Science Communication as Storytelling, lab meeting, 22 Nov 2024

Will Wood

Dr Will Wood is an excellent science communicator. He worked at the Veritasium channel on YouTube which has over 21 million subscribers in 2026. Dr Wood was invited to give a talk to my first-year PhD students, to share his experience on communicating science with a diverse audience. In this 15-min video, he gave some great tips which helps you get your messages across. This is a must-see for anyone!

1) Start with why

2) Serve the audience

     Know what they need and tell them something they do not know

     Summary of findings 

3) Situation / Task (Research Question)

     Action

     Results     

4) And ... But ... Therefore ... 

5) One point one slide 

6) Most slides are graphs - keep them readable from distance - ideally only 1 graph, 3 graphs maximum 

7) No words in slides unless absolutely needed (e.g. summary of take home messages, really important points) 

8) Do not colour the words 

9) Apply colour in different graphs consistently to indicate the same subcellular component 

10) Titles are not necessary - visual aids to be straightforward to understand 

11) Practice out loud at least 5 times for a big talk, at least 3 times for a small one

    Work out what you want to say and how to say it

    Can you keep to time?