The 10 minute research talk

Overall Guidelines l Start focused Stay focused l Think what is the most succinct way to present your material clearly l Don’t read your slides verbatim l Use spoken words and slides to supplement each other l Never more then 15 slides

Beginning: Content l One minute l Three slides – Title, Funding support – Purpose – Background l Yes, still use only 1 minute

Beginning: Content Title l Title slide with co-authors – Include funding source(s) if room – If long list may want to make a separate slide can also be the very last slide – Same for others wish to thank subjects, study team

Beginning: Content Purpose l Focus of the study or project being reported l List of specific aims

Beginning: Content Background l Think NEW if published don’t talk about it l Answer to so what question l One slide

Beginning: Do l Have a plan of what to say first – Thank you for the opportunity … l Move quickly to the purpose – The purpose of this study was to test…. – This project was implemented to ….

Beginning: Do l Use the thank you to start purpose statement – Thank you for the opportunity to describe our study on sleep in women with and without fibromyalgia.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of nocturnal sleep and hormone patterns in mid-life women with and without fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome manifest by poor unrefreshing sleep, fatigue, unexplained widespread pain, generalized morning stiffness, and multiple tender points.

Beginning: Avoid l Repeating your name and title l Apologizing for what you won’t be able to cover l Adding additional background information

Middle: Methods l Methods 1 minute and one slide – 2 minutes and 2 slides is probably excessive l The four Ws – What – Where – When – Who

Middle: Methods Do l Use a picture or diagram of protocol l Display model to be tested l Describe only parts germane to purpose and results being presented

Middle: Methods (con’t) l Mention data analysis only if there is something special – If testing a model – Several steps to the process l Get double use of your time – Sixty year old children were tested pre and post an education intervention on smoking health risks.

Protocol l Daily symptom diaries for 1 month to verify pain levels l Fm subjects weaned from medications 2 weeks prior to sleeping l Post menses days 5-10 l Night 1 adaptation l Night 2 baseline sleep l Night 3 hourly blood draws 8 pm to 7 am

Middle: Methods Avoid l Describing all elements of a study when you are presenting only a portion l Listing tests that will be obvious from results – E.g. T-test l Using more then 2 slides

Middle: Results l Real data 6-7 minutes 6-7 slides l Real numbers l Real text

Middle: Results Do l Keep slides simple l Explain the graph/axes if not obvious l Make sure font large enough to read l Think of most parsimonious presentation – Plots for key data – Tables for number – Shortest text that conveys theme

Sleep Stage Percentages * P<.05

Beck Depression 10.3 ± ± 2.4 OFF MEDS ON MEDS

Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Off medOn Meds Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Off medOn Meds Pain Tired Rested in AM Anxious Depressed

Middle: Results AVOID l Trying to present every piece of data l “I know this is to small for you to read” l “This is a confusing/busy slide” l Tables with many many rows & columns l Quotes that fill even a single slide

Ending the talk l 1-2 slides l Summary of key points l Conclusion as to next step – Research question – Change in practice

End: Do l Be specific – Specific research question – Specific change in practice

End: Avoid l Claims beyond the data l Non specific – More research is needed

Summary TimeSlides Beginning13 Middle: Methods11 Middle: Results710 End11-2