “edges” that the box lines were providing.

Let’s look at one more. How about this one?

http://ari.ucsf.edu/science/posters_2005/hipp.pdf

This one is not a good as the others. At first glance it appears to have a “clean” visual appeal however upon closer inspection, this one suffers because it is impossible to pull out the most important main ideas from the details. The text sections are too heavy on text and the use a right justified margin makes it extremely difficult to read. Instead, I recommend the use of bulleted phrases especially when you have a section rich in text.

Most importantly, all graphics need large, readable “headline” titles (think like you would see in a newspaper) that communicates the “takeaway” for the graphic. The reader should be granted the ability to just “trust you” based on the title or examine the graph for their own detailed analysis. In addition, graphs need to clearly indicate where the eye should be looking. Remember, you have been working with the data and graphs a long time and automatically know where to look on the graph to “get the information”, a person looking for the first time needs your help. Give it to them in the form of arrows or circles or indicators of some kind.

Finally, I think the dark blue background detracts from the overall white space and therefore detracts from this poster. In addition, by using the blue background, the author was forced to use light text for the title. If this poster was being projected (as in an e-poster) then this would have been fine, however, in print form it actually makes it a bit more difficult to read.

Want to look at more examples of scientific posters? Here is small gallery of posters that are pretty good. One or two of them are unique and worth taking a look. Also, as a bonus there are some comments below them. I don’t always completely agree with the comments or approaches, but they might give you some needed inspiration.

Here’s the gallery…

http://phdposters.com/gallery.php

Your challenge: Critically review one of your own previous posters. If you’re brave <smile> submit it here for review!

Scientific and technical poster presentations require skills in two key areas: artistic design along with technical writing/editing. Different from papers, the critical first impression from a poster is created through the effectiveness of the visual design. For scientists, it is perhaps the area you are least familiar with and warrants some of your time for review.

In design there is a concept of visual unity and this achieved through white space, type and color. Be sure to read the links as they provide a great discussion of the important elements and why they are important to you. Here is the link which also includes a valuable short discussion on alignment.

If you have more time (and I hope you do!). Here are a two more comprehensive sites that are worth reviewing.

http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/file/PostersHome.html http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/

I like these sites because they not only tell you what to do, but also they also show examples of what NOT to do. They also use a bit of light humor (sarcasm). This second one includes a nice little schedule of preparation tasks for your poster presentation. However, the best part of this second site is the resources page. Be sure to take a look at the evaluation form and spend some time exploring these additional resources that are of interest to you.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/Resources.html

The next one is an “oldy but goody.” The advice on this site is somewhat outdated, but the basics of visual design still apply. I included this one also because there are some other tutorials also here (relating to oral presentation) that are quite good. If you have some time extra time, take a look.

http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Presentations/PstrStart.html

I included this next one because it has a nice discussion of when to do poster presentation versus a oral presentation. I also liked part “3A–Text” because it tells you how to use bullets effectively and “Part 3B- Graphics” because it includes a brief discussion of which type of graph is best for the type of data you are presenting.

http://www.asp.org/Education/Howto_onPosters.html

If you want even MORE DETAILS on choosing the right type of graph this next link is great. It contains detailed information on when and how to use tables, graphs, photos, diagrams and more.

http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~writling/professional/TechWrite/3-1/swain/index.html

Of course, the definitive source of the graphic display of information can be found in the books of Edward Tufte. He has written seven books, including Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information which are the most relevant to effective poster presentations. Use the link below to learn more about his work.

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Finally, if you have found any resources that you have found helpful, please share them with me. Also, if any of the above links are broken, please let me know about that too! I look forward to finding out about even more great resources for poster presentations.

How to I make an EFFECTIVE poster?

No point in “re-inventing the wheel” when there are a number of great resources available that guide you through the process of developing an effective poster. I suggest you look at ALL of these links below if you have the time, because each includes slightly different nuances. However, having said that, if you are running short on time and only want to use one resource then start here.

http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm

This is BY FAR the best scientific poster presentation resource available on the internet. It is detailed and accurate in terms of visual design and is practical from the standpoint of sharing real life experiences regarding preparation and delivery of posters.

Colin Purrington (Department of Biology) from Swarthmore College (right here in Pennsylvania) wrote this poster advice. In general, I give him TWO HUGE THUMBS UP for his sensible, design savvy advice. And hey, he uses a little humor that always helps to make a somewhat boring topic a little bit more interesting.

Of course, for those that know me, you know that I feel an obligation to share with you the places that I have very minor disagreements or slight modifications. So here goes…First, Colin mentions that “if all text is kept to a minimum, a person could fully read your poster in under than 10 minutes”. Hmmm…I am thinking even less than that! Ten minutes is a very long time when it comes to presentation. We have very short attention spans and I would suggest aiming for the ability to fully read the poster in less than 7 minutes and, if possible, less than 5 minutes! By the way, you should consider yourself highly successful if your average visitor spends 2-3 minutes at your poster.

He makes a great suggestion about asking others to help you evaluate your poster. Of course, I think group evaluation is a great idea. (Funny, that’s what this workshop is all about, huh?) I always suggest getting feedback from “intelligent others”. Who are they? Anyone that is intelligent, analytical, kind enough to offer to help you! In fact, it is better to choose at least a few people who are totally unfamiliar with your work.

He suggests printing and leaving it publicly for review. Good idea, but in addition to printing, feel free to send the electronic file. You do want to ask them the things he suggests (word count, prose style, idea flow, figure clarity, font size, spelling, etc.) however, I think the most important questions to ask are the following. Oh and don’t forget to tell them to be honest.
1. What is the main message of this poster? Could figure this out easily? Why/why not?
2. What are my main sub-points? Could you find them easily? Why/why not?
3. Did you find it interesting and appealing? Why/why not? Be honest!

Mr. Purrington does a great job of explaining WHAT to include in each section of the poster. I do however have a small refinement to his advice. For the introduction section he recommends 200 words, I suggest 125 maximum. Also I believe the introduction should start with your research questions in the form of questions and then it should explain in one sentence why you did the study. I don’t think this section should be text heavy as he indicates.

One last point of disagreement; Mr. Purrington apparently doesn’t like the use of colon for a two part title. I on the other hand find them easy to understand and effective. Although, I do agree with him regarding using the colon twice in one title!

Kudos to Mr. Purrington for this excellent resource! This information is the main reason I chose not to create my own version of effective poster presentations, because he already has done great job at succinctly synthesizing many online resources and more importantly his guidelines adhere to what the current visual design research supports in terms of effective visual display of quantitative information.

Learn how to use transitions to make connections.

Click here to listen via the Art of Speaking Science Channel

Do your presentations smoothly flow from beginning to end? Do you always clearly link one idea to the next? If not, help is on the way. In this Lisa Live episode from Art of Speaking Science, you’ll learn how to successfully incorporate effective transitions into presentations. I was at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC when I delivered this session.

Remember I love to get feedback– both positive and negative (yes, really!). You can call the feedback like at or send an email or even skype me if you see that I am online lisabmarshall.

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Copyright 2007 lisabmarshall.com

I am not a funny person. But I have worked very hard to add humor into my presentations. In this entry you’ll learn 3 tips for incorporating humor into presentations.

I still smile when remembering the first time someone came came up to me after a seminar program and said “I really loved your program; I especially enjoyed your quirky humor!”

I felt like I had finally “made it” (and I was beaming for a week after that seminar!). It was the compliment that I had been waiting for. I had spent years working on this particular presentation skill (and still do) and it was the first time someone mentioned that the humor helped them to enjoy the program.

In a effort to help you understand how you can add humor to your presentations, I will try to occasionally add humor here too. For my first “humor” post, I decided to include this tongue-in-cheek look at “How to Write a Scientific Paper” written by E. Robert Schulman.

I am demonstrating three very important rules regarding presentation humor:
1) You don’t have to be a naturally “funny” person to include humor in presentations. Just look on the internet for something funny that somebody else already created and use that! Just remember, to give them credit.

2) Always make sure the humor is related to your topic and your audience.

3) Use humor like you would a spice in cooking. A good spice will liven up the meal, but not be overwhelming. The same with your use of humor. One or two small humorous elements in a short presentation will be enough to make it more interesting and enjoyable.

Oh, I should mention, Schulman’s article was originally printed in the magazine “Annuals of Improbably Research” which focuses on research that makes you laugh and think. Another resource to bookmark in your science humor folder?

Here’s a presentation from particle physicist Janet Conrad at Columbia University titled “How to Write and Give a Good Scientific Talk”…

While I disagree with her on a few minor points, I think she does a good job at covering the basics and she also has some interesting, creative examples…really! Who knew that particle physics could be so FUN!
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“And now I am going to talk about …”

This is probably the most common “transition” that I hear, especially when a scientific speaker moves from one slide to the next. The problem with this is approach is that it really doesn’t transition at all.

Specifically, it fails to make a connection, which is the main purpose of the transition. Worse, it forces the audience to try to ferret out the connection which means they can’t give you their full attention. It also means they may make the wrong connection or just leave them with a fragmented, choppy view of your work.
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I’ll never forget the day when Jane, my boss at that time, called me into her corner office for one of her famous “professional development discussions”. Perhaps because I was a young manager Jane felt compelled to offer me extra career advice and guidance whenever she felt I had gotten off-track. Usually it was good advice, but this day was different.

Even though it has been more than 10 years, I still remember her exact words, “Lisa, you are TOO passionate. You’re too involved and intense about work.” She went on, but I didn’t hear much of her words after that.
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A recent client of mine asked me the following…
“Can you help me put together a word list of “small” words to help me sound more conversational. Since my first language isn’t English, often we have very little conversational practice and instead focus on the formal written structures. So I need some help to know which words I should use to sound more conversational.”

There are are many ways to sound conversational. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Here’s the audio.

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Few scientific and technical professionals receive formal training in presentation skills, let alone design skills to improve the graphic display of their data. Understanding and applying multimedia design principles can not only increase the overall effectiveness and clarity of your slides but also it can enhance the professional appearance of the slides (and you)!

What’s the best way to learn this stuff? My clients tell me it helps tremendously to see real before and after examples. I agree. Ready?

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Listen to an interesting talk then read my critique of the presentation skills.

Peter Busby is a well-known architect specializing in ‘green’ design. You only need to listen to the first few minutes to understand my review. Listen to the rest if you have time. It’s an interesting and educational talk. I enjoyed it.

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Links that you might find useful, educational, perhaps entertaining

Quirky, entertaining and informative, Science Update is a daily, 60-second feature audio podcast covering the latest discoveries in science, technology and medicine. Produced as a “radio” series since 1988 Science Update has reported on thousands of scientific and medical breakthroughs—and won dozens of national awards in the process.

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Answers to your questions! Submit one today.

Q: How many slides do I use for a ten minute presentation?
A: It depends. Read on for the details.

If you ask a general presentation skills “pundit” you are likely to hear the rule of thumb that says “one slide per minute”. Even some suggest up to as many as 3 slides per minute.

However, if you forced me to give you a rule of thumb for science and technology it’s probably slightly less than one slide per minute.

But, again, it all depends; allow me to explain.

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Tip: Always request to use a wireless microphone it helps you to focus and connect with your audience without worrying about being heard.

Recently, I was fast-forwarding through a video tape of a conference proceeding trying to find “my” speaker –the person who had scheduled a one-on-one private coaching session. Because it was in fast-forward I happened to notice something; a similar interaction occurring just before every presentation.

It seemed the host must have been offering each speaker the use of a wireless microphone because after each private huddle a few speakers were handed a wireless unit, while most others just nodded or pointed toward the build-in microphone on the lecturn. Hmm…that’s odd, I thought.

Why would a speaker give up the opportunity to use a wireless microphone? Did they realize exactly what they were giving up when they made the decision NOT to use the wireless microphone? Did they realize they were giving up freedom? Did they realize they were limiting their ability to make a connection with the audience? Did they realize that they were potentially lessening the overall impact of the presentation?

Based on these questions I am sure you can guess that my advice is to NEVER refuse the use of a wireless microphone. In fact, my advice is even stronger than that…if it’s possible you should ALWAYS specifically REQUEST the use of a wireless microphone, even if one isn’t typically used or offered.Why, you ask?

Well, first, in general, a microphone is always a good idea. The goal is for you to always speak in your normal conversational tone of voice. You should never strain your voice just to be heard because the strain can limit your vocal variety.

Secondly, for some speakers, their normal tone is perhaps quieter than average and by using a microphone your voice can be artificially amplified allowing everyone to hear you, again, without you having to strain your voice or make you feel uncomfortable. For those that are naturally “loud” speakers, you can also have your voice artificially adjusted down to a happy medium level.

I know, I know, any microphone can solve that problem, so why a wireless microphone? Because most people have never trained/practiced using a built-in lectern microphone. Most speakers become frozen behind the built-in microphones, never moving their head or body fearing they won’t get picked up by the microphone. Or worse, they do move around and the volume of their voice fades as they move away from the microphone.

So what’s the trick? Obviously, if you turn your head away from the microphone you won’t be heard. So, the idea is to pivot or swivel around the microphone always keeping your mouth exactly the same distance away from the microphone.

If you want to move off to the left, move your entire body left but leave your head angled right toward the microphone. As you shift positions again, just remember to always keep your mouth angled toward the microphone and approximately the same distance away. For most, this requires regular practice in order to look smooth and natural with your movements.

Obviously, a wireless microphone frees you from having to remember to pivot your body and head exactly so. You simply put the microphone on and you can move and look wherever you want without having to worry about the sound quality. More importantly to me, though, is the ability to completely move away from the lectern all together. Yes, I almost always recommend that speakers try to move away from the lectern; if not for the entire presentation at least for part of it.

I have been doing this long enough to know that some of you are saying, “but in our field we ALWAYS present from behind the lectern”. To that I say, well, are you sure? Think back to the very few times you saw truly excellent speakers, I’d bet a paycheck, that the majority of these excellent speakers did not present from behind the lectern, at least not for the entire presentation.

I often suggest to my clients to make little changes, not big ones, and let the feedback (not your comfort level) be your guide for future changes. If you NEVER leave the lectern and EVERYONE presents from behind the lectern, then try to present just one small section front and center.

Maybe you can start the presentation out front, or perhaps when you get to your most important slide, you move to the side of the lectern, or better yet, walk a few steps forward toward your audience. Without a wireless microphone, not of this is really possible.

The wireless microphone lets you focus on connecting to your audience and not worry about being heard.

The biggest advantage of a wireless microphone is that you have the freedom to deliver your entire presentation without the obstacle of the lectern in front of you. The lectern limits your ability to make a direct connection with your audience, in fact, research supports this. The physically closer you can get, the more likely you are to persuade your audience. Your goal for all presentations should be to make a conversational connection with your audience and a wireless microphone facilitates your ability to do this.

So here’s this presentation skills quick tip in a nutshell…

If you are offered a wireless microphone, you should always respond with a cheerful, “Yes, absolutely”. Better yet, request one ahead of time so you can be assured of your freedom to make the connection with your audience!

Do you want to learn more? Sign up for the next small group presentation skills workshop, consider one-on-one coaching, or ask your organization to sponsor a large group seminar. After all, you didn’t learn to ride a bike by reading a book–you needed an expert coach (your Dad) to show you how to do it and then you needed lots of encouragement and practice, right? That’s what I can offer.

Don’t agree with me? As always, I am interested in your feedback. Please leave a comment here or feel free to call our listener line to leave a recorded comment. Oh and be sure to let me know if it’s OK to use your voice on an upcoming podcast or your words and a name on blog posting.