Stand up for Science: Practical Approaches to Discussing Science that Matters

Exercise 1. Create a Nonlinear Brainstorm

On a blank sheet of paper, write out all the ideas which come to mind when considering the topic of your communication effort. Try not to impose any organization on your ideas at this point - just write down anything you think of which is related to your topic. We will guide you in focusing on your message later.

Exercise 2. Find Your Central Message With Half-Life

Stand up. Using a timer, speak about your topic of interest for 60 seconds - not more, not less. Immediately after you’ve finished, speak about the same content in 30 seconds (keep the pace of your speaking the same!). Immediately after you’ve finished, try it again in 15 seconds. For the “pro” version, try communicating the same information in 8 seconds. After you’ve finished your 8 or 15 second version, write down the shortest version you tried. Self-reflect: does this message communicate what you want to say? If not, try Half-Life again!

Note: we recommend doing this exercise with a friend, but if you are alone, it’s also really effective to record yourself using your computer or phone.

Exercise 3. Define Your Central Message and Primary Supporting Ideas

Once you’ve found a Central Message that you like (and ideally one that contains context, content, and significance), it’s time to revisit your nonlinear brainstorm and/or the longer versions of your Half-Life to determine your key supporting ideas. Brandon breaks down how he found his four supporting ideas in his original nonlinear brainstorm. Try it for yourself - keep ideas which are necessary to support your Central Message, and save the rest for another communication effort.

After you’ve finished drafting a Central Message and your top 2-4 Supporting Ideas, write them down. (Include information about your audience.) You can either submit them as-written to the Feedback Forum, or you can explore what our Expert Voices have to say about how to make messages effective for particular audiences in the ‘Deep-Dive’ section. If you take the 'Deep-Dive,’ we encourage you to self-reflect on what you learned and revise your messages to better fit your audience.