While there is a lot of training in how to communicate ideas clearly to other scientists, the need and specific aspects of speaking to a more general public are rarely addressed in PhD programs. It may seem that if you can give a clear and concise talk on your latest findings at a conference, then you should easily be able to convey the same information to an audience of people without all the specialized training you have invested in. When this approach fails, it is easy to blame the audience: "If only they understood science better!", or claim that the knowledge gap is too wide and the audience should just trust you, the scientist, because you have the training and experience. This is not an example of successful communication, but it can be made into one. John Radzilowicz, a speaker at CMU's Public Communication for Researchers (PCR) seminar outlines 10 important points for successful communication to non-scientific audience:
- Know your audience (also: rule #1 from English101). Assess what your audience might already know and move past it -- people will enjoy learning new things rather than covering the same high school material all over again. Are there any big debates in the area you are covering? Be prepared to offer some comment on them if asked, however, it is fine to admit that this is out of your area of expertise.
- Understand the goals of your communication. What are you trying to achieve by giving this talk: inspire and wow people? dispel some myths? gather support for formal education? make knowledge more accessible (e.g. explain genetic testing)? Giving your goals, try to identify one or two take home messages and make sure to repeat these several times throughout your presentation.
- Report accurate data, but try to make it accessible. An example is: how many Sun masses should the star be to become a supernova? The precise answer may be 8.2 - 15.6 Sun masses. But simply saying that "If a star is around 10 Sun masses, it may become a supernova" will make it easier for your audience to remember the number -- and it is still within the exact range! Try to explain things in the simplest way, act as a "science translator".
- Be fun and engaging. This could be hard to some of us who live in their underground labs and see no sunlight, but simply smiling as the audience pours into the room and asking them "How are you doing?" before launching into the talk increases retention of information drastically! A dialog is the best thing that can happen.
- Remember that your audience is not a blank slate. They come from a variety of backgrounds, belief systems, and have varying levels of knowledge. Ask them what they know -- and try to incorporate that into your talk. Survey their beliefs -- and be respectful of them, even if you do not agree with some of it. This also helps to keep your audience engaged.
- Establish trust. Explain how we know what we know. It helps to note which phenomena we can explain and which ones are still a mystery. Do not shy away from facts that were once accepted truth and were later found to be false -- this is the self-correcting power of science that makes it trustworthy. Share the sense of wonder and excitement with your audience -- it could be inspirational.
- Be ready to give more than just facts. You might be prepared to talk about your favorite topic, but you may find yourself explaining the scientific process, how experiments are set up and theories tested -- be ready to fill such gaps if the situation demands it. You might need to cover some of the parts multiple times to get the point across or go into more details -- it is part of science exploration.
- Acknowledge the humanity of science. Science is done be humans and humans make mistakes. There is plagiarism and fraud, yet science has an amazing self-correcting quality. It may take years, but the truth comes out (how about them arsenic life forms). Science can be used for good or for evil -- by people, but that does not make the knowledge better or worse.
- Leave them wanting more -- you will have to leave out some of the details to make the talk more accessible, but mention that "the whole picture is more complex". For the curious, this will be enough to pique their interest.
- "Walk the walk". If you want to be better at science communication, you have to start learning more about it: watch documentaries by/about such public science communicators as Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Learn from the best!
And now I will practice these in conversations with my mom :)
