Posts in: Tools & Resources

In this video, Dr. Nina Fontana joins COMPASS's Bob Crimian to reflect on her experience in the workshop, how she's building on the skills she learned, and why it's important to her to bring research back to communities and policy....

Washington, DC has many norms and customs that can (for better or worse) shape how you are perceived by your target audience, be it an agency expert, a congressional staffer, or even a congressperson themself. Here is a list of tips and tricks to help you navigate your interactions with federal lawmakers and officials!...

The COMPASS team has led a lot of workshops over the years—600 and counting! And as you might expect, during those workshops we get plenty of questions, including some that come up over and over. One of those regularly repeating questions: how to handle needing to communicate with multiple audiences, at the same time. Like a lot of questions about communication,...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that constructive feedback is valuable for learning and improving. At COMPASS, we think it’s so important that it’s a core part of our workshops. But like a lot of things, it's not always easy to know how to give good feedback.  That’s why, before we ask people to give each other feedback, we take some time to talk a...

Imagine that you start a conversation with a new person at an outreach event. They ask about the work that you do, and you share that you’re a scientist studying the impacts of climate change on coastal wetlands.  *Eyeroll* “Oh great, you’re one of THOSE people.” Caught off-guard, you ask what they mean.  “I’m so tired of hearing about the �...

Many challenges with virtual engagement come back to one thing—friction. Friction is that draggy, slow feeling when people talk over each other, or no one speaks at all, or everyone feels lost, and our brains take a vacation. Most folks are exhausted by endless Zoom meetings and (very reasonably) check out. The good news is that friction isn’t a foregone concl...