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To start off our discussion on Oral Communication in science, I ask our students to choose a talk that they attended that was particularly memorable and write about it. Specifically, I ask them to explain why it was memorable and how it affected them.

To get the ball rolling, I often start by telling the students about a talk I attended many years ago as an undergraduate student at McGill University. The speaker was Hans Bethe, who won the Nobel prize in Physics for his work on stellar nucleosynthesis – ie elucidating the nuclear reactions that happened in stars to create the elements. Decades later, I do not recall the technical details of his talk. What I do recall however is how he had no slides, no notes, used only a blackboard and a piece of chalk, and described systematically the interstellar nuclear reactions that created all of the elements. I came away impressed by his obvious mastery of the topic, his ability to make even a lowly undergraduate feel like I understood what he was saying, and how my view of stars changed completely. Before his talk, I saw them as sparkly things in the night sky and sources of heat and light. After his talk, I saw them as reactors in which all of the elements were formed. And I gained an appreciation of how our world and everything in it was once incubated in a star billions of years ago.

Not surprisingly, when our students take over, the responses vary widely. Some students discuss memorable lectures, while others mention conference talks, TED talks, even lab meetings!

The reasons they found these talks memorable also vary. Students cite the structure and clarity of the presentation, the ease of following what the speaker was saying, the confidence of the speaker, their connection with the audience or their inspiring message. Some students mention how the speaker solved a particular technical or conceptual problem in a clever way. Others were inspired by the relevance of a basic discovery to medical application. Many also cite ‘storytelling’, a topic I will return to in the future.

Impact was also an important part of what made the talk so memorable. One thing that many students cited was the emotional response or ’feeling’ they had following the talk. Wonder, inspiration, excitement. In some cases, students were so inspired that it helped them decide to work in the subject area of the speaker.

One thing that almost no one cited however was a particular piece of data. Memorable technical aspects were reserved for innovative approaches to problem solving, scientific discovery or unmet medical needs.

Perhaps we should not be surprised by these responses. Emotion is what makes us care about things and evoking an emotional response elevates a talk beyond mere transmission of information.

For those of you who read this and are so inclined, I invite you to respond by describing your own experience of a memorable talk – specifically what made it memorable and the impact it had on you. You can respond to this post directly or go over to my LinkedIn site where I will be cross posting and leave a comment. Let’s share our stories!