There’s nothing quite as dangerous for a tired scientist as a warm, dimly lit seminar room. Add a squishy, comfortable seat, and the speaker might as well switch the title of their talk to “Naptime.”
While I don’t think that I’ve fallen asleep during someone’s scientific presentation, I have absolutely sat next to (and across from, in front of, a few rows behind) fellow scientists who have. Anyone who has ever felt drowsy during a scientific talk will be the first to say that their response had nothing to do with the quality of the science being talked about. The problem lay in the delivery.
My favorite scientific talks have always been the ones where the speaker crafts a story around their science. As humans, we’re hardwired to pay attention to stories. They help us learn complex ideas by putting them in context. While following narratives is easy, crafting them is a lot harder. As someone whose profession is to weave engaging and accurate science stories for DDN readers, I understand how difficult this is, but I also know that it is doable. Building a story around your research will help peers engage with your work more fully and understand it better. When they do that, they can help troubleshoot problems or spark new ideas to take your science in a new direction.
One straightforward way to add storytelling elements to presentations is to set them up as a mystery. Science and mysteries are inherently similar. They both start with a hypothesis, and through a series of tests, they reveal something new. One way to do this is to start with a question. How will you answer that question? Take your audience on a hero’s journey through the many hurdles and roadblocks that came up during the project, building tension as you go. At the end, go out with a bang, revealing the final clue that led to your “ah ha” moment.
I still remember a seminar I attended in graduate school where the speaker told the audience about a patient with a mystery infection. By bringing the audience along through the twists, turns, dead ends, and everything in between, the presenter showed how deep sequencing finally revealed the identity of the unknown infectious agent. Every audience member in that talk sat rivetted, with their eyes glued to the presentation screen, until the final slide.
Building up a storytelling toolkit will take time and practice, but if it sparks an idea in a member of the audience or leads to an unanticipated collaboration, I’d say that it’s worth it.
