How do we deliver our findings? Analysis of podium presentations at shoulder meetings.

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the time structure of oral presentations delivered at three shoulder congresses: shoulder sessions at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Meeting, European Foundation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) Congress, and International Congress of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (ICSES).

Methods: A total of 160 oral presentations at the 2016 AAOS Annual Meeting, 17th EFORT Congress, and 13th ICSES were included. Podium presentations were categorized by topic, congress, inclusion of video support, and nationality of the speaker. Total time and time dedicated to each section of the presentation (introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusions) were collected for all podium presentations.

Results: Approximately 34% of speakers exceeded time constraints. No differences were found in the times that presenters used for the introduction, methods, results, and conclusions sections (p > 0.05). However, when extended introductions were delivered, the results and conclusions sections were shortened (r = - 0.2 and r = - 0.21, respectively). Inclusion of video support tended to result in exceedance of time limits (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: One third of the shoulder surgeons exceeded time constraints in their conference presentations, and no distinctions were found in time allocations for different sections of the presentations. Longer introductions may lead to time restriction in the results and conclusions sections.