10 pitch perfect science communication tips
TRANSCRIPT
Michelle Gallaher@StartupShelley@thesocialsci
10 secrets of sciencecommunication professionals
I f there i s awar on science
and the publ ic don 't trustevidence , who i sresponsible?
Scient ists are . 100%.
I t 's not the audience 'sresponsibi l i ty to makesense of science -
i t 's ours to translate i t .
Sciencecommunicat ion i snot negotiable .
People whocommunicate wellget more funding &more opportunit ies .
I f you can 'tcommunicate theimportance andimpact of yourscience - why shouldthe publ ic fund i t?
We push threateninginformation away ; wepul l f r iendly informationclose .
We apply f ight -or - f l ightref lexes not only topredators , but to dataitsel f .
Does your messageinduce a f ight or f l ightresponse?
Heavy head -onattempts topersuade cansometimes tr igger abackf i re effect . . .
. . . where people notonly fa i l to changetheir minds whenconfronted with thefacts—they may holdtheir wrong viewsmore tenaciouslythan ever .
Be very clearon your object ive ,& st ick to i t .
Don 't use 15 minutesbecause i t 's avai lablei f you can say i t in 10 .
St ick to 3 key messages .
Less i s sometimes more .
You have 15 secondsto win your audienceover
. . . and this i s themost important partof your pitch . (other than the last10 seconds )
Know your audiencebefore you begin
. . . and work out theextent of theirsc ience knowledgeand language beforeyou start and treatthem with respect .
Never assume .
Lists help people toremember yourmessage
5 key things7 secrets3 key messages
( I real ly l ike oddnumber l i s ts & nevermore than 10 )
10 pitch lessons I have learned , (mostly the hard way )
01 People don 't usual ly need more informationor t ime to understand
your science
- you just need todel iver i t better .
02 When informationis too complex ,
people often resort tovalues -based judgementsabout you , your sty le orcore personal bel iefs ,
(and that 's often a 'No ' or'not interested ' ) .
03 People don 't alwaysneed to know how atechnology works -
they just want to knowthat i t does , what the r isks
and benef i ts are(by the s implest means
poss ible ) and that you aretrustworthy and an
author ity .
04 Less words - more pictures .(not l ike this s l ide )
05The publ ic l ike scienceand health stor ies asmuch as sport stor ies - science offers hope .
Investors andgovernment also l ike sciencestor ies that inspire hope
(and revenues ) .
Analogies are a great tool .
06 Infur iate or Inspire .
Emotion engages . . .work out how to connect
to your audience .
07 Know what you wantand ask for i t ,
. . .also a good note to closeyour pitch on .
08 The 'so what ' factor . . .can be powerful ,
so explain what wil l happenif this science
is not funded or supported .
The 'so what ' factor i susual ly what tr iggers
behaviour or bel ief change .
09 I t doesn 't matterhow saturated
you think the market i swith your message
- i t 's not .
say i t again and again .
10 Humans l ike to te l l stor ies- so give 'em a story& make i t personal . . .
usual ly a good way to opena ta lk .
11 Oh . . .and make direct eyecontact & smile .I t can 't hurt .
(smiles bui ld re lat ionships )
Apologies for the extra slide but this was just too important to leave out.
Follow me on social mediafor more tips
on science communication
@StartUpShelley@TheSocialSci
The Social Science
Michelle GallaherThe Social Science Company Page
@thesocialscience
www.thesocialscience.com.au