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Science Communication

How to effectively communicate your research to science and non-science community

Content

Present your information as a story with an introduction, body, and conclusion. 

Introduction

  • Engage your audience with an anecdote, short story, or fact.
  • State the purpose / thesis of your presentation.
  • Provide an outline

Body

  • Provide arguments and supporting information in a logical sequence.
  • Use transition phrases or non-verbal cues for your audience to navigate your arguments. 

Conclusion

  • Summarize the main points of your argument
  • Indicate future topics
  • Thank your audience for attention.

Delivery

No matter how long or short your presentation, you should learn how to develop your stage presence to keep your audience engaged when you speak. Here are some practical tips to consider when preparing, delivering, and concluding your speech. 

Preparing your speech: 

  • Take as many opportunities as possible to speak in public
  • Know your audience
  • Plan the structure
  • Practice your speech as many times as possible
  • Have everything you need for your presentation ready well beforehand
  • Get to know the room (or virtual platform) you will be in for your presentation
  • Greet a few people as they arrive
  • Power dressing (see Entrepreneur and Business Insider)

Delivering your speech

  • Control your nerves before you start.
  • Have a glass of water at hand. 
  • Know the exact words you are going to start with in the introduction.
  • Make an initial impact. 
  • Acknowledge your audience
  • Be confident
  • Keep your talk at a high level, with a few main points. 
  • Do not read your paper or your ppt slides. 
  • Speaks slowly and clearly. 
  • Use pauses to good effect. 
  • Avoid padding your content. 
  • Avoid filter words such as like, um, ah, okay, sort of, or you know. 
  • Establish eye contact and rapport with your audience. 
  • Incorporate some humor or narrative. 
  • Manage your time well. 
  • Be prepared to be flexible. 

Concluding the speech: 

  • Acknowledge people who helped you along the way. 
  • Remember to conclude, rather than just trail off. Signpost with “in conclusion,” or words to that effect. 
  • Use questions and discussions well. 
  • Above all, enjoy yourself.

PowerPoint Alternatives

image: timeline js logo Image: Storify Image: Prezi logo

TimelineJS takes a Google sheet to build interactive timelines.

With Storify you can curate your own social media and images to tell a story.  Prezi is a presentation tool to display information by panning and zooming.

Tableau Desktop is a business intelligence and data visualization tool 

Power BI is a business analytics solution that lets bring data to life with live dashboards and reports. Anaconda is an open-source distribution of the Python and R programming languages for scientific computing (data science, machine learning applications, large-scale data processing, predictive analytics, etc.)

References

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inspiring-slideshare-presentations-for-marketers-list#sm.0001qpav8lkexf4w11r17etym2g5y

https://canva.com/learn/design-a-pitch-deck-that-makes-investors-say-yes/

https://designingfordiverselearners.info/

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