Alexia Youknovsky and James Bowers
SELL YOUR RESEARCH
Public Speaking for Scientists
Alexia Youknovsky
Agent Majeur, Paris, France
James Bowers
Agent Majeur, Paris, France
ISBN 978-3-030-34180-0 e-ISBN 978-3-030-34181-7
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34181-7
The SELL Method is a registered trademark (n 4616654), property of Agent Majeur.
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
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Every scientist can become a great speaker.
It is simply a matter of hard work and technique.
Here is the method.
The rest is down to you
About Us
Research and innovation is about new discoveries and novel ideas, but at Agent Majeur we believe it can be even more than that. By pushing research and scientific breakthroughs into the spotlight, we can help them grow and be noticed.
Our slogan represents our vision: Adding value to science. We help scientists and companies to promote their work in the most appropriate way to suit their need: events, presentations, communication campaigns, showrooms, brochures and more. To succeed, one requires an understanding of the research landscape and the capacity to grasp complex topics. Hence our team of communicators are themselves educated to engineer or Ph.D. level.
During our training courses, we provide tools to overcome modern challenges in science communication. Whether it be promoting a research project, pitching an innovation, drafting a scientific article, or enhancing funding applications, we train in written and spoken communication of science. In public speaking alone, we have coached over 2,500 people, offering more than 15 different training programmes.
There is a distinct lack of handbooks or guides outlining steps for preparing a presentation. This book presents the SELL Method, which we have used as the basis of our training courses since 2008. We know it works, so feel free to use it too!
Get in Touch
We would love to open a dialogue with you. It is a great way for us to stay on track and challenge our practises. What services could we create to meet your needs? What training courses do you feel are missing? What topics would you like to see addressed in our blog?
You can contact us here: contact@agentmajeur.fr
For more science communication advice: www.agentmajeur.com/blog
Contents
Part I First Step: Build Your Skeleton
Part II Second Step: Make Your Envelope
Part III Third Step: Breathe Life and Fine Tune Logistics
The Authors
Alexia Youknovsky
Founder and CEO, Agent Majeur
A chemical engineer by training, with experience in both research and consulting, Alexia was also an actress for six years. Twelve years ago, she created Agent Majeur, a science communication agency to provide specific services for stakeholders in research and innovation. She related to the constant pressure on scientists to communicate their activities and felt her combination of skills were a valuable asset. Now, she leads a team of science communication professionals with the objective of helping researchers promote their work through training, strategic planning, event production, graphic design, and various other activities.
James Bowers, Ph.D.
Science Communication Consultant and Coach.
Passionate about science and media, British-born James obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Physiology in 2014. Upon completion, he was quickly swept up with the wave of young scientists choosing to devote themselves to research dissemination over the lab life. After the experience of presenting science to the general public in museums and events, he earned an M.Sc. in Science Media Production from Imperial College London. He then worked in factual TV production and explained science on several shows. At Agent Majeur for over two years, James trains in public speaking and science writing, consults on a variety of science communication projects and hosts events.
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Youknovsky, J. Bowers SELL YOUR RESEARCH https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34181-7_1
1. Introduction
Alexia Youknovsky
(1)
Agent Majeur, Paris, France
(2)
Agent Majeur, Paris, France
Scientists present their work all the time.
Whether you are a researcher, engineer, Ph.D. student, post doc, innovator or technician, you will definitely be brought to speak about your research in public at some point or another. Many people do genuinely enjoy presenting their work. If you are one of those, keep on reading! In this book, you will find tons of valuable ideas to help you get better in your preparations. If that doesnt sound like you, then we urge you to continue reading too. This book is also aimed at scientists like yourself who are asked to give a talk but have no clue where to start.
We know that as a scientist you have a never-ending to do list and preparing a presentation is likely never right at the top of it. Maybe you even refuse out right to put in too much effort because that precious time could be better spent doing other things. We get it. You would rather work on that hefty grant proposal, help a Ph.D. student make it through their viva, complete a stubborn experiment or finally finish that paper that you have been drafting for three years now. But as you already know, talking about your research is unavoidable. More than that, there are a heap of extraordinary benefits to giving a memorable talk: you will feel good about yourself; your research will make more of an impact; you could find more funding; you may attract new collaborators, students or staff; and the list goes on.