This page collects useful outreach and engagement materials for researchers that can be used directly in public outreach activities be used to inspire ideas of new ways to engage with different audiences. The page is a wiki and can be edited by anyone, so if you have any materials that you would like to add, please feel free to add them.

General Tips

Materials:

Aimed at teachers

Aimed at general public

Aimed at schools and families

Detectors

Evaluation

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General Tips

Science communication is not easy. It comes naturally to some and less so to others. However, there are some general good practices and guidelines you can follow which will improve your communication, especially if you have never done it before.

Know your audience - Whether it's a room full of physics students or a classroom full of children, you should know beforehand who you are going to be speaking with. This lets you tailor your talks and change the language you use to your audience which will help them be more interested and understand you better.

Speak their language - You could be the most interesting communicator in the world but if the audience don't understand what you're saying, they won't learn anything. You have to use words that they understand and avoid jargon where possible. If you do need to use jargon, check that your audience understands it and if they don't, explain it. It can be very difficult to avoid jargon, and even to know that you're using it. A handy tool to help cut down on jargon is the "Up-Goer Five text editor", which checks if the words you're using are in the 1000 most common words in English.

Simplify but don't patronise - The simpler something is, the easier it is to understand. When listening to a short talk or presentation, simple and easy to understand is good. This doesn't mean you should talk down to your audience or dumb-down the science to a point where it's no longer accurate. Think about what level your audience are at and do your best to work at that level.

Be interesting - Easier said than done, but if your audience doesn't find you interesting then they won't listen or learn anything. Worse than that, they might come away thinking science is boring. A good idea is to tell stories which get the audience engaged and then introduce the science concepts, making them relevant to the story and the audience.

Have fun - The most important thing is to enjoy yourself. The audience will see you are enjoying yourself and they will naturally feed off that and enjoy themselves too.

5 Simple Tips for Communicating Science (From National Geographic)

Top five tips for communicating science (From New Scientist)

National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement

Public Engagement with Science: Top Tips - Dr Alice Bell (This includes links to further resources at the bottom of the page)

Tips on communicating about particle physics & accelerators