Michelle Gallaher@StartupShelley@thesocialsci

10 secrets of sciencecommunication professionals

I f there i s awar on science

and the publ ic don 't trustevidence , who i sresponsible?

Scient ists are . 100%.

I t 's not the audience 'sresponsibi l i ty to makesense of science -

i t 's ours to translate i t .

Sciencecommunicat ion i snot negotiable .

People whocommunicate wellget more funding &more opportunit ies .

I f you can 'tcommunicate theimportance andimpact of yourscience - why shouldthe publ ic fund i t?

We push threateninginformation away ; wepul l f r iendly informationclose .

We apply f ight -or - f l ightref lexes not only topredators , but to dataitsel f .

Does your messageinduce a f ight or f l ightresponse?

Heavy head -onattempts topersuade cansometimes tr igger abackf i re effect . . .

. . . where people notonly fa i l to changetheir minds whenconfronted with thefacts—they may holdtheir wrong viewsmore tenaciouslythan ever .

Be very clearon your object ive ,& st ick to i t .

Don 't use 15 minutesbecause i t 's avai lablei f you can say i t in 10 .

St ick to 3 key messages .

Less i s sometimes more .

You have 15 secondsto win your audienceover

. . . and this i s themost important partof your pitch . (other than the last10 seconds )

Know your audiencebefore you begin

. . . and work out theextent of theirsc ience knowledgeand language beforeyou start and treatthem with respect .

Never assume .

Lists help people toremember yourmessage

5 key things7 secrets3 key messages

( I real ly l ike oddnumber l i s ts & nevermore than 10 )

10 pitch lessons I have learned , (mostly the hard way )

01 People don 't usual ly need more informationor t ime to understand

your science

- you just need todel iver i t better .

02 When informationis too complex ,

people often resort tovalues -based judgementsabout you , your sty le orcore personal bel iefs ,

(and that 's often a 'No ' or'not interested ' ) .

03 People don 't alwaysneed to know how atechnology works -

they just want to knowthat i t does , what the r isks

and benef i ts are(by the s implest means

poss ible ) and that you aretrustworthy and an

author ity .

04 Less words - more pictures .(not l ike this s l ide )

05The publ ic l ike scienceand health stor ies asmuch as sport stor ies - science offers hope .

Investors andgovernment also l ike sciencestor ies that inspire hope

(and revenues ) .

Analogies are a great tool .

06 Infur iate or Inspire .

Emotion engages . . .work out how to connect

to your audience .

07 Know what you wantand ask for i t ,

. . .also a good note to closeyour pitch on .

08 The 'so what ' factor . . .can be powerful ,

so explain what wil l happenif this science

is not funded or supported .

The 'so what ' factor i susual ly what tr iggers

behaviour or bel ief change .

09 I t doesn 't matterhow saturated

you think the market i swith your message

- i t 's not .

say i t again and again .

10 Humans l ike to te l l stor ies- so give 'em a story& make i t personal . . .

usual ly a good way to opena ta lk .

11 Oh . . .and make direct eyecontact & smile .I t can 't hurt .

(smiles bui ld re lat ionships )

Apologies for the extra slide but this was just too important to leave out.

Follow me on social mediafor more tips

on science communication

@StartUpShelley@TheSocialSci

The Social Science

Michelle GallaherThe Social Science Company Page

@thesocialscience

www.thesocialscience.com.au