FOEP at the March Meeting

March Meeting 2017

FOEP sponsored workshops at the APS March Meeting: Finding your scientific voice.

March Meeting Scientific Voice Workshop

Two Sessions were held, each restricted to APS graduate students and postdocs

The Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public (FOEP) will host workshops on improving communication skills of students and postdocs. Each 3 hour workshop will focus on how to improve the 10 minute talks for the meeting as well as give participants instruction on how to communicate with the lay public about their work.

Based on this positive response we intend to offer such workshops more frequently. Keep an eye out for future FOEP sponsored workshops at APS meetings.

Comments received

Thanks for the very nice talk which is very helpful for improving my ability to have a good performance in the 10 minutes presentation of this March meeting. Specifically, the emphatic important idea, which is conveying the core message in the elevator-pitch style gives me a deep impression. — Yongzheng

“I learned a lot in the short time and I think it will help me break out of some bad habits I have, in particular by seeking more opportunities to communicate science.” — Jon

“The session was just in general effective. Making us work on the ‘elevator’ pitch, speech mechanics (posture, diction, etc.) brings those issues to our consciousness so we can improve our talks. ... Appreciated having someone from a theater background present the tutorial. It gives the talking points credibility because everything comes back to humans' natural position as storytellers.” — Alex

“I thought the workshop was fantastic. I appreciated the improv, practicing core messages, and then workshopping the actual presentations.” — Derrick

“I appreciated the chance to make multiple versions of my elevator pitch and try it on people in a less overwhelming environment. ... I found much of the advice helpful and a good deal of it was new advice to me even after hearing a lot of people talk about giving good scientific presentations.” — Laura

FOEP Invited Session at the APS March Meeting: From Physics Girl to the Physics Bus, Creating an Effective Voice for Physics in a Diverse Society

We had a great line up for this session including Physics Girl, the folks from the Physics Bus, Charlie Falco who will be talked about The Art of the Motorcycle and the History of Art, as well as Amber Stuver from LIGO, and Melanie Dreyer-Lude who discussed Theater Techniques for Physicists.

We had a very full crowd at the sessions. Be sure to check out the FOEP sessions at the next April and March meetings!

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Contributed by: Itai Cohen

Physics Girl Dianna Cowern

Happy Hour!
Every March Meeting FOEP in conjunction with the APS Outreach department holds an Outreach Happy Hour. The goal is to get those doing outreach talking with each other and build a community. It’s also a chance for FOEP to honor the new fellows and talk about the benefits of joining FOEP. This year the happy hour was held at Gordon Biersch in New Orleans and attracted over 50 outreach enthusiasts. Beer and snacks were consumed while discussing best practices in outreach. Only one of the new fellows was in attendance but Becky Thompson happily accepted her new Fellows pin and certificate. Because the event was on “Pi Day” there was also copious amounts of pie. If you are attending March Meeting in 2018 look out for information on the Outreach Happy Hour and come join us for informal outreach fun.

Contributed by: Rebecca Thompason

The Physics Bus was at the New Orleans for March Meeting!
The Ithaca Physics Bus is about doing science for fun. It is a mobile exhibition of upcycled appliances — reimagined by kids — that showcase unfamiliar physics phenomena. The mission of the physics bus is to awaken interest and creativity in physics for all ages and walks of life.

The Bus went down to New Orleans for the APS March meeting 2017 and made stops in schools and community events throughout the week.

In addition to giving a spectacular talk to a standing room only audience about their outreach work at the FOEP invited session, the Physics Bus was available during the Monday Night Happy Hour in the Convention Center Exhibition Hall. Finally, they also conducted outreach to the New Orleans community, visiting grade schools throughout the week. Check out the links below for photos!

https://www.facebook.com/IthacaPhysicsBus/posts/1852632404978726
http://news.chess.cornell.edu/articles/2017/Herman170413.html

Contributed by: Itai Cohen

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Double your exposure by giving an outreach talk in addition to your science talk!

The Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public will have contributed talk sessions at the March and April meetings. Importantly, these talks do not count against you, so you can still submit a scientific presentation. We look forward to hearing about your work!