Preparing for Oral Scientific and Clinical Vignette Presentations

Abstract

BACKGROUND Little is known about how faculty, residents, and fellows practice for oral presentations at academic meetings. We sought to categorize presenters' practice styles and the impact of feedback. METHODS We surveyed oral presenters at 5 annual academic general internal medicine meetings between 2008 and 2010, using a cross-sectional design. Main measures were frequency and settings of practice, most helpful practice setting, changes made in response to feedback, impact of feedback, and perceived quality of presentation. RESULTS The response rate was 63% (333/525 responders). Respondents represented 59 academic medical centers. Presenters reported practicing in a mean  SD of 2.3 (1.3) of 5 different settings. Of the 46% of presenters (152/333) who practiced in front of a group of more experienced colleagues, 80% of presenters (122/152) reported it was the most helpful setting. Eighty-one percent of presenters (268/333) practiced alone, and 25% of presenters (82/333) reported practicing alone was the most helpful setting. The mean numbers of change types reported by faculty were fewer than those reported by residents and fellows (mean 2.3  1.8, and 3.1  2.0, respectively; P