15.6. + 17.6. 2020, 9:00- 17:30
Limited to 12 participants.
Presenter: Dr. Samuel Lagier

This 2-day intensive workshop will help participants to improve their communication skills for application beyond the group-meeting setting. While certainly valuable to future academics, this workshop is especially valuable to individuals who plan to break out of the typical academic path (future entrepreneurs, future business leaders, science communicators), where excellent communication skills can make - or break - a career.

The workshop will begin with each participant giving a brief 3-minute conference-style presentation of their work. This will be the example talk that each student will use to apply their new skills throughout the course. We will identify each participant's points of difficulty, and together, we will push past them, through interactive group- and individual-exercises where the participant will receive ample feedback both from the instructor and from other participants.

The first day will focus on presentation design: different styles of story-arcs, structure, depth, and visualisations, specifically with a focus on presenting and discussing scientific data. During the day separating the two parts of the workshop, participants will continue to develop their model talk based on what they've learned the first day.

The second day of the workshop will focus on the performance and delivery of the talk. How to hook and keep the audience? How to be engaging in both voice and body language? The workshop will close with each participant presenting his or her talk in its new form. The skills learned on day#2 are useful for all forms of communication (formal, informal, in-person, remote,…)

Learning outcomes:
- innovative ways to explain complex data
- different ways to structure presentations
- knowledge of their own performance tics and how to push past them
- how to physically, verbally, and vocally command the attention of one's audience and make a lasting positive impression.

Pedagogical methods:
The workshop will be very interactive. Participants should wear comfortable clothes that they can move in. Attendees should bring their laptops or a thumb-drive and a notebook and pen. Participants' talks will be filmed and each person can take home their talk at the end of the training for future study.

Preparatory work:
Each participant should prepare a 3-minute presentation of their work. Slides are optional.

Requirements:
Participants should be comfortable and able to express themselves in English (level B2/C1), and they should also be moderately experienced in giving presentations (lab meetings, departmental meetings, conference talks, …).