Must See: TED Talks - Communicating your Science

Posted by Stephanie Robert

Image courtesy of polareducator.org 

Communication is critical in science. The ability of scientists to share their work with the scientific community, as well as with the general public is a central aspect of what we do. However, few scientists get formal training in science writing and communication. Fortunately, there are many free resources available online to help teach us how to effectively communicate our science. One of my favorite online resources for discovering new ideas is TED.com. If you haven’t already discovered TED talks, they are short, powerful talks that cover almost any topic imaginable – including science communication. And the speakers chosen for these talks are usually great communicators themselves, so it’s a great resource to learn from some of the best.

 A new find I have recently come across is Melissa Marshall and her TEDtalk “Talk nerdy to me” (see below for link).  This short TED talk is a lighthearted message from non-scientists to scientists about effectively sharing our work. Melissa Marshall, a communications teacher at Penn State University, stresses the importance of scientists and engineers being able to effectively share their work.  As she says, “science not communicated is science not done”. In this talk, Marshall highlights the importance of 1) Revealing why your science is relevant to your audience, 2) Avoiding jargon and making your ideas accessible, and 3) Dropping the bullet points and using illustrations instead to paint a picture and tell your story. The trick, according to Marshall, is to understand that the general public is interested in your work and wants to hear about it, but it must be communicated in a clear and interesting way. She ends with a mathematical formula to solve the problem of effective communication…watch her 4-minute talk to see what it is! She also has a TEDBlog, in which she goes into more detail about getting your audience excited about your work (http://blog.ted.com/2012/10/11/6-tips-on-how-scientists-and-engineers-can-excite-rather-than-bore-an-audience/).

Here are a few others to watch:

Judy Swan: In praise of technique

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/In-Praise-of-Technique-Judy-Swa

Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks

https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks

Melissa Marshall: Talk nerdy to me

 

Must See: "Talking the Talk: New Careers for Today's Scientists"

Posted by Lesley McCullom

Do you love to listen to NPR’s “Science Friday”, or watch PBS’s “Nova”? Have you noticed increased coverage of science, health, and technology issues in popular media? Have you ever considered a career in science communications, or just wanted to learn more about it? Well mark your calendar for a singular educational and networking event this fall.

On Friday, October 3, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will host its first science communications summit, “Talking the Talk: New Careers for Today’s Scientists,” featuring four nationally known science communicators, in the UAB Hospital West Pavilion. The event is free and offers students and faculty a chance to hear about the communicators’ experiences during a panel session (noon to 2 p.m.), then have the opportunity to network (2 to 4 p.m.) and meet with the speakers in a more casual setting afterward at Fuego (4 p.m. on).

                   Kirsten Sanford        Ben Young Landis        Marla Broadfoot           Russ Campbell                                               Ph.D.                         MEM                         Ph.D.                             MLA

Speakers include Kirsten Sanford, Ph.D., neurophysiologist, creator/producer of “This Week in Science”, 2005 AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellow; Ben Young Landis, MEM, writer for the US Geological Survey, author of “Better Know a Fish” blog, and co-founder, Capital Science Communicators; Marla Broadfoot, Ph.D., a molecular geneticist, postdoc at NIH, former PIO at Duke University, and freelance science writer/author; and Russ Campbell, MLA, communications director for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and co-founder of the Science Communicators of North Carolina.

This is the first time that such an event has been held at UAB, according to Dr. Lisa Schwiebert, PhD, Professor of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology; Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Education. “This effort came out of ongoing conversations about reports like the 2012 NIH Future of the Biomedical Workforce Report, which stressed that graduate and postdoctoral training programs increase trainees’ awareness of careers outside of academic research.”

Lunch will be provided. The summit, a model for future events in other alternative science career categories, is being organized through a collaborative effort of the UAB School of Medicine, the UAB College of Arts & Sciences, the Vice Provost for Student and Faculty Success, the UAB Graduate School, and the UAB Office of Postdoctoral Education.

See you there!