Dr. Thomas Lindsay recently spoke to us about the important relationship scientists have with their audiences and made the connection easy to visualize via a triangular diagram in which each connection between speaker, audience, and subject are all intimately related but do not necessarily share equal weight. It is never the audience’s fault for misunderstanding the message being relayed, so scientists are encouraged to adjust their communication channels for different groups. For example, in order to fully understand the topic being discussed, an audience full of businessmen might require different terminology or visuals than that of scientists from a similar field of interest.
This seminar came at a perfect time for us since we are preparing to present both oral and written versions of our research to different groups of people. Since the audiences will differ from our poster sessions to our written abstract submissions, it is important for us to begin thinking of how we might adjust our communication channels. This can range from limiting the amount of technical terminology used or including carefully labelled visuals that can be easily understood by anyone.
The process of writing our abstracts began during this seminar with a peer review. This eased a lot of nerves since we are all comfortable with each other, but still gave us a space to gather constructive feedback on our early drafts. We each made sure that specific questions were answered in each portion of the abstract and things were written in a clear, yet concise manner.
Though we didn’t get a chance to do another verbal practice run of our presentations, Dr. Lindsay still covered how to most effectively grab the audience’s attention, keep them engaged by presenting the practical application up front, and help the audience visualize the need and benefits for the solution to the topic of discussion.
We are only days away from submitting and presenting our research from this summer, which is mind blowing because these 10 weeks have flown by. However, with the help of Dr. Lindsay, our graduate mentors, and program coordinators, we are more than prepared (and excited!).
These communication skills will follow us for our entire career as scientists, and we have an opportunity to exercise them early on.
-Jessica Heard, Auburn University
