Tali Hoffman and I are pleased to add the FAO to the list of organisations that have joined us for science communication training.

Last week, we ran a two-part workshop for participants from Tanzania (from government, NGOs, and research institutes) working on the all-important issue of pesticides and pollinator health. Just in time for World Bee Day, which takes place on 20 May!

In the training, we covered:

• communication strategy

• how to write key messages for different target audiences

• policy briefs, and

• principles of effective data visualisation

New short workshop format

I am enjoying our new short workshop training format. It provides the perfect balance of instruction and practical work. We run two sessions (two hours each) a few days apart.

For this training, in Session 1, Tali and I taught the group about communication strategy, policy briefs, key messages, and data visualisation.

We shared a take-home handout on what we had taught and two short assignments. We asked participants to develop two key messages and improve a graph.

In Session 2, a few volunteers shared their work for group discussion and feedback.

Over the years, I have seen that the people who join our trainings benefit from these co-learning sessions. Workshopping communication outputs (like key messages) together in a supportive environment helps people improve the quality of their work. In addition, it allows them to consider helpful perspectives from their colleagues.

As always, I learned a lot from all involved. For one: pollinators contribute to 35% of the world’s total crop production, pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops worldwide, according to the FAO! Shows why it’s so important to protect bees. Our food supply depends on them.

More short workshops rolling out soon

For us, the short workshop model is a winning formula.

As trainers, we have enough time to provide substantial instruction on discrete elements of effective science communication. For the participants, who are busy juggling work commitments, four hours in a week is a manageable ask. And the homework assignments are relatively quick to do.  

We look forward to offering future clients this short science communication workshop model. We are excited about its potential to strengthen science communication skills for researchers from varying fields!

Want to know more about our science communication training?

If you’re with an organisation that wants to sharpen its researchers’ science communication skills - get in touch!

Brendon Bosworth is a science communication trainer and the principal consultant at Human Element Communications.