ART OF PRESENTATION

1. ART OF PRESENTATION MARKO TURINA University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland

2. There are some general rules about presentations, valid everywhere and for everyone; and there are some specific rules about presentations in our profession. Information about former abounds in the web, but few people seem to read it. When listening to talks at meetings, it seems that many speakers do not follow these general rules.

3. Basic rules about presentations: • Keep your fonts simple (e.g. Arial) • Avoid italics, bold and underlined text • Stay with same slide format, colors, fonts, and background through your talk • Font size 30 is minimum • Avoid visual effects (logos, clip art, too much animation): they distract audience, and your message gets lost.

4. Your institutional logo might be impressive, but as a rule it should appear only once (title slide) or twice (title and conclusion slide)

5. Some useful suggestions about presentations and slide design can be found on web: • http://www.wsaua.org/old%20stuff/Vancouver05/powerpoint_instruction.htm • http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mihaib/presentation-rules.html • http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/marketing/a/7sinsofppt.htm

6. Rules for slide construction • Follow the 6 x 6 rule: 6 words across, 6 lines down. • Slide must be readable from the back of the room. • Never use red lettering on black or blue background (unreadable for some people). • Use graphs or diagrams, never rows of figures! • If you have to apologize for a slide, drop it! • Adhere to the KISS principle (“Keep It Simple & Short”)

7. Presentation tips • The more you rehearse the talk, the better it will be. A rehearsal is most useful when carried out loud. Five (5) rehearsals is a minimum for an important talk. • Do not treat your audience as mentally impaired: do not explain completely obvious matters. • Try to cut out as much as possible; less is better.

8. Why your talk failed • Top 10 Reasons Your Presentation Sucks, By Geoffrey James 2009

9. Why your talk failed • Top 10 Reasons Your Presentation Sucks, By Geoffrey James 2009

10. Why your talk failed • Top 10 Reasons Your Presentation Sucks, By Geoffrey James 2009

11. Why your talk failed • Top 10 Reasons Your Presentation Sucks, By Geoffrey James 2009

12. Why your talk failed • Top 10 Reasons Your Presentation Sucks, By Geoffrey James 2009

13. Dealing with questions • When someone in the audience asks a question, always repeat it, because the rest of the audience might not have heard it. • If you couldn't hear it, ask them politely to repeat it more loudly. • Do not yell at them to speak up: people are nervous about speaking loud in big rooms full of people. Give them microphone.

14. Basic rules for presentations at scientific meetings • Congress presentation is not identical with your scientific paper. • At the meeting, you cannot read the paper which you prepared for publication. Congress presentation is totally different! • Your audience are specialists, but not necessarily experts in your special field: start by introducing your topic in simple words.

15. This table might be good for a scientific journal, but cannot be shown in a lecture!

16. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Red on black or blue background is unreadable! • Overloading the slide: Maximum 7 words in one line, 10 lines maximum (font size 28-30!) • Not more than 3 lines in a graph • Avoid 3-D graphs: not very comprehensible! • Use blue or black background. • Never use red on such a background! • Avoid fancy backgrounds: difficult to read!

17. Avoid statistical overload, present your data as graphs instead of columns of numbers!

18. By all means, avoid too many abbreviations!

19. Make at least your title understandable!

20. One of the most common errors in presentation: False labeling of groups • Give your groups self-explanatory, material-related labels: “control” and “intervention”; “treatment” and “placebo”; OPCAB and On-Pump; etc. • Avoid labels like A, B and C; or “Group I” and “Group II”. Three slide later, everybody has forgotten the meaning of your mysterious labels, and your message is lost.

21. Why not “Control Group” and “Hyperbaric Oxygen”?

22. If you have a complex slide, take time to explain the content, or better still, split it into several slides .

23. Another Common Error in Oral Presentations: Overstepping the allocated time • Overstepping your allocated time is an arrogant behavior, and a discourtesy to other presenters. • You are only as important as other speakers: When you were given 8 minutes, this was not a proposal, it was an order! • Talk lasts longer than you think: check your timing when speaking out loud, not when reading your presentation! • Never hurry through your talk, drop some slides instead! • Audience remembers such rude behavior, and you are considered conceited and egotistical!

24. Presentation should not be only interesting, but also entertaining! (“infotainment”)

25. LVAD ACTION

26. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Disorganized Presentation • Remember that you have only a very limited time, at major meetings 8 or 5 minutes. • Introduction is always too long: a single slide labeled “Objective” is enough. This is by far the most common mistake. • “Methods” section should be brief: mention only the important facts, but do not forget the essentials, like methods or completeness of your follow-up.

27. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Disorganized Presentation (cont.) • Leave enough time for “Results”; this is the most important part of your talk. It should take at least 50% of your time. Present your results graphically, and avoid abbreviations. • In short “Discussion”, compare your results with the other work in the field. Avoid primacy claims: somebody might remind you that it was already published long ago. • In the last slide, spell clearly your “Conclusions”.

28. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Incomprehensible talk • Speak slowly! • When practicing your talk, elicit help of a native English speaker. Five rehearsals are minimum! • Avoid strange abbreviations! • Give your groups logical labels: e.g. Off-pump and On-Pump, instead of A and B • Interpret your statistics, instead of unloading a mass of numbers at the audience.

29. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Do not get carried away by colors! • Overloading the slide: Maximum 7 words in one line, 10 lines maximum (font size 28-30!) • Not more than 3 lines in a graph • Avoid 3-D graphs: not very comprehensible! • Use blue or black background. • Never use red on such a background! • Avoid fancy backgrounds: difficult to read! • Overloading the animation (fancy appearance and disappearance, too many colors)

30. Avoid ubiquitous, easily available clip art: it is made for simpler minds

31. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Overuse of laser pointer • Use pointer only to highlight a particular point on the slide, and then turn it off. • Never wave with the pointer, or draw circles or complex figures on your slide: they should be highlighted in slide design. • Use white or yellow bullet points instead, or appearing text. • Pointing with the mouse is more efficient.

32. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Keep you background simple, with uniform color! • Overloading the slide: Maximum 7 words in one line, 10 lines maximum (font size 28-30!) • Not more than 3 lines in a graph • Avoid 3-D graphs: not very comprehensible! • Use blue or black background. • Never use red on such a background! • Avoid fancy backgrounds: difficult to read! • Overloading the animation (fancy appearance and disappearance, too many colors)

33. Avoid too much animation: it distracts from your message! • Overloading the slide: Maximum 7 words in one line, 10 lines maximum (font size 28-30!) • Not more than 3 lines in a graph • Avoid 3-D graphs: not very comprehensible! • Use blue or black background. • Never use red on such a background! • Avoid fancy backgrounds: difficult to read! • Overloading the animation (fancy appearance and disappearance, too many colors)

34. Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations: Errors in slide design • Overloading the slide: Maximum 7 words in one line, 10 – 12 lines maximum (font size 28-30!) • Not more than 3 lines in a graph • Avoid 3-D graphs: not very comprehensible! • Use blue or black background. • Never use red on such a background! • Avoid fancy backgrounds: difficult to read! • Do not get carried away by the animation (fancy appearance and disappearance, too many colors)

35. Minimal animation might be acceptable:Changing Strategy in CABGCity Hospital Triemli, Zurich 2001 (269 pts.)

36. Simplify your graphs!UNADJUSTED EARLY MORTALITY IN CABGUniversity Hospital Zürich, 1990 - 2000

37. This graph is too fancy, and actual values are difficult to read!UNADJUSTED EARLY MORTALITY IN CABGUniversity Hospital Zürich, 1990 - 2000

38. Avoid fancy backgrounds!UNADJUSTED EARLY MORTALITY IN CABGUniversity Hospital Zürich, 1990 - 2000

39. “One picture is worth ten thousand words” Frederick R. Barnard, 1927 Short video clips are very helpful when explaining technical details

40. When explaining a complex matter, use all IT resources. Example: Pulsatility during LVAD pumping with continuous flow pumps.

41. LV is unloaded (violet), but aortic pressure curve (red) is still pulsatile. Why? 402 403 404

42. LVAD unloads left ventricle; aortic valve remains closed, and pulsatile pressure curve in the aorta is due to variable pump preload in LV

43. When listening to a scientific presentation, watch for following quality features • Check if it is a consecutive series. • Look for exclusion criteria (missing groups, elimination of high risk subsets). • Data must be complete, including operative mortality. • Observe the follow-up: methods, completeness (95% minimum) and length • Look for conflict of interest.

44. But only 63% entered the study!

45. Hiding essentials in the abstract:Abstract of the stentless valve trial (STS meeting 2000) The abstract does not state that the operative mortality was atrociously high, with 8.4% for stentless and 12.5% for stented valves !!!

46. LATE SURVIVAL IN PROSTHETIC VALVE ENDOCARDITIS Add operative mortality of 13 %!

47. Watch for conflict of interest!Disclosure index (only a fraction, goes on for pages), AATS 2011 meeting

48. Summary:Most Common Errors in Oral Presentations • Overstepping allocated time. • Incomprehensible presentation: language, abbreviations, terminology, labeling. • Mathematical and statistical overload. • Wasting time on “Introduction” and “Methods” • Poor slide design. • Ignoring other contributions in the field. • Lack of a clear “Conclusions” section.