By Nicholas Rolig, Washington State Vancouver Neuroscience Student
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In academia, communication is an essential part of all fields. Whether it’s a historian giving a talk about the latest archeological findings, a physicist discussing new theories, or a neuroscientist explaining her auditory research, communication is seen everywhere.
After the complexity of the subject matter(s) is removed, one can see that communication is an essential part of human life. Starting from infancy, crying (communicating) to receive food, to asking somebody a question, or how to solve a problem as a grown individual; communication can be seen everywhere, throughout all periods of life.
If the complexities of subject matter(s) are added however, as they often are in academia, communication can become challenging. Not only can the subject being explained have specific vocabulary and concepts, but when a specialist explains said subject of interest, he or she may have difficulty doing so. This leads us to a competition known as Famelab.
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First started in the UK, Famelab is a competition where scientists and engineers come together and give brief speeches (communicate) about science in a way that would make sense to anyone listening. Specifically, the goal for the participants of Famelab is to give a three minute speech that not only can be understood by all audience members, but a speech that is also charismatic. Props are limited to what can be easily carried and set-up on stage, with the usage of pictures and PowerPoints being restricted.
What makes Famelab so great is the fact that the rules imposed by the contest force the presenters to compose and give talks that communicate science in a way that is both exciting and entertaining, while informative to most if not all audiences.
As a student in Dr. Coffin’s Neuroscience Senior Project (Neuro 490) class, my colleagues and I had to write and present Famelab style speeches to our class. Despite being a class of mostly neuroscience majors, the presentations given were diverse, even when the subject matter was related to neuroscience. Two people (including myself) gave presentations about the physical properties of balloons, one person talked about pet clinical therapy, another discussed depression, and several others talked about specific neuroscience fields/concepts. The beauty behind this class exercise was the fact that regardless of the subject matter, each person presented the subject/concept in such a way that we could all understand, while keeping the talk less than three minutes (for the most part!).
As a student majoring in science, I appreciate the rules and ideas that Famelab incorporates. I say this because the concepts addressed in Famelab can be directly translated to teaching; which is nothing more than communicating complex concepts/ideas to students. Walking away from my experience with Famelab, both watching some speeches and giving one, I recognize that in order to effectively communicate one must be clear, concise, and charismatic when discussing their topic.
To find out more about Famelab please visit www.famelab.org.