Research and Scholarly Activity Guide for Psychiatry Faculty, Residents, Fellows, and Students

Preparation is often key to developing and delivering a successful presentation.  Here we outline key questions and activities to guide your planning and preparation.

Consider your audience, their prior knowledge, and expectations.

The information you need to provide and contextualize often differs by the audience and the setting.  For example, below you'll find some tips for giving a grand rounds talk and presenting at a morbitiy and mortality (M&M talk)

Consider the logistics

Have a short bio, headshot photo, and name pronunciation available on a public facing site like ORCID, LinkedIn profile or a personal web site (see University Librarian Kris Alpi's personal example below). 

• This makes it easy for moderators to promote your talk and introduce you. 
• Organizers are often looking for this at the last minute or you can offer it in advance. 
• You can always add a sentence or two particular to the topic or setting.

How do you want to handle questions?  Is there a norm for that type of event, or is it up to you?

• If you are comfortable with the norm, great, if you need to change the norm, say so up front.
• Do you want to invite questions as you go along in the talk, or will that impact your flow or timing?
• Do you want to set certain checkpoints for yourself to ask for questions? How much time do you want to leave in the end?
• Can you see the questions as they are asked in the chat window,?
• Can you enlist a collaborator to address questions in the chat and surface any that need to be asked right away? Or is it important that you show you can answer them yourself. If you can share the load, you can let people know, e.g. the attending and chief resident on this case are also in the audience and may address some of your questions in chat. 

Understand whether the session will be recorded and prepare accordingly. 

What will the experience be for those who do not attend live or just get the slides?

• Consider making the authorship and acknowledgment of the care team on the beginning slides rather than the end in case you run out of time. Be clear whether you are speaking for yourself or on behalf of the team, and whether the team has reviewed your presentation.
• Link the references in your slides
• Decide whether to make any of your notes visible if sharing either a PDF or the PPT or other format of your slides. 

Look at the archived, online OHSU Psychiatry Grand Rounds above.

It is helpful to have observed others giving Grand Rounds-type presentations to understand the norms, formality, depth and style. Above is a list of several ongoing grand rounds and other conferences at OHSU that you can attend.

Engaging the care team that saw the case with you is an important part of the preparation for a case conference, and some of the conversations about presenting the case are also applicable to writing a case report. 

Depending on the type of conference, your audience is a mixture of fellows, faculty, residents, and students, they are all here to learn from you. Questions are a gift. As you prepare, think about what questions you might be asked and be ready to answer them.  

For a Grand Rounds presentation, you are typically being invited because you are very knowledgeable on the subject at hand.  Build your confidence by a thorough review of the literature and being able to speak from broader experiences than your own.  People often come to Grand Rounds to hear from experts on a topic and expect the latest information. Here are some additional tips:

• Be interactive as people are here to learn with you. Using cases, prep questions, and discussion will keep your audience active, involved, and interested.
• Practice your presentation.  Grand Rounds are often attached to CME and recorded.  Your presentation should flow well and keep to the time allotted.
• Repeat or at least summarize the question being asked if it comes from chat.  Many people are not following the chat especially if they are connected via phone.
• Thank your audience. 

Morbidity and Mortality Case Review or Conference 

This carries a special weight for you and your fellow members of the care team. Self-care and wellness resources are also important. 

Here are some resources to help you prepare:

The UAMS Guide does a great job overviewing all the steps below. If you have questions, the Library offers workshops and consultations on:

• Writing an abstract
• Identifying and submitting to a conference as a presentation, poster or lightning talk
• Looking for travel grants (other than those specific to the conference -- many conferences have scholarships!)
• Creating your presentation / Designing your poster
• Making a good oral presentation