Sims Wyeth founded Sims Wyeth & Company, Inc. in 1995 in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers.
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Ideas for better Investigator Meetings
November 17th, 2010
You may be aware that I’ve been going to investigator meetings and finding them kind of out-of-date.
We’ve got to get away from what’s easy for the sponsor, and instead move toward what is effective for the investigators and their associates.
What is easy for the sponsor is to have the usual cast of characters give PowerPoint presentations—all day, if need be.
What is effective for investigators and their associates is engagement with the information being presented.
When adults engage with new information, they assimilate it more easily into their already crowded store house of information.
Engagement with the information includes, but is not limited to:
- Spot quizzes
- Small group problem solving
- Case studies
- Competitive games for small groups or teams
- Live enactments with faux-patients and product
- Small group role plays in which investigators and associates play themselves, the patient, and individuals from the sponsor company who will be interacting with them during the course of the study.
- Hands-on experience with data systems
- Social time with sponsor personnel
Not only would investigators and their associates retain more of the information. They would enjoy the experience, and that enjoyment would attach to their perception of the sponsoring organization.
A win-win, right?
Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.
It’s never not also the person – or how you communicate is what you communicate
March 3rd, 2010
I spend a lot of time in pharma and financial services, where content is king. Smart people with expertise in narrow areas of vast importance spend weeks preparing presentations for MBAs, Ph.Ds, MDs and Pharm.Ds (to name only a few distinguished members of the alphabet glitterati they speak to.)
It is important to have no misspellings on the slides, no inconsistencies between the data displayed and the data verbalized; important to make tenable claims, and demonstrate the sterling methods by which the data were generated; important to argue logically, rationally, objectively, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the difference between fact and opinion.
My brilliant clients do all this. They work long hours to make sure the content is thorough, precise, and accurate. They make no turn without stoning any assertion to test its strength and weakness.
Yet they often disregard themselves and how they come across. By education, training, temperament and culture they dwell on the facts. They know that expertise is necessary for success, and they often act as if it were also sufficient.
It is not sufficient. It is necessary, but not sufficient. Audiences also need the facts shaped into a narrative that holds their attention—one that is clear and meaningful, and flows in a manner that appeals to the mind.
And always, under its breath, the audience is muttering, “Do I trust this guy? Can she make this happen? Does he have what it takes? Would I like to have a drink with her?”
It’s never not also the person.
Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.