Association of Science Communicators
  • Conferences
    • SCIENCE TALK '23
    • SCIENCE TALK '22 >
      • Event Page '22
      • Agenda '22
      • Sponsors '22
      • Speakers '22
      • Logistics '22
    • SCIENCE TALK '21 >
      • Event Page '21
      • Agenda '21
      • Sponsors '21
      • Speakers '21
      • FAQ '21
    • SCIENCE TALK '20 >
      • Event Page '20
      • Agenda '20
      • Speakers '20
      • FAQ '20
      • Posters/Artwork '20
    • SCIENCE TALK '19 >
      • Schedule (2019)
      • Presentations (2019)
      • Panels (2019)
      • Workshops (2019)
      • Photos (2019)
    • SCIENCE TALK '18 >
      • Schedule (2018)
      • Keynotes (2018)
      • Photos (2018)
    • SCIENCE TALK '17 >
      • Schedule (2017)
      • Speakers (2017)
      • Photos (2017)
      • Videos (2017)
  • Community
    • Forum
    • "A Science Blog" >
      • Pitching Guide
      • Blog Contributor Style Guide
    • Volunteer Openings
    • Ethics Policy
  • Collaborate
    • Partnership Opportunities
    • Sponsors and Partners
    • Advisory Panel
  • Resources
    • Communication Resources
    • Training & Courses
    • Meet the Community
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Executive Board
    • Volunteers
    • Contact
Picture

This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings (click inside this section to edit the settings):


Current Number Of Columns are = 3

Expand Posts Area = 1

Gap/Space Between Posts = 10px

Blog Post Style = card

Use of custom card colors instead of default colors =

Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

How to overcome the challenges of communicating science

2/27/2018

1 Comment

 
A person in front of a laptop
Photo by Ewan Robertson on Unsplash
More than a decade ago, I left the commercial advertising business and joined the nonprofit world as the marketing director for an environmental conservation organization. To prepare for my first assignment (updating the board of trustees on ongoing projects), I was given a stack of project reports chock-full of details on implementation sites, baseline and post-project survey results, species and ecosystem health assessments, and a list of every activity implemented over a two-year period.

​I read through all these reports, each at least 100 pages long, stumbling through new terminology and with my head spinning with questions:

Do these figures represent progress and achievements? What are we learning? What story can I tell? What will my readers care about most? 

My readers were time-strapped and non-technical, and it felt like I was trying to shove a giant square peg of data into a small round hole of attention spans. I felt frustrated by those who wrote the reports and wondered why it was so hard to find the story among all the figures. 

Sitting on the other side of the table

Later in my career, when I was managing a suite of these same projects, I was the one receiving questions from the marketing team on “what’s a story we can tell?” My initial instinct was to give a snarky response that the story is in the 250-page report I spent the previous three months writing. Now from the other side of the table, I felt frustrated that they couldn’t see the stories right in front of them.

Yet I also knew how incredibly important it was to share these stories and results with a wider audience, and how challenging it can be to do so. Furthering an organization’s mission requires a steady stream of funding and support. But it’s getting harder to catch an audience's attention, and there’s growing competition for members, followers, and donor dollars. This is a tall order for any organization.

Standing out requires creating stronger connections to the work you do and showing proof of the impact you’re having — all delivered through easily absorbed and entertaining stories.
Looking at a story
Photo by Ewan Robertson on Unsplash

​Tips for telling stories


Here are some tips I’ve learned for how to best represent data and facts in ways that are both interesting and accurate.

Speak to the audience. Not to yourselves.
Your audience is not as familiar with the issue or topic as you are. And you can’t expect them to be. Therefore, it’s important to speak to them on their terms, in their language, and focusing on what is most interesting to them. Remove jargon, get to the point quickly, keep it simple, and be clear on what you’re asking them to do.

Make the project meaningful 
When trying to get your readers’ attention, and especially when asking for donations, stories must answer this fundamental question for the audience: why should I care about this? We want to believe that our readers always care, but they won’t care to the extent that you do. We have to give them a reason to care (note: that does not say we have to convince them to care). People care most when an issue impacts them or their family, the places they live in, or the things they like and depend upon.

Comparisons over details 
Your audience may not be able to grasp certain figures that are not used in their daily lives, such as number of hectares, or number of kilometers traveled, or percentages of a population impacted. To make the data more relevant, draw an analogy to something they are familiar with. Hectares can be related to the size of a state or country; kilometers compared to traveling from one state to another; and percentages can instead be framed as 1 in X number of people. Drawing these analogies prevents the reader from glossing over facts they don’t understand and instead highlights the scale of the project in relatable ways.

Show more than tell
Data can be really exciting and eye-catching when presented in a visual format. And I don’t mean turn it into a bar graph or pie chart, either! Marketing and technical teams can work together to create infographics, engaging icons, and videos that bring the results to life. Not only does this approach paint a clearer picture, but it also makes it more easily digestible and more likely to be shared with others. 

Leave some things out
It’s okay to leave out some details, including the specific research methodology used. It’s ideal to have that data available and accessible for those who want to dig in, but it doesn’t need to be in the main story. I know this can be excruciating, especially when a ton of work has gone into the research and the project, but most people don’t need (or want) to see it. Focus the main story on what will be most compelling and interesting for your audience.

Writing data-driven, engaging stories will catch your readers’ attention, create stronger connections to the work you’re doing, and motivate them to take action.

Brooke Tully supports non-profits design marketing plans that propel social change. She also produces a newsletter with marketing and behavior insights for brooke’s2cents subscribers.

1 Comment
Roy Andrews link
1/6/2021 07:17:11 am

Thannks for writing this

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Discussion
    Diversity Equity & Inclusion
    From The President's Desk
    Multimedia
    Personal Narratives
    Profiles
    SciComm
    SciComm Tips
    Science Design
    Science Talk News
    Speaking
    Thought Leadership
    Writing

    Pitch & Contribute

    Do you have something to say about science communication and looking for a good forum?

    ​Please see our pitching guide and then email blog@sciencetalk.org with your pitch and we'll discuss the details. 

    A Science Blog
    Co-editors

    Picture
    Christina M. Swords (she/her)
    @cmarvin67
    ​​
    Picture
    Amy R Nippert
    (she/her)
    @nipper_r

    Contact us at blog@sciencetalk.org

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

Picture
​The Association of Science Communicators is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax ID: 82-2076772). We are a volunteer-run organization and depend entirely on donors and sponsors for operational support. If you value science communication and would like to make sure decisions are made based on the value of science, please consider donating today.
© Copyright 2016. All Rights Reserved.
  • Conferences
    • SCIENCE TALK '23
    • SCIENCE TALK '22 >
      • Event Page '22
      • Agenda '22
      • Sponsors '22
      • Speakers '22
      • Logistics '22
    • SCIENCE TALK '21 >
      • Event Page '21
      • Agenda '21
      • Sponsors '21
      • Speakers '21
      • FAQ '21
    • SCIENCE TALK '20 >
      • Event Page '20
      • Agenda '20
      • Speakers '20
      • FAQ '20
      • Posters/Artwork '20
    • SCIENCE TALK '19 >
      • Schedule (2019)
      • Presentations (2019)
      • Panels (2019)
      • Workshops (2019)
      • Photos (2019)
    • SCIENCE TALK '18 >
      • Schedule (2018)
      • Keynotes (2018)
      • Photos (2018)
    • SCIENCE TALK '17 >
      • Schedule (2017)
      • Speakers (2017)
      • Photos (2017)
      • Videos (2017)
  • Community
    • Forum
    • "A Science Blog" >
      • Pitching Guide
      • Blog Contributor Style Guide
    • Volunteer Openings
    • Ethics Policy
  • Collaborate
    • Partnership Opportunities
    • Sponsors and Partners
    • Advisory Panel
  • Resources
    • Communication Resources
    • Training & Courses
    • Meet the Community
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Executive Board
    • Volunteers
    • Contact