Dr. Brooke Crowley is a Professor in the Departments of Geosciences and Anthropology in University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences and is a PEWS faculty affiliate. This training opportunity is supported by PEWS. This article was co-authored by Dr. Crowley and Dr. Andy Czaja, Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences.
In Spring 2024, the UC Department of Geosciences organized a training workshop on Interpretation that was funded by PEWS and ran by Luke Ogonek, the West Region Education Manager for Great Parks in Cincinnati.
Interpretation is the purposeful communication that facilitates experiences that inspire engagement. As geoscientists, we often speak with the public about our research and the field in general, so we were interested in improving our outreach skills. What better way than to learn from an expert?
The workshop ran for four hours over two nights and was attended by a total of 16 faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. We received an excellent introduction to the topic from Luke, which included learning how to know our audiences, and connect with them using resources to tell a story. Luke was a wonderful teacher; he used humor and examples from his own life to drive home points, and he encouraged participation from all attendees. He was assisted by Cupcake the snake (!), who Luke used to demonstrate how to connect to an audience. Luke was great, but Cupcake really stole the show.
The training was very successful and we all came away with a new appreciation for the power of purposeful communication and connecting with an audience. We are hopeful that this workshop, or perhaps a more comprehensive training in interpretation, can be repeated with other audiences at UC in the future.
