Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. h.c., CEO

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Written and Oral Research Presentations That
Audiences Remember
Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), CEO American
Association for Cancer Research Michael A.
Caligiuri, M.D., Director The Ohio State
University Comprehensive Cancer Center
AACR/ASCO Workshop Methods in Clinical Cancer
Research Vail, Colorado July 22-28, 2006
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The Reality

• Effective written and oral communications will
  enhance your visibility and credibility as a
  clinical scientist
• The steps to excellent communications are known
  and achievable
• These skills are essential for a successful
  career in academic oncology and cancer medicine

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The Problem

• There are very few opportunities at medical
  centers for physicians-in-training to obtain
  guidance in written and oral presentation skills
• Weaknesses in these areas often contribute to
  anxiety, self-doubt, and access to certain
  positions and promotions in the field

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The Solution

• Study the principles of good scientific writing
  and effective oral communications
• Observe your colleagues who do it well, read
  books, and attend seminars on these subjects when
  time permits
• Invest the time and effort to learn and then
  apply these principles early in your career

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Goals of Our Session Today

• Offer some helpful hints on successful
• Scientific writing
• Publication process
• Oral presentations

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Scientific Writing Michael A. Caligiuri, M.D.
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Why You Need to Publish

• Visibility
• You do not exist as a scientist until you have
  published your work in the peer-reviewed
  scientific literature
• Credibility
• Scientists are judged by the quality, timeliness,
  and significance of their work
• Measures of Success
• Overall quality of the publication outlet, impact
  factor, and number of citations to your work

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Advance Planning

• Plan the experiment with your preferred
  publication in mind
• Consider your primary audience

• Expert or non-expert
• Laboratory

• Clinical
• Diverse

• Decide on the type of paper
• Manuscript of experimental (original) data
• Review
• Perspectives
• Editorial/Commentary
• Other

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Getting Started

• Ask yourself Do I have all the information I
  need?
• Try to avoid writers block!!
• Be compulsive
• - Prepare a detailed schedule for completion
• - Keep moving!
• Take care in the preparation of your manuscript
• - Avoid typos and other mistakes
• - Use terminology consistently
• Remember to keep within the designated length

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Typical Structure of anExperimental Manuscript

• Title and Authors
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Patients and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Tables and Figures
• References
• Acknowledgments

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Title and Authors

• Title
• Must be substantially indicative of the content
• Contain important keywords for easy online access
• Needs to command attention and interest
• Authors
• Include all people who contributed intellectually
  to the work
• Make sure that they agree with the content and
  sequence of authorship prior to submission

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Abstract

• Should contain all key points and keywords -
  especially important for online retrieval systems
• Should be clear and concise, and adhere to
  journal format
• N.B. The Abstract is extremely important. It is
  often the only thing that people read

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Introduction

• Set the stage by describing the scientific
  context and posing the questions
• What preliminary data supported conducting this
  trial preclinical, clinical, correlative?
• Why study this regimen in this disease state of
  knowledge, standard practice, unmet medical
  needs?
• What clinical setting is being studied
  1st-line, 2nd-line, advanced stage, adjuvant,
  other?

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Patients and Methods

• Include a distillation of the protocol
• Describe the patient, cell, cell line, or animal
  population being studied
• Describe the intervention and the endpoints
• Define the statistical analysis
• Describe the rationale for the study design
• Preclinical, clinical, and logistical factors
• Single arm, randomized, correlative aspects

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Results

• Describe the findings, i.e., the results of the
  intervention
• Focus on the primary endpoint
• Go from general to specific
• Lead with the result (this is not a mystery
  novel!!)
• Indicate where the analyses were planned, and
  where they were unplanned but are provocative
• Present all planned secondary endpoints
• Tabulate all data here to be discussed in the
  Discussion section

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Discussion

• Place the results into context
• Provide a critique of this study vis-à-vis other
  studies in the literature
• Include speculation provided that appropriate
  caveats are used and the conclusions are
  supported by the data
• Articulate where you (or the field) should go
  from here

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Tables and Figures

• Prepare tables and figures for easy comprehension
  by the expert and non-expert (the simpler the
  better)
• Use headings that describe the content
• Make the narrative and the tables complementary
  and consistent
• Select the most important data for inclusion
• You dont need to show everything
• Too many tables or figures detract from the
  message
• A good figure is worth a thousand words!!

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References and Acknowledgments

• References
• Cite relevant literature using your best judgment
  as to what should be included
• Be careful. Knowledgeable reviewers will look for
  glaring omissions
• Acknowledgments
• Dont make enemies. Ignore this at your peril!!

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Summary Scientific Writing

• Publication in high-quality journals is still one
  of the major criteria by which your impact as an
  academic scientist is judged
• Good data and the careful preparation of
  manuscripts will result in publications that are
  highly readable, cited, and lauded
• Adherence to the principles of good scientific
  writing will markedly increase your chances of
  publication

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• Publication Process
• Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.)

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Criteria for Selecting the Best Publication Outlet

• Type of journal and potential audience
• Prestige of the journal
• Length and quality of the review process
• Constitution of the Editorial Board
• Journals publication policies

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Role of the Editor-in-Chief

• Define and shape the content and scope of the
  journal to meet scientific standards and needs
• Invoke publication policies set forth by the
  Publisher or Publications Committee
• Appoint Section/Senior Editors and expert members
  of Editorial Board
• Make or delegate editorial decisions on submitted
  papers to other Editors as needed

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Role of Managing Editor or Executive Editor

• Ensure overall quality of the journal to meet
  the expectations
• Implement editorial and publication policies
• Monitor the quality and speed of the peer review
  process
• Interact with members of Editorial Board and
  reviewers of papers
• Respond to author inquiries
• Explain options to authors if the paper has been
  rejected

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Typical Categories of Editorial Decisions

• Acceptable without revisions (this is very rare)
• Acceptable with revisions
• Not acceptable in present form (now used
  infrequently)
• Unconditional decline (certain journals allow
  rebuttal and resubmission)

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Variations in Journal Acceptance Rates

• Depend on the policies set forth by the
  Publisher, Publications Committee, and
  Editor-in-Chief
• Range from about 8 (NEJM) to 10 (Science,
  JAMA) to about 30 (Cancer Research, Clinical
  Cancer Research, other society journals)
• Keep your ear to the ground and know the
  acceptance rates of your preferred publication
  outlets!!

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Common Reasons for the Rejection of Papers

• Scientific quality
• - Lack of novelty and significance
• - Methodological flaws
• - Poor presentation of the data
• - Insufficient data to support the conclusions
• - Priority vis-à-vis the journals target
  acceptance rate
• Relevance to the journals scientific scope

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Common Reasons for the Rejection of Papers

• Perceived lack of broad interest to readership
• Lack of adherence to requirements for the
  category of publication
• Excessive length of paper
• Timing of the papers submission (some journals
  aim for heterogeneity of topics)
• Submission of paper to multiple journals
• Journals backlog of accepted papers

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How to Deal with Reviewers Comments

• Reexamine your own objectives, criteria, and
  rationale
• Gather solid support for your contentions and
  defend them politely
• Decide on reasonable areas of compromise and make
  appropriate alterations in the manuscript
• Answer each comment in the covering letter and
  specify the location of revisions in the
  manuscript
• Stay cool!! An emotional reaction is
  counterproductive and will adversely affect your
  chances of publication!!

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Options Available If Your Paper is Rejected

• Send manuscript to another journal
• Modified for format and style only
• Revised in accordance with reviewers comments
• Shelve manuscript until more extensive data are
  obtained to address the comments
• Revise manuscript extensively in response to
  comments and submit for reconsideration if
  allowed
• Request a completely new review of the current
  version (provided journal policy permits)

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Summary Key Elements of Publication Success

• Good scientific writing
• Careful preparation of the manuscript
• Adherence to editorial and publication policies
  of the journal
• Comprehensive response to the reviewers comments

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Oral Presentations Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D.
(h.c.)
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Overarching Goals of the Speaker

• To give a high-quality presentation that is
• Informative
• Understandable
• Complete yet succinct
• Relevant to the audience
• Provocative and exciting

Requires attention to both preparationand
presentation!!
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Know Your Material

• You must be
• At ease with your topic
• Expert in the methodology, results, and
  interpretations of the data
• Up to date on the published literature
• Prepared to address any potential divergent
  interpretations or controversial scientific
  aspects

Practice extensively before you deliver your talk
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Know Your Audience

• Is the audience
• Homogeneous or heterogeneous?
• Familiar or not conversant with the field, the
  topic or the technology?
• Primarily research or practice oriented?
• Comprised of junior or senior investigators?

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Make Good Decisions About Content

• Give an opening short outline of what you intend
  to cover
• Serves to orient and focus the audience
• Manages their expectations
• Have a clear direction so as not to overwhelm,
  fatigue, or irritate your audience
• Present data to support your conclusions
• Do not present all of your data
• Do not present all of the data in the literature!

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Make Good Decisions About Content

• Apportion your time adequately between topics
• Walk the audience through each slide
• Make smooth transitions when you are shifting
  topics
• Adhere to your stated instructional objectives
  and ensure that the audience will have a
  take-home message(s)

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Prepare Clear, Readable Slides

• Limit the number of lines per slide
• Take the size of the meeting room into
  consideration
• Draw the eyes of the listener to the most
  important part of each slide
• Avoid using difficult to read fonts
• Use one font family throughout the presentation
• Limit the number of colors on the slides
• Select colors that will be legible on the screen

Be judicious in the use of PowerPoint animation
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MODERN CANCER RESEARCH

• Requires more scientists in cancer-related fields
  
• Bioinformatics and computational molecular
  biology
• Mathematical modeling
• Systems biology
• Structural and chemical biology, and chemical
  genetics
• Physics
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Other

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Modern Cancer Research

• Requires more scientists in cancer-related fields
  
• Bioinformatics and computational molecular
  biology
• Mathematical modeling
• Systems biology
• Structural and chemical biology, and chemical
  genetics
• Physics
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Other

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Modern Cancer Research

• Requires more scientists in cancer-related fields
  
• Bioinformatics and computational molecular
  biology
• Mathematical modeling
• Systems biology
• Structural and chemical biology, and chemical
  genetics

• Physics
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Other

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Know Your Setting

• Know whether it is large and formal or small and
  informal
• Practice your presentation on-site to ensure
  that the slides project properly (use the
  speaker-ready rooms)
• Get to the meeting site well ahead of time
• Make sure that you are familiar with the podium,
  the lighting, and the equipment

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Short Proffered Abstract Presentations

• Usually 10 minutes for the talk and 5 minutes for
  discussion (equivalent to manuscript length of
  about 1,000 words)
• Prepare an outline speak extemporaneously and
  dont read your talk word for word
• Try not exceed 7 to 8 data-intensive slides
• Be careful. Presentation of these could take as
  much as 2 minutes each.
• Be selective about your content (too many
  concepts in a short presentation will confuse the
  listener)
• Summarize your key findings before closing

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Make Sure You Stay On Time

• Requires good preparation and practice
• Demonstrates respect for your audience and the
  demands on their time
• Maximizes your chances that the audience will
  stay to hear the most provocative part of your
  talk

i.e., your conclusions and future directions
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Hone Your Delivery Skills

• YOU are the medium and the message
• You need to connect with your audience
• - Words/content 7
• - Voice 38
• - Non-verbal communication 55

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Major Barriers to the Delivery of Successful Oral
Presentations

• Inappropriate orexcessive jokes
  self-deprecating humor
• Fear and anxiety
• Tone of voice (mumbling, monotone)
• Boredom
• Lack of eye contact
• Poor posture

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The Delivery of Successful Oral Presentations

• Self-assured elegance conveys speaker expertise
  and an overall positive impression
• Eye contact and good posture command the
  attention of the audience
• Good body language is a passport to successful
  oral presentations

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Summary Characteristics of Memorable Scientific
Presentations

• Utilize excellent verbal and non-verbal
  communications techniques
• Capture attention of the audience early and keep
  them interested
• Impress upon the listener the importance of the
  subject and especially your data
• Convey your enthusiasm about the topic
• Change an opinion or evoke an action in the
  listener the take-home message(s)!