Posts in: Tools & Resources

Two years ago, we released the Message Box Workbook, a comprehensive walk-through of one of our core tools. Our goal was to increase access to science communication tools for anyone who needed them by making the Workbook freely available online. It's been exciting to hear stories of how the Message Box Workbook has helped hundreds of scientists to build their commu...

This summer, COMPASS welcomed Priya Shukla, PhD student at the University of California, Davis, as our Policy Engagement Fellow. Priya is an avid science communicator and a Forbes contributor, with a digital column focused on ocean science and climate change. We asked Priya whether she had any tips for other scientists writing about their work for a web audience, a...

We hope that our blog is a useful source of scicomm information for you—from concrete how-tos, to the science behind science communication, to the theories, stories and inspiration behind what we do and why we do it here at COMPASS. One of the most exciting things over the twenty years that we’ve been doing this is how much the field has grown. This week, we’...

If you’re in Washington, D.C. this week for either Capitol Hill Ocean Week or the International Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans Conference, you may be planning to make the most of your time in town by also meeting with some policy makers (and if you aren’t, we hope you’ll consider it!). We’ve pulled together some of our top policy posts to...

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 ...