(154a) Training to Talk about Science

The vast majority of talks given at technical conferences are presented to an audience of experts. For graduate students, giving conference talks is often considered a gold standard of their training in oral communication. Nonetheless, the communication of technical information to more general audiences is a critical skill, whether it is to convince upper management to provide funding for a project idea, “sell” your research ideas to investors or funding agencies, writing to your government officials, penning an op-ed, or serving as an ambassador for science to the general public. In this talk, several recent efforts to address this gap in training will be discussed: a one-credit hour course, multi-day industrial workshops, and graduate student workshops.