building on success: expanding your outreach programming
DESCRIPTION
I did a short presentation during the International Public Science Events Conference 2014 #IPSEC2014. I figure that the slides might be useful for some people who are interested in growing their science outreach program but don't know where to start. This is mostly on the logistics/management side of things.TRANSCRIPT
BUILDING ON SUCCESS: EXPANDING YOUR OUTREACH PROGRAMMING
Theresa Liao UBC Physics & Astronomy, Vancouver
Agenda
Intro – UBC Physics & Astronomy Challenges
Expansion – Then vs. Now What works
Tools Collaborations Opportunities Interactions
Questions
UBC Physics & Astronomy Outreach
Part of the Department of Physics & Astronomy
Funding: Self-generated (Camps, Science
Competitions) From dept, faculty, fundraising, gov (used
to) Currently run by two faculty members,
one coop student, and one staff (after 2008, Communications)
Activities
Summer Camps (paid + bursary) Science Competitions
Michael Smith Challenge for Gr 10 (paid, $5/student) Physics Olympics for Gr 11 & 12 (paid, $60/team) CAP exams for Gr 11 & 12 (admin) Physics Olympiad
Public lectures (incl. Faraday Show) School visits (Experience Science) Teacher workshops Local public science events
Challenges
Funding: sustainability could be an issue, still relying on external funding For all paid events, money goes into hiring
teachers/students or supplies. The other events are free.
Not like recruitment or research output that have direct implications for an academic institution
Consistency: Coop student turnover Pre-2008: no permanent position to deal with
management/administration for the program
2008 vs 2013
Activity #
Summer camps 80-120
Michael Smith 640
Faraday Show 250-300
Activity #
Summer camps 160 & 100+ on waiting list
Michael Smith 1613
Faraday Show 350-400
Experience Science Day
150-200
Public Science Events
~10,000 (spectators)
2008 2013
Some programs not mentioned - didn’t expand due to limited capacity so no change in reach
What works?
Cheap/Free Tools: Survey Monkey
Survey Monkey https://www.surveymonkey.com/Paid if you pass 10 questions per survey 100 responses per survey
Free alternative: LimeSurvey, need to install on server. http://www.limesurvey.org/en/
Cheap/Free Tools: Event Listing Mostly for free public events Research free local event listings in your
community Neighborhood Community newspaper Online community event listing
Talk to colleagues (in other departments, programs, etc) who might share similar objectives or interests to help promote
Cheap/Free Tools: Social Media
Choose one that is appropriate for your target audience Generally main focus should be Facebook
or Twitter (or YouTube if you do videos of talks)
Via mkhmarketing http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkhmarketing/
Collaborations
Look for/Work with people with the same objective
Example: Experience Science Day Collaborate with 5 other science
programs/depts on campus Bring ~200 inner city children on campus
for a day of hands-on science activities Benefit all, good story, creates good
collaborative environment Example: Summer Camps
Opportunities
Support students who are interested in being involved Provide outreach opportunities Provide supplies (we rely heavily on demos –
provide supplies and have students build them) Learn where they were from, ask where they
are going Physics Olympics: 50% of the volunteers
participated in the past Pay people when you can
Interact with Participants
Send out surveys after the activities to ask them for feedback
Post photos of events and activities (especially when the parents are not around to take photos of their kids) Watch for media release/consent
Try your best when dealing with questions or negative feedback Sometimes cannot make everyone happy, so
don’t take it personally
All about: Developing Best Practices
Standardize how you Hire Promote Collect feedback Plan schedule for events Receive payments for events
Collect quantitative and qualitative data from events
Create consistency from event to event, even if you have staff turnover
Continue the Conversation
Email: [email protected] Twitter:
@theresaliao (personal) @ubcphas (work)
Google https://www.google.com/+TheresaLiao
LinkedIn http://ca.linkedin.com/in/theresaliao/
Personal Blog (on science outreach and communication) http://scienceichooseyou.wordpress.com