In this time in which public health professionals are faced with uncertainty and conflict, clear communications are vital in enabling public health leaders to serve the health of their communities.

Leaders at all stages of their careers have the opportunity and the challenge of sharing their insights and experience with colleagues. In addition to the traditional mode of presenting at scientific conferences in which face-to-face engagement occurs, leaders are increasingly involved in virtual, technology-enabled presentations to audiences from across the nation and around the world. Even though these two settings for making a presentation offer differing challenges, a range of guiding principles and best practices apply regardless of the setting.

In the most recent Management Moment column in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, we offer leaders a set of time-tested approaches to delivering clear and inspiring presentations to public health audiences. In this time in which public health professionals are faced with uncertainty and conflict, clear communications are vital in enabling public health leaders to serve the health of their communities. In addition to offering best practices for making strong presentations, we provide specific practical tips related to preparation and practice of a presentation (including the use of visual aids), delivery of the presentation and the process of responding to audience questions. Finally, we offer a few suggestions related to making impromptu remarks on the spot.

Read the full column, “Leadership Practice—Delivering Clear and Inspiring Messages” in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 

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Justin T. Baker, MD, PhD is the scientific director of the McLean Institute for Technology in Psychiatry (ITP) and director of the Laboratory for Functional Neuroimaging and Bioinformatics at McLean Hospital. He is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baker’s research uses both large-scale studies and deep, multilevel phenotyping approaches to understand the nature and underlying biology of mental illnesses. He is a clinical psychiatrist with expertise in schizophrenia and bipolar spectrum disorders and other disorders of emerging adulthood. In 2016, Dr. Baker co-founded the ITP, a first-of-its-kind research and development center to foster tool development and novel applications of consumer technology in psychiatric research and care delivery.

Edward L. Baker, MD, MPH, currently serves as Adjunct Professor at UNC, Harvard, and Indiana University schools of public health. Previously, he served as Director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at UNC, Assistant Surgeon General in the US Public Health Service, Director of CDC’s Public Heath Practice Program Office, Deputy Director of NIOSH, and Associate Professor of Occupational Health at Harvard.