Over the last few years, I have worked to help discovery scientists within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries make persuasive scientific presentations in order to sell their ideas for new drugs to decision makers.<\/p>\n

The challenges were many.\u00a0 Often, scientists<\/a> had to report to their bosses in Europe via video conference.\u00a0 The image projected in Switzerland was a wide-angle shot of six people sitting at a table in New Jersey.\u00a0 It was difficult to know which person was talking.<\/p>\n

English was being spoken in a variety of accents. America is blessed to have brilliant people from all over the globe come to work in our pharmaceutical and biotech industries, but understanding each person, on both sides of the Atlantic, through a wire thousands of miles long, was a continual challenge.<\/p>\n

When English is spoken as a second language, it is often delivered in the pitch pattern and rhythm of the first language, which makes it hard for us Americans to grasp, and perhaps even harder for those who come from yet another country and whose first language is different from that of the speaker.<\/p>\n

Sensitive cultural issues arose. In some European cultures, one does not tell a senior scientist<\/a> overseeing a vast number of crucial experiments that his presentations are incomprehensible. One calls on a consultant to say such things, if in fact the scientist in question agrees to meet with the consultant.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the problem of the traditional approach to scientific communication<\/a>. The language, form, and conventions of published scientific papers- which spill over into scientific presentations<\/a>– could almost have been devised to conceal information.<\/p>\n

Even in conversation, scientists use words that are perfectly ordinary within science but are simply never heard at a bar, dinner party, or on the side of a soccer field. When speaking to marketers, scientists have to learn to stand back from their own work and see it as strangers might.<\/p>\n

They need to ask themselves what is the most significant thing about their research? Is it that they can’t account for 70% of the efficacy since the mechanism of action is unknown? What is the detail, the issue, the problem that will make most people sit up and pay attention?<\/p>\n

Many distinguished scientists<\/a>– Richard Feynmann<\/a>, J.B.S. Haldane<\/a>, and Peter Medawar <\/a>among them- knew how to hold a popular audience, and they weren’t afraid to address their peers with the same vividness and economy. In fact, their fame became inseparable from their gift for words.<\/p>\n

Scientists can be great communicators. Carl Sagan<\/a>, Primo Levi<\/a>, E.O. Wilson <\/a>were (are) great examples. They each had the engaging quality of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is derived from a Greek term that means divinely intoxicated<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In order to be useful to their companies, and to society, scientists must be able to sell their ideas. Most scientists can think clearly. Many can write clearly. Fewer are spellbinding on the presentation platform, but thoughts that are clearly expressed, especially in live meetings, have greater potential value, and bring credit to the presenter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last few years, I have worked to help discovery scientists within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries make persuasive scientific presentations in order to sell their ideas for new drugs to decision makers. The challenges were many.\u00a0 Often, scientists had to report to their bosses in Europe via video conference.\u00a0 The image projected in… Read More »Scientific Presentations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[24,101,615],"tags":[18,263,906,622],"yoast_head":"\n