Art of Speaking Science

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do you have a big talk coming up? Register for a workshop or one-on-one private coaching.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is a proud sponsor of this podcast which is part of Lisa B Marshall’s Art of Speaking Science program series.

Copyright 2007 lisabmarshall.com

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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