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The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) and the Office of Graduate Student Professional Enhancement (GSPE) are delighted to host our colleagues from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science for a virtual workshop on Creating Connections: An Introduction to the Alda Method (flyer). 

The Alda Center’s Creating Connections program is a two-hour live, online workshop designed to help scientists and researchers learn to engage and inspire diverse audiences through effective communication, with a particular focus on virtual interactions.

Participants will learn how to balance being prepared with responding in the moment to address questions. The program emphasizes universal communication strategies, including avoiding jargon, and technical skills for creating engagement online, including camera angles and sound levels. 

This event is over. 

No recording was made because this was a hands-on workshop which was spent primarily in small group discussions. 

Methodology

The Alda Method is a unique approach to science communication training that combines improvisational theater based techniques with message design strategies, including analogies and narrative. The immersive method emphasizes two-way communication to build trust and invite others to share in the wonder and joy of science. It incorporates research and best practices from science communication, journalism, ethics, and other relevant fields.

Outcomes

  • Identify strategies to make a message memorable
  • Recognize and begin to avoid using complex terminology and jargon
  • Use a three-step process to design a message strategically
  • Develop a personable and engaging online presence

Group Size & Technical Requirements

The session is limited to 100 participants. To fully engage in this program, participants must have the latest version of Zoom and Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on their computers, and a webcam and microphone enabled.

All Alda Online sessions are hosted through the latest version of Zoom video conferencing and utilize Adobe Acrobat. To fully participate in this interactive training participants must use a desktop or laptop rather than a tablet or phone and have audio and video capabilities enabled.  You will need to know how to turn cameras and microphones on and off and how to pin videos.  If you are not familiar with Zoom please visit Zoom.us for tutorials in advance of the session. You should log in a few minutes early and plan to spend the full time with us.  

Register

Everyone at the University of Kentucky is invited to register (graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff). If capacity is reached, graduate students and postdocs will be prioritized. 

Creating Connections Workshop Registration