Science Comedy Workshop

This workshop will provide attendees in the STEM fields with practical, innovative and personalized comedy and communication skills to incorporate into their work. Participants will come away from this workshop with personalized talking points to communicate their research, company, tech, book, project, or any major idea they wish to spread.

Science and technology represent the frontier of ideas and tools. These frontiers can be scary for the general public. One proven, effective way to combat fear is through humor. Humor increases energy, interest, and approval of a topic. Audiences retain more information longer when they enjoy receiving it. Humor makes audiences think you have greater expertise.

This workshop will give attendees specific skills, tools, and feedback to create more engaging public-facing communications, whether that be a Ted Talk, social media strategies, writing, marketing, and more. Participants are also welcome to attend without specific projects in mind in order to get a general lesson on comedy writing for a scientific audience.

Attendees will fill out a pre-workshop survey so that we can best assess their needs. The workshop will kick off with a keynote speech by our founder Sarah Rose Siskind, which provides an overview of the science comedy landscape, specific science comedy case studies, and the types of humor best suited for science comedy. Afterwards, attendees will play improv and other comedy games to warm up their creative sides and will then break into groups to discuss their specific projects and needs. Groups will be led by our staff who specializes in performance, writing, and science communications. This is a great time for attendees to get personalized feedback, joke-pitches, and network with other audience members.

At the end of the workshop, attendees will receive a certification of their science comedy skills and leave with a joke-writing curriculum, suggested readings, and personalized ideas for how to make their projects more engaging.