the royal society summer science exhibition getting help and enjoying the experience dr dane...
DESCRIPTION
Logistics A team of people – develop the exhibit together Arrange accommodation ASAP (Wimbledon and Summer in London) Break the workload into chunks: exhibit stand and handouts; interactive components; people (training, planning, rota) Explore funding opportunities Notify and ask for help from your local communications team (PR, PE) Notify your VC, PVCs, Dean/Head of School/Faculty PracticeTRANSCRIPT
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
Getting help and enjoying the experience
Dr Dane Comerford, Public Engagement Manager
Think about
• What you need to do
• What it is desirable to do
• What you must not do
• How you can be efficient
• Make use of free-to-use resources
• Spend money when required
Logistics
• A team of 12-15 people – develop the exhibit together
• Arrange accommodation ASAP (Wimbledon and Summer in London)
• Break the workload into chunks: exhibit stand and handouts; interactive components; people (training, planning, rota)
• Explore funding opportunities
• Notify and ask for help from your local communications team (PR, PE)
• Notify your VC, PVCs, Dean/Head of School/Faculty
• Practice
Budget and resource forecast
• Find local and external funding and support
• Explore in-kind and collaborative partners
• Use local resources (WP,PR, PE, Development, Admissions)
• Plan for expenses
• Strike the balance between quality and value
/£k Stand
Leaflets
Freight Exhibit Training
T-shirts
Accomm.
People Total
A 21.3 1 1 23.3 0.7 0.6 3.3 4.6 £27.9k
B 10.6 2 1 13.6 0.7 0.6 3 4.3 £17.9k
C 14.5 2.5 1 18 0.7 0.6 3 4.3 £22.3k
Audience pointers
• Who will see your exhibit? (in person, online, in traditional media, via internal communications)
• Free to attend, open to the public with long opening hours
• Competitive selection (~25% success) of cutting-edge research
• What are your key messages?
Public Students Teachers Media Soirée Total
2011 10,265 1,853 224 45 1,425 13,812
2012 8,227 1,452 193 30 1218 11,120
2013 8,745 2,358 260 25 1,142 12,530
2014 10,447 2,540 320 15 1,048 14,370
Audience segmentation
• General public
• Schools: pupils, students, teachers
• Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS)
• Media (written, audio and visual)
Message development
Aim Why are you doing this? Vision
Objective What do you aiming to achieve? What
Output What are you doing? How
Outcomes What will be different? Impact
•Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) – for the team and for visitors:1. knowledge and understanding2. skills3. attitudes and values4. enjoyment, inspiration and creativity5. action, behaviour, progression
Communications
• Spoken
• Written
• Visual
• Kinaesthetic
• Inter-personal
• ‘Hands-on’
• ‘Hands-off’
Stand curation and lay-out
traffic
1m
Exhibit reuse
“Every time you reuse an exhibit item, the initial cost decays”
• Departmental open days
• Local research or cultural festivals
• Consider national opportunities (Cheltenham, Cambridge, Big Bang)
• Educational outreach (primary and secondary school visits)
• Community outreach (town fairs, county shows)
Outcomes (and Outputs) of the Exhibition
• A broader group and personal research picture
• Confidence, enthusiasm, ideas and enjoyment
• Development of communication skills while exhibiting to a varied target audience
• A set of high-quality materials
• Great experience
• Networking possibilities
Any questions on…
audience pointers?logistics?
message development?
communications techniques?copywriting and editing?
grant writing? exhibit layout?
Evaluation
• The great sandwich exhibition and debate
a) Do you know about sandwiches? Extensive / something / nothing / unsure
b) Where do you buy or eat sandwiches? Please write: ______________________
c) What is your opinion on sandwiches? Please write: ______________________
d) What was most interesting to you? Please state: ______________________
e) Any comments? _____________________