Art of Speaking Science

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

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!

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.

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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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

“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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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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