Presentation is a performance. A successful performance depends on good communication between a presenter and an audience. Most professionals are required to give a presentation at one time or another. Some, for example teachers and doctors, are expected to do so more often than others. Doctors, through their essential duties of training future generations, giving and explaining information to their patients and educating the general public about health issues, need to exercise skills in presenting information in an easily understandable and digestible form. Some doctors are born teachers; others have to learn, develop and master these skills. Once acquired, at a more senior level these can be of use in negotiating and planning the development of new services and in procuring funding in order to implement change.

The basic guidelines set out below should not only help trainee doctors, who are expected to take part in weekly academic programmes involving case presentations and journal clubs: they should also be of use to newly appointed consultants, whose responsibilities include teaching a range of professional groups, such as nurses, occupational therapists, general practitioners and social workers.

The precise style, mode and content of a presentation will depend on the type of meeting, the needs of the audience and the number attending. In all cases, the presentation must be educational, thought-provoking and entertaining. The audience must be made to feel further curiosity about the subject by the end of the presentation; this is a task for the presenter. It will be no great challenge to one who has both a passion for the subject and good communication skills, but, even with these, delivering the same talk over and over again will make the task more difficult. It is essential to revise and update the material each time; there is always scope for improvement, as well as opportunities to incorporate new information. Remember also that communication is a two-way process; we often gain new ideas during the question and answer and discussion time, and we can ourselves learn through teaching others.