Society for Medical Decision Making

Session Summary

Being an effective scientific presenter isn’t just about knowing the research. While topical knowledge is essential, many other skills distinguish presenters who engage and convince their audience from those who are boring, forgettable, or confusing. Effective scientific presenters tell the story of the science and provide clear takeaways. They have the interpersonal confidence and clarity to explain things in interesting and concrete ways, and they can effectively respond to unexpected questions or reactions. Regrettably, most academics are never taught these skills.

Fortunately, there are many ways that the skills of improvisational theater overlap with the skills of being an effective scientific communicator - and we can teach them to you! All of the faculty for this course have used improv to refine their communication skills and use improv regularly in their professional work. We’d like to show you why.

In this highly interactive, hands-on workshop that can benefit both trainees and highly experienced academic presenters, we will use a variety of improv games to practice staying present in the moment, building on others’ ideas instead of blocking them, constructing captivating narratives, and adapting to the unexpected. We will then apply these skills in more focused exercises in different scientific communication contexts. Participants do not need to prepare anything in terms of content but should be ready and excited to get up and say “yes, and…” to trying new ways of interacting.

Note: Due to the interactive nature of the workshop, enrollment will be limited to 18 participants.

Learning Objectives

• Apply skills of improv theater to scientific presentation situations
• Tell the story of a piece of scientific research concretely and with clear takeaways

Pre-Course Preparation

Participants do not need to prepare anything in terms of content but should be ready and excited to get up and say “yes, and…” to trying new ways of interacting.

Time Allocation & Topic Outline

The first half of the short course will focus on improv fundamentals. Participants will actively participate in various games to work on passing focus, building on others' ideas without blocking them, adapting to the unexpected, and constructing narratives. This section will also include an introduction to the And, But, Therefore scentific narrative structure (Olsen, 2015).

During the second half of the short course, participants will apply these principles directly to science communication in focused, participatory exercises. Participants will work on prioritizing their core messages, presenting in ways that concretely describe what the audience is seeing and what they need to take away, and responding effectively to unanticipated questions in the moment.

Faculty Background & Qualifications

Brian Zikmund-Fisher, PhD, University of Michigan

In addition to researching patient education and health data communication, Brian has taught communications-focused graduate classes at the University of Michigan Department of Health Behavior and Health Equity since 2009. He started taking improv classes over 10 years ago and saw much overlap with the skills of academic teaching and presentation. He has published 2 journal articles on improv exercises for communication skills training and has been using improv exercises to teach science communication (and for fun) since 2014.

Brittany Batell, MPH MSW, CHES, University of Michigan

In addition to being a Plain Language Specialist and Project Manager in the Patient Education and Health Literacy Program (PEHL) at Michigan Medicine, Brittany is an accomplished actor whose credits include both acting and directing in Michigan’s long-running Shakespeare in the Arb series. Brittany leads a medical improv training series for Michigan Medicine providers, is on the steering committee for the Medical Improv Collaborative, and co-authored (with Brian and Dr. Stephanie Kukora) a journal article on an improv exercise for improving methods for breaking bad news.

Daniel Matlock, MD, MPH, University of Colorado

Dan is a practicing geriatrician and shared decision making researcher leading the Colorado Program for Patient Centered Decisions.  Dan’s history of improv began in 1993.  He was a member of Denver TheaterSports developed by Keith Johnstone for several years prior to beginning medical school when he mistakenly thought he had to quit all things fun.

COI

The faculty have no conflicts of interest to disclose.