The Art of Lecturing
Paul Sutton, PhD, MD
Associate Professor
General Internal Medicine
University of Washington
• The “Art of Lecturing”…really?
“Where facts are few, experts are
many.” Donald Gannon
“An expert is a person who has made
all the mistakes that can be made in
a very narrow field.” Niels Bohr
Overview
• Public speaking tips
• Tips for effective PowerPoint
presentations
• Presentation of data
• “The 10 Minute Talk”
Public Speaking Tips
• Tell ‘em
• Tell them what you are going to tell
them
• Tell them
• Tell them what you have told them
Overview
• Public speaking tips
• Tips for effective PowerPoint
presentations
• Presentation of data
• “The 10 Minute Talk”
Public Speaking Tips
• Know your subject
• Know your audience
– What’s in it for me?
• Structure
– Particularly crucial for shorter talks
• Your style
– Find your own voice
– But seek to entertain as well as educate
Your Style
• “Good teaching is one fourth
preparation and three fourths
theater.” Gail Godwin
• Use eye contact, voice modulation,
and animation (yours, not
PowerPoint’s)
• Take chances (but be tasteful)
Public Speaking Tips
• Limited recall
– “The magical number seven, plus or
minus two”. Miller GA. Psychol Rev
1956. 63:81-97.
• Emphasize key points
– Don’t attempt the Vulcan mind meld
– “If you only remember one thing…”
Effective Habits
• Outline the talk before opening any
presentation software
• Scientific Presentation
– Background
– Objective
– Methods
– Data
– Discussion
Effective Habits: outlines
Topic-based Lecture
• Intro
• Epidemiology
• Clinical Features
• Diagnostics
• Treatment
• Areas of study
• Review
Case-based Lecture
• Intro
• Case 1
• Teaching point
• Case 2
• Teaching point
• Lather & repeat
• Review
Effective Habits
• Prepare in advance!
– “It usually takes more than three weeks to
prepare a good impromptu speech.” Mark
Twain
• Practice
– Particularly the introduction
• Peer review
– Is the story coherent?
– Is the presentation of data clear?
– Eliminate ypographical errors
PowerPoint Tips
• Use PowerPoint
– 95% market share
– Presentation software options:
• PC/Mac/UNIX: OpenOffice by Sun
• Mac: Keynote
– Can be difficult to share
– Potential for formatting surprises
• Most conferences require .ppt
Savvy Slides
(K.I.S.S.)
• Dark background, light text
• Consider using bold for all fonts
• Shadowed text is more readable
• Use font size 24 or greater
• Use easy to read fonts
–
–
–
–
Arial
Times New Roman
Comic Sans MS
English 111 Vivace BT
Savvy Slides (44 point)
• Arial 36
• Arial 28
• Arial 20
• Comic Sans MS 36
• Comic Sans MS 28
• Comic Sans MS 20
• Times New Roman 36
• Times New Roman 28
• Times New Roman 20
Backgrounds
• Readable, classic
• But, fatiguing over time
Backgrounds
• Annoying, pointless background
• Poor contrast
• High contrast is minimally better
• Wow, what a great lecture
Slide Content
• About one minute per slide
– This ratio increases as the length of the
talk increases
• 5-8 lines of text per slide
• Simplify information (on the slide!)
– More Hemingway than Bulwer-Lytton
– More haiku than Dante
Slide Content
• For goodness sakes, don’t read your
slides!
• Avoid STDs
– Speaker/text dissonance
• Use animations sparingly
“Death by PowerPoint”
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/sld006.htm, accessed 4/14/09
http://canadiancpd.medscape.com/content/2002/00/43/71/437182/437182_fig.html
Accessed 7/2/2009
PowerPoint Tips
• Don’t forget to stretch/change gears
• Attention span may be 10-15 minutes
– Perhaps less in the age of Twitter
• Various techniques to re-engage the
audience
Overview
• Lecture tips and effective habits
• Tips for effective PowerPoint
presentations
• Presentation of data
• “The 10 Minute Talk”
Presentation of Data
• PowerPoint conveys data at
relatively low bandwidth
Flather MD, et al. Lancet 2000. 355: 1575
Tables, Charts, and Graphs
• Avoid tables & figures from journals
– they do not project well
• Tables & figures should be clearly
labeled, and make sense at a glance
• Orient the audience & walk them
through the data
Tables, Charts & Graphs
• You’ve failed if you have to begin
with an apology
• Limit data to what is necessary to
convey your point
– But don’t deceive
• Highlight key points
ACE Inhibitors and Mortality
Reduction
Mortality
Trial
ACEI
Chronic CHF
CONSENSUS I
39%
SOLVD (Treatment)35%
SOLVD
Make(Prevention)
another15%
point
Posttext
MI box
SAVE
AIRE
TRACE
SMILE
Controls
54%
40%
with16%
or highlighting
Average
Garg R et al. JAMA. 1995;273:1450–1456.
RR (95% CI)
0.56 (0.34–0.91)
0.82 (0.70–0.97)
0.92 (0.79–1.08)
20%
17%
35%
6.5%
25%
23%
42%
8.3%
0.81 (0.68–0.97)
0.73 (0.60–0.89)
0.78 (0.67–0.91)
0.78 (0.52–1.12)
21%
27% 0.77
US Carvedilol Heart Failure
Program:
Effect on Hospitalizations
 29%*
 28%*
 38%*
Placebo
(n = 398)
30
Carvedilol
(n = 696)
20
%
10
Duration of therapy:
6.5 months (median)
*P <.05
0 All
Hospitalizations
Cardiovascular
Hospitalization
Fowler MB et al. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001;37:1692–1699.
Heart Failure
Hospitalizations
Age-Adjusted Prostate Cancer
Incidence and Mortality
900
FDA
approves
PSA
800
600
500
Incidence
Mortality
400
300
200
100
20
05
20
03
20
01
19
99
19
97
19
95
19
93
19
91
19
89
19
87
19
85
19
83
19
81
19
79
19
77
0
19
75
Per 100,000
700
Years
1975-2005 from the SEER database, accessed 4/12/08
“Everything should be made as simple
as possible, but not one bit simpler.”
Einstein
The 10 Minute Talk
• The research equivalent of the oral
case presentation
– Structure is incredibly important
•
•
•
•
•
Background/significance
Objective
Methods
Results
Discussion/future
The 10 Minute Talk
• Very little time
• Make every word count
• Seek early feedback
• Memorize the beginning (first
impressions)
• Practice, practice, practice
The Delivery
• Redundancy
– Computer, webmail, USB flash drive, CD
– Include all files necessary for any
animation (e.g. video)
• Get there early, check out the room,
controls, water
• Ask a friend/colleague for feedback
– Learn something from every talk
Overview (“Tell ‘em”)
• Lecture tips and effective habits
• Tips for effective PowerPoint
presentations
• Presentation of data
• “The 10 Minute Talk”
Take Home Points
• Be knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and
animated
• Focus on a few take home points
• Legible slides (and don’t read them!)
• Pay particular attention to the presentation of
data
• 10 minute talk is like an oral case
presentation – structure counts
“Make sure you have finished
speaking before your audience has
finished listening.” Dorothy Sarnoff
Suggested Reading
•
Federman D. How do you give a great lecture? Parts I and II. SGIM
Forum, June and July 2009. Accessed at
http://www.sgim.org/index.cfm?pageId=809
– Very practical, expert opinion
•
Tufte ER. The cognitive style of PowerPoint: pitching out corrupts
within. 2nd edition. Graphics Press (Cheshire, CT). 2006.
– An essay on the limitations and cognitive shackles of PowerPoint
– Available at the bookstore for $7
•
Keller J. Killing me microsoftly with PowerPoint. Chicago
Tribune, January 5, 2003. Accessed at
http://www.gbuwizards.com/files/chicago-tribune-julia-keller-05january-2003.htm
– Martin Luther King and Robert Frost à la PowerPoint
•
Collins J. Giving a PowerPoint presentation: the art of
communicating effectively. Radiographics 2004. 24:1185-92.