Storytelling, Message Distilling and Presentation Design for Natural and Life Scientists

Aims

In this format we will combine the classic Explainables scientific storytelling workshop and presentation design. Your final product will be an engaging 3 minute presentation designed to help you speak effectively and responsively with multiple audiences, that will be combined with a polished slide deck.

Part 1 - Storytelling and Communication 101:
● Communication strategies for scientists
● Introduction to the basics of storytelling
● Introduction to the fundamentals of message distilling
● Functions of emotions, techniques and methods for using emotions in SciComm
● Development of metaphors and analogies
● Development of "first lines / last lines"

Part 2 - Design:
● Introduction to personal presentation design
● Learn how to apply visual design principles to guide your process of creating scientific visuals
● Effectively communicate your research with a scientific presentation
● Incorporate useful tips and tricks about various layout software tools
● Avoiding technical pitfalls for digital and printing products (file formats, color spaces, image resolution, text, etc.)

Content

Part 1:
Science Communication is more than outreach. Every time scientists communicate within or outside their communities, at conferences, in proposals or with policy makers, communication skills are key. We will focus on communicating our science clearly and vividly. Our techniques utilize improvisational theater exercises that will help you connect with an audience, pay close and dynamic attention to others, read nonverbal cues, and respond freely. We also will practice code switching your message effectively for different audiences, including defining clear goals in communicating, identifying your main points, explaining meaning and context, responding to questions, and using storytelling techniques, metaphor, examples, and incorporating details to make your story come alive.
We will explore the following questions during our workshop: How does a scientific lecture become an exciting and understandable story? How do I come up with a fitting, relatable and emotional analogy for my research to be remembered? How do I distill a core message for a specific audience and wrap it in a story?

Part 2:
This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction on how to create effective visual products to communicate your research. We will explore some fundamental principles of graphic design and how they can be applied to scientific presentations. In collaboration with the instructors you will work actively on crafting your presentation in class. The concepts the instructor will show should also be applicable to google slides, Powerpoint, Keynote, Latex, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.

Methods

Part 1 will have interactive exercises and improvisation activities that will provide you with the necessary
tools for successful science communication.

Part 2 you will be asked to work on a presentation of your choice (ideally a short presentation of your own
research in PDF format).

In advance of the workshop
Please prepare a 3-minute presentation with the topic of your choice
● Work on a text document with:
○ the title of your presentation
○ define the target audience for your presentation
○ name the purpose of your presentation
○ write a 400-500-word presentation text
● Prepare 5 appropriate presentation slides in PDF format (animations do not count as a slide)
.
Please upload the files of your presentation in PDF format for individual feedback here till November 26th, 2024 : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b6Ww1IM3JxjFzzVMYjPo8mwtxhhUF56t?usp=sharing
Post-workshop
In order to pass the course we will ask you to submit the following submissions. There will be no further feedback on these products. Deadline: December 18th, 2024
● Please upload a recording of your final 3-minute presentation with your redesigned slides
● add a text document with:
○ the title of your presentation
○ define the target audience for your presentation
○ name the purpose of your presentation
○ write a 400-500-word presentation text

Programs and devices to work on your presentation are required during the course.

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates of the Faculty of Science of the University of Basel

Early career researchers at all stages who wish to improve clarity and effectiveness of your scientific communication. You will be able to benefit from this course regardless of your field of research or the language required for scientific communication in your field. You wish to improve clarity and effectiveness of your scientific posters and/or presentations.

About the Trainer

Daniel Angerhausen, Senior Scientist ETH, Zürich
Amran Salleh, Graphic Designer, Hamburg
both www.explainables.org

Workload

Total 30 h --> lessons 16 h, preliminary work and homework 14 h

Feature

This course is reserved for doctoral candidates of the Faculy of Science.

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.