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/old20stuff/Vancouver05/power
  point_instruction.htm
• http//www.cs.cmu.edu/mihaib/presentation-rules.h
  tml
• http//entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/marketing/a/7sin
  sofppt.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 acceptableChanging
Strategy in CABG City 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 abstractAbstract 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
SummaryMost 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.