The introverts guide to your science slam
I’m very passionate about science and love to tell people about my research. But I am often a bit shy about getting in touch. Also, I’m a big fan of science slams. So, I took a chance and enrolled for the most recent show in my hometown Potsdam. It was a great opportunity to tell my family, friends, tap dance group and some other 300 people about the magic of HPLC.
A science slam is a competition in which researchers present their work in a short, generally understandable and entertaining way. Everyone is welcome in the audience. The event is aimed at the general public and not necessarily at scientists. I am happy to share my experience and some tips on how to achieve a great performance.
Title Photo by Kevin Ryl @Uni Potsdam
Why is it worth the effort?
For some people, a scientist may be an isolated and somewhat scary being they never talked to or met in person. Others are already very curious about science and want to learn about what we are doing in our labs. In my opinion, scientific communication is an important duty for any scientist. It’s simple to advertise our findings to other people educated in our field. But it is also important to share our knowledge with the public and make us approachable.
As scientists, we also like to mix things up a bit. We like to educate and entertain ourselves by listening to talks in a more relaxed setting, thinking outside the box and learning about the challenges and achievements of others in a fun way. It’s even more educating to break your own results down to the essence and present them to a crowd that’s bigger and more diverse than at most conferences.
Who can do a science slam?
Do you need to be extroverted to do this? Well, I am absolutely not. It’s much more important to be passionate about your work and creative in some way. Your results also don’t need to be worth the Nobel prize. You can just as well share a tiny success or something about the struggles and failures any scientist goes through.
For scientists of any career level or age group, there surely is a format out there open to present your ideas.
42 tips for a great science slam.
…Or maybe a few less, because there is no answer to everything. Every slam is different, that’s what makes it interesting. Here is what I’ve learned on my way:
1. Know what you want to say.
Decide what’s your key message. You should be able to summarize it in 2-3 sentences. If you are German, maybe just 1-2 sentences are better 😉. Think about what your audience can learn in a few minutes. You will have to get rid of a lot of details, concepts and technical terms you’d speak about naturally in a conference. Of course you keep some, but you should be able to explain them to your hairdresser during a quick trim.
2. Find a story to tell.
Telling stories is what makes us humans and reaches people’s heart. You can tell your own Odyssey of struggle, fight and victory for a better world. Or you do it a little more like I did and personify your analytes. Send them on a fun little adventure and make your audience smile.
3. Find your style.
Fig. 1 - Meet Harry Otter, the hero of my science slam story. Please avoid TFA in your eluents to keep his river clean!
Fig. 2 - After we successfully analyzed his study group, we got this nice chrom-otterogram. We assigned the peaks to all four houses of magic otters and quantified them using peak height. The same principle is used to separate the four “helper molecules” used in lipid nanoparticles. Graphics by Mareike Prüfer @knauer
A science slam should be entertaining. Think about what entertains you most. Do you like to scroll through funny clips and communicate in memes? Use this energy for your slam! Or maybe you rather want to present a thrilling crime story? You can also cite your favorite movies, games or series as much as copyright allows. But think about who your audience is and if they will get the references. Regarding images, you can make your science slam a piece of art, stay simple or go sketchy. Everything is fine as long as it’s illustrating your story. Generative AI can be your friend, but you should use it wisely to keep a personal touch to your style. I decided to collage photos, graphs and self-made watercolor pictures to reference one of the most famous children’s books. It turned out otterly cute ☺️.
4. Get your people involved.
When you have a rough draft, start sharing it with peers. I made a decent slam myself, but the critics and ideas of my fantastic team at KNAUER made it a great one. Don’t miss presenting it to some friends, your family or your most trusted hairdresser as well. You need to check if it’s understandable to people working outside of your field. At the same time, you can recruit your fan club who will carry you through your final performance.
5. Get confident.
For me, that means practicing the talk. A lot. It's also pretty normal to feel a bit nervous before a performance, or even a lot nervous. If stage freight is a bigger problem for you, people can make you even more tense by constantly asking about it. You are allowed to exaggerate a little (or bluntly lie) about how very relaxed and confident you are. You can trick yourself into believing this yourself. I can't tell you how many times this hack has saved my sanity. I'm pretty sure it will do the same for you!
How was the première?
Fig. 3 - One show master, five slammers and two musicians created a great show together. Picture by Tobias Prüfer.
Fig. 4 - My colleagues from KNAUER also had a great evening and cheered for my slam enthusiastically. Picture by Giorgia Greco.
My heart almost sank into my boots before I stepped on stage in front of so many people. If your slam really fits your personality, it also tells much about yourself. That’s what makes it much more thrilling to present than your usual conference talk. But it’s also magical to hear the audience cheer for it and to make them laugh. It was a lot of fun to create a great show together with the show master, two creative musicians and four other fantastic science slammers. I'm really grateful to the University of Potsdam and Potsdam Transfer for this amazing opportunity. Also, performing at Waschhaus Potsdam with the support of the location’s professional team was a great experience.
Everyone enjoyed the event very much and I’m already looking forward to my next performance. I will be on stage again at the Brandenburg Science Slam on the 23rd of May in Luckenwalde.
Did you even think about doing your own science slam? Don’t hesitate, you will learn a lot about the essence of a good presentation and have a lot of fun on your journey! We are sponsoring the Separation Science Slam at the conference HPLC 2025 in Bruge and are excited to see your awesome contribution.
For further information on this topic, please contact our author: pruefer@knauer.net
