Workshop outline

"How to Develop a Lecture"

Marianne T. Guschwan, M.D. and Susan Tapert, Ph.D.

The workshop will be divided into three parts. During the first part, Dr. Guschwan will give a presentation on the preparation and delivery of a lecture. Dr. Tapert will then give a presentation on how to develop slides using Power Point. The third part of the workshop will be an interactive discussion with the audience on their particular concerns regarding this topic.

Part I: Preparation and Delivery of A Lecture

  1. Preparation
  2. Know the audience: who are they (i.e., medical students, scientists, multi-disciplinary)
  3. Know the material backward and forward
  4. Choose an area of interest
  5. Begin with a chapter in a book
  6. Review the literature
  7. scan review articles if possible
  8. otherwise, get the most recent articles
  9. Goals of the lecture
  10. separate from the major points
  11. What do you want the audience to remember
  12. Develop an outline
  13. 3 to 5 major points
  14. Build in mental breaks (e.g., anecdotes, brief cases, or appropriate use of humor)
  15. Visual aids
  16. Slides – least chance of problems
  17. PowerPoint presentations
  18. Most flexible
  19. Dr. Tapert will present on how to do this
  20. Overheads
  21. least preferred
  22. difficult to handle
  23. Do not copy tables/text verbatim onto the slides
  24. Practice, Practice, Practice!
  1. Delivery
  2. Arrive early
  3. Test the equipment
  4. Familiarize yourself with the room and lighting
  5. Pass out outline or slide copy but save other material (e.g., a reading list) for after the lecture or else you will distract the audience
  6. Stand and Deliver – Do not read!!! Do not sit!!!
  7. Begin with a review of your 3-5 major points
  8. Remind the audience where you are in the lecture – repeat your 3-5 points 3-5 times during the delivery
  9. Maintain eye contact so that you can adjust your speed slower or faster based on the audiences reaction
  10. Use the mental breaks you built into your outline
  11. Optimize your own personality style to maximize your assets and minimize your liabilities
  12. Closing the Lecture
  13. Summarize the points that you covered
  14. Watch the clock!
  15. How to Handle Questions
  16. Re-state the question
  17. Everyone hears it
  18. Subtly change the question to something that you know
  19. Hostile questions
  20. Be accepting
  21. Avoid anger (gain sympathy of the rest of the audience)
  22. Long and rambling questions
  23. Ask the person to focus the question
  24. Re-state it more simply
  25. Offer to address it after the lecture
  26. Apologize when interrupting – "I’m sorry but in the interest of time…"
  27. It’s OK to say you don’t know the answer to a question (can say "That’s an interesting point and I will certainly look into that issue.")
  28. Emergencies
  29. Slides are not available or equipment won’t work
  30. Don’t tell the audience that you forgot your slides– tell them I don’t have my slides today
  31. Utilize your outline
  32. Knowing the room can help you intervene more effectively (i.e., know where the light switches, equipment controls, and phone are)

Part II: Making and Using PowerPoint Presentations

I. Overview

A. Pros & cons

B. Software

C. Hardware

D. Web resources

  1. Pros & Cons of using PowerPoint presentations
  1. Pros
  2. Costs less if you have the equipment
  3. Can make last-minute changes or corrections
  4. Can animate
  1. Cons
  2. Equipment failure risk
  3. Challenges in changing slides
  4. Can animate (avoid getting excessive!)
  1. PowerPoint Software
  1. Presentation templates
  2. Slide layouts
  3. Text
  4. Colors
  5. Fonts
  1. Views: master slide
  2. Footers
  3. Graphics: figures, drawings
  4. Animation
  1. Projection Equipment
  1. Lumens
  2. Very bright (>1000)-can leave lights on
  3. Pretty good (600-1000)
  4. Not so great (500-600)

B. Resolution

  1. SVGA (800 x 600)
  2. XGA (1024 x 768)
  3. SXGA (1280 x 1024)
  1. Portability
  2. Changing slides

E. Plugging It All In

  1. Position laptop & projector
  2. Plug power into laptop & projector
  3. Attach cable to laptop & projector
  4. Turn projector on
  5. Boot up laptop
  6. May need to hit Function-F8 on laptop
  7. Open presentation
  8. Adjust image as needed

Part III: Resources for Developing Substance Use Disorders Lectures:

  1. www.alcoholmedicalscholars.org currently provides outlines and slide copy for the following lectures:
  2. Introduction to Diagnosing and Treating Alcoholism
  3. Brief Interventions
  4. Genetics of Alcoholism
  5. Comorbidity
  6. Medical Consequences
  7. Pharmacology and Neurobiology
  8. Pharmacological Interventions
  9. Special Populations: Adolescents and Women
  10. Gay and Lesbian Populations
  11. Spirituality in Substance Use Disorders Treatment
  12. Personality Disorders
  13. www.nida.nih.gov
  14. www.niaaa.nih.gov

Acknowledgements:

Alcohol Medical Scholars Program

Marc A. Schuckit, M.D.