What makes a good scientific presentation on artificial intelligence in medical imaging?

Adequate communication of scientific findings is crucial to enhance knowledge transfer. This study aimed to determine the key features of a good scientific oral presentation on artificial intelligence (AI) in medical imaging.

A total of 26 oral presentations dealing with original research on AI studies in medical imaging at the 2023 RSNA annual meeting were included and systematically assessed by three observers. The presentation quality of the research question, inclusion criteria, reference standard, method, results, clinical impact, presentation clarity, presenter engagement, and the presentation's quality of knowledge transfer were assessed using five-point Likert scales. The number of slides, the average number of words per slide, the number of interactive slides, the number of figures, and the number of tables were also determined for each presentation. Mixed-effects ordinal regression was used to assess the association between the above-mentioned variables and the quality of knowledge transfer of the presentation.

A significant positive association was found between the quality of the presentation of the research question and the presentation's quality of knowledge transfer (odds ratio [OR]: 2.5, P = 0.005). The average number of words per slide was significantly negatively associated with the presentation's quality of knowledge transfer (OR: 0.9, P < 0.001). No other significant associations were found.

Researchers who orally present their scientific findings in the field of AI and medical imaging should pay attention to clearly communicating their research question and minimizing the number of words per slide to maximize the value of their presentation.