Creating Connections: An Introduction to the Alda Method®

Friday, November 19, 2021
11:30-13:30 EST (​GMT-5)

Please, note that the seats for this session are limited and a pre-registration is required. If you have already registered and you wish to book a spot at the workshop, please contact reg_ipvc21@kenes.com

The Creating Connections program hosted by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University is a live, online workshop designed to help scientists and researchers learn to engage and inspire diverse audiences through effective communication, with a particular focus on virtual interactions.

Participants will learn how to balance being prepared with responding in the moment to address questions. The program emphasizes universal communication strategies, including avoiding jargon, and technical skills for creating engagement online, including camera angles and sound levels.

Program Outcomes

• Identify strategies to make a message memorable 
• Recognize and begin to avoid using complex terminology and jargon
• Use a three-step process to design a message strategically
• Develop a personable and engaging online presence

Methodology

The Alda Method is a unique approach to science communication training that combines improvisational theater-based techniques with message-design strategies, including analogies and narrative. The immersive method emphasizes two-way communication to build trust and invite others to share in the wonder and joy of science. It incorporates research and best practices from science communication, journalism, ethics, and other relevant fields. 

About The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science

The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science empowers scientists and researchers to share their work clearly and vividly with a wide variety of audiences.

Through in-person and online workshops, as well as graduate programs, researchers learn to share their knowledge and their discoveries in ways that resonate with other researchers, students, members of the media, policymakers and others. Founded in 2009 by actor, author, and activist Alan Alda, the Alda Center has trained more than 15,000 researchers from around the world to communicate effectively and empathically.

The Center is housed at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. Learn more at AldaCenter.org.