Posts by: Sarah Sunu

Over the years, we’ve been asked for tips on how we create presentations. A key thing that we always try to remember is to use the same principles that we talk about with the Message Box (knowing your audience, crafting your messages with them in mind, limiting your key points to 3-5 things, sharing the ‘So What?’), but to apply them visually, as well as with...

In our trainings, and on this blog, we talk a lot about the importance of getting to know your audience. As science communication trainers, we also need tools that help us get to know our audience! But sometimes it’s just not possible to gather that information ahead of time. We know that this is something that many scientists struggle with as well—whether you ...

What’s one way to get the attention of adults and children alike? Say the magic words: “Once upon a time….” Of course, those words aren’t magic in and of themselves. It’s what they signal to people that’s important. When we hear that phrase, we know that a story is coming, and as humans, we are primed to pay attention to stories. Stories, and how t...

Dr. Allison Coffin is an assistant professor at Washington State University (WSU) Vancouver, where her lab researches sensory hair cell function and hearing preservation/loss through studying fish. COMPASS first met Allison in October 2015, when Nancy Baron, our Director of Science Outreach, led a two-day communication workshop for the WSU Center for Environmental ...

Prepping for meetings is important in helping you to have a constructive conversation - especially when the person you’re meeting with may have very little time or knowledge of your field of study. Another way to help your information stick, even after the meeting is over, is to leave behind a one-pager. A great one-pager catches their attention, starts a convers...