EGU WEBINARS: SciComm 101: How To Share Science Online

Okay, so I think now is a good time to start this webinar. Thank you for everyone joining today. This EG webinar on Cyclom 101, how to communicate science online. Uh the webinar itself is being recorded and being published on the EGU YouTube channel uh later next week. Um the webinar itself will last about 1 hour. There is a Q&A um question box at the bottom of the screen. There you can enter your questions and also upvote questions you wish to be answered later. Um and we will uh answer them after the two presentations which will be uh given soon. Um as towards the content of this um webinar, we'll be talking about how to approach science communication. Uh particularly we'll be looking at um more like video based um u communication but more of this uh communication can be applied to many other formats. Um, but who is presenting today? Well, hello work. There we go. So, you might have noticed we're both called Simon Clark. Um, one of us works at the EU uh uh at the European Geosciences Union as the uh digital programs manager, which is myself on the right. Um, I oversee our digital communication efforts through workshop delivery for webinars, which I also present. But our other um speaker is also Simon Clark who also is uh an author and science communicator um most known for YouTube however is now working in other many other science communication circles. But why is it us who are presenting today? Well, it turns out we have a lot of shared uh experience which can combine our powers today to give you a bit more um guidance on sharing science. Uh first, yes, we're both science communicators. Uh we both have climate change PhDs linked deeply into the geosciences and we're also both absolute nerds uh and have a um a shared hobby of collecting little figures, painting them and then battling them on a tabletop which is very analog very nerdy. We do have some differences. Um, science science Simon Simon science is based atmospheric sciences. My background is in hydrosphere. Science Simon can also be seeing and I absolutely cannot. >> I think it's fair to say the genesis of this session was basically wouldn't it be funny if we just put [laughter] with minor differences between us. It was just there was a copy and paste error somewhere in universe that meant that um as two time clocks end up doing a very similar creative trajectories. Um yeah it was just like we need to do something together at some point. Um I'll quickly jump then into my section. Uh so bit more about me. Um my scienceification story of working for EG now is uh a bit um all over the place. Let's say I like to see queer career isn't a ladder. It is a river. It meanders but everything builds into just momentum or it's training or your experience. Um so by science communication I've been doing online as well. I did a lot of network building in my 20ies but a lot of it also came from working museums working with artists recently working at a music festival speaking online there but also talking to policy makers working industry and then these all also feed onto the skills I use to deploy online communications as well. Um and frankly I think most there's plent plenty of transferable skills from other areas who start deploying insights communication and which perhaps also work elsewhere work in the end is a relational endeavor. So you knowing communication skills and how to approach this I think is pretty much worth profile in other sectors too. Um but let's get let's just dig into the um topic of today. If once you start communicating science online, um it's good to have a few north stars there to help direct you and understand how and what you're doing online. Um so key is identifying what you want to do. Um that might be to share experience, raise awareness and focus reading. You'll be doing all of these things, but ideally having a priority or one there will help you kind of get more direction. Um, and RVs can do different things as well. So, if you're sharing your experience, it might just be because well, for example, doing a PhD is quite a learning process and you want to share that experience with other people so other PhD students can see what it's like. Um, and also help kind of build connections with people who are in that position. It might be that you're under represented in your sciences. It might be that you're just not getting m u much progress and making mistakes and actually it's good to show that as a scientist. You want to make sure that people understand that science is built on failure. It's built on relearning and learning and showcasing that is a way to kind of demystify science. It could be again raising awareness again raising awareness of issues in science or raising awareness about certain topics. This sounds almost like an alarm like these raised awareness awareness about issues related to climate change but actually it could also be raising awareness about your field like is your field a bit obscure or why do people even do geology so what's the point in looking at rocks are we just licking rocks here or we doing more there more about it and finally invoke feeling um this is important and I think people often neglect it um invoking your feeling is how you get people to connect and it's how you get people to stay. Um, and al say invoke a feeling. Sometimes people think about I'm there to persuade people, but actually persuade people, you need to make sure people feel something first. And actually, if you want to do any kind of actual effects or inspire anything into your um audience, the kind of says it needs you put his feelings first. Actually, in fact, I wouldn't think about I'm here to persuade people at all. I think I'm here to invoke his feeling. And what that feeling is um I mean it could be anything. It could be happiness. Wonder I think is a great feeling to get people engaged. Curiosity across. But it could also be catharsis. If you're talking about a subject that is delicate and is think that's troubling you and like talking about that in a verbal matter can help people connect and exhaust those feelings as well. Um so keep those in mind. um plan them out and also say perhaps choose one key one to kind of start building an identity around without neglecting the others. Um secondly sort of think about what makes you unique, what makes people want to come back to you. Um a lot of people struggle with this but actually you already have a large number of things that intersect to make you unique. Particularly if you're if you're a researcher um you're a scientist you've already spent quite a lot of time trying to understand a certain topic especially you're doing a PhD and I think in academia it's quite easy for us to undervalue ourselves um but you have so much information there which you can build on on again and again and one thing to be aware of as well is like yes a lot of people would already have talked about perhaps a topic or a fact before but that doesn't mean you can't approach it especially in your own way and how do you do that Well, firstly, your personality. It's so important. You need to show your emotions, right? We're humans. We need people to connect with each other through our emotions. Your personality is what makes you authentic and what makes you you. Uh so, it can take some time to get used to doing that uh on camera actually. Um at first it might feel a bit stiff, but again with practice again and again your personality comes through, right? Don't work to a script. build your talk your um build your um communication around key points, right? Let your own way of talking and bring get yourself to the points. Again, your experience or your history also um important here. the way you got through academia perhaps or the way you approach research uh but also your background nationality for example uh your hobbies all of this can play a part into how you communicate either perhaps uh what you bring to the conversation but even in terms of how you actually start producing things like so you also bring skills right um so perhaps you're good at planning this can help you uh plan out a campaign for example perhaps you already got good some editing skills or do some design are there complimentary skill skills that you have are going to help you with science of communication. It might just be for example in terms of how you how you actually communicate, right? Maybe you're a poet example, maybe um you like writing these can contribute again to um how you talk about science talk about science online. Uh and when you have these two things together, this is what makes your niche. Um niche here is why do people come back to you? If they think about you, what what do you want them to think, right? You're a climate change scientist perhaps. Or perhaps you talk about animals in the sea or perhaps it's kind of the mixture of folklore and landscapes or whatever. Like what is that thing that go like oh what my what my um I wanted to find out about XY Z or it's you need to go to think of it like an anchor. Um, one key thing about niches, whilst it's important for people to have that anchor point to return to, I would also say be free to be a bit fluid around that as well. Um, there are plenty of intersecting points with your uh anchor or your niche. Um, which you can bring in and frankly um I think having that dynamism also makes it more interesting for you which also is needed to I think well you need that to kind of keep your going. Um key again is what you can get out of sense communication. Uh building your profile again build that anchor point like okay this is the person who talks about x y z this is who I need to go to. Um creating community is a key point. Uh building conversations uh with people um perhaps on a particular topic but also a particular demographics right like people can see you and they feel seen and feel represented. That's quite a powerful tool to bring people together. Um, I also want iron to look a lot. Um, I can be a bit opinionated, get angry, share something personal online, perhaps not in a an edited way, but I'll talk about that. Uh, and I think it's just me doing around, but then people do slide into my DMs and say, "Oh, actually, I really liked what you said that made me feel like I wasn't alone." So, it's really important, I think, to kind of um build that community through vulnerability. see so many opportunities um even uh myself as Simon have on different scales I'd say of um how many people know is like I still get opportunities now again like oh yeah maybe can you do a workshop for us I'm an artist I want to work for you for example uh or maybe it's uh invitation to a conference or something like that um so no matter your scale keep building out that profile online can bring opportunities that can also help you make you make you more discoverable right people look for perhaps a research um topic and your name comes up because it's online. I look for people to interview a lot of the time and if you haven't got a website um it's much more harder for me to find you. You know, I can find your um perhaps your Google profile for um literature, which is good, but actually I want to know more about you, right? People want to know about who are you and can you talk about these things? And finally, uh monetization. Um making money is good. If you can make money off this kind of way off your um communication in a way that makes it sustainable and also ethical then that's something to keep in mind as well. In fact, that might be one of the primary goals which is fine. Um and yeah, so I talk about what's but this can be make into your goal. So when you do your communication plan, think about what you want to do. Is building community your goal? Is making money your goal? The others can feed into that. But try and keep at least one north star there. one key goal that helps to build your communication strategy around it. Um, but also I see all this about having goals and making like a plan. Um, but actually the biggest thing here is just do what you enjoy. I think there's a lot of pressure here to chase post certain trends like oh we have to do shorts on video content and stuff like that. But like a lot of people hate that. I'm I I'm quite I quite hate doing um a lot of shorts on video commenting u shorts on videos myself. Uh and partly because I have a stutter, I have a slur, it kind of makes more um harder for me to kind of get the right script out. But um do you feel like you have to do that? Um if you don't like doing shots from videos, start somewhere else. There's plenty of other ways to get to communicate science online. Um you can do for example carousel reels, pictures on Instagram. Um, and sim like a lot of people don't like editing. So then don't focus on having a super glossy video. Make it raw and start making a raw video and also help because it makes you look more authentic. Um, but in gerally and this is one of the key learnings from any kind of project or programs management. Um, perfection is the enemy of progress. You can plan and plan as much as you like but eventually you can only learn by doing. Um, and the key point there is sometimes you might be falling behind of your own personal goals, etc. But life happens and if there's a gap between your timeline and how you're actually doing, well, it's probably because some kind of new understanding or new need hasn't been incorporated into your plan. So, it's it's um always good to try and adjust and step back and think about where you're going um time to time. I say schedule that because it's it's easy to be mindful. It's just hard to remember to be mindful a lot of times. So, don't worry about making mistakes. In fact, don't make worry about making mistakes online as well. In fact, again, that makes you more authentic. Um, a key thing about trying to get going with making social media online, um, motivation is pickle. Um, routine is a thread that pulls you through. So, I'd say it's going to start making uh, science communication content same time, same day, over time. have it in your calendar, make sure alarms go off ticket. Um, and every time just like, okay, this is the time I'm going to make my videos or this is the time where I'm going to do a book um, editing or this is time I'm going to focus on creating my scripts. Whatever it is, uh, make sure it's around the same time. Um, the brain hates change and by making it consistent, um, we help the brain to adapt to that. Um, and but the other thing to balance that out with is, um, sometimes just get spark enough of energy, a new idea. um wasn't putting that off to this routine. Just do it. Just do it then. Like it's it's it's so much easier to just try and like work with the energy when you got it, but it is trying to push yourself to do it. So try and keep these two things in balance where you have that routine. You do it over the time, but if you get inspiration, run with it. Um a few key points about sharing stuff online. Um, as a professional, I spend a lot of time consuming science communication content, but also um, kind of breaking it down. And I find these mistakes happen a lot. Um, some of them aren't really mistakes, but just guidance. But when you're sharing science online, you especially in text, um, keep up font. Having an eye jump from different font styles is draining. Um, and make sure it stands surf as well as in uh surface or these little kind of ticks at the edge of letters. Um, and this kind of makes it um slightly less legible by people with uh reading difficulties um such as uh if there are visual impairments or even ADHD. Um a much more simpler form space between the line is much easier to read. Similarly, italics makes it harder to read and also cursive. People do love to use cursive to make it seem a bit fancy to add perhaps to the atmosphere or vibe of a um piece of communication, but again it makes it harder to read and also it makes it um slower to read and a lot of sense communication content happens quite quickly especially if it's short form. So keep it um simple when it comes to text and also hashtags can hump them. This means the first letter of each word is capital. It makes it so much more easier to read and identify when just squinting and trying to understand which word is which when it's when it's all in lower case. Um, finally, and I see issues here all the time. Um, you need captions on any kind of um video content. Um, not just because people have hearing difficulties, but a large large percentage of people who can see or any kind of social media online um do so with the sound off. So, if you want people to engage your content, you must have captions. And you also must be aware of where you're putting them. If we're doing a real um the danger zone here is at the base of the um at the base of the image where the screen sorry where people can put comments and also to the uh right and lower lower right corner and um to the right hand side where people can do or share comments and stuff like that. again and again I see people with big numbers on sales communication putting content captions here or content here like no one can read that similarly >> just to but in a second you can download um overlays there are PGs that you can download put in your editing software and it will tell you on Tik Tok or on Instagram I think there's ones available where it will combine them um please do it because this this irritates me as well >> yeah there you go for that validation um yeah and also just be aware of like backgrounds you have as well. Um like bold letters rather than thin letters and like just making sure the colors work together. Just throwing some captions on uh a pale captions in the pale background. I can't read that. Make sure there's some contrast right contrast. Um yes. Um again captions usually a little bit just below the mouth, below the chin is the best place to do it because rather having your eye go over the screen just do it where the people's talking. That's where the eye is going to be focused anyway. the focus first on the person. Um again I'm including this this is in the previous webinar I did on um science communication at um uh conferences. Um and again it's just you need to be aware that if you're sharing something online there's going to be other options. So for example if you share something through Zoom well there might be um uh options at the bottom or here um if you're at a conference if it it depends on the um the conference style. Sometimes this bottom menu won't be official support but um for example in the webinar we're doing now but again places might be um finally to quickly wrap it up um how do you choose what platform to do um to work on? Well, first what should be focused is um what is your goal, right? Um so for example, if your goal is to monetize, then you might want to look at YouTube. You might want to look part of a creators program which is scalable where you can earn money by producing content. Um but if not, well perhaps you can get brand sponsorship, right? which can feel a little bit dirty I think sometimes to a scientist or coming from academia there's plenty of sponsorship you can get um which can be ethical which um can help you keep going with a science communication so think about okay if I want sponsorship can I build my brand in a way that is attractive to a particular sponsor but also be aware of the investment energy if it's buying from YouTube you need to get a certain threshold earning um Simon can talk about what YouTube search later But um keep in mind what energy you're willing to give. Similarly, who is your audience? Um are you talking mostly to your own community? For example, if you're doing a lot of working on I don't know blue sky or threads or X or whatever. Um a lot of the time you are only communicating to your community and that's good. It feels validating. People feel validated in their feelings which is important. So if you want to build your community um that kind of platform is where you do it. But if you want to reach an audience, perhaps a younger audience, you need to find out where they are and how they consume it. But also, finally, what do you enjoy? Again, if you're not going to enjoy it, you're not going to keep doing it. So, always kind of think about what you can get out in terms of um your energy, but also what you enjoy. Finally, I mentioned authenticity a couple of times. Uh show your emotions. Uh people are looking to connect with people. Um and showing emotions, I think, is the best part. like trying to overp profofessionalize yourself in these spaces I think is only going to generate a wall between you and the audience. Particularly you want to tell your own story as well. Wrap that in with your um with your communication. I tend to use a form of why, what, and how. And why is like this is my story. This is why I'm engaged in it. what is beha action um like follow me on social media or a list of resources that goes towards the end and again don't be invaluable. You might have noticed um today I've slipped over my talking. I have a I have a speech impediment, right? But at the same time, I don't want to let that stop me from engaging in science communication. Um in the same way, stepping up um making error while you're talking, that's fine. Like just apologize for it, owned up to it, or even use that as a base for new content like, well, actually, this is what I discovered or actually this is another way to look at it. Uh it's especially important in upcoming era of AI. AI mixed in with soulless generic slot and a lot of it is just doesn't really go into detail. It gives you broad strokes of with of generic um language which doesn't really tell you much. So if once you kind of exist that environment um bring your detail, bring your story, bring your personality, right? That's what people get people connecting. In fact um a lot of there's a lot of fatigue right now about um all this AI content. So people are looking for more this kind of authentic this more personable um uh content. Uh finally uh just be regular. So again key point um create have a time for you to create and write and uh generate content and have a time to actually post it as well. So be regular where you um create it and where you uh share it. Be clear. Um so again focus on who your audience is but build towards your audience. um make sure the language is accessible, your communication accessible and then be consistent. So what is the anchor point uh that people come towards? What is the goal? What is the um topics they know you for? Um it's fine to repeat the same story, the same facts again. Maybe we we change it. It's about building up a consistent image about yourself. Anyway, that's my section. I'll now move on to Simon if you want to stop sharing. >> Thank you, Simon. Um it's actually so much of what you said are the things that I say in every So this is great. You've done this is there literally is like there's two of me uh or two of you u because I just want to reiterate a couple of things that Simon said already. Firstly the most there there's there's like some key takeaways that I want everybody to remember. One of them is if you want to get better at this just do it. There is no subs to just making um I so there's the the hardest piece of advice that I was given when I started making videos. Your first hundred videos are going to suck. Fine. That's okay because the 101st video be good, but you won't be able to make it until you've learned the mistakes from a hundred bad videos. Like every project you you just get a little bit better. And it's the same in everything. I mean, Simon mentioned we both paint every model that you paint, you get that little bit better. Um am I too quiet? Somebody's just lo raised their hand. I'm just wondering if that was what the issue. >> I can hear you fine. >> I say if you have a if you have a question, please enter in the Q&A at the bottom of the screen. We will get to that in about 20 minutes to five, let's say. >> Okay. Yeah. Um so yeah, just want to reiterate that. Um, another thing that we just touched on was um, in the age of AI, like sort of science communication, in the age of AI slop, personally, I think it's super super important to be as weird as with your science, uh, and to be fallible and to be human. Um, the the reference that I have for, if you've ever seen Wallace and Grommit, it's claymation where you can see the thumbrint in the clay. Um, and you know, if you if you zoom in, you can see that there's imperfections. It's not perfectly smooth like a computer would render. And I think that humanized says to people this is clearly something that and I try to incorporate that in my work the way that I personally choose. Uh I don't actually have well actually I do so I have a you'll hear that I printed out for a uh a project and being able to do macro photography with that and hold it. It's like something that an AI would not do or I'm I made a video you can behind me I did a video about the progress we've made fighting and that was on a globe that I made by hand was clearly imperfect. you know, New Zealand was basically two blobs on this globe because of the scale that I'm modeling it, but it was very clearly something human and I think that's why that project resonates. So, just I just want to reiterate that I think everything that Simon said is applicable. Um, what we've just heard is the big what, why, who uh and what I'm going to do in my section drill into how the nuts and bolts at least for me my personal and this is motivated. I believe it was EGU. I went to a session uh on science communication and it really resonated and I remember some of the things in that session to this day hoping that I can sort of give you that same nuts and bolts understanding that I took from that presentation in my so hopefully we've got the sort of ying and yang. We've got the the two sides of the so if I just start sharing my hang on where's sharing this. Yep. Uh this one. Right. So um yeah practical psychon by the other Dr. Simon Clark. Uh so you sort of already heard a little bit about my background. Uh I describe myself as a recovering academic. Um and I've been making videos about various subjects uh since I was an undergraduate back in 2010. Uh originally I actually made videos that were about Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK. Aware those are very very difficult to get into especially from certain backgrounds. One of those I'm from one of those background private school. Um and so my first videos were actually just trying to help kids. And as I um as I basically went through the graded physics and realizing about my research dissected um and since I graduated I've been doing primarily with horizontal videos on YouTube. There's some on the right. Uh but I've recently been doing a lot of vertical. Um there's an example there. Uh I wrote a book as well called firmament. Uh basically a book for high school students aimed at not being about climate or about weather but about the physical system that connects the two and how we know what we that sounds interesting. I'm quite proud of it. Um but the key thing to stress here is that I've learned to do this uh by trial and error. I am not a trained science communicator. There are some courses for example university in the UK does a communication um and I didn't do it. I I have learned everything that I'm about to tell you an error. So this is my personal way of but the way that I approach science communication is the same whether it's a book vertical video or horizontal video or lecturing or a podcast. This is the way that I approach every project but with a slanted YouTube spec. So first of all I ask what are the learning objective? Now this is possibly the influence of my wife. She's a teacher. Um but at the top of every script I write two to three learning objectives and I use what's called the AEU. So that means that every learning objective has to start with awareness, enjoyment, interest, opinion forming or understanding. And it will be understanding that opinion form about two or three of those and that determines what the project is. Then I ask who specifically am I trying? Now in my case I actually have an audience avatar. I have a one person Adam. He's 25. He did a science degree but not climate science at university. works in some technology, maybe in engineering or finance in Western Europe or possibly the United States, and knows that is a big problem, but doesn't know what he can do about it. And I make videos for that person. Obviously, there's quite a lot of Adams in the world, but there's also quite a lot of people that are like Adam. So, when I make things that are targeted for him, I I flash onto lots of different people. Uh, but I've tried to be as key as core as possible, and that is who I'm trying to make. And then what I do is, and you'll note that at this point I haven't written the script. I haven't done any detailed work on who I'm trying to reach and what I'm trying to say to them. And then I write out in a sentence the value prop. So what if this Adam watches my video? What are they going to get out of? And then ask, well, there's also this question of a wow factor. So is there something visually interesting? at the moment that means doing things like 3D printing but it can also be talking to an expert um maybe doing a field trip lots of um and you know how can I make this and based on that how can I communicate hopefully that wow factor but most that value proposition to that audience and that means on YouTube what is the title of the video what is the thumbnail of the and what is the first 30 seconds because if a person clicks on a video and the first 30 seconds don't line up with what they were promised in the title and the thumbnail they're going to click It's all sort of linked together. When it comes to vertical video, you have to do all of this in about the first two seconds. You don't get a thumbnail. You don't get a title. All of that in about one is why vertical video is very hard to do. Still learning and only once I know how I can communicate that value proposition to the audience. Then I work on the script, turn it in. And the phrase that I use here is I tell the best story. I mentioned that there are a couple of key takeaways I want everybody to come away from this presentation remembering. And this is is one of them. All communication story story is just a sequence of information give to a specific order to elicit a specific response. When it comes to fiction that means do I want my scared or happy inspired it is exactly the same thing when it comes to non-fiction just that normally instead of an emotional we want an intellectual. You want somebody to come away with one of those learning of can also make them come away with an emotional response. you can understand something about points and you might want them to feel motivated to take action. You might want them scared about the possibility. There's lots of things that you can at the same time. The important thing is that you are telling a story and the way that you get good at telling stories is by consuming. And there's a great watch films, read books, listen to to narrative podcast, scroll on Tik Tok, whatever it is, you will find eventually that all of the things that work best have things in common. they have certain storytelling techniques rely on. And the advice that I always give to students is it's important to watch really good science communication. It's done by stuff like by people like Simon other people like for example Tathkas um you know there are lots of ex excellent example communication. I also think it's important to watch bad and watch science communication who maybe are early in their you know attending student talks and asking yourself why is this not working? You know what is it that is making this not stick? When you're watching a film, you you're never going to learn how to make a movie by watching the godfather or the return of the king by watching master. You're only going to learn by watching bad films because craft visible stakes. So if you watch the Mandalorian and grou for example, you'll be like, why is this so tepid? Why is nothing in this story sticking? That is obvious and you can pick that apart and then you know, okay, that's what I'm not. Like when I wrote my book, I'd never written a book before and I was pretty intimidated about how I would do it and what so I I went and read some excellent books. I read Emperor of All Malades about the biography of cancer which terrified me as a as a writer. But I also read other books that I didn't like. And it was really instructive to go that's what I don't want. I don't want So this is your cart blanch excuse. Sume stories, sue media, and learn from the good and the bad. And as I said, you'll pick up what the sort of common things that writers there is one particular technique that I drill into every presentation is at. It's at the core of every video that I write and it's another thing that I want everybody to come away with. Simple rule of storytelling. The rule is therefore or but never and then. So the way this works, you break the story that you're trying to tell down into story. Story beat is something that you can write on a post-it. So when I started writing videos, I literally used to use Post-it notes. I now use a software called notion which I'd also recommend. It's free. It's great. Um, and you you you put on one line on one poster. The rule is you must be able to put the word therefore or the word but between any two neighboring posters, two story. If you can only put the words and then story beat, that's not a well structured. The count of example here is if you've ever had a toddler tell you a story, it's this thing happened and then this thing has really it's really hard to pay attention because it's really boring. If you say this thing happened, therefore this thing happened, there's a logical if you say this thing happened but this thing there's a reversal of fortune. Something has gone wrong. Both of those things are interesting because if something goes wrong, you kind of want to know what happens next. But if there's a logical continuation, you make a connection. And this is the case for non-fiction and for fiction. To give you an example from fiction works, spoilers, if you haven't seen The Empire Strikes Back, but I feel like if you're a scientist at this stage in your career, you've probably, and it came out nearly 50. So, at the start of the film, the planets are hiding on the planet Hoth. The rebels are fighting on the planet Hoth, but the Empire discovers, therefore, they have to evacuate. But the Empire chases them, therefore they flee into an asteroid. Yes, you could say and then blue points, but you can but you can say but or you can say therefore stronger that. So in fiction it's it's easy to just you know make stuff up and make it fit this rule. But you know if we're talking about science, we're not Republicans. We've got to actually follow what the facts. So how do you make this work when it comes to science? I I would argue that it comes down to framing and it comes down to telling your story in a certain way such that it fits this structure. You're not making stuff up to fit it. that you are forming your story such that to give you an example we did a short video um about well the title of it was big oil are weaponizing the whales quite pleased with as a as a slightly bonk um and the story behind this well tell you what I'll tell you the story beats so offshore wind farms are great most people agree this um and they should be America but they're being held up especially on the eastern seabboard concerned about their impact on whale popular but you'll notice that I haven't sort of alternated You can do but but therefore I try not to do but researchers have shown that those community groups have links to climate skeptics. Therefore those community groups sued the researchers doing that work but they sued the researchers through a law firm connected to the fossil fuel industry and those climate skeptic organizations. Therefore they exposed them not being legitimate. These were astroturfed climate skeptics. Um and it was this this this was a really interesting story. We did a whole video about this um like a long form which I'd recommend. Um but you can sort of see how you could have have have just given that those facts this and then this but we structured it in such a way that you were introduced to a piece of information but this thing happens but this other thing therefore this next I think that that this worked quite well and the views did very very the other thing to mention is there are lots of storytelling structures that you're writing also apply to non-fiction such as having a protagonist the hero of the story that could be a species or a country person like a scientist in this case, we'd argue that the offshore wind farms are the protagonist. Good. They are doing good for the energy. The antagonists are those opposition to our protag oil. Could be the law firm Marzula Law that filed the law letter that works with big oil. Or it could be the community group oceans, but there's a clear hero that you're rooting for and opposition. And that's one of the fundamental things that you have to have a hero at least in the western way of telling story. you have a protagonist and the story as the heart of this was that you know and we love sagonist stakes trip up on their own laces um and the and an audience enjoys watching they know to be a bad guy be exposed make a fundamentally the thing that good stories make the feel strongly um you know in fiction that's I think in non-fiction it's best elicit intellectual response and an emot so there's that kind of punch the air moment of yeah big oil messed up um and that makes you feel something that means it's a good story. So how do you apply sort of everything I just mentioned to science communication? I just want to reiterate all communication is storytelling. So the same technique non-fiction sorry in fiction apply to non-fiction. There's loads of interesting content about breaking down you know films. I' I'd recommend just go on YouTube search for a film that you really love. It could be for me it be of the rings and add storytelling and there will be a YouTube video breaking down thing that film does that's why it and just start absorbing this stuff. I I I'm I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I love so maybe that's just me but I think it's worth doing when it comes to especially vertical video but other forms of video and other forms of communication in general. Retention is key to give your readers or your listeners or your viewers keep going with the story. So a lot partly this comes down to signposting and saying you know this is what you know so far this thing you're going to want to stick around for but just in training somebody getting for the ride is fundamentally what you're doing. Don't blow all of the story information beginning sort of space it out. I say this is especially the case for vertical video because vertical video is dominated by algorithmic discovery. Um, and the way that those algorithms currently is they will prioritize recommend video that has the longest view duration. Um, and if you go on the back end and you see a graph of you have 100% at the start of your video and then where they dropped off and you'll there's always an exponential drop off at the start, start it and go ah and then they'll they'll disappear. But it's how quickly they drop off and how much of a plateau you the longer the plateau and the higher the more likely it is your videos going. The way that you get people to stick around is by getting them invested, keeping them keeping that viewer retention. Um, I mentioned this sort of protagonist framework uh that a protagonist a viewer viewer on a journey of you thought you understood this and you know give it a little bit of background but then throw them a completely and oh I thought I understood this now I'm on a journey and they go through what's something can Google if um it doesn't have to be a person at all. I've sort of already said that and I think this is especially coming from a climate perspective. In telling a story where the antagonist wins, try to focus on viewer agency. And what I mean by that is focus on what the viewer can do about the fact that the antagonist a lot of the stuff that I make about climate is about um you know where scientists were not listened to where large industry whether that's the big oil or big whoever it is one and it's not a satis you've got to say to them this is what we learn from it this is how we lessons learned from other for example tobacco how we can apply those lessons I want to give you a couple of production tips so this is the really nitty nitty-gritty stuff her videos and this is the stuff that forwards from Vienna in about firstly people's ears are much more if you open a video and it looks crystal clear but it sounds like it would toast or not because that's not pleasant if you come across a video that's a bit fuzzy but it sounds fine that's tolerable so if you have budget whether whether that's monetary time invest prioritize first in fact I would argue the order should go something like sort your audio first then the next most impact and tell you what I'll I'll skip to this one and I'll come back to this. Learn how to create an industry standard way that you light a person. Chances are videos, you're probably going to want a threepoint lighting setup. Large key light. I actually have a large and that is the majority of the light. You then have a secondary fill light. For me, I've actually got a window. Um, and both of you large. They're not creating. That's two lights. The third light is what's called a hair light or a rim light is behind. And this is the easiest way that you level up the way that you shoot video or appear on Zoom is having a light behind you that's pinging off the back of your head. What that does is it gives you a highlight on the edge of on your shoulders and in your hair and that separates you from the background. Super easy to do with a desk cloud. You I don't actually have one set up here because sort of proper filming packed away. But if normally if I was filming I'd have a light. It makes such a so so easy um loads of tutorials available about this. It's something that once you learn how to do it, you'll never forget. And the important thing when it comes to lighting is position and size. Um, a a bulb like in a desk lamp does not produce the same like a paper lamp in my or or a window. Natural lighting is fantastic. If you can, you know, utilize the fact that you have large windows that produce diffuse light. Once you've done that, then you could start worrying about lenses and then you could start worrying about the camera. But I can't stress enough, sort your audio, sort your lighting. And when it comes to audio, get your microphone, whatever the microphone close to the source. So, I'm using a a streaming microphone like a a vocal microphone, but I also frequently micro smaller. Closer the audio speaker, the better. Um, it's got less room noise. It's much pleasant. More a tip that I learned in 2014 that I have never forgotten. If you're shooting what's called B-roll, to say, um, let's imagine that I go on a location and I'm interviewing an expert, but I'm talking a lab. B-roll would be shooting some footage of the lab bed stuff. That's Whenever you're shooting B-roll, make sure it's at least six seconds because that's enough time for you actually to do something. Any less than that, by the time you started the clip and stopped the clip where you're probably shaking the camera, you've not got enough to work with. Count to six. And personally, I think uh something that's under mixing up production elements. So, if video, you don't just have like this. I'll just show you a section of a script that um we're currently working on, which is about methane. So, on the right, you've got the key. Um, and you'll see that where it's white background, that's me talking to camera light. Where it's blue, that's me doing voice over and we b-roll over the top of that or or stockfish. We've then got a voltaic pile adventure. I built a voltaic pile. Um, and throughout that that project, um, you see me stacking the copper sheets or soaking the stuff in brine or 3D printing. We're sort of telling a separate story along. We've then got interview. We've got me on a green. What you'll notice is that about every sentence or every two sentences, we change it up. things try and maximize that viewer retention that I tal um I'm conscious of time so I'll just quickly blaze through community building if you want to try and build a work which I realized was something we put on the way that you do that is getting your engage meaning liking subscribing you can really not do much wrong by trying to encourage that um especially that's the way that you improve algorithmic making viewer not just a passive member of the relation act choosing and communities in my experience just develop organically I think by forcing it you're not doing yourself any favors putting people in let find other about the best form of advertising organic word of you can be a gardener trim certain part don't wors um facilitating discord as I mentioned discord sort of the home for most online communities at least um and the thing that I will say and this sort of touches on something the question already being clear about what you will and will not share about yourself with your online uh and your red line so for me for example a red line is I don't show pictures. I don't I will talk about the fact that I have a wife and I have a daughter, but I don't say their names and I don't show them. And there are certain topics that I just know that I create that buffer. And then just lastly, I wanted to touch on misinformation. I saw that we had Beel in the chat actually from skepticals far more skeptical aware an excellent resource that everybody should be using. I just want to basically say to close out this presentation misinformation is far more sophisticated probably no. Um there are extremely sophisticated are both real people and AI agents that are coordinated at least in my case often by members of PR firms working a whole video about this relative and I think as a science we feel this say oh no that's correct that's unnatural the problem is that by engaging you often make the problem as a content creator apply to a comment underneath one of my videos I'm actually boosting up in the comment section that miss um and quite frequently frankly you're not going to change anybody uh people have made up their minds when it come a long time ago and there's it's an emotional rather than an intellectual they want to feel a certain therefore and by replying to them you're only amplifying their message and I don't think are doing much as a viewer there is value I think to engaging with people sometimes and trying to engage and certainly as a it's the lesser of two evils because I feel this urge to correct and to say oh no that's incorrect let me tell you the three facts here but I recognize that I have a platform create a space and a a com frankly as visible as the video itself that is not rewarding bad faith. Most of the spreading is I would encourage you to use moderation tools liberally. I've spelled liberally there twice because YouTube in particular has keywords comments that if a keyword appears in a comment it will just not liberal spelled like that catches loads of com. Um you can also talk about propaganda or or loads of different things and YouTube's tool shadowban particular users. You can shadowban particular phrases. I use them as much as possible and we've been able to create what I think is um representative comment section. But that was the end of my slides. Simon, I think we've got Oh, shoot. I slightly ran over. Apologies everybody. Uh but if I stop sharing, I think we've got a bit of time to answer questions. >> Yes. Yes. Simon, let me check. Are you okay maybe spend about five extra minutes in today? >> Going to answer some questions. Yeah. >> Yep. >> Good. Good. Uh yes, we do have some questions. I think actually building off the misinformation and community one, there's a one about how to deal with um abusive comments, especially harassment, especially anxiety that comes with that. I'll say as someone who's been anxious for most of my life, and also has someone who's been very visibly sharing science, but also visibly queer online, also being very open about things ADHD, all of them have invoked harassment towards me for 15 years been doing this. Um and that the key elements to that um actually some I want to actually just double down on what Simon said is polar is having that dividing line of like here's what things I don't show. I don't see anything about my family either. I um also having some level of separation between yourself and on who you are on social media is good. You need to be authentic but also like package that up a bit. This is something I'm bad at because when I was starting social media, I was also focused really much on network building, network building on community and I really thought it's important to represent myself there in a way that helped build that community and help bring us together which it does. However, that also makes it much more of an easier target. So, it is a bit of a balance. I'd say um having that kind of site account perhaps of having a personal account is a good way to do it. Again, that's not something I've done, but that's been a choice because it's been a um representative journey for me. Other things as well is just um again choosing what to engage and what I engage in with. I find um if you feel like you have to defend yourself away sometimes like well who are you defending yourself to? Maybe you can do it a way that's constructive and educating, but actually stepping away from the the computer is the best way to do it. I think honestly I don't think engaging with these people online is good. Instead, you need to find your networks of people who understand who you are. Whe that's due to uh demographic, but also who people who also share science and line like how do you deal with this? It's the best way to deal with it. >> Um >> I mean, we found something else that we can add to the middle of the ven diagram because I I also most of my life and I I suffer from this greatly. Um, I my solution to this has been largely to remove myself from um, and I haven't entirely turned off comments on my channel, but I'm very selective about when I go in and um, I also just don't really request Instagram. Now, I think the way that a friend of mine put that like when you when you make stuff on it's like you're inviting people into your house and you are perfectly within your rights views to engage with perspective. And I think you know the question here is asking how do you not let it stop you from starting? I think knowing that you have the power to do that. You do you do not have an obligation to reply to you don't owe these people every I think there is a certain level of responsibility that you have as a but so I don't want to say you owe people nothing but I think you are perfect setup above say you're welcome to be in my house as long as you respect me if you don't resp so it's a very real thing and I I maybe I'm in slightly a privile I don't feel that obligation to reply to engagement but um know that it is an option available to and I think the more the the longer this career career is understand that that is a I think in the early days people did feel a sense of obligation for master because I wrote them up and now people have been online. >> Yeah. Uh just quick points about something that I find science science communicators or scientists aligned sometimes do which actually makes it worse a bit is when someone comes to you with a criticism and you [snorts] try and present yourself as this I am a scientist I'm the expert I know everything and it's like well actually no everything is necessities actually no we our expertise is individually limited and actually that can feed people um feed and intellectual more because they're are presenting it as these no people who are divi like divided from the general population. So don't double down on trying to be I am the expert like come down as a human with errors and limited limitations. >> Something that I I wanted to actually emphasize as well that I point about or I think there's a huge service science by simply person. >> Yes. >> And you're contextualized the science meaning the results of the science but also the process. Look this isn't an us and them divide. I'm literally just also like excited about the like the great great British bake off whatever it is you know it's this and I'm one of the things that really annoys me and it's especially maybe from my background in physics is people put scientists on a pedestal and separate says oh I could never do that I'm different to you and it's no trust me you can understand this too just let um and I think a key way of doing that is blending that personal fallible just to pick up on another question that was asked can somebody actually make money with psychom and have it as their main job that's me Hello, I'm the problem. It's me. Um I I make this is I've been doing this as my full-time job for um and the way that it works is it varies by person, but for me videos AdSense so videos will have the largest source of revenue for me is Patreon. So direct um I don't know how many people I mean the statistic that blew my mind and this was years ago now so this is very out of date was that you think of a YouTube channel that has a million as being rare. There's not many of them. Um there are at least 70,000 channels. So you could fill Wembley Stadium in with the YouTube gold play. >> And you think about the fraction of those that are science but quite a decent number. There are thousands and thousands of so it is possible not necessarily aspirational. Just [laughter] make that that distinction. >> I just just to add to that um professionalization in science communication and science policy and other areas isn't is quite a bit behind. Uh so it is difficult to find uh like salaried full-time jobs. it often has to be freelance or even if it's a job like mine where I do science communication but I do a lot of other things as well and I do science communication in my spare time too so finding a single cyclcom job is difficult usually you have to build up your like base first and then try and spend out interesting that's freelance that's a very general experience um >> there was a question here which is definitely more for you about the kind of science communication being regarded as inferior or secondary by un is that still the case or do you think it's getting >> it's much better than it was 5 years ago. It's much better than it was 10 years ago. I think what's going on with misinformation, what's going on with um like scientists seeing how things are changing the environment really want to make that change but again professionalization is the issue and unfortunately there is like an old god of academics who be like no you just need to sit down publish paper as if just creating data is enough to make an impact right so again this leads into what I said about professionalization and fortunately that is still that um um kind of experience in academia as well um I mean I love science I love learning. I love educating but I didn't like academia because again that that kind of thought process and also I in the end I was like why am I choosing papers who read this? So I changed to environment I moved to uh like NGO work for science instead and that's helped me kind of really kind of engage with things a bit better because it's away from that atmosphere. Um but like again trying to find a um a way to kind of do science in a way that's rewarding in environment is important. Maybe that's a grant, maybe that's working with science. Lots of charities look for science communicators. Um there's obly communication opportunities in terms of working um at interfaces with industry with uh policy for example. So looking out for those opportunities are key I think because when you're in an environment where people are like oh it's not really that important it kind of values what you're trying to do right. So it even might be just trying to get engaged in the network. So I definitely find it's better but that thought process is still around. So again finding a community like EU as a community we tend to think about we we're facilitators right we try and make scientists feel more empowered and skilled to do this kind of stuff. So I mean the counter that I always have to people that have this opinion science without science communication is absolutely because when you are doing science you know you you said you know doing science communication or writing a paper writing a paper is science communication it's just a very specialized form of it with a very limited um if you didn't do that then you're just collecting data analyzing it and then going well that was and that's useless. >> Yeah science is writing a letter right when you write a letter are you leaving it on your desk? No, you need to find out, okay, where am I posting it to? How am I getting there? Who's the post office? Where is that going there? How do I get to that post office? What kind of sending do I need to first pass? Do I is it okay to do it in a slow way? You know, um yeah, absolutely. Maybe one or two more questions. >> Yeah, if I quickly rattle through some of these the So, somebody asked what the most popular form of science communication is, podcast, videos, interview. So, the data that I could point to would be the way that most people get their news now. Okay. Um, and I think it would probably be fair to extrapolate from that the way that most people get their science probably also via um I would guess that vertical video more popular than the hoodio for that. But you know, not to discount the any of these other things. I think um newsletters is another big one. You know, there are some very very James Hansen, whoever it is. Um and that's another very valid form that's very popular, but I don't have hard and fast data to tell you. I would guess that videos podcast is an interesting one. podcast analytics, nobody but they are very certainly very popular. Um, and I I just think that we're slightly over the hump of the post-pandemic glut of everybody and now the the economy of it slightly stabilized. Um, how do we communicate scientific uh convey scientific topics in a world where people's attention is shortening your videos and text the best strategy? So, something interesting that's happened with videos is that I've noticed there's been a bifocation of video. Videos are either very short and normally vertical or very long. and there's a huge demand on that people watch on um and you're talking multi multi-our so I think it's people's attention spans are getting shorter but people are also putting often content like science in silo in their mind this is something I'm going to sit down and absorb so I don't think I think it's a mistake to just go shorter and shorter and faster and faster and like the Discovery Channel and like then you're like MTV and you know eventually making vines about um like I think that's a that's a totally valid way to do science communication, but I think it's not the be all and end all. Certainly in my work, the way that I try to, you know, get around this is by mixing production elements, telling a story that that changes and gets um people's attention spans are probably getting shorter, but a people have been saying that for a very very long um and b people, there are still huge audiences out there with longer attention want that longer. Um I think the best strategy is to tell the best story. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um there's another question about uh which I relate to quite a lot actually is sharing slides online without showing your face. Um and again I think it feeds into your content. I will say uh I think the things which like reals or um Instagram it really serves have your face there but you don't have to. There's many successful accounts that don't show their face. Find those accounts see how they do it. I'll also say on YouTube the amount of videos or subscri um creators I'm subscribed to where it's a random stick figure or anime person going like hey and they're talking about something that I'm learning from and it's educational and it's a story but they're just doing it through a stick figure and it's I think it's a good example as well like I think sometimes you want to be as perfect and as good-looking as possible but actually this little stick figure going hey a that's kind of that's characterful right that kind of brings you in a bit it's charming So, um, find a way that works for you. Um, is the is obviously what everyone says, but also find a way that works for you, inspired by other people. So, find that model and see how they do it. >> Yeah, I mean some there are some excellent examples you can look at. There's CGP Gray, there's Real Engineering, Tazoo, you know, the list kind of goes on. Uh, just there there are so many great examples where yeah, it you can be whimsical in a way that actually adds value. I think people think that by losing the face, you're losing value. you can make that into a deliberate ch and add value to and last >> oh sorry the last question we had I was just kind of curious to get your answer on this Simon what was the most rewarding achievement of your career as a science communicator >> h achievement of my career I don't know there's always actual um awards or actual feelings I don't >> let's go who who cares about awards >> for me um the feeling I got I don't know there's something that happens when um I don't know I got to say talking on stage at a science festival was actually wasn't a science festival, it's a music festival and it was just youthful people talking about climate action in a way that was fun, that was whimsy that I was like it's actually a great time to have fun with science and get people involved. >> I'm always like yeah that kind that's fun. I think it's fun to get out there lots of people where they are and mess around and that can be museums that can be artists but actually there's something very electric about a music festival. I never thought I'd go to for that kind of thing, but it's good. I don't know. Um, yeah, a few other thoughts coming up, but Simon, why did you say it? >> Uh, I I think I've got two answers to this. So, one was I did a presentation uh for school kids, so like sort of 15y olds, uh, where we were talking about the corololis effect and we were talking about conservation of angular momentum and it was on a spinny chair. I got a kid to come up on stage and basically got him to spin around with weights in his arm and then got him to bring the weights because conservation of momentum he was changing. He started spinning and there was a moment and this is like the nucleus of why you do science communication. There was a moment when you did that and you heard four 500 kids go >> and that you could feel it in the room of everyone was like oh that's so cool >> and I I think I remember seeing something like that as a kid and there's that sense of paying it and like you see the light go on and that's why you do education I I love that [clears throat] so much >> and the other one I did a concert a couple of years ago now like two years ago where I did a series of talks that were all based around types of clouds and we did a journey going from Antarctica to the Arctic meeting different species of cloud that you would meet on that journey with music appropriate to each cloud. Uh and it was this combination of science communication and music and being on stage and just all these intersecting bits that I love and I identifi and using being able to do SYCOM as a vehicle for other things that was just the great that was a real career highlight for me being able to do do what we said earlier contextualize the science and contextualize the process. Um, and that was great. If I could do that again tomorrow, I'd do it now. >> Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the key point. Getting people to rediscover curiosity. Um, and the wonder is like I think that's that's absolutely what's about. But Simon, I kept you here for 12 minutes longer than we said. Uh, so we're going to stop closing the webinar. I say thank you for everyone who attended today. As I said, the recording will be um edited and published within a week, which next week on our EU YouTube channel. Um, that we say thank you, Simon. Uh, thank you very much today and goodbye. Have a lovely day.