making research communication fun and accessible

Arnab Bhattacharya Euraxess Science Communication Webinar Sep. 9, 2021

The Science Slam! Making research communication fun and accessible

Some thoughts on talking science, mostly informally

Arnab Bhattacharya

Chair, Science Popularization and Public Outreach, TIFR

Director, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai

[email protected]

@tifrarnab @chaiandwhy

With inspiration and help from a lot of friends… 1

Even when it is online!!

mailto:[email protected]


Sci-comm in the times of COVID19

• Well, its still going to be online this year!

• While the implementation may change, basic

principles remain the same!

• Most of what I (and others) will say is perhaps just

common sense, but it bears repeating…

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Aim:

• Want to convey some aspect of science (STEM…),

maybe one’s own work, to a non-specialist audience

• … in a fun and engaging manner

• But you cannot “see” an online audience!

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/


Summary and Conclusions!

• Strategy

– understand purpose of communication

• Structure

– develop a logically compelling story

– proper organization, visual aids, contingencies,

supplementary materials…

• Style

– Speaking: “controlled enthusiasm”

– Writing: depends…report/letter/long article/book-chapter/thesis…

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Presenting Scientific Results

• Why? How?

• Written / Oral

• The Big Picture

(Accurate? Complete? Logical? Clear? Compelling? Needed?)

• Fine Tuning

(Polish, Refine, Iterate)

• Common pitfalls!

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Why bother?

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• Science isn’t done in isolation, we need to convey our research

FORMAL:

• Writing: internal report, journal letter, long article, book-chapter,

thesis…

• Spoken: large conferences, group meetings, one-on-one, job talks…

INFORMAL:

• Many opportunities today! Writing on social media, blogs, speaking

on radio/podcasts, making videos for YouTube, PechaKucha (20/20),

Science Slam…

TODAY: Will focus on SPOKEN science comm – also useful for

what we do most – give scientific talks


Writing … My one-slide take

In most cases…

• You have no idea who is going to be reading your

paper!

• This “unknown reader” does not give you feedback on

your writing!

But you want your work to get published, you want the

unknown reader to cite your work…

• The more friendlier your writing is, the easier it will be!!

• My experience: All informal presentation eventually helps

you better understand your own work, and write better…

6https://isotropic.org/papers/chicken.pdf


First, let me introduce myself!

• I’m a scientist, tinkerer, and science communicator

• Run “Chai and Why?” – informal #scicomm platform

• Associated with Euraxess Science Slam since 2014

• Mentor, host, judge…

• Most imp. “Science Communication Workshop”

– Beyond the slam!

So let’s get started…

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T-24/48(?) hours to Most Important Seminar

So what do I do….?

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Oral Presentations

• Strategy

– understand purpose of communication

• Structure

– develop a logically compelling story

– proper organization, visual aids, contingencies,

supplementary materials…

• Style

– “controlled enthusiasm” (tone, gestures, eye-contact….

enthusiasm loudness)

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The Triangle

MUST say

Would LIKE

to say

Will NOT

say

TIME?

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Know your audience

• Keep in mind

– They might be tired

– They can read ☺

– They may have read the abstract (but don’t assume so)

– They are thinking “Why should I listen?”

– Non-experts will tune off within 2 minutes

– And the experts will too, after 5 minutes

• Your beginning is crucial!! (and rest of it too!)

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The first two minutes

Plan this well and the rest shall follow…

Before you start off people are already evaluating

• Previous speaker…

• Choice of template (make your own one!)

• Info and clutter on opening slide

• Adjustment of mike

• Laser pointer

• Demeanour

• …

• (Need Water ?)

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The first two minutes

Plan this well and the rest shall follow…

• NEVER read the title! (Paraphrase it)

• Write down what you will say in the first minute (you may not

finally say exactly that, but it really helps!!)

– Remember audience viewpoint

1. Why should I pay attention to you when I can think about more

interesting things?

2. Now that I am listening, why should I care about this issue?

• Summarize key finding right away!

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Some Tips

• K I S S

– Focus on getting a few key points across

• Repeat Key Insights

– tell them what you're going to tell them (Forecast)

tell them,

and tell them what you told them (Summary).

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A Generic 20 min “Reporting Results” Talk

• Title/author/affiliation (1 slide)

• Forecast (1 slide)Give gist of problem attacked and insight found (What is the one idea you want

people to leave with? This is the "abstract" of an oral presentation.)

• Outline (0 slides)

Don’t use if not needed in a short talk (keywords at the bottom of title slide?)

• Background / Motivation (1-2 slides)(Why should anyone care? Most speakers overestimate how much the audience

knows about the problem they are attacking.)

• Related Work (0-1 slides)Cover superficially or omit; refer people to your paper.

• Methods (1 slide)Cover quickly in short talks; refer people to your paper.

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A Generic 20 min Talk – II

• Results (4-6 slides)This is main body of the talk.

– Present key results and key insights. (Do not superficially cover all results;

cover key result well. Do not put up large tables of numbers.)

• Summary (1 slide)

• CAREFULLY CHOSEN Thank you slide

• Future Work (0-1 slides)Optionally give problems this research opens up.

• Backup Slides (0-3 slides)

Optionally have a few slides ready (not counted in your talk total)

to answer expected questions.

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Thank you!

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Thank you!


Last Slide

• Never end with a ‘Only Thank You’ slide !

– This is the slide that will be up for a long time during Q&A

– Last slide should be

• Summary of your talk

• Website for further info

• State problem. State conclusion. Contact info. Nice pictures

– Don’t end with Acknowledgement slide

• Appreciated but not useful to most of your audience

• Ack slide can be one before ‘Summary’

– How to encourage questions in Q&A

• This slides should have take home points and conclusions

• State some open questions at the end of the last slide.

This slide thanks to Ramesh Raskar18

Thank you!


Font Choice

• Use a plain font (sans serif) Sans Serif - easy to read

• Arial, Verdana, Comic Sans MS, Helvetica . . .

Clean font families for online presentations

• Segoe UI, Segoe UI Semibold Segoe UI Semilight, …

• Roboto, Roboto Medium, Roboto Light

– Serif - difficult to read• Times new roman, Courier, Monotype Corsiva

• Use sufficiently large letters (18-24 pt.)

– This is 24 point– Small font is hard to read (12 pt.)

– 10pt is even worse

– And we need binoculars for this one..

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ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR ONLINE PRESENTATIONS


Font Choice

• Using a font color that does not contrast with

the background color is hard to read

• Using color for decoration is distracting and

annoying.

• Using a different color for each point is

unnecessary

• Same for secondary points

• Trying to be creative can also be bad

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Do not use tables/graphics you apologize for

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One of my pet peeves…

Always label your axes!!

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Animations: Competing with PIXAR

• Sometimes animation can go too far

• Use it only ONCE if really needed.

• There is a simple effect called “appear”

• Which doesn’t do all the fancy stuff but usually works well for most stuff

Are you listening to the presenter or watching this shimmer?

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MINIMIZE ANIMATIONS FOR ONLINE PRESENTATIONS


Remember Murphy

• Something WILL go wrong- test your presentation!

– Font, equations, videos

• Always have a backup of your presentation on hand.

• Be prepared to do the presentation without the

PowerPoint….

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Allways Spellcheek

• It’s very irritating to see missspellings in presenations

• One should pays attention to grammar as well!

• If there is a squiggly red line, take a look!

• But don’t blindly reply in spellcheckers

– Revue it man you ally as soft wear is not smart!

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Arnab’s Tips

• Have a connecting statement between slides

• Build in “gaps” where you can connect to your audience.

Restore the human dimension to your presentation - make

eye contact, smile, BREATHE!

• Insert a personal touch - anecdote/bit of humour

• Don’t forget your first and most effective audio-visual tool

– yourself!

• Practice, have friend time your talk (individual slide timings help)

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ONLINE Presentations

• Most people watching on mobile screens, laptops – better to

use 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio

• But… don’t fill the slide!

• Keep RHS free – most video tiles go there!

• Clean fonts

• Minimize animations (esp. with movements) – use PDF?

• Number your slides – easier for audience feedback

• Periodically check with audience if “Aal izz well” – can they

hear, too fast/slow, do they have questions, ….

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And let’s start again….

Now for a Science Slam format

Short, engaging, fun, wow!

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Science Slam

• 10 minutes!! – a Loooong time when you are Live, and a short time with

no second chances for corrections…

• NOT A TALK!!

• “Pre-evaluation” – even more important!

• Title??

• Opening lines are VITAL

• AUDIENCE judges you! NOT EXPERTS!

– Accessibility for non-experts? (was it understandable?)

– Conceptualisation of slam (how structured is it?)

– Presentation style (how entertaining is it?)

– Originality (how creative is it?) 29


Video entry vs. Slam Final

• TRY TO GO BEYOND A PPT!

• It is a LIVE event! YOU are LIVE…

• you can dance, sing, jump, do some experiment, show the excitement

(but don’t forget the science – this is not just an item number)

• What is your key message?

• How will I capture the audience attention?

• Why it is interesting?

• How do I know they are listening?

• Make it interactive if you can

• Add some humour and “irreverence”

• Be prepared for VERY CRAZY questions! NOT DIRECTLY ON YOUR RESEARCH

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Crazy and not-so-crazy questions

• Many types of questions..

• Clarification / didn’t understand / want to know more

• Understood very well, just want to show that I know better…

• Comment (usually loooong rambling one!) , want to be heard, not

interested in an answer…

• Completely off topic

• Intentionally provoke you to think differently

• Something to make fun of you and make the house laugh..

• …

• ALL QUESTIONS ARE FAIR! Your response will say a lot!!

• “I don’t know but…” 31


How to prepare

• Watch previous Slams

• TED talks

• Need tips for humour - read PhD, XKCD etc.

(Appropriate humour please!!)

• MOST IMPORTANT – BE YOURSELF

• You don’t have to become a stand-up comedian – it is still your

science that needs to get across!

• PRACTICE….

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Thank you!

All the best for your presentations!

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Questions? Comments? Feedback?

[email protected]

@tifrarnab @chaiandwhy

The bad talk? (A very old version – tinyurl.com/badtalk)

Strongly recommend: Paul Edward’s “How to give an academic talk” (U.Michigan)

http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtotalk.pdf

mailto:[email protected]

making research communication fun and accessible

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