tips for journal club presentation

Journal Club: How to Prepare Effectively and Smash Your Presentation

Journal club. It’s so much more than orally dictating a paper to your peers.

It’s an opportunity to get a bunch of intelligent people in one place to share ideas. It’s a means to expand the scientific vocabulary of you and the audience. It’s a way to stimulate inventive research design.

But there are so many ways it can go wrong.

Poorly explained papers dictated blandly to an unengaged audience. Confusing heaps of data shoehorned into long presentations. Everybody stood awkwardly outside a meeting room you thought would be free.

Whether you are unsure what journal club is, are thinking of starting one, or simply want to up your presentation game—you’ve landed on the ultimate journal club guide.

The whats, the whys, and the hows, all in one place.

What Is a Journal Club in Science?

A journal club is a series of meetings in which somebody is elected to present a research paper, its methods, and findings to a group of colleagues.

The broad goal is to stimulate discussion and ideas that the attendees may apply to their own work. Alternatively, someone may choose a paper because it’s particularly impactful or ingenious.

Usually, the presenter alternates per a rota, and attendance may be optional or compulsory.

The presenter is expected to choose, analyze, and present the paper to the attendees with accompanying slides.

The presentation is then followed by a discussion of the paper by the attendees. This is usually in the form of a series of questions and answers directed toward the presenter. Ergo , the presenter is expected to know and understand the paper and subject area to a moderate extent.

Why Have a Journal Club?

I get it. You’re a busy person. There’s a difficult research problem standing between you and your next tenure.

Why bother spending the time and energy participating in a series of meetings that don’t get you closer to achieving your scientific goals?

The answer: journal club does get you closer to achieving your scientific goals!

But it does this in indirect ways that subtly make you a better scientist. For example:

• It probably takes you out of your comfort zone.
• It makes you a better communicator.
• It makes you better at analyzing data.
• It improves your ability to critique research.
• It makes you survey relevant literature.
• It exposes you and your audience to new concepts.
• It exposes your audience to relevant literature.
• It improves the reading habits of you and your audience.
• It gets clever people talking to each other.
• It gives people a break from practical science.

It also provides a platform for people to share ideas based on their collective scientific experience. And every participant has a unique set of skills. So every participant has the potential to provide valuable insight.

This is what a good journal club should illicit.

Think of journal club as reading a book. It’s going to enrich you and add beneficially to the sum of your mental furniture, but you won’t know how until you’ve read it.

Need empirical evidence to convince you? Okay!

In 1988 a group of medical interns was split into two groups. One received journal club teaching and the other received a series of seminars. Approximately 86% of the journal club group reported improved reading habits. This compares to 0% in the group who received seminar-based teaching. [1]

Journal Club Template Structure

So now you know what journal club is, you might wonder, “how is it organized and structured?”

That’s what the rest of this article delves into. If you’re in a rush and need to head back to the lab, here’s a graphical summary (Figure 1).

Nobody likes meetings that flounder around and run over time. And while I have no data to prove it, I reckon people take less away from such meetings. Here’s a basic journal club template that assumes you are the presenter.

Introduce the Paper, Topic, Journal, and Authors

Let your audience know what you will be talking about before diving right in. Remember that repetition (of the important bits) can be a good thing.

Introducing the journal in which the paper is published will give your audience a rough idea of the prestige of the work.

And introducing the authors and their respective institutes gives your audience the option of stowing this information away and following it up with further reading in their own time.

Provide a Reason Why You Chose the Paper

Have the authors managed to circumvent sacrificing animals to achieve a goal that traditionally necessitated animal harm? Have the authors repurposed a method and applied it to a problem it’s not traditionally associated with? Is it simply a monumental feat of work and success?

People are probably more likely to listen and engage with you if they know why, in all politeness, you have chosen to use their time to talk about a given paper.

It also helps them focus on the relevant bits of your presentation and form cogent questions.

Orally Present Key Findings and Methods of the Paper

Simple. Read the paper. Understand it. Make some slides. Present.

Okay, there are a lot of ways you can get this wrong and make a hash of it. We’ll tell you how to avoid these pitfalls later on.

But for now, acknowledge that a journal club meeting starts with a presentation that sets up the main bit of it—the discussion.

Invite Your Audience to Participate in a Discussion

The discussion is the primary and arguably most beneficial component of journal club since it gives the audience a platform to share ideas. Ideas formulated by their previous experience.

And I’ve said already that these contributions are unique and have the potential to be valuable to your work.

That’s why the discussion element is important.

Their questions might concur and elaborate on the contents of the paper and your presentation of it.

Alternatively, they might disagree with the methods and/or conclusions. They might even disagree with your presentation of technical topics.

Try not to be daunted, however, as all of this ultimately adds to your knowledge, and it should all be conducted in a constructive spirit.

Summarize the Meeting and Thank Your Audience for Attending

There’s no particularly enlightening reason as to why to do these things. Summarizing helps people come away from the meeting feeling like it was a positive and rewarding thing to attend.

And thanking people for their time is a simple courtesy.

How Do You Organize It?

Basic steps if you are the organizer.

Okay, we’ve just learned what goes into speaking at the journal club. But presenter or not, the responsibility of organizing it might fall to you.

So, logistically , how do you prepare a journal club? Simply follow these 5 steps:

• Distribute copies of the research article to potential participants.
• Arrange a meeting time and location.
• Organize a speaker.
• Hold the journal club.
• Seek feedback on the quality of the meeting.

Apart from point 5, these are fairly self-explanatory. Regarding point 5, feedback is essential to growing as a scientist and presenter. The easiest way to seek feedback is simply to ask.

Alternatively, you could create a form for all the meetings in the series and ask the audience to complete and return it to you.

Basic Steps If You Are the Speaker

If somebody has done all the logistics for you, great! Don’t get complacent, however.

Why not use the time to elevate your presentation to make your journal club contribution memorable and beneficial?

Don’t worry about the “hows” because we’re going to elaborate on these points, but here are 5 things you can do to ace your presentation:

• Don’t leave it to the last minute.
• Know your audience.
• Keep your presentation slides simple.
• Keep your audience engaged.
• Be open to questions and critiques.

Regarding point 1, giving yourself sufficient time to thoroughly read the article you have chosen to present ensures you are familiar with the material in it. This is essential because you will be asked questions about it. A confident reply is the foundation of an enlightening discussion.

Regarding point 3, we’re going to tell you exactly how to prepare effective slides in its own section later. But if you are in a rush, minimize the use of excessive text. And if you provide background information, stick to diagrams that give an overview of results from previous work. Remember: a picture speaks louder than a thousand words.

Regarding point 4, engagement is critical. So carry out a practice run to make sure you are happy with the flow of your presentation and to give you an idea of your timing. It is important to stick to the time that is allotted for you.

This provides good practice for more formal conference settings where you will be stopped if you run over time. It’s also good manners and shows consideration for the attendees.

And regarding point 5, as the presenter, questions are likely to be directed toward you. So anticipate questions from the outset and prepare for the obvious ones to the best of your ability.

There’s a limit to everyone’s knowledge, but being unable to provide any sort of response will be embarrassing and make you seem unprepared.

Anticipate that people might also disagree with any definitions you make and even with your presentation of other people’s data. Whether or not you agree is a different matter, but present your reasons in a calm and professional manner.

If someone is rude, don’t rise to it and respond calmly and courteously. This shouldn’t happen too often, but we all have “those people” around us.

How Do You Choose a Journal Club Paper?

Consider the quality of the journal.

Just to be clear, I don’t mean the paper itself but the journal it’s published in.

An obscure journal is more likely to contain science that’s either boring, sloppy, wrong, or all three.

And people are giving up their time and hope to be stimulated. So oblige them!

Journal impact factor and rejection rate (the ratio of accepted to rejected articles) can help you decide whether a paper is worth discussing.

Consider the Impact and Scope of the Paper

Similar to the above, but remember, dross gets published in high-impact journals too. Hopefully, you’ve read the paper you want to present. But ask yourself what makes this particular paper stand out from the millions of others to be worth presenting.

Keep It Relevant and Keep It Interesting

When choosing a paper to present, keep your audience in mind. Choose something that is relevant to the particular group you are presenting to. If only you and a few other people understand the topic, it can come off as elitist.

How Do You Break Down and Present the Paper?

Know and provide the background material.

Before you dive into the data, spend a few minutes talking about the context of the paper. What did the authors know before they started this work? How did they formulate their hypothesis? Why did they choose to address it in this way?

You may want to reference an earlier paper from the same group if the paper represents a continuation of it, but keep it brief.

Try to explain how this paper tackles an unanswered question in the field.

Understand the Hypothesis and Methods of the Paper

Make a point of stating the  hypothesis  or  main question  of the paper, so everyone understands the goal of the study and has a foundation for the presentation and discussion.

Everyone needs to start on the same foot and remain on the same page as the meeting progresses.

Turn the Paper into a Progression of Scientific Questions

Present the data as a logical series of questions and answers. A well-written paper will already have done the hard work for you. It will be organized carefully so that each figure answers a specific question, and each new question builds on the answer from the previous figure.

If you’re having trouble grasping the flow of the paper, try writing up a brief outline of the main points. Try putting the experiments and conclusions in your own words, too.

Feel free to leave out parts of the figures that you think are unnecessary, or pull extra data from the supplemental figures if it will help you explain the paper better.

Ask Yourself Questions about the Paper Before You Present

We’ve touched on this already. This is to prepare you for any questions that are likely to be asked of you. When you read the paper, what bits didn’t you understand?

Simplify Unfamiliar and Difficult Concepts

Not everyone will be familiar with the same concepts. For example, most biologists will not have a rigorous definition of entropy committed to memory or know its units. The concept of entropy might crop up in a biophysics paper, however.

Put yourself in the audience’s shoes and anticipate what they might not fully understand given their respective backgrounds.

If you are unsure, ask them if they need a definition or include a short definition in your slides.

Sum Up Important Conclusions

After you’ve finished explaining the nitty-gritty details of the paper, conclude your presentation of the data with a list of significant findings.

Every conclusion will tie in directly to proving the major conclusion of the paper. It should be clear at this point how the data answers the main question.

How Do You Present a Journal Club Powerpoint?

Okay, so we’ve just gone through the steps required to break down a paper to present it effectively at journal club. But this needs to be paired with a PowerPoint presentation, and the two bridged orally by your talk. How do you ace this?

Provide Broad Context to the Research

We are all bogged down by minutia and reagents out of necessity.

Being bogged down is research. But it helps to come up for air. Ultimately, how will the research you are about to discuss benefit the Earth and its inhabitants when said research is translated into actual products?

Science can be for its own sake, but funded science rarely is. Reminding the journal club audience of the widest aims of the nominated field provides a clear starting point for the discussion and shows that you understand the efficacy of the research at its most basic level.

The Golden Rule: A Slide per Minute

Remember during lectures when the lecturer would open PowerPoint, and you would see, with dismay, that their slides went up to 90 or something daft? Then the last 20 get rushed through, but that’s what the exam question ends up being based on.

Don’t be that person!

A 10-15 minute talk should be accompanied by? 10-15 slides! Less is more.

Be Judicious about the Information You Choose to Present

If you are present everything in the paper, people might as well just read it in their own time, and we can call journal club off.

Try to abstract only the key findings. Sometimes technical data is necessary for what you are speaking about because their value affects the efficacy of the data and validity of the conclusions.

Most of the time, however, the exact experimental conditions can be left out and given on request. It’s good practice to put all the technical data that you anticipate being asked for in a few slides at the end of your talk.

Use your judgment.

Keep the Amount of Information per Slide Low for Clarity

Your audience is already listening to you and looking at the slides, so they have a limited capacity for what they can absorb. Overwhelming them with visual queues and talking to them will disengage them.

Have only a few clearly related images that apply directly to what you speaking about at the time. Annotate them with the only key facts from your talk and develop the bigger picture verbally.

This will be hard at first because you must be on the ball and confident with your subject area and speaking to an audience.

And definitely use circles, boxes, and arrows to highlight important parts of figures, and add a flowchart or diagram to explain an unfamiliar method.

Keep It Short Overall

The exact length of your meeting is up to you or the organizer. A 15-minute talk followed by a 30-minute discussion is about the right length, Add in tea and coffee and hellos, and you get to an hour.

We tend to speak at 125-150 words per minute. All these words should not be on your slides, however. So, commit a rough script to memory and rehearse it.

You’ll find that the main points you need to mention start to stand out and fall into place naturally. Plus, your slides will serve as visual queue cards.

How Do You Ask a Question in Journal Club?

A well-organized journal club will have clear expectations of whether or not questions should be asked only during the discussion, or whether interruptions during the presentation are allowed.

And I don’t mean literally how do you soliloquize, but rather how do you get an effective discussion going.

Presenters: Ask Questions to the Audience

We all know how it goes. “Any questions?” Silence.

Scientists, by their very nature, are usually introverted. Any ideas they might want to contribute to a discussion are typically outweighed by the fear of looking silly in front of their peers. Or they think everyone already knows the item they wish to contribute. Or don’t want to be publicly disproven. And so on.

Prepare some questions to ask the audience in advance. As soon as a few people speak, everyone tends to loosen up. Take advantage of this.

Audience: Think About Topics to Praise or Critique

Aside from seeking clarification on any unclear topics, you could ask questions on:

• Does the data support the conclusions?
• Are the conclusions relevant?
• Are the methods valid?
• What are the drawbacks and limitations of the conclusions?
• Are there better methods to test the hypothesis?
• How will the research be translated into real-world benefits?
• Are there obvious follow-up experiments?
• How well is the burden of proof met?
• Is the data physiologically relevant?
• Do you agree with the conclusions?

How to Keep It Fun

Make it interactive.

Quizzes and polls are a great way to do this! And QR codes make it really easy to do on-the-fly. Remember, scientists, are shy. So why not seek their participation in an anonymized form?

You could poll your audience on the quality of the work. You could make a fun quiz based on the material you’ve covered. You could do a live “what happened next?” You could even get your feedback this way. Here’s what to do:

• Create your quiz or poll using Google forms .
• Make a shareable link.
• Paste the link into a free QR code generator .
• Put the QR code in the appropriate bit of your talk.

Use Multimedia

Talking to your audience without anything to break it up is a guaranteed way of sending them all to sleep.

Consider embedding demonstration videos and animations in your talk. Or even just pausing to interject with your own anecdotes will keep everyone concentrated on you.

Keep It Informal

At the end of the day, we’re all scientists. Perhaps at different stages of our careers, but we’ve all had similar-ish trajectories. So there’s no need for haughtiness.

And research institutes are usually aggressively casual in terms of dress code, coffee breaks, and impromptu chats. Asking everyone to don a suit won’t add any value to a journal club.

Your Journal Club Toolkit in Summary

Anyone can read a paper, but the value lies in understanding it and applying it to your own research and thought process.

Remember, journal club is about extracting wisdom from your colleagues in the form of a discussion while disseminating wisdom to them in a digestible format.

Need some inspiration for your journal club? Check out the online repositories hosted by PNAS and NASPAG to get your juices flowing.

We’ve covered a lot of information, from parsing papers to organizational logistics, and effective presentation. So why not bookmark this page so you can come back to it all when it’s your turn to present?

While you’re here, why not ensure you’re always prepared for your next journal club and download bitesize bio’s free journal club checklist ?

And if you present at journal club and realize we’ve left something obvious out. Get in touch and let us know. We’ll add it to the article!

• Linzer M et al . (1988) Impact of a medical journal club on house-staff reading habits, knowledge, and critical appraisal skills . JAMA 260 :2537–41

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

Advertisement

How to Prepare an Outstanding Journal Club Presentation

• Request Permissions

Rishi Sawhney; How to Prepare an Outstanding Journal Club Presentation. The Hematologist 2006; 3 (1): No Pagination Specified. doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/hem.V3.1.1308

Download citation file:

• Ris (Zotero)
• Reference Manager

Dr. Sawhney is a member of the ASH Trainee Council and a Fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Journal club presentations provide a forum through which hematology trainees keep abreast of new developments in hematology and engage in informal discussion and interaction. Furthermore, honing presentation skills and mastering the ability to critically appraise the evidence add to our armamentarium as clinicians. Outlined here is a systematic approach to preparing a journal club presentation, with emphasis on key elements of the talk and references for electronic resources. Use of these tools and techniques will contribute to the success of your presentation.

I. ARTICLE SELECTION:

The foundation of an outstanding journal club presentation rests on the choice of an interesting and well-written paper for discussion. Several resources are available to help you select important and timely research, including the American College of Physicians (ACP) Journal Club and the Diffusion section of The Hematologist . McMaster University has created the McMaster Online Rating of Evidence (MORE) system to identify the highest-quality published research. In fact, the ACP Journal Club uses the MORE system to select their articles 1 . Specific inclusion criteria have been delineated in order to distinguish papers with the highest scientific merit 2 . Articles that have passed this screening are then rated by clinicians on their clinical relevance and newsworthiness, using a graded scale 3 . With the help of your mentors and colleagues, you can use these criteria and the rating scale as informal guidelines to ensure that your chosen article merits presentation.

II. ARTICLE PRESENTATION:

Study Background: This section provides your audience with the necessary information and context for a thoughtful and critical evaluation of the article's significance. The goals are 1) to describe the rationale for and clinical relevance of the study question, and 2) to highlight the preclinical and clinical research that led to the current trial. Review the papers referenced in the study's "Background" section as well as previous work by the study's authors. It also may be helpful to discuss data supporting the current standard of care against which the study intervention is being measured.

Study Methodology and Results: Clearly describe the study population, including inclusion/exclusion criteria. A diagrammatic schema is easy to construct using PowerPoint software and will help to clearly illustrate treatment arms in complex trials. Explain the statistical methods, obtaining assistance from a statistician if needed. Take this opportunity to verbally and graphically highlight key results from the study, with plans to expand on their significance later in your presentation.

Author's Discussion: Present the authors' conclusions and their perspective on the study results, including explanations of inconsistent or unexpected results. Consider whether the conclusions drawn are supported by the data presented.

III. ARTICLE CRITIQUE:

This component of your presentation will define the success of your journal club. A useful and widely accepted approach to this analysis has been published in JAMA's series "User's guide to the medical literature." The Centre for Health Evidence in Canada has made the complete full-text set of these user's guides available online 4 . This site offers review guidelines for a menu of article types, and it is an excellent, comprehensive resource to focus your study critique. A practical, user-friendly approach to literature evaluation that includes a worksheet is also available on the ASH Web site for your use 5 .

While a comprehensive discussion of scientific literature appraisal is beyond the scope of this discussion, several helpful tips warrant mention here. In assessing the validity of the study, it is important to assess for potential sources of bias, including the funding sources and authors' affiliations. It is also helpful to look for accompanying editorial commentary, which can provide a unique perspective on the article and highlight controversial issues. You should plan to discuss the trade-offs between potential benefits of the study intervention versus potential risks and the cost. By utilizing the concept of number needed to treat (NNT), one can assess the true impact of the study intervention on clinical practice. Furthermore, by incorporating the incidence rates of clinically significant toxicities with the financial costs into the NNT, you can generate a rather sophisticated analysis of the study's impact on practice.

IV. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS:

Restate the authors' take-home message followed by your own interpretation of the study. Provide a personal perspective, detailing why you find this paper interesting or important. Then, look forward and use this opportunity to "think outside the box." Do you envision these study results changing the landscape of clinical practice or redirecting research in this field? If so, how? In articles about therapy, future directions may include moving the therapy up to first-line setting, assessing the drug in combination regimens or other disease states, or developing same-class novel compounds in the pipeline. Searching for related clinical trials on the NIH Web site 6  can prove helpful, as can consultation with an expert in this field.

Good journal club discussions are integral to the educational experience of hematology trainees. Following the above approach, while utilizing the resources available, will lay the groundwork for an outstanding presentation.

WEB BASED REFERENCES

www.acpjc.org

hiru.mcmaster.ca/more/InclusionCriteria.htm

hiru.mcmaster.ca/more/RatingFormSample.htm

www.cche.net/main.asp

www.hematology.org/Trainees

www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials

• Previous Article
• Next Article

Email alerts

Affiliations.

• Current Issue
• About The Hematologist
• Advertising in The Hematologist
• Editorial Board
• Permissions
• Submissions
• Email Alerts
• ASH Publications App

American Society of Hematology

• 2021 L Street NW, Suite 900
• Washington, DC 20036
• TEL +1 202-776-0544
• FAX +1 202-776-0545

ASH Publications

• Blood Advances
• Blood Neoplasia
• Blood Vessels, Thrombosis & Hemostasis
• Hematology, ASH Education Program
• ASH Clinical News
• The Hematologist
• Publications
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Terms of Use

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.

• Compare Products

Have a question? +1 604 877 0713 or Email Us at [email protected]

Your cart has an existing quote

Your shopping cart contains an active quote order and cannot be modified. To modify your shopping cart, please remove the current quote order before making changes to your cart. If you require changes to the quote, please contact your local sales representative.

• Sign In Email Address Password Sign In Forgot your password?

Register for an account to quickly and easily purchase products online and for one-click access to all educational content.

• 10 Journal Club Tips: How to Run, Lead, and Present Like a Pro

Ten Tips for Scientific Journal Clubs: How to Organize, Lead, and Participate Well

What is a journal club? A scientific journal club is a dedicated meeting where researchers gather to discuss publications from peer-reviewed journals. These meetings help researchers keep up with current findings, exercise their critical thinking skills, and improve their presentation and debate abilities.

Journal club formats vary depending on the preferences of organizers and participants. Online journal clubs organized using virtual meeting platforms (e.g. Zoom, Google Meets, Webex) are increasing in popularity with research labs and institutions.

In a well-run journal club, participants engage in lively discussions, while critically and honestly evaluating a study's strengths and weaknesses. They take away insights on what to do—and what not to do—in their own work. They feel inspired by new findings and walk away with ideas for their own research. On the contrary, ineffective journal clubs lack active participation. There may be a fear of openly voicing thoughts and opinions, or attendees may just be there for the free refreshments. In the end, the attendees take away nothing useful and think it's a waste of time. Whether you’re an organizer or a participant, follow these tips to run and lead a successful journal club, and to create engaging journal club presentations.

1. Make It a Routine

Schedule the journal club at a recurring time and location, so that it becomes a regular part of everyone's schedule. Choose a time that will be the least disruptive to everyone's experiments. Perhaps host it during lunchtime and invite people to eat while the presenter is speaking. Or perhaps host it in late afternoon with coffee and snacks provided.

We try and make the meeting times agreeable to most people and at times that are conducive to the work day of a grad student. We hold our journal clubs after seminars or presentations so it doesn’t interrupt experiments.

Shan Kasal, Graduate Student, The University of Chicago

2. Designate a Leader

A designated leader(s) who can take ownership of running the journal club will contribute tremendously to its success. The responsibilities of a leader may include organizing the journal club (see below) and facilitating the meeting (e.g., starting and ending meetings on time, making speaker introductions and announcements, and moderating discussions). Skilled journal club leaders make it safe for members to openly voice their thoughts and opinions. They work to generate excitement and encourage active participation. They also provide opportunities for members to join them in organizing and leading the journal club. Great leaders inspire personal and professional growth in others within their journal club community. Download this journal club preparation checklist to help you stay organized as a leader and ensure all necessary tasks are completed before each journal club meeting.

3. Get Organized

Staying organized is key to running a successful journal club. Here are some ways that can help you organize a journal club:

• Set a consistent format and make sure members are aware of it.
• Create and share schedules so participants know it's their turn to present, facilitate, pre-read, or provide refreshments.
• Develop a communication rhythm to make sure announcements and reminders are sent out in a timely manner.
• Provide guidelines and/or a template for presenters.
• Bring attendance sheets to track member turnouts. Depending on the institute, keeping track of attendance can help with budget requests and approvals.
• Provide feedback forms to the audience to help identify areas for improvement.

Journal Club ToolKit

Get organized with these downloadable tools, including a journal club preparation checklist, attendance sheet template, presentation checklist, feedback form template, and presenter evaluation forms.

4. Pre-Read Papers

Pre-reading is a great way to ensure that you have sufficient background information to participate in journal club discussions. In an ideal world, everyone in the journal club will read the paper prior to the meeting. But due to the high demands of research , members may not have the time to pre-read before every single meeting. Journal club leaders can encourage pre-reading or even make it mandatory. Some journal clubs ask for different members to present different figures. Using this format, several individuals have to pre-read the paper and actively participate during each meeting. Other journal clubs designate one or two individuals, in addition to the presenter, to thoroughly pre-read the paper each week. The pre-readers are asked to help promote discussion by asking questions during the meetings. Organizers can set a schedule so that members know when it's their turn to pre-read.

5. Build a Community

You need to have students that are interested in the club in the first place, and I would also say, interested in hanging out with each other. Our journal club format is informal, which allows us to at least enjoy the company of each other.

Journal club organizers and leaders should aim to create a community where the members feel safe enough to share their thoughts and ask questions. Fostering community encourages active participation and the exchange of ideas, and can increase participant satisfaction and collaborations.

Successful journal clubs always come with food!!

Serena Chang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Stanford University

A great way to foster community is, simply, to serve food and drinks. Eating and drinking together can create a friendly, informal atmosphere conducive to open discussions, which will help encourage the flow of ideas and thoughts on the journal club paper. In addition, refreshments help to incentivize members to continue attending the journal club.

Immunology Journal Club Sponsorship Contest

Enter for a chance to win a $500 USD sponsorship budget for your immunology journal club. Use it to fund food and drinks. Be a hero and win it for your journal club community.

6. Choose Relevant Papers

Consider the composition of your journal club community when choosing a paper. A journal club may have a broad group of researchers (e.g., a general immunology journal club), or it may only involve one or two labs specifically working on immune tolerance or a particular immune cell type. Papers discussed should be be on topics relevant to the participants’ research areas so that they remain interested.

We encourage people to select papers they are not already reading to try and expand our understanding of immunology and theirs. Too many times I feel like people select papers they already have read or will read and gain nothing from it, so there is no incentive to invest more.

As a busy researcher, the additional task of preparing for a journal club can feel like an extra burden. It’s easy to choose a paper that you are already reading for your research project. But choosing a paper that is outside of your research specialty can help you and others gain new perspectives and broaden your knowledge.

7. Make Engaging Presentations

You’ve likely suffered through boring lectures with text-heavy slides, or a monotonous presentation. How can this be avoided in your journal club?

I have a one page suggestion list of things to include in the presentation, including criticisms for the methods, hypothesis, whether the results are valid/strong enough to support the hypothesis, etc. This helps keep everyone on track.

As a journal club organizer or leader, you can provide presenters with a suggested list of presentation content and best practices:

• Start with why. Capture everyone’s interest by sharing why you chose that paper or why the paper is important to discuss.
• Prepare a concise presentation. Summarize only the key points of the paper. Include enough background information but avoid the urge to include every single detail. You can provide technical details when needed during the discussion period.
• Simplify complex information. Create simple visual representations of complex ideas, pathways, or techniques to help your audience understand the information. Avoid writing out complex information in text-heavy slides that nobody will read.
• Give it more space. Make your slides easier to read by avoiding having too much text in small fonts or too many figures on one slide. If a figure is too large, you can break it up into a few slides.
• Include discussion starters. Instead of simply summarizing, include your thoughts and opinions on all aspects of the paper to initiate a discussion. What were the strengths and weaknesses? What questions did you have when reading the paper?

Download this journal club presentation checklist to help your presentation preparation.

8. Keep It Exciting

Break out of the routine once in a while to keep the journal club fresh and exciting. For example, you could invite external speakers to your journal club:

• Invite a visiting scientist to present their work.
• Ask a biotech company to present their technologies.
• Find a speaker who can discuss scientific careers.
• Ask a science communication expert to give tips.

9. Look for Ways to Improve

You’ve taken the first step towards improving your journal club by reading this article, but improvement is a continual process. What does your journal club community think? Perform regular audits of the journal club by asking for feedback every few months. Distribute feedback forms that attendees can fill out at the end of a journal club meeting. Download a journal club feedback form template > In addition to asking for feedback, pay attention to what happens during journal club meetings. Do members generally appear awake and engaged during presentations? Are you constantly running out of discussion time? You can gain a lot of insights by simply being observant in the meeting.

10. Make Time for It

Understandably, the demands of research can prevent you from making the choice to take on this additional task of leading or participating in a journal club. Adopt smart practices so you can use your time more efficiently. Working smart will help free up your time for other beneficial activities, including journal clubs. One of the ways to work smarter is to make the switch to more efficient technologies that can help you get your results in less time. For example, you can switch to a smarter way to isolate cells.

Efficient Tools and Technologies for Life Science Research

Accomplish more in less time and with less effort by making smarter choices for the tools you use in the lab, including cell isolation and cell culture technologies.

Share This Article:

Tweet Share

Watch Our Virtual Journal Club Presentations

Choose one of the titles below to see a recording of our online journal club presentations.

• Viral Exploitation of Extracellular Vesicles to Spread Infection
• Mechanisms of Glioblastoma Resistance
• New Strategies to Target Macrophages in Cancer
• Patient-Derived Alzheimer’s Disease Modeling
• Cerebral Organoids for Human-Specific Infection Modeling
• Human In Vitro T Cell Development
• Expanding the Therapeutic Tool Kit for CAR T Cells
• NK Cell Expansion or Differentiation from Progenitors for Cell Therapy
• The Potential of Antibody-Producing B Cells for Modelling and Therapy
• Advances in Live-Attenuated Vaccine Development for Zika Virus
• Evaluating Functional Immune Responses in the Next Generation of Humanized Mice

Related Resources

Watch live virtual events.

Register for upcoming digital experiences hosted by STEMCELL, including online journal clubs and live webinars.

Browse Events >

Visit Virtual Conference Exhibitions

Attend scientific talks, browse posters, and join discussions on immunology, pluripotent stem cells, and organoids.

Explore Now >

• Organize Lab Bench
• Manage Inventory
• Organize Notebooks
• Share Duties
• Choose Technologies
• Productivity Habits
• Staying Motivated
• Productive Commute
• Mentor Effectively
• Successful Journal Club
• Immunologists to Follow
• Attending Conferences
• Effective Presentations
• Networking Tips
• Habits to Break
• Optimizing Value
• Thriving in Research
• Information Overload
• Storing and Preserving Data
• Poster Presentations
• Efficient Technologies
• Return to Lab
• Managing Projects
• Reopening the Lab
• Lab Coats & Life™ Podcast
• Increase Your Productivity
• Get Organized
• Communicate Effectively
• Advance Your Career
• Move from Academia to Industry

• Cookie Preferences
• Terms & Conditions
• Current Country/Region

The Scientific Hypothesis

The Key to Understanding How Science Works

How to Give a Great Journal Club Presentation

A lot of advanced science education takes place in the more-or-less formal setting of a journal club where one member of a group presents a paper from the scientific literature to the whole group. giving a good presentation is a learned skill; here are some tips on how to do it well..

• Pick a good paper. (Don’t get all neurotic about this. If you find it interesting and significant, then it will almost certainly benefit your group. If you’re in doubt, ask a colleague or mentor.) Read it. Two or three times. Skimming quickly may be enough to tell you whether or not there is something to it, but getting down to the level of detail that you’ll want to have under control for the actual presentation can easily take more time and effort than you first think it will. Is it clearly written and understandable? If you find it too difficult, or poorly written to get the message, chances are that others will struggle too. You might want to pick a different paper.
• Ask yourself why the authors did the research.  What did they hope to learn?  The abstract and conclusion of a paper generally express the essence of the work.  Read them carefully even before going over the rest of the paper in depth. It often helps you to figure out the big picture, especially when the authors seem to take it for granted that all readers will see what it is. Authors often start off by saying that some subject, X, “is not well-understood.”  Well, of course it’s not!  That’s why they got a paper out of studying X.  The statement usually just gives you a general idea of what the about and is only rarely the level of information that you want.  
• Find the hypothesis in the paper; most have one, but a great many papers that are based on hypotheses don’t say so explicitly (BTW, some authors say they’re testing a “model;” occasionally they are referring to an “animal model” such as a mouse, but usually a model that’s being tested is the same as a hypothesis). 
• The most important thing for your audience is to trace the logical flow of the paper. How do the experiments in the paper test the hypothesis? Is each result truly relevant to the hypothesis: that is, does it support or contradict it, or is it irrelevant to the truth of the hypothesis (this is more common than you might think)? 
• With practice you can make a smooth and informative narrative out of any average paper.  When transitioning from one figure to the next, avoid the trite and deadly-boring phrase “… and then they wanted to look at…” The authors certainly had a reason for “wanting to look at” whatever they looked at. Tell the audience what it was!  Why did they do what the authors did and why that experiment followed at that point.  What did they learn by doing it? 
• Be able to go over the important figures, tables or other displayed items in enough detail to make the main point(s) clear.
• You should understand the methods used by the authors well enough to explain them generally to a group, and say why the authors chose them. You are not expected to become a technical expert in the field represented by the paper, however. Be aware of notable advantages and limitations of the methods in case questions about them arise.
• Try to anticipate the kinds of questions that may come up, but if you can’t answer one, it is perfectly ok to say, “I don’t know.” We’ve all been there.  Maybe someone else in the group does know, in any case an honest statement of ignorance is preferable than trying to fake it. 
• You must be scrupulously fair to the authors, but you are not their advocate; your job is to discuss their paper in a critical and insightful way.  After presenting their reasoning and results as the authors would want them to be presented, feel free to point out shortcomings if you disagree with them or think that they have made a mistake in reasoning, execution, etc..  But be a bit cautious:  if you think that the authors made a bone-headed error, try extra hard to understand what they were doing.  It is possible that they did err somehow, but it is possible that you’ve missed something.  Hopefully, your audience will be engaged and following right along and they will raise critical questions as well. It is important to keep in mind that an attack on the paper is not an attack on you!  Your reputation is not on the line here, the authors’ reputations are.  Of course, if you wind up completely trashing the paper, it may appear that you didn’t follow rule number 1.
• Be aware that you may be the only person in the room who has actually read the paper.  You are the authority on it.  A common mistake is to assume that everyone else already knows full well what you just spent a week learning; after all, they showed up expecting to be enlightened.  There might be one or two experts in the audience, but you should assume that most people aren’t experts. And even experts are rarely offended by hearing a concise review of the basics: they know full well that the audience needs it. So don’t assume too much and do give enough detail. Your main task is to educate your colleagues about a piece of work that you think is interesting and valuable.  
• Plan to finalize your talk at least a day or so in advance. Practice going through the slides out loud (ideally with a couple of friends), indicating the major points of each one, but do not try to memorize or read your talk! It’s nice to know your transition to the next slide, but if you forget it, don’t panic – just advance the slide and pick up from there. (Some people like to have a card with a few notes on it as a security blanket in case of a public brain freeze.  Ordinarily, having a card handy is enough to guarantee that they won’t need it.)
• On the day of the talk show up early, get into the room, get your presentation loaded. and flip through the slides in advance.  Every experienced presenter has nightmare stories of last minute computer crashes, software incompatibilities, missing pointers, unfamiliar set-ups. These problems are not fun, and not what you want to have to cope with after you’ve been introduced. If you find a glitch during your run-through, you’ll have time to fix it.

1 thought on “ How to Give a Great Journal Club Presentation ”

I have encouraged students to study Brad’s tips on giving a great journal club presentation for 20 years. I plan to continue doing so!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Expert Consult

Journal Club: How to Build One and Why

By Michelle Sharp, MD; Hunter Young, MD, MHS

Published April 6, 2022

Journal clubs are a longstanding tradition in residency training, dating back to William Osler in 1875. The original goal of the journal club in Osler’s day was to share expensive texts and to review literature as a group. Over time, the goals of journal clubs have evolved to include discussion and review of current literature and development of skills for evaluating medical literature. The ultimate goal of a journal club is to improve patient care by incorporating evidence into practice.

Why are journal clubs important?

In 2004, Alper et al . reported that it would take more than 600 hours per month to stay current with the medical literature. That leaves residents with less than 5 hours a day to eat, sleep, and care for patients if they want to stay current, and it’s simply impossible. Journal clubs offer the opportunity for residents to review the literature and stay current. Furthermore, Lee et al . showed that journal clubs improve residents’ critical appraisal of the literature.

How do you get started?

The first step to starting a journal club is to decide on the initial goal. A good initial goal is to lay the foundation for critical thinking skills using literature that is interesting to residents. An introductory lecture series or primer on study design is a valuable way to start the journal club experience. The goal of the primer is not for each resident to become a statistician, but rather to lay the foundation for understanding basic study designs and the strengths and weaknesses of each design.

The next step is to decide on the time, frequency, and duration of the journal club. This depends on the size of your residency program and leadership support. Our journal club at Johns Hopkins is scheduled monthly during the lunch hour instead of a noon conference lecture. It is essential to pick a time when most residents in your program will be available to attend and a frequency that is sustainable.

How do you get residents to come?

Generally, if you feed them, they will come. In a cross-sectional analysis of journal clubs in U.S. internal medicine residencies, Sidorov found that providing food was associated with long-lasting journal clubs. Factors associated with higher resident attendance were fewer house staff, mandatory attendance, formal teaching, and an independent journal club (separate from faculty journal clubs).

The design or format of your journal club is also a key factor for attendance. Not all residents will have time during each rotation to read the assigned article, but you want to encourage these residents to attend nonetheless. One way to engage all residents is to assign one or two residents to lead each journal club, with the goal of assigning every resident at least one journal club during the year. If possible, pick residents who are on lighter rotations, so they have more time outside of clinical duties to dissect the article. To enhance engagement, allow the assigned residents to pick an article on a topic that they find interesting.

Faculty leadership should collaborate with residents on article selection and dissection and preparation of the presentation. Start each journal club with a 10- to 20-minute presentation by the assigned residents to describe the article (as detailed below) to help residents who did not have time to read the article to participate.

What are the nuts and bolts of a journal club?

To prepare a successful journal club presentation, it helps for the structure of the presentation to mirror the structure of the article as follows:

Background: Start by briefly describing the background of the study, prior literature, and the question the paper was intended to address.

Methods: Review the paper’s methods, emphasizing the study design, analysis, and other key points that address the validity and generalizability of the results (e.g., participant selection, treatment of potential confounders, and other issues that are specific to each study design).

Results: Discuss the results, focusing on the paper’s tables and figures.

Discussion: Restate the research question, summarize the key findings, and focus on factors that can affect the validity of the findings. What are potential biases, confounders, and other issues that affect the validity or generalizability of the findings to clinical practice? The study results should also be discussed in the context of prior literature and current clinical practice. Addressing the questions that remain unanswered and potential next steps can also be useful.

Faculty participation: At our institution, the faculty sponsor meets with the assigned residents to address their questions about the paper and guide the development of the presentation, ensuring that the key points are addressed. Faculty sponsors also attend the journal club to answer questions, emphasize key elements of the paper, and facilitate the open discussion after the resident’s presentation.

How do you measure impact?

One way to evaluate your journal club is to assess the evidence-based practice skills of the residents before and after the implementation of the journal club with a tool such as the Berlin questionnaire — a validated 15-question survey that assesses evidence-based practice skills. You can also conduct a resident satisfaction survey to evaluate the residents’ perception of the implementation of the journal club and areas for improvement. Finally, you can develop a rubric for evaluation of the resident presenters in each journal club session, and allow faculty to provide feedback on critical assessment of the literature and presentation skills.

Journal clubs are a great tradition in medical training and continue to be a valued educational resource. Set your goal. Consider starting with a primer on study design. Engage and empower residents to be part of the journal club. Enlist faculty involvement for guidance and mentorship. Measure the impact.

5 Tips for Journal Club First-Timers

By Lucy Bauer

Monday, March 30, 2015

Research communities often uphold the ideal of scientific collaboration. But what does “collaboration” really mean? The picture that comes to mind can be people sitting, talking, and exchanging ideas that push toward the goal of creating better health. How can this exchange practically happen? One way is through a journal club. Recently, I had the privilege of presenting a journal article to my lab group’s journal club in the PAIN (Pain And Integrative Neuroscience) lab for  Dr. Catherine Bushnell . One goal of our lab is to look at the relationship and differences between itch and pain.

Me explaining part of the spinal neuron pathway in itch

So, what is the purpose of a journal club?

A journal club is a regular gathering of scientists to discuss a scientific paper found in a research journal. One or two members of the club present a summary of the chosen paper that the whole group has read. Then, the discussion begins. Attendees ask clarifying questions, inquire about different aspects of the experimental design, critique the methods, and bring a healthy amount of skepticism (or praise) to the results.

For my first journal club at the NIH, we considered a paper that looks at how itch is mediated in the spinal cord from the skin up to the brain. The authors show that mice lacking a gene for a specific type of spinal neuron constantly scratch specific areas of their bodies corresponding to the missing spinal interneuron. When these mice receive a stem cell implant, a normal reaction to itch is restored. This paper generated much discussion about neuronal development, ethical considerations, and how the results relate to our research within the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).

The ideas found and discussed at the journal club can help expand and balance each scientist’s scope of what is happening in the world of research while informing experimental plans and research directions. Here are five things I learned from my experience leading a journal club that can help you prepare to get the most out of your discussions:

1. Know the background material.

Prepare beforehand for your journal club presentation by knowing the research that has preceded and is related to the paper you will be presenting. This will make your discussion more informed and effective. Of course, it is likely impossible to know everything that would relate to your journal club presentation, but even a little bit of background information is helpful.

2. Make your presentation concise.

Every paper has many details about methods, results, discussion, future directions, etc. It is very helpful to give your audience the general flow of the entire paper and research before adding in all the details.

3. Simplify unfamiliar concepts.

Journal clubs often have members of varying backgrounds. Hence, not all concepts will be familiar to everyone in the group. It can be helpful to give a short summary of techniques and results. Detailed explanations can be provided later on, because the primary focus of presenting the paper should be giving an overview of the research.

4. Ask yourself questions about the paper before you present.

As the presenter, you may be the semi-“expert” on the paper, but as you get to know the research, you may discover some questions you have about the methods. Share with the group the questions you came across yourself and any answers you may have found to address them.

5. Ask specific questions to the members of the journal club.

When entering into discussion time, ask the group for their thoughts on specific topics found in the paper to create a starting point for conversation about the paper. Questions can be about methods, results, general ideas, and much more!

Journal clubs are great forums for the exchange of thoughts and ideas. Clubs held at the NIH are just one way through which necessary scientific discussion and collaboration can take place. Be sure to look into journal clubs happening near you!

If you’re at the NIH, the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) hosts  Summer Journal Clubs  that are ideal for trainees just getting their feet wet. And for our colleagues around the world, the NIH National Library of Medicine (NLM) provides an online platform to discuss journal articles in our connected world via the  PubMed Commons Journal Clubs .

Related Blog Posts

• Isaac Fights to Inspire Others
• Need for Speed
• What’s in a Name, Postbac IRTA?
• IRP Graduate Students Show Off Their Work at Annual Symposium
• Brain Pathway Amplifies Pain After Injury

This page was last updated on Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Loading metrics

Open Access

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

• Kristen M. Naegle

Published: December 2, 2021

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
• Reader Comments

Citation: Naegle KM (2021) Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Comput Biol 17(12): e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554

Copyright: © 2021 Kristen M. Naegle. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The author received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The author has declared no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554.g001

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

• View Article
• PubMed/NCBI
• Google Scholar
• 3. Teaching VUC for Making Better PowerPoint Presentations. n.d. Available from: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/#baddeley .
• 8. Creating a dyslexia friendly workplace. Dyslexia friendly style guide. nd. Available from: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide .
• 9. Cravit R. How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible. 2019. Available from: https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/ .
• 10. Making your conference presentation more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. n.d. Available from: https://vocaleyes.co.uk/services/resources/guidelines-for-making-your-conference-presentation-more-accessible-to-blind-and-partially-sighted-people/ .
• 11. Reynolds G. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 2nd ed. New Riders Pub; 2011.
• 12. Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd ed. Graphics Press; 2001.

Tips on Preparing a Journal Club Talk

Suggestions for preparing and giving scientific talks in journal club.

First and foremost, the best way to become proficient at Journal Club is to attend Journal Club meetings regularly. Please remember that Human Genetics graduate students are expected to attend ALL Journal Club and RIP meetings during the year. Listen to what the speaker is doing right and wrong – how might you modify your own presentation style? Importantly - ask questions! Journal Clubs are a dialog in which the audience has to participate with the speaker. Speak up if something is not clear from a figure. Did the authors forget a critical control? Is the conclusion not justified based on the data? It is always a challenge to ask good questions, no matter how good or bad the presentation is.

1. Choose your paper carefully. Your topic should be something you want to learn more about, but it should not be too close to your own research. Your topic should also be of interest to others in Journal Club (your audience). Consider broader areas of genetics, such as bioinformatics, evolution, epigenetics, or population genetics. Also, the faculty urge you to look outside Science, Nature, and Cell papers, which tend to cater to popular topics, but not necessarily the best science. Read your paper over (more than once if necessary); be sure you are convinced the data are compelling and the conclusions are important. Ideally, you will go over your choice with colleagues and your faculty advisor. It is hard to do well in journal club if your starting point is a bad (or boring) paper.

2. Read your paper(s) thoroughly. To help you to understand your chosen paper, read broadly in the subject area. Look for (and read) good recent papers that are relevant to your subject; these supporting papers will build the foundation for the research you will discuss and will take the form of primary research articles as well as reviews. The latter are particularly important. There are reviews all over the place; try to focus on those in major sources such as: Annual Reviews (of Cell Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry, etc.), the Trends in… series (e.g. Trends in Genetics), Nature Reviews… (e.g. Nature Reviews Cell Biology), etc... In addition, a number of journals have excellent mini-reviews. If necessary, look up basic facts in a textbook. L ook up references that will help you understand a technique or any important detail that is central to understanding the work you are discussing. These are usually found in the “Materials and Methods” section of the paper. Although this can be time consuming, it really pays off to know this information to address possible pitfalls in the work and to interpret the experiments presented.

3. If you still have questions about the data, get help from colleagues . After you have read the papers and can discuss the topic with some knowledge, talk to faculty and students who have expertise in the area. Sometimes it is helpful to email the first or last author of the paper with any questions you may have.

4. Plan out your talk carefully . Your talk should be organized into five major sections: (1) an introduction to the subject, (2) the data and results (3) a final model(s) if possible, (4) major conclusions, (5) proposed future experiments (you are now the expert, after all!). For your introduction , plan on 4-5 slides (about 10 minutes). Introduce the general topic you will be discussing. What are the key experiments that preceded this study and set it up? What is the intellectual framework for this study? What central question(s) does this paper aim to address? 2 Ideally, you should try to foreshadow something you will present later – perhaps aspects of the model you will show at the end. By showing the model at the beginning and then showing a more complete version at the end – adding the new results from your paper – you can pull your talk together into a unified presentation (come full circle). The data and results section usually consists of some bullet diagrams (with as little text as possible) and figures from the paper. Extract the figures from the PDF file of the paper. You should feel free to separate and annotate the figures from the paper to increase the effectiveness of your presentation. Many paper figures are highly complex because of journal space considerations; they can, however, be easier to understand if you split them up into related groups. For each figure that you will present: (1) clearly state what question is being asked or what hypothesis is being tested; (2) explain the experiment and the methods used, mentioning each lane of a gel, panel of data, and relevant details of the experiment so everyone will understand it; (3) present the data as well as alternative interpretations of the data (along with concerns you may have), and (4) finally, state a conclusion from the experiment. What does this show us? Do this for each of the figures. Give an overall summary of the data at the end of each general area in the paper, if possible. For your conclusion, discuss the significance of the data to the field and to other fields of work. State what implications the data have for future research. If possible, refer back to your introduction by showing the audience how you have extended what was known before this paper. Try to keep yourself focused on the key highlights of the paper. If you want to digress a bit into some esoteric or interesting, but not essential point(s), then do so - but let your audience know how it fits in with the subject at hand.By the same token, sometimes a figure in the paper is tangential to the story your are telling. It might be possible to skip this figure altogether and not lose the meaning of the study.

5. PRACTICE!!! Once your slides are prepared and your talk is ready, you are only halfway done. Leave plenty of time to get your talk finalized by practicing the talk out loud in a room. Normally, your first attempt to do this will be a disaster, but this is the only way to see what you know and what you don’t know. Reread as necessary for a better understanding of your weak points; figure out how to better convey your message and understanding. Then, practice your talk again. It should be improved. Then do it again, and again … You should practice your whole talk at least three times on your own. Try adopting a split personality - listen to your talk for content and clarity, and then ask yourself: “Did I explain that clearly?” Try to anticipate questions that your audience might have. This is where some background reading really makes you shine in the eyes of the audience. Remember that you should be in good command of the research that is presented. Finally, and ideally, you will give your practice talk to peers and you will receive feedback on how to improve your presentation even more.

6. Try to relax as much as possible. Giving a good talk takes experience and is a learning process. You will get better with practice (guaranteed!). The more you practice your talk ahead of time, the more relaxed you will be in front of your audience. Try to pace yourself – a common mistake is to proceed at too rapid a pace without telling your audience where you are going. It is better to get only a few major points across and take the time to really explore a few interesting experiments in depth. If you are absolutely terrified about giving an oral presentation or if you need some help, see a faculty member for advice. This is especially important for your first few presentations.

404 Not found

5 Tips for Mastering Your Journal Club Presentation

Whether you're a seasoned pharmacist or a student, presenting a journal club can be a daunting task.

Whether you’re a seasoned pharmacist or a student, presenting a journal club can be a daunting task.

Nevertheless, literature evaluation is a crucial tool that will enhance your knowledge base and help to educate your colleagues. Primary literature is the basis for clinical practice and FDA drug approval. With these 5 tips, you’ll be a rock star for your journal club presentation!

• Read the entire article and not just the abstract

It may be tempting to just read the abstract; however, that’s only a summary of the article. Think of the abstract as the menu of the study; it provides an overview. Additionally, the abstract could contain errors. Therefore, it’s important to take the time to critique the study. Focus on the methods and results, which are really the meat of the study.

Examine the inclusion and exclusion criteria and determine whether they’re appropriate. Evaluate the treatment protocol to determine whether the dosing, monitoring, and follow-up are appropriate. For example, if the primary objective is to evaluate the effect of a diabetes medication on hemoglobin A1c, then the study duration should be at least 3 months.

Evaluate whether your study used the gold standard of the intention to treat (ITT) analysis. The ITT includes all patients in the results that were randomized—even if they dropped out or failed to comply. It’s considered the gold standard analysis because it tries to reflect what’s actually observed in clinical practice. This is an important discussion point for your journal club.

• Research previous studies from the background information

Conduct a quick PubMed search from the references in the introduction section to check the results of previous studies. These studies will ultimately be the basis for why this clinical trial is being conducted. You should also research background information on the disease state being studied and present a brief overview in your presentation.

• Calculate the number needed to treat (NNT)

Take the time to calculate the NNT, which is the number of patients you need to treat in order to to prevent one additional bad outcome (eg, death, stroke, myocardial infarction). The following equations can help you calculate the NNT:

NNT = 1/Absolute Risk Reduction (ARR)

ARR = Control event rate-experimental event rate

The ARR is the amount by which the therapy reduces the risk of a bad outcome.

The NNT is a great value to discuss during your journal club presentation.

• Decide whether the study is clinically significant

The results may be statistically significant, which by convention is p < 0.05. However, it’s extremely important to determine the clinical significance and how it relates to your patients. Let’s look at the following example:

Researchers conducted a study comparing the efficacy of a new antihypertensive drug compared to placebo. After 180 days of treatment, the new drug reduced blood pressure by 1 mm Hg versus placebo (p < 0.05).

This study would be statistically significant, but with such a small drop in blood pressure would not be clinically significant.

• Present the key points and be concise

Check with your preceptor or colleagues about the time frame, but generally 10 to 20 minutes is a good presentation length. Also, it’s a good idea to make copies of your handout for everyone. Use the following as an outline tool to assist you with your journal club presentation:

Title/Abstract

Introduction

Objective(s)

• Study Design
• Inclusion Criteria/Exclusion Criteria
• Outcomes (Efficacy and Safety)

Statistical analysis

These tips can serve as a journal club toolbox for your practice setting or clinical rotations. Good luck on your journal club journey!

Pharmacy Focus: Policy Edition - Discussing the DRUG Act and PBM Reform

FDA Accepts Application for 5-in-1 Meningococcal Vaccine Candidate

Pharmacy Focus: OTC Contraception and Reproductive Health

Study: Asthma Diagnosis in Children Does Not Appear Linked to COVID-19 Diagnosis

Study: PCV13 Protects Against Pneumococcal Serotype Causing Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

2 Commerce Drive Cranbury, NJ 08512

609-716-7777

• - Google Chrome

Intended for healthcare professionals

• Access provided by Google Indexer
• My email alerts
• BMA member login
• Username * Password * Forgot your log in details? Need to activate BMA Member Log In Log in via OpenAthens Log in via your institution

Search form

• Advanced search
• Search responses
• Search blogs
• Choosing an...

Choosing an interesting paper for a journal club

• Related content
• Peer review
• Peter Hallas , junior doctor
• Denmark Hallas{at}rocketmail.com

Some departments have journal clubs where everyone takes turns to give a short presentation on a relevant topic or paper. There are numerous books on how to give a presentation, but little advice available on how to choose a good topic or paper. Here are some suggestions.

Consider what you want to achieve with your presentation: do you want to teach, amuse, provoke, or just impress your colleagues? Choose a paper accordingly.

Picking a subject outside your specialty will broaden horizons. Ask colleagues and friends in departments that your specialty is cooperating with about their “hot papers.”

If you have done research, why not boost your image and present the paper? Tell people something other than what they can just read in it, like how you got involved in the particular project, and then briefly outline methods and results. Please constrain yourself—a common mistake is giving too many details and talking for too long.

Try to cross the species-barrier. Veterinarians have developed some unique solutions in all fields of medicine to treat their diverse group of patients. Be inspired.

All doctors have been taught physiology or anatomy but it might be a while back. Updates on basic science subjects are always relevant.

For perspective on daily life routines, try finding a paper on the history of your specialty.

For amusement try the Annals of Improbable Research ( www.improbable.com ) or the Christmas editions of the BMJ .

If you are nervous about giving presentations, choosing an unconventional topic or paper for your talk could actually help you—people will notice what you are saying more than how you are saying it.

Avoid presenting papers on the tautologies and well established routines of your specialty. Only go there if you can present a new paper that contradicts old truths.

Don't think of presenting a paper as just something you have to do. It's your chance to address colleagues without interruption—how often does that happen? ■

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Indian J Anaesth
• v.66(1); 2022 Jan

How to do a journal club, a seminar and a webinar?

Sadhana sanwatsarkar.

Department of Anaesthesiology, LNCT Medical College and Sewakunj Hospital, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

Sanjeev Palta

1 Department of Anaesthesiology, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India

Satyen Parida

2 Department of Anaesthesiology, JIPMER, Puducherry, India

Chaitanya Kamat

3 Department of Anaesthesiology, JNMC, KAHER, Belgavi, Karnataka, India

H Bala Subramanya

4 Department of Anaesthesiology, VIMS, Ballari, Karnataka, India

The topics for postgraduate teaching-learning tools are Journal club in-house with one speaker and a moderator, Seminars- with multiple speakers and a co-ordinator, and Webinars- online seminars with one or multiple speakers choosing multiple mediums of communication. They largely affect the working mechanism of a clinician as they help us upgrade with the recent development in our fields. Making them interesting for us as well as our colleagues is necessary. This article presents a few facts as well as tips and tricks to compile the literature in a manner, which includes all the necessary points for better learning.

INTRODUCTION

With the evolution of science and technology, an update in the field of medicine occurs every second, hence, the clinicians must upgrade themselves. It becomes next to impossible for an individual to maintain the pace of being up-to-date with the literature by casual reading alone. In addition, a plethora of unimportant and misleading information also gets included in the literature. To continue with the evolution, incorporating various platforms to have discussions regarding the same is of absolute necessity. The numerous options included as the educational activities in the postgraduate (PG) teaching programmes include Journal Club discussions, Seminars and Webinars.[ 1 ]

A journal club, as defined by Mattingly, is a gathering of individuals that meet regularly to critically assess the advances in the scientific literature published in recent articles.[ 2 ] For a long time, the journal club has been a part of the PG study curriculum suggesting new ways to improve their clinical skills. It has been proved to be a versatile programme for its multidirectional and adaptable format to help the participants to develop cognitive skills. Journal clubs are usually organised around a definite subject in basic and or applied research. The presenter voices his/her insights relating to the aptness of the study design, the statistical analysis employed, and the appropriateness of the controls that were used.[ 1 ]

Another widely used active teaching-learning method incorporated in the PG curriculum is the seminars. A seminar is a type of small group teaching in which students play an important role. It is an instructional technique, which involves generating a situation for a group to have guided interaction among themselves on a theme. This help students in the development of their cognitive abilities such as the application of concepts and principles while preparing them for future research and faculty lectures. Compared to didactic lectures, effective seminars increase student engagement, retention of knowledge, self-directed learning, communication skills, and peer discussion. On a regular basis, there are two types of seminars conducted in medical colleges, mini-seminars which are conducted at a classroom level and major seminars which are conducted at the departmental or institutional level.[ 3 , 4 ] The coverage and scope of mini-seminars are small and simple. They are often reflected as group discussions. They improve the questioning skills of the students. A mini-seminar is necessary because it gives good experience to conduct a major seminar at institutional level.[ 3 , 4 ]

Apart from the journal clubs and the seminars, which have been commonly used in the past, there is also a necessity to include webinars as a medium of mass communication education. The concept of webinars is not new; however, there was a surge of webinars in the field of medicine with the announcement of the global pandemic as the annual conference meets were unacceptable. They have become a popular medium of dissipating knowledge and have been included in the curriculum in elite universities.[ 5 ]

With the rise in evidence-based practice through which practitioners judge the pieces of evidence and weigh their usability to bring a change in practice, it becomes indispensable to have journal club discussions, seminars and webinars at frequent levels to cultivate effective skills. Unfortunately, no standard guidelines are framed for their conduction by the governing body, which often confuses the students with their presentations. This article compiles history, steps and tips of presenting the same.

JOURNAL CLUB DISCUSSION

Evolution of journal club.

“Journal Club” was the term given by Dr James Paget in the year 1835. It was so named as the doctors of the St. Bartholomew's hospital, London, used to sit in a lounge and read the journals.[ 1 ] However, the introduction of journal club discussion happened later in the year 1875 when Sir William Osler first organised it at the University of Montreal, Canada for a distinct entity of Cushing's description with the purpose to subscribe and distribute periodicals.[ 1 ] Even so, Dr Erwin H. Ackerknecht, former Director of the Institute of the History of Medicine at Zurich, Switzerland had an opinion that Sir Osler heard about the ‘Journal Club’ from Germany. Dr Osler's journal club presentation was considered a huge success and was highly admired. As per Dr Cushing, Sir Osler later reported the success of the discussion in Baltimore, USA. His notes revealed that the first journal club presentation at John Hopkins was held on 29 th October 1889. Thereafter, the presentations were conducted weekly. In the years 1914-1947, every department in the institution had its journal club discussions. During the year 1926, Dr Scott Dudley Breckenridge was claimed to have started a journal club in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

As mentioned above, Dr Ackerknecht was impressed by the idea of this discussion. He claims it was a routine. The students in Zurich, Switzerland were supplied with articles in different languages. At the same time, a journal club presentation had commenced in Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York which was led by Dr Sidney Leibowitz in the year 1935. By the 1980s, it became mandatory for every medical institute to conduct journal club discussions at regular intervals. The era also noted the transition from face-to-face to online interactions. In the later years, the journals were available online instead of in a hard copy.[ 6 ] With the availability of the online platform, journal clubs have also begun on numerous social media apps such as Twitter. They are very beneficial for an individual who has completed his educational programme as they need not be associated with a medical institute for updates; nevertheless, the advancement from classrooms to laptops has been a boon for all medicos.

Goals of a journal club

Journal clubs have been an integral part of the medical education system since time unknown. They serve several purposes.

They help incorporate evidence-based clinical practice in day-to-day life, develop the skills of reading and analysing a situation critically, and increase exposure to rapidly evolving medical literature. They provide a unique opportunity to promote interest in research while learning from experts about knowledge gaps and future research questions.[ 6 ]

The adult learning principles can best be exercised in a journal club. It promotes group studying and contributes to developing a habit of continuously studying. It makes the task of studying easier.[ 7 ] Journal clubs also act as a motivating tool. In a systematic review by Honey et al. , it was concluded that there was a change in clinicians’ behaviour with the incorporation of journal clubs in their study programme.[ 6 ] It was also seen that the overall prognosis of the patient and treatment also improved significantly. It helps to tone the residents’ behaviour towards critically evaluating the decision-making. Furthermore, it also aids in their debating skills.[ 7 ]

Steps to conduct journal clubs

Journal clubs can be held at departments for PG students and faculty, and at various scientific meets for practitioners. Virtual online journal clubs are organised for a large audience from multiple institutions. Journal clubs should be presented by the second or third-year students as students get oriented to research methodology in the first year of post-graduation.

Choosing the journal club articles

Reputed peer-reviewed indexed articles with high impact factors and rejection rates are generally chosen. Any paper which appropriately presents relevant concepts, stating clearly why the study was done, what problem was being addressed, how the problem is attempted to be solved, with clear conclusions would make a good article.[ 8 ] Articles may be selected based on their clinical relevance and educational value. Original articles are suitable for improving critique skills, though metanalysis, case reports, review articles can also be great resources.

PGs must meet the chairperson of the journal club well in advance and take suggestions for the selection of the topic. It is better to select recent research papers, which are of importance and interest to the presenter and audience. Systematic reviews or theoretical articles should be avoided.

Analysis of the research paper

The abstract conveys the gist of the research and needs to be read assiduously.

First glance: The thoughts on first impression are to be noted down on a paper. Attention has to be paid to the tables and graphs as they convey more information. The article can then be re-read in detail later.

Second, detailed reading: One has to forage for details by asking specific questions in different sections of the article to assess whether the aim of the study correlates with the methods, discussion and conclusions.[ 9 ]

Introduction

While assessing the introduction part of the paper, one should check whether the authors have stated the scientific background, summarised the rationale for the study and mentioned a specific research question appropriate for the given type of study.[ 10 ]

The introduction should define specific objectives, hypotheses, primary and secondary outcome measures.

Methodology

The study design, type of intervention, inclusion and exclusion criteria, method of randomisation, type of blinding, the internal and external validity of the study should be checked. One should also analyse whether the information is enough to replicate the study.[ 11 ]

A search for bias, which can affect the results should also be made. Selection bias, information bias, any confounding variables and work-up or verification bias need to be looked for.

Ethical aspects, consent, timeline, detailed description of the analytic strategy, sample size calculation, statistical data analysis, P values and confidence intervals also deserve attention.

Results should parallel the objectives and methodology. Introducing new findings which the study was not designed for, reflects poor methodology. One should verify all questions in the methodology getting answered, the flow of participants through each stage, protocols and outcomes, baseline comparability demographics and clinical characteristics. The tables should reflect the matter intended and should be well presented.

Discussion and conclusion

Discussion should evaluate the robustness of the study and be relevant to the topic.[ 1 ] The author should enumerate the limitations of the study. It is important to assess whether authors rechecked and described any bias, confounding variables and the effects of a small sample size and measures taken to reduce their effects at the end of the discussion.

The conclusion should answer the research questions posed in the introduction.

References should be recent and relevant. Two or three cross-references are discussed to compare and contrast the research findings. One has to evaluate whether the article fits into the context of current literature.

Last review questions

One should recheck for the existence of any major flaws, like lack of scientific importance, originality, or validity. The strengths and weaknesses should be analysed. One should check the cost-effectiveness, clinical utility, generalisability across the population and whether the study changes the current practice in any way.

There are several steps for the actual presentation of the article in the journal club [ Table 1 ].

Steps for presentation in the journal club

Journal clubs have been linked to learning research and critique skills, promoting research awareness, professional empowerment, generating a positive research culture and evidence-based practice.[ 12 ] There are some mistakes commonly made in conducting journal clubs [ Table 2 ].

Common mistakes made while preparing a journal club

Planning of seminars

Selection of themes and topics.

In contrast to lectures, topics are less formally structured with more focus on extensive discussion. As seminars are recurring, in many of the institutions, topics for the seminars are prepared well in advance to facilitate in-depth study. Usually, topics from a cognitive domain that are not discussed or included in bedside clinics, case presentations, and journal clubs are selected for seminars. A seminar time-table with the names of the student and the moderator faculty should be prepared at the beginning of every academic year.

Allotting the topics and assigning PGs and moderators

Postgraduates are expected to prepare the presentations in PowerPoint or equivalent media under the guidance of the assigned moderator. Moderators will supervise, and ensure that resource material is available.

Timing of seminars

Ideally, a seminar lasts for one to two hours, depending on the number of presenters, the topic or theme chosen and it is recommended that these be held at least once a week. Further, every candidate must present at least four times a year and a total of twelve seminar presentations during their post-graduation period.[ 13 ]

How to make seminars work?

There are three phases involved in conducting a seminar.

Activities involved in the preliminary stages (Pre seminar phase)

These include the selection of the seminar theme and topic, finalisation of venue, date and time well in advance, preparation of a circular regarding the seminar and information without ambiguity about the content, and preparation of presentation material. The use of appropriate audio-visual aids is an important step in seminars. It reinforces lecture material and brings about understanding where words fail. Black lettering on a white background or white lettering on a blue background makes the slides effective. One idea per slide, one minute per slide, no more than six bullets per slide and no more than six words per bullet are effective forms of presentation.[ 14 ] Using only essential words rather than full sentences will reduce the number of lines without any loss of valuable information. Wherever possible, pictures, graphs, tables, diagrams or videos may be used to effectively convey the message.

Activities involved during the seminar (Seminar phase)

The presenter should make sure that the lighting, computers with audio-visual accessories, interactive smartboards, screen pointers and simple writing board are checked in advance. The seminar commences with the briefing by the moderator faculty. The speaker should speak clearly and address the audience. Notes may be used by the presenter to assist if necessary, but he/she should not read the talk. All the trainees are expected to come prepared and actively participate in the discussion and enter relevant details in their logbooks. At the end of the presentation, the moderator will ask questions and initiate the discussion and end the session with debriefing. Debriefing is essential because it maximises the learning, which includes summarising, and clarifying what has been learnt in that seminar.

Activities after the seminar (Post seminar phase)

These include evaluation of the seminar conducted, and providing feedback to the students.[ 3 , 15 ] Seminars should be evaluated by the moderator faculty using a checklist, which may carry weightage for internal assessment. There are parameters on which a seminar can be assessed, on a 5-point Likert scale [ Table 3 ].[ 13 ]

Parameters for evaluating the seminar

*(Poor -0, Below average -1, Average - 2, Good -3, Very good -4)

Providing feedback to students helps to close the gap between their current and desired performance, and has the greatest impact on learning. Feedback promotes learning by informing the student of their progress and the specific areas requiring improvement, in turn motivating the student to engage in relevant activities to further their learning.[ 3 ] The feedback model proposed by Pendleton et al .[ 16 ] may be very useful in this regard [ Figure 1 ].

Feedback model for Seminar

The modified seminars (seminars in combination with role play, pre and post-test, quiz, and group discussion) have shown to be beneficial in developing the art of functioning as a team with peer coordination and trying innovation in learning.[ 17 ] Seminars are ideal methods for intensive in-depth learning of the subject. When the subject area is relevant to the theme and active resource persons are available, a seminar can be a very effective teaching-learning method.

Over the past one-two years, tons of webinars and virtual symposia have been fashioned, hosted and endorsed. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, webinars have become popular alternatives amongst PGs to regular departmental seminars, although the attendance rate is variable.[ 18 ]

What is the aim of a webinar?

A webinar is a term combined from “Web” and “Seminar”. Considering the busy schedules of our PGs as well as practising anaesthesiologists, the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA) has been organising webinars almost every month in the past two years in sync with global trends and expecting complicity of its members.[ 19 ] Presently, with the trend of webinars on the rise, and their videos at one's fingertips online, it is easier, not only for PGs but also for private practising anaesthesiologists[ 20 ] to view them as per availability of time, facilitating academic pursuits. These videos also offer the convenience of pausing, rewinding and viewing multiple times. The demand for webinars is booming!

What are the steps to a successful webinar?

Determining the topic first up.

One should overcome the desire to put together the most extensive webinar comprehensible, regarding a popular theme. Ideally, one can zero down to an extremely pinpoint theme that can be dealt with appropriately. This ensures better focus on the theme and lessens the possibility of the webinar meandering pointlessly.[ 21 ]

Creating a presenter

One can create at least one depiction of the presenter for any live webinars one plans to oversee. Most webinar software will have a page for adding presenters where one could fill out their basic data.[ 22 ]

Planning out the constituents of the webinar

When one knows the topic and occasion of the online convention, it should not be hard to create a sketch of how it should be conducted. One could take into account the time frame one is ordinarily going to work with. The theme one comes up with, for the whole of the duration of the webinar, should be captivating enough to keep the participants until the end. One should always make sure to save some time in the end for question and answers.[ 23 ]

Selecting a webinar ware

Zoom of course probably has a larger user base, however, many other wares, including GoToWebinar, BigMarker, Adobe Connect, WebEx, ClickMeeting, Clirnet, Medflix and more are being used over the past two years.[ 24 ] Clirnet and Medflix are especially significant in this regard since they are exclusive medical platforms.

Sorting out the space and tools while recording presentation for a webinar

It is best to record the webinar presentation in a quiet room, free from outdoor noises and inconveniences. While one does not need to invest in a lot of gear, one should make sure to have access to the inbuilt computer camera, and an external unit for the microphone.[ 25 ] Pre-recording a presentation may allow one to edit out blunders, re-make portions that did not quite work, add effects, graphics and more, in post-production, and possibly feel less “dread of the stage”. However, this comes at the cost of lack of involvement of patrons, and less emotional response. For pre-recorded presentations, the speaker must be around to take any questions that may be posed during the session.

Deciding the time and date of the webinar

To decide the appropriate date and time of the webinar, one would want to study the geographical location of the patrons. One can utilise Google Analytics to determine where the target participants might be located, so that the choice of an agreeable time zone and date may be made.

Campaign tracking

Webinars are a marvellous knowledge spawning tool, but require that one plans well, and determines campaign tracking restrictions beforehand. In its most broad-ranging elucidation, campaign tracking is the technique of pinning down how visitors are led online to the website. Campaign tracking is used in Google Analytics to unambiguously track online browsers perceived as having an interest in the theme of the webinar, to the website, from campaigns produced by Google Ads, and also from other ad agencies. Some customisations of campaign tracking allow one to set whether future advertising referrals revoke previous referrals to the website, and these may be either in-built or paid.

Using a landline phone for internet

It is prescribed bearing in mind the use of wired broadband connection for internet connectivity. Any internet connection is liable to last-minute failure, and if it fails, the VoIP connection would be interrupted. It is always wise to have, as a preventive step, the option of connecting to the webinar through a landline.[ 23 ]

Going online with the webinar

When live streaming begins, one needs to make sure that the setting is such that one would not be discontinued, and no external noises are going to hold back the communication. A good way to do this is to inform people at one's home or office not to bother for a given period. One needs to be mindful of the background. This might involve shifting items around or covering them up to get a more appropriate ambience. But if this is not an option, one could use a green screen and have a virtual background. To pull off the best virtual background effect, one could use a high-contrast, solid-colour backdrop, ideally a green screen. Whatever one uses, one should go for a matt, non-reflective background. Further, webcams automatically record and adjust to the most dazzling source of light, and if that light is behind the speaker, he is no longer the focus. Therefore, one should avoid being backlit by making sure, one is facing toward, not away from, a window or another light source. While natural light works great, a bright, soft white light from the front, should work just as well. And finally, whether one is using a USB webcam or the built-in webcam on the laptop, one has to make sure that the camera lens sits at or above eye level, no higher than the hairline.

One should prepare a questionnaire for audience assessment. This could be used in the future to polish up further webinar ventures. One should come up with auxiliary information support for the audience to keep up the practice of helping, and guiding them.[ 25 ]

Seminars, webinars and journal clubs are great forums for the discussion of medical topics and ideas. They connect colleagues from all across the globe and allow global participation. They facilitate connections and help recognise voices. With the advancement in technology, the assurance of lifelong teaching as well as learning in formats, both within and outside academic walls is finally being fulfilled.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

What to do with viewing glasses after the April 8 total solar eclipse. Recycle, donate, or keep.

The 2024 total solar eclipse is just hours away, and viewers of the rare phenomenon will need eclipse glasses to see it. To stay safe, eclipse glasses are a must, but what do you do with them once the event passes?

2024 Eclipse Sickness: Is 'eclipse sickness' real? What to know about anxiety and how to manage it on April 8

You can either keep them, donate them, or recycle them. Here's how:

Donate your eclipse glasses from April 8 total solar eclipse

Donate to Astronomers Without Borders. After the 2017 total solar eclipse, the organization collected thousands of glasses for distribution in South America, Asia and Africa. The group has been donating eclipse glasses for eclipses since 2008 and Warby Parker is a collection partner. Click here to learn more.

Donate to Eclipse Glasses USA. The organization offers two programs, "The 5 for 1 Program," where one pair of glasses is donated to a school in Latin America for every five-pack purchased, and the "Eclipse Give Back" program. The give-back program sends glasses to school children in countries where they aren't as easily accessible. Click here for more.

Recycle eclipse glasses from the 2024 solar eclipse

If your viewing glasses are damaged and can't be donated, recycle them. The arms can be recycled but the lenses must be removed, according to the University of Rochester .

Keep your eclipse glasses from 2024 total solar eclipse

Feel free to keep your eclipse glasses as a memento from the occurrence or for future use. According to Eclipse2024.org , eclipse glasses in compliance with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard that remain unscratched, unpunctured, and untorn can be reused indefinitely.

Do you know what to do if police hit your car? Here's our tips, and why justice is elusive

Lia Marie-Henry , in the Hudson Valley, believes a sheriff’s deputy pressured her into driving an unsafe car that was totaled in a police crash.

Rochester resident Dina Noto got no help with her $7,000 repair bill after her parked car got smashed by police. Sandie Ortiz , of Ossining, said filing a costly crash-related lawsuit is her only chance at holding police accountable.

Now, consider this question: What would you do if a police car slammed into your vehicle?

From facing a roadside police interrogation to taking your own photos and hitting legal deadlines, protecting yourself after a police-involved crash can seem intimidating and complex.

Even the most informed New Yorkers still face barriers to justice due to broad legal immunity granted to emergency responders, as revealed by an ongoing USA TODAY Network-Syracuse University investigation of law enforcement crashes statewide.

What follows are key findings from that reporting intended to better prepare New Yorkers for police-involved crashes.

The toll of police crashes in NY Devastating injuries. Very few consequences. How frequent NY police crashes wreck lives.

Ask questions of police, promptly

Several New Yorkers involved in police crashes recalled feeling intimidated by responding officers, reinforcing concerns about potential conflicts of interest when police investigate their own.

Some citizens described undergoing intense roadside questioning while still being rattled by the crash. But, if possible, asking questions about the crash investigation could help limit gaps in evidence that may complicate filing a future insurance claim or lawsuit.

Police immunity: Yonkers officer pulled U-turn and hit her car. Should emergency responder immunity apply?

For example, pointing out to investigators potential witnesses, road features, skid marks, vehicle damage and other details improves odds that key information finds its way into police reports.

Also be mindful of leaving the scene of the crash with unresolved questions about vehicle damage, injuries, or the investigation, as it could impact police accountability.

Asking about the department’s policy on conducting a crash reconstruction could also prove valuable. Some departments require the more thorough investigation process when police are involved in serious crashes, though others lack a written policy.

Take photos, video of the crash scene

Gathering your own photos and video of the crash scene and subsequent investigation could also contribute to a more thorough record of the incident.

State laws, including one approved in 2020 , make clear a person not under arrest or in custody of law enforcement has the right to record police activity. That protection also bars police from confiscating the recording or device involved without a warrant.

Police crashes:   Hudson Valley officer hit her car, and she was pushed to leave scene. Her car was totaled.

But some restrictions apply, such as private property limits or police ordering you to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union .

Learn about police-crash reports

Becoming familiar with police crash reports provides you a general understanding of the investigation process, as well as the documents that could prove crucial in insurance or court claims.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles website , dmv.ny.gov, has a variety of portals and search tools that assist in accessing accident reports, insurance information and other important records.

To learn more about the police crash reports, the agency website has a detailed 102-page instruction document . There is also a DMV Call Center for general questions, at 1-518-486-9786 or 1-800-698-2931.

Know how to file complaints, claims

If necessary, filing the proper paperwork is key to getting compensation after a police-involved crash.

One of the most crucial deadlines involved the 90-day window for filing a notice of claim . The clock begins ticking the date of the crash, and missing this deadline limits your ability to file a lawsuit.

Insurance battles:   A Rochester officer smashed into her parked car. She got no help paying for $7K in damages

If you miss the 90-day notice of claim deadline, state law allows some leeway based on emergency circumstances, but judges are generally reluctant to grant the added time retroactively.

Further, filing complaints with police for suspected police misconduct is also an important step, as it triggers an internal investigation and joins the formal record. The New York Attorney General's office has an online complaint portal for law enforcement misconduct, or check your local police department's website.

• Share full article

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio , a new iOS app available for news subscribers.

How One Family Lost $900,000 in a Timeshare Scam

A mexican drug cartel is targeting seniors and their timeshares..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

Hello, James.

Hey. How’s it going?

Yeah. I’m not having much luck. So the problem is funding. And all of my money is in Mexico, all of it.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Katrin Bennhold. This is “The Daily.” A massive scam targeting elderly Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico.

Once you move forward and make your payment, if anything were to happen, he will directly pay you the full amount of what you’re entitled to, including the gains. He will pay you the full amount.

You’ve got all my money. It’s been sent. I sold a freaking house.

Listen to this. I sold a house that I grew up in so that I could come up with funds to send to Mexico.

I don’t even have anything from the sale, nothing.

My colleague Maria Abi-Habib on one victim who lost everything and the people on the other side of the phone.

That’s it. That’s it. There’s nothing —

You know what? That’s what has been said every freaking time. Every time, just pay this. That releases the funds.

But that’s why we won’t allow it to happen again. This is the last time, James.

It’s Friday, April 12.

Maria, you’ve been looking into this scam that’s targeting Americans. Where did your investigation start?

So several weeks ago, I received a phone call from a lawyer based in St. Petersburg, Florida, who had been contacted by a family who was very concerned that the father, this man named James, was in the middle of being scammed. He’d sent hundreds of thousands dollars to Mexico. And he was considering sending another $157,000 when his daughter decided to call up this law firm and try to get her father to stop, stop sending money to Mexico.

So I called him a few weeks ago as I was trying to understand what was going on.

Hi, James. How are you?

Good. Thank you.

He’s asked that his last name be withheld for privacy concerns because he’s quite embarrassed about the story that I’m about to tell you.

You’re retired now, but what were you doing for work? And if your wife was working, what was her job?

I was with the Highway Patrol.

James is a retired state trooper from California. And his wife Nikki is a former school nurse.

She was born in ‘51. So 71-ish.

Two. She’s just reminded me, 72.

And they’re both in their early 70s. And they own this timeshare that is in Lake Tahoe, California. And they bought it in the 1990s for about $8,000.

And for someone who did not grow up vacationing in a timeshare, remind me how exactly timeshares work.

Timeshares are essentially vacation properties. And they tend to be beach resorts. And multiple people can buy into this property. The ownership is a shared ownership. And this gives you the right to use the timeshare for one to two weeks out of every year.

And so James and Nikki used their timeshare every other year with their daughters. But as they hit retirement age and their daughters are growing up and starting their own families, they’re just not really using it that much anymore. And timeshares require the owners to pay off yearly maintenance fees. And so they’re starting to think about maybe letting go of their timeshare and selling it.

Then one day, in late 2022, James gets a phone call from a company that is purporting to be based out of Atlanta, Georgia called Worry Free Vacations.

Worry Free Vacations?

That sounds enticing.

Yeah. And they start off with a simple question, which is, do you want to buy a timeshare? And James says, I already have a timeshare. And then they say, great. Well, what about selling the timeshare? Do you want to sell? There’s this Mexican businessman, and he’s interested in your timeshare. And he’s willing to buy it for about $20,000.

So we figured, well, what the heck? If we can make a few bucks on it, we’ll go for it.

And James jumps at the opportunity.

And did he do anything to try and verify that this was real?

Yeah. So remember, James is former law enforcement. And he feels very confident in his abilities to sniff out untrustworthy people. So he goes online, and he googles this Mexican businessman and sees that, yeah, he is a real person.

He’s a very well-respected individual in Mexico, very well off. And —

And this makes James feel at ease, that he’s selling to a legitimate person, that Worry Free Vacations are who they claim to be and that he’s going to double his money overnight, essentially.

And what happens next?

Well, a couple of weeks after he makes the agreement with the buyer, he’s told that he needs to send a couple thousand dollars to facilitate the purchase.

What does that mean, facilitate?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I can’t remember specifically whether it was supposed to be cross-border registration —

So he’s being told that there are these fees that are paid directly to the Mexican government.

Or SPID or some other fee that was Mexican government required or not.

A lot of these fees are the same types of fees that you would pay in the United States for a real estate transaction. So he begins wiring money to an account in Mexico.

After that —

— a few days later, we get a notification. Well, everything went well, except that we have to pay an additional fee.

Every time that he sends one fee, he’s being told that he’s got to send another fee right afterwards.

Does he get suspicious at any point?

His wife is suspicious. After the first couple of payments, she starts saying, this does not feel right.

But James is the former law enforcement officer, right? And he’s the one that basically handles the family finances. And he’s confident that all of this is going to work out because he’s being told that the buyer of the timeshare will reimburse James for all of these fees once the sale goes through.

Michael from the Worry Free Vacations was constantly reassuring me the money’s in that account. Check with the commercial escrow account. It’s there. It’s just these fees have to be paid, and you’re being reimbursed for all of this.

They’re sending James documents that show all of the reimbursements that he’s owed and how much money he’s going to get. And this just makes him feel like all of this is kosher.

We have this commercial escrow company that was involved out of New York. So there was an air of legitimacy that I was comfortable with.

Maybe OK, these guys just need one more fee and everything is going to finally be cleared.

But about a year in, James starts to get suspicious. He begins asking questions because he wants his money.

And every time I asked, hey, is there a way I can get a partial release of these funds, there was always no, these funds have to be paid from your account before they’re released.

But Worry Free Vacations, they pivot. And they tell him that, listen, there are all these complications. It’s going to be really hard to get your money out from this transaction.

I could pay about $30,000 and change to reinvest the $313,000 into an environmentally-conscious development in Loreto, Mexico.

Instead, we’ve got this other investment opportunity in Mexico.

And I’m sure you know where that is, over on the East Coast of Baja.

And that is going to make you a huge return, even more money than you had thought that you were going to make, much more than the $20,000.

I’m supposed to have 54 million pesos in a Mexican bank account.

So this is now no longer just about his timeshare. They are now partners in a real estate investment.

Right. And there’s this whole new round of fees and fines associated with that.

So how many payments would you say?

Quite a few. Couple dozen at least, maybe more.

When was your last payment?

It would have been 17 January.

Uh-huh. And what was that for?

Good question.

And all along, he believed it was necessary to pay these costs just to get the money that he’s owed.

The amount of money that I’ve sent to Mexico is just freaking exorbitant. And I mean, it is approaching $900,000 or more.

And at this point, he’s sent about $900,000 to Mexico over about a year and a half.

Nearly $1 million.

That was almost all the money that he and his wife had saved for their retirement.

It also included money from the sale of James’s childhood home and money that he had borrowed from his daughter and son-in-law, about $150,000 from them.

It’s awful. So they were completely cleaned out by these guys.

Yeah. And this is when his daughter asks a law firm to look into this, which is the point in the story when I meet James. And when we start talking, it was clear to me that he just did not know what to think, even after losing this much money.

So this started in 2022. When did it end?

We’re still in it.

And he’s still talking to the scammers.

And as a matter of fact, presently, there was a request for $157,000 and change to clear up this whole thing. It would clear the entire issue out. Now —

And James is even considering putting a second mortgage on his house to send that money that he’d been promised would finally clear all this up — one final payment of $157,000.

It really sounds like he’s still wanted to believe that this was somehow legit.

Yeah. It was pretty clear to me that he was being scammed. But I didn’t definitively know what was going on, so I asked him if he could start recording his phone calls with the scammers.

Would you be so kind as to do me a favor?

Would you be willing to give them a call and record them?

[LAUGHS]: I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve been recording them.

And it turns out he already had been.

Worry Free Vacations.

So he shared the recordings of these calls that he’d had with these scammers over the last year or so. And it was just remarkable. It gave me huge insight into how the scam worked and the way that it sounded over the phone.

Is this is Michael in? I think he’s trying to call me. I couldn’t get through pick up.

Yes, I believe he did try to call you, sir. Give me a second. I think he’s only going to be in for a couple of minutes. One second.

There are two main takeaways for me listening to these calls.

Good afternoon. Michael McCarthy.

Michael, I missed your call. I was trying to pick up.

Yeah, don’t worry. Yeah, I figured something was wrong with your phone. Everything OK?

The first is that these scammers had really gotten to know James so well, and they really made James believe that Worry Free was a company that was working for him.

That’s why we need to hurry up and get this money over to you. Because hey, I’m losing my mind too. I’m not even here to convince you, James. I’m not — I’m your broker, and —

One of the things they continuously say is, trust me.

Look, I’m doing everything I can in my power and will on my end. So James, just look — like I told you from the get-go, I’m going to resolve this. And we are doing it. I just need you to focus on the goal.

They would refocus the conversation on what James needed to do to get his money back.

Look, if you make your payment as a security deposit, right away they will release the funds to you. With these —

And the other thing —

I’ve been having so much trouble trying to reach you, and I have not been successful.

— is that the scammers had created this elaborate cast of characters.

Why don’t you answer my calls?

And some of them were really aggressive. James shared a recording of this one man who claimed to be an agent for the Mexican government. And he basically started yelling at James.

I don’t care if your wife is at the hospital. To be honest with you, I don’t give a damn! But you know where I do give a damn? It’s your money, and my name is written all over it! Do you understand?

And he even threatened James. If James didn’t pay off these fines, then he would lose all the money that he’d sent to Mexico already.

You could get the best lawyer you want. You could get whoever you want. And this is not a threat. This is facts. But anyways, who am I to convince you, right?

Well, thank you for the information. And — are you still there? Hello?

Wow. So these scammers were basically doing a good cop, bad cop routine to stop James from walking away and to squeeze every last penny out of him.

If you provide me your email, contact information, I will certainly be happy to forward all of the wire transfer information from my bank account to you so that you can see where those funds went.

Yeah, that would be great. I have your email.

James asks me, a reporter who’s based in Mexico, who speaks the language, if I could help him figure out where his money had gone to.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your assistance.

I’m just doing my job. Thanks again, and we’ll talk soon.

And the only way that I could figure that out was to understand who was on the other side of the phone.

We’ll be right back.

So Maria, who was on the other side of that phone line?

So by the time that I’d met James, I’d already gotten a tip from US law enforcement agencies that they were seeing a new trend. Mexican drug cartels were getting involved in the timeshare scam industry.

Drug cartels?

Yeah. And not just any drug cartel. This is one of the most notorious, violent, bloody drug cartels that exists in Mexico and Latin America, the Jalisco New Generation cartel. And when I looked at James’s bank records, guess what? All the money that he was sending was going to various bank accounts that were all located in Jalisco state in Mexico.

Wow. So why would the drug cartels get into the timeshare scamming business?

It is a huge business. The FBI told me that it’s about $300 million in profits over the last five years.

But the thing is is that the potential for it to actually be multitudes more is huge. Because the FBI estimates that most of the scams are actually not even reported. In fact, only about 20 percent are. So that means the total timeshare scam business could actually be much larger than the $300 million that they have knowledge of over the last five years.

But wait. I thought the drug business was a pretty lucrative business in itself. So why get into the scamming of elderly people for their properties in Lake Tahoe?

Well, you have to remember that these drug cartels, they’re not just doing one thing. They’re doing multiple things. They’re essentially conglomerates. Because it’s really expensive to run a cartel. You need to pay off officials, both Mexican and American. You need to maintain basically an army in order to secure your routes up to the United States, ports of entry into Mexico from Colombia. And any big business, you need to diversify your income to make sure that you keep the money flowing. Because you never know when one business is going to be shut down by authorities or taken over by your rivals.

We’ve reported that they’re now in the avocado business and the construction business. And timeshare fraud is basically no different than any of those. So we’re seeing that the cartels have their fingers in many pies, the legitimate and the illegitimate economy here in Mexico.

It’s kind of fascinating to think of these drug cartels as like sprawling diversified business empires. But when did the cartels first get into the scamming business?

So Jalisco New Generation started about 15 years ago.

And when they started to consolidate their empire in Jalisco state, they found that there were all these scam timeshare call centers all over the state that were being run by various players, and that this was a huge, huge moneymaker. Because essentially, all you have to do is call up retired senior citizens in the US and Canada. It doesn’t take that much money to run that kind of a scheme. There’s no product you’re making.

So essentially, they conducted a hostile takeover of these call centers. They went in. They kicked down doors and dragged out the people who were managing these call centers by their hair and threatened to kill them unless they gave up the call centers or started handing over a cut of what they made. And slowly, slowly Jalisco New Generation cartel took over the entire timeshare fraud industry.

Interesting. Were you able to find any of these call centers?

So these call centers are pretty hard to find. They look like any other storefront. But I was able to visit two that were located in an upscale neighborhood in Guadalajara, which is the capital of Jalisco state. And it was just really perturbing because it was just so normal. Two villas about a mile away from each other outside. Outside of one villa, parents were walking by, holding their children’s hands as they did drop off at school.

It was right next to a park where people taking their morning exercise or their dogs for a walk. There was no real sign that the cartel was doing business there. But a few months before, Mexican law enforcement had found the bodies of eight young people who had used to work at one of these call centers and said that the Jalisco cartel had killed them.

Wow. What happened?

So I wasn’t able to talk directly to any of the victims’ families. They’re just too scared. But in general, this is usually how it starts.

The cartel seeks out English speakers to work for their call centers. Sometimes they don’t even tell them what exactly they are doing. They would tell the recruits that the job was adjacent to the hotel industry.

You have to remember, Jalisco is a huge, huge tourism magnet for Americans and Canadians and others. And the cartel would get their call lists from bribing hotel employees to give them the names of people who stayed at these hotels and also at the timeshare resorts. And the people who would work at the call centers are provided the names and a manual of what you need to do when you call, like a loose script of how to try to suck as much money as you can out of these people up North in Canada and the States.

So we don’t know for sure what exactly happened with the eight young Mexicans who were killed last year. But through an intermediary, one sibling told us that when their family member knew what their job actually was, they became extremely uncomfortable and tried to leave the call center and find another job maybe.

But the Jalisco New Generation cartel is known for being extremely brutal. They chop off heads, and they’ll put them on the gates of a playground, for instance. So that everybody in the neighborhood knows what went down. And in this case, it’s possible that they wanted to send a warning that there’s no defection from their timeshare call centers.

So basically making a very scary example of these guys, in case anyone else is thinking about quitting one of the call centers.

Exactly. And one man, who runs an organization who advocates for missing people and actually organizes search parties to comb the forests of Jalisco state looking for the missing, says that he knows of about 30 people who have disappeared from the call centers in Jalisco state since 2017. So while Americans and Canadians might be losing much of their life savings, in Mexico, this is actually deadly.

Are the authorities doing anything about this?

Not really, other than the fact that these two call centers were shut down. The authorities haven’t arrested others. They’re not putting pressure on Mexican banks, for instance, to look into these payments coming from senior citizens in the US or Canada. And you have to remember that people are really afraid. But you also have to remember that in Mexico things are not that clear. There is a lot of corruption and government collusion with organized crime and cartels.

And the tourism industry, it is huge in Mexico and particularly in Jalisco state. This is a multi-billion dollar industry. They don’t want Americans or Canadians or Europeans who are coming to Jalisco for its beautiful beaches and its mountains to hear about these stories regarding the cartels being involved in the tourism industry and think, I’m not going to send my family there for that beach vacation. It’s just simply too dangerous.

So everybody has an incentive to have the scam continue, whether because they’re too afraid and don’t want to speak out or because they’re in on it.

So in a way, local authorities have an interest in sweeping it under the carpet in order to just maintain this idea of a tourist destination.

Exactly. I mean, the spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office was very responsive to me until I told her what I wanted to ask her questions about. And then she just simply never answered any of my texts or phone calls.

So Maria, based on everything you know, all the information you have, would you say that you’re confident that the cartels were the ones who scammed James?

Yes, 100 percent. Everything I’ve seen points in that direction.

What did James say when you told him this?

So it took him quite a while to really allow himself to believe it. On the advice of his lawyers, he stopped picking up the phone calls. And about a week ago, they stopped after the scammers kept trying to call him.

But you said he was in it for over a year. Why do you think it took him so long?

Can you tell me, after all of that had been presented to you, why do you think you weren’t willing to be entirely convinced?

Well, I actually asked him that question.

That’s a very good question. Why wasn’t I able to pick up on that right away? And I think in the back of my mind, I’m finding out that I’m a little more stubborn than I thought I was.

And for him, it was pretty complicated.

And I think that I didn’t want to believe that I had fallen for this. I didn’t feel I was that foolish and stupid when it came to this. You know? I guess I didn’t want to believe that I could be fooled.

To come to terms with the fact that he had lost so much money was to come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t the person that he thought that he was, that he wasn’t this kind of clever former law enforcement officer who was used to fighting the bad guys and winning.

I’m disappointed in myself. There’s a huge level of anger towards the perpetrators. And all of those things wrapped into one. And part of that, I think, contributes to not wanting to actually believe that I was wrong.

Hmm. Yeah, I hear you. I’m sorry. I can hear the pain in your voice.

[LAUGHS]: Yeah.

Some of it’s based on shame, right? That he lost all this money, everything that he’s worked for, and the fact that this was all supposed to be money that his children and his grandchildren were going to inherit. And now it’s gone.

And have you told your daughter that you think you’ve come to terms with the fact that this might have been a scam?

Oh, she’s been involved. Yeah. They know.

My daughter does.

I’m sorry. This is a tough time.

So I’ve got to make some sort of arrangement to compensate them for this on top of our regular debt. So yeah. It’s been a swell experience, all of it brought on by my — evidently, my stubbornness to believe that I couldn’t possibly be a victim.

How’s your wife doing throughout this whole process, with this new knowledge?

She’s not real happy, obviously, at all. I hear a lot of “I told you so.” And at this point, I’ve got no defense. She’s absolutely right. There’s no question about it.

Do you worry this is going to affect your marriage?

Yes, there has been an effect.

And do you think that at this point there’s any way for James and his family to get some kind of justice or at least find some kind of closure?

Ay. Justice? Unlikely.

At this point, I’m not necessarily expecting much in the way of restitution.

And as for closure, it’s a little bit too soon to tell. In a way, James has gone through several stages of acceptance for what happened. There’s fear. There’s shame. There’s resignation. And now he’s talking to me partly because he feels like it’s a public service, that he needs to be vocal so that other people don’t go through what he’s gone through and fall for the scam. And I think it also helps him feel a little bit empowered in a situation for over the last year and a half he was at the mercy of these people who were calling him multiple times a week.

I want to try to get as much information to as many of these official organizations as possible. I have a streak of anger through me now that I’ve developed to the point where I’m not going to let this go.

Well, Maria, thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Here’s what else you need to know today. OJ Simpson, the football star who was accused and later acquitted of murdering his former wife and her friend, died of cancer at his home in Las Vegas, his family said Thursday. He was 76.

Today’s episode was produced by Astha Chaturvedi and Will Reid, with help from Clare Toeniskoetter and Lindsay Garrison. It was edited by Brendan Klinkenberg and Michael Benoist, contains original music by Marion Lozano, Rowan Niemisto, Dan Powell, Pat McCusker, and Will Reid, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

[THEME MUSIC]

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Katrin Bennhold. See you on Monday.

• April 17, 2024   •   24:52 Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ a Forever Problem?
• April 16, 2024   •   29:29 A.I.’s Original Sin
• April 15, 2024   •   24:07 Iran’s Unprecedented Attack on Israel
• April 14, 2024   •   46:17 The Sunday Read: ‘What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise’
• April 12, 2024   •   34:23 How One Family Lost $900,000 in a Timeshare Scam
• April 11, 2024   •   28:39 The Staggering Success of Trump’s Trial Delay Tactics
• April 10, 2024   •   22:49 Trump’s Abortion Dilemma
• April 9, 2024   •   30:48 How Tesla Planted the Seeds for Its Own Potential Downfall
• April 8, 2024   •   30:28 The Eclipse Chaser
• April 7, 2024 The Sunday Read: ‘What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living’
• April 5, 2024   •   29:11 An Engineering Experiment to Cool the Earth
• April 4, 2024   •   32:37 Israel’s Deadly Airstrike on the World Central Kitchen

Hosted by Katrin Bennhold

Produced by Asthaa Chaturvedi and Will Reid

With Clare Toeniskoetter and Lynsea Garrison

Edited by Brendan Klinkenberg and Michael Benoist

Original music by Marion Lozano ,  Rowan Niemisto ,  Dan Powell ,  Pat McCusker and Will Reid

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.

A massive scam targeting older Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico.

Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The Times, tells the story of a victim who lost everything, and of the criminal group making the scam calls — Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico’s most violent cartels.

On today’s episode

Maria Abi-Habib , an investigative correspondent for The New York Times based in Mexico City.

Background reading

How a brutal Mexican drug cartel came to target seniors and their timeshares .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Katrin Bennhold is the Berlin bureau chief. A former Nieman fellow at Harvard University, she previously reported from London and Paris, covering a range of topics from the rise of populism to gender. More about Katrin Bennhold

Advertisement