This weekend, Randy Olson and Brian Palermo, creators of the popular Connection Storymaker phone application, ran a series of workshops at the University aimed at teaching local scientists ways of effectively communicating ideas with layman audiences. The workshops were held in the School of Coast and Environment Rotunda Auditorium.
Olson obtained his Ph.D. in marine biology at Harvard and is known for his two independent movies, “Sizzle” and “Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus.” Palermo is an improvisation actor who works with the Groundlings Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles.
R. Eugene Turner, a University professor of oceanography and coastal sciences, said he arranged for the University to host the workshops for a distinct purpose.
“Scientists have a hard time relating cerebral ideas to the general public, and we want to change that,” Turner said.
Palermo agreed with this assessment and attributed the communication barrier to the inability of many scientists to turn data into a story.
“It’s hard for scientists to deal with huge data sets and information to craft a relatable story, so we’re here to help them do that,” Palermo said.
Palermo said there are two major components of effective storytelling: building a story and relating it to an audience.
Palermo and Olson spoke about this topic with a broad audience on Friday and gave individual lessons to 12 scientists on Saturday and Sunday.
Olson, who left academia to open a film studio, used his extensive filmmaking experience to teach the scientists how to craft a story. His lessons emphasized the importance of making stories clear, concise and compelling, and of making graphs and strings of data accessible to nontechnical audiences.
Palermo used his broad range of improvisational techniques to loosen up the scientists before their talks and taught them how to incorporate humor into their lectures. He said storymaking is important, but that telling the stories in an engaging way is just as crucial to scientific communication.
“Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye are brilliant, but people really like them because they relate science to everyday life,” Palermo said.
Palermo and Olson modeled much of the talks after their Storymaker application. With this program, users can type a few ideas into their phones and receive a structured plan with which they can tell their stories. Palermo said this kind of organization is also an integral part of the storytelling process.
“Balancing hard scientific credibility and effective communication is difficult, but putting research in narrative form helps a lot,” Palermo said.
“Scientists have a hard time relating cerebral ideas to the general public, and we want to change that.”