Louis M' Weiner, M'D'

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Effective Written and Oral Research Presentations
Louis M. Weiner, M.D. Director, Lombardi
Comprehensive Cancer Center Margaret Foti, Ph.D.,
M.D. (h.c.) CEO, American Association for Cancer
Research
AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research
Workshop Vail, CO August 2-8, 2008
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Goals of Our Session Today

• Offer some helpful hints on
• Scientific writing and the publication process
• Oral presentations

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Scientific Writing and the Publication
Process Louis M. Weiner, M.D.
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So, your study is done, and your boss tells you
its time to write the paper!

• Phase II trial of Difungomuctane in metastatic
  colon cancer
• MAb targeting the DFM receptor
• 57 patients accrued
• 53 evaluable for response
• 5 objective responses
• Median duration of response 12 wks
• Toxicities Rash, HTN
• No biomarker analysis

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Just another modestly active antitumor agent!

• Does it matter enough to publish?

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Question 1
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Why You Need to Publish

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

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Advance Planning

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

• Expert or non-expert
• Laboratory

• Clinical
• Heterogeneous

• Decide on the type of paper you wish to publish
• Manuscript containing original data
• Review
• Perspectives
• Editorial/Commentary
• Other

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Question 2
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Getting Started

• Ask yourself Do I have all the information I
  need for a credible paper?
• Try to avoid writers block!!
• Be compulsive
• Prepare a detailed schedule for completion
• Dont stop just keep moving!
• Prepare your manuscript carefully
• Avoid typos and inaccuracies
• Use terminology consistently
• Remember to keep within the designated length

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Traditional Structure of a Manuscript

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

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Title and Authors

• Title
• Must be indicative of the content of the paper
• Must 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
  this is especially important for online
  retrieval
• Should be clear and concise, and adhere to
  journal format
• N.B. The Abstract is extremely important because
  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?
• Keep it short!

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Patients and Methods

• Include a summary of the protocol
• Describe the patient, cell, cell line, or
  animalpopulation 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
• Present all data to be discussed in the
  Discussion section

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Discussion

• Put the results into the context of current
  knowledge
• Compare the results of your study to other
  relevant 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.The audience is interested in your
  opinions about new directions.

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Acknowledgments and References

• Acknowledgments
• Dont overdo this part but dont make enemies.
• References
• Cite relevant papers in the literature using your
  best judgment as to what should be included
• Be careful. Knowledgeable reviewers will look for
  glaring omissions

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Tables and Figures

• Prepare tables and figures for easy comprehension
  by both experts and non-experts (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 your
  primary message
• Consider supplementary figures if appropriate
• A good figure is worth a thousand words

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Summary Scientific Writing

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

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Question 3
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Criteria for Selecting the Best Publication
Outlet

• Type of journal and its audience
• Prestige of the journal
• Length and quality of the review process
• Speed of publication after acceptance
• Constitution of the Editorial Board
• Journals publication policies

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Substantial 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 20-25 (Cancer Research,Clinical Cancer
  Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 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 factors
• - Lack of novelty and significance
• - Methodological flaws
• - Poor presentation of the data
• - Insufficient data to support the conclusions
• - Priority score vis-à-vis the journals target
  acceptance rate
• Lack of 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 within a
  timeframe)
• Simultaneous submission of the paper to several
  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
• Knowledge of and adherence to the editorial and
  publication policies of the journal
• Comprehensive and unemotional response to the
  reviewers comments

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Effective Oral Presentations Margaret Foti,
Ph.D., M.D., (h.c.)
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Principles of Effective Oral Presentations

• Planning and preparation of your presentation
• Taking control over the setting of your
  presentation
• Presenting your talk with confidence

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The Reality

• Few of us like to stand up before an audience
• We are nervous that we may say something wrong or
  that we wont sound or look good
• We are concerned that the audience wont listen
  to us or believe what we are saying
• We worry that they wont remember what we said

For an excellent presentation, the anxiety and
self-doubt must be overcome!!
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Successful People Have Some Things in Common

• They always speak well
• They present their ideas so that they are heard,
  understood, and acted upon
• They never deviate from their own personal style
  and try to speak like someone else
• They never give a talk without preparation

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Public Speaking Skills Are Essential for a
Successful Career in Science

• Effective presentation skills enhance your
  visibility and credibility as a scientist
• Scientists are judged not only by the quality of
  their work, but also by their ability to deliver
  their findings skillfully
• The daunting challenge is that these talks must
  inform, persuade, entertain, motivate, and
  inspire
• The good news is that the steps to giving
  excellent presentations are known, relatively
  easy, and achievable

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Scientists Should Obtain Public Speaking Advice

• Observe closely and learn from your colleagues
  who are renowned for their outstanding
  presentations
• Read books and attend short seminars on the
  subject when time permits
• Invest the time and effort early in your career
  to learn and apply the basic principles of
  delivering powerful presentations

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Overarching Goals of the Speaker

• To give a high-quality presentation that is
• Informative and understandable
• Legible and attractive
• Complete yet succinct
• Relevant to the audience
• Provocative and memorable

Every presentation has a job to do. If it is
good, it will achieve a change in the mind of
the listener!!
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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Make Decisions About Your Content

• Analyze the speaking situation i.e., the nature
  of theaudience and the occasion (formal or
  informal)
• Give an opening introduction and a short outline
  ofwhat you intend to cover because it will
• Serve to orient and focus the audience on your
  topic and your goals
• Manage expectations

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Question 4
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Make Decisions About Your Content

• Present your data and support your
  interpretations
• Adhere to your stated instructional objectives
  and ensure that the audience has a take-home
  message(s)
• Have a clear direction in your messages so as not
  tooverwhelm, fatigue, or irritate your audience
• Do not present all of your data or all of the
  data published in the literature pertinent to the
  subject

The secret of being a bore is to tell
everything. -Voltaire
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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Gather Your Ideas and Information Relevant to the
Subject

• Your speech should present novel ideas and data
  on the subject
• Use specific information and any tools available
  to prove or clarify your ideas, make your points,
  and add interest
• Examples, quotations, statistics, stories,
  definitions, comparisons, contrasts, and
  audiovisual aids

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Know Your Material

• Be at ease with your topic and remember that you
  are the expert in the study
• Be current with respect to the published
  literature on the subject
• Be prepared to address any potential divergent
  interpretations, controversial scientific
  aspects, and difficult questions

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Question 5
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Know the Nature of Your Audience

• Is your audience
• Homogeneous or heterogeneous?
• Expert/familiar with the field, the topic, or
  the technology?
• Primarily research oriented or in practice?
• Comprised of junior scientists,
  seniorinvestigators, both, or other
  professionals?
• Large or small?

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Structure Your Material for Maximum Impact

• Recommended format
• Introduction (15)
• Attention getter
• Preview of your talk
• Findings and Discussion (75)
• Logical presentation of your main points
  supported by the data
• Conclusions (10)
• Review
• Summary of key memorable points

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Plan the Beginning of Your Talk

• Start by capturing the attention of the audience
• Be natural and let your personality come through
• Use this opportunity to draw the audience into
  the topic and its importance
• Preview your talk by telling them what points you
  are going to cover
• Dont be long-winded for it will certainly
  offendyour listeners

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Plan a Strong Ending to Your Talk

• State first that you are about to conclude your
  talk
• Summarize the key points, the take-homemessage(s)
  , and any call to action
• Feel free to loop back to the beginning to echo
  your start
• Tell a story that embraces the theme, if
  appropriate
• Challenge the audience by mentioning
  promisingfuture directions in the research area

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Review and Revise Your Talk Before Presentation

• Allow sufficient preparation time for making the
  necessary revisions
• Version 1 is never good enough!!

Mend your speech a little, lest it may mar your
fortunes. - William Shakespeare
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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Purposes and Use of Audiovisual Aids

• Center the attention of listeners
• Add interest to what you are saying
• Make ideas easier to present and understand
• Help to emphasize information and ideas
• Assist the listeners to remember your points
• Must always be appropriate to the talk

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Prepare Clear, Legible Slides

• Limit the number of lines and the amount of data
  per slide
• Consider the size of the meeting room
• Draw the eyes of the audience to the most
  important parts of each slide
• Avoid using difficult to read fonts or different
  font families
• Limit the number of colors used (less is always
  best!)
• Select colors that will be legible on the screen

Avoid unnecessary animation and sound effects!
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Too Much Information
Factors Predicting High-Risk Populations with
Locally Advanced Disease
Kaplan-Meier actuarial likelihood of biochemical
recurrence
Distribution of pathologic (prostatectomy) stages
after anatomic radical prostatectomy by
preoperative serum PSA
The distribution of Gleason scores
Kaplan-Meier actuarial likelihood of PSA
recurrence by preoperative biopsy Gleason score
(A) and by pathologic Gleason score (B) in men
with clinically locally advanced prostate cancer
The Oncologist, Vol. 8, No. 3, 259269, June 2003
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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
• 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

• Physics
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Other

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

61
Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Prepare Well for the Presentation of Your Talk

• Forms for writing down your ideas
• Full script
• Outline
• Notes
• Modes of delivery
• Memory
• Scripted speech
• Extemporaneous speech

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Practice Your Talk

• Review your talk 3-6 times (and no more)
• Practice to remember ideas, not words
• Practice using your actual notes and audiovisual
  aids
• Dont overpractice or practice in front of a
  mirror
• Keep body movements to a minimum
• Tape record your talk if you find it helpful
• Time your talk so you will not run overtime
• Ask a colleague to listen to and critique your
  talk

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

65
Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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Check on the Setting for Your Talk

• Make sure that the slides will project properly
  (always use speaker-ready rooms, especially at
  large meetings and if you are a Mac user)
• Bring a back up of your slides on a CD or USB
  drive
• Go to the meeting site well ahead of time to
  become familiar with the podium, lighting,
  visibility of the screen from the podium,
  pointer, confidence monitor, and other equipment
• In the event of a technology malfunction, be
  prepared to give your talk without slides

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Check the Microphonein Advance of Your Talk

• Practice raising and lowering the microphone
  and then leave it alone
• Learn what to do if there is sound feedback
• Dont try to be that annoying person who says he
  doesnt need a microphone
• Dont say anything confidential near the
  microphone

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Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select the subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

69
Seven Basic Steps to Speaking Like a Pro

• Select your subject and content of your talk with
  a knowledge of the audience
• Gather your information and ideas for
  presentation
• Plan your talk and make important decisions about
  the beginning and the ending
• Prepare your audiovisuals
• Practice your talk
• Know the setting for your talk and control the
  environment to the extent possible
• Present your talk with confidence

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(No Transcript)
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Present Your Talk With Confidence

• Be upbeat and excited about the topic
• Get set before you start speaking
• Establish contact with and engage your audience
• Talk with, not at, your audience you are the
  storyteller
• Refer only occasionally to your notes
• Try to avoid being distracted

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Question 6
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Present Your Talk With Confidence

• Maintain a good posture
• Dont grunt, fidget, or mumble
• Dont use inappropriate jokes
• Walk the audience through each slide and make
  smooth transitions when you are shifting topics
• Use your pointer judiciously
• Apportion your time carefully between topics

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Hone Your Delivery Skills

• YOU are the medium and the message
• Develop your own unique presentation style
• You need to connect with your audience with good
  eye contact
• According to researchers,
• Words/content 7 of content retention
• Voice 38
• Non-verbal communication (body language) 55
• Only 25 of the points in your talk will likely
  be remembered

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Make Maximum Use of Body Language

• Self-assuredness conveys expertise and results in
  an overall positive impression As a man
  thinketh, so is he. Descartes
• Eye contact, good posture, and good body language
  command the attention of the audience and are
  among the keys to successful presentations

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Control Your Stage Fright

• Prepare by doing breathing exercises before the
  talk
• Recognize that you are not alone in your fear
  ofpublic speaking
• Calm yourself by recognizing that the audience is
  in the room to hear you succeed, not to fail
• With concentration, preparation, and experience,
  stage fright is almost always reduced, and you
  will make a good impression on the audience

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Make Sure to Stay On Time

• Requires substantial 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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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
  try not to read your talk word for word
• Do not exceed 10 slides or 7 to 8 data-intensive
  slides
• Be careful. Their presentation could take as
  much as 2 minutes each.
• Focus your content and limit the number of
  concepts presented
• Summarize your key findings before closing

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In Conclusion Characteristics of Effective
Scientific Presentations

• Capture the 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 i.e., the take-home message(s)!!

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• Let thy speech be better thansilence, or be
  silent.
• -Dionysius