How to be more attractive… when communicating science

Abstract:

Let’s face it; we live in a culture that is captivated by attractive things. Beautiful celebrities, sleek smartphones, fancy cars, high fashion, stunning architecture, and more. Research even shows that we pay more attention to people and objects we find attractive.

This talk is about taking advantage of this reality by applying it to science communication; luring in an audience and keeping their attention is essential to effective knowledge transfer. When the material is presented in an attractive and engaging format, the audience, lay or even expert, is more interested and thus educated and informed.

Visuals, in particular, are powerful communication tools, as they: transmit messages faster; improve comprehension; trigger emotions; increase a learner’s attention; stick in long-term memory; motivate learners; and promote widespread sharing of content.

Experts suggest that more than half of the U.S. public prefers to learn visually; 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual; people are much more inclined to spend the time learning something if it is presented in a visual format; and visuals increase retention scores from 10% to 90% after three days of learning the material. One study even suggested that individuals respond markedly better to infographic messages than text-based messages regardless of their learning style or visual literacy. In 2012, Google Search scored the keyword “infographic” with the highest possible trend score of 100.

Attractive visuals are an excellent and beneficial complement to presentations, blog posts, news articles, scientific articles, reports, and memos. While various challenges often inhibit scientists from incorporating visuals (time commitment, skillset, software, etc.)—thus leading to missed opportunities—there are many simple strategies that can be used to circumvent common obstacles.