B02 Communicating with General Audiences - Communiquer avec une audience élargie
Organiser: Beth Fredrick
Director of Communications and Development/Program Operations, The Alan Guttmacher Institute
120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005 USA
Tel: 1-212-248-1111 X 2206
Fax: 1-212-248-1951
Email: bfredrick@agi-usa.org
Outline: Outline: Demographers and researchers are increasingly called upon to help policymakers and more general audiences understand societal trends and to advise on appropriate responses. Yet, to reach and influence a general audience, researchers must develop a different communications voice. Engaging the interest of colleagues in other professional disciplines, members of nongovernmental organizations and public officials requires distilling and simplifying key findings. Successful communication with a general audience also takes research beyond the findings themselves to make conclusions and recommendations. This session will feature communications professionals and demographers known as effective communicators and focus on methods for:
  • Engaging the interest of non-technical audiences;
  • Increasing comprehension of complex methodology and findings;
  • Gauging the relevance of findings to busy audiences and tailor presentations to match their interests and attention spans;
  • Assessing which findings have the greatest potential interest or relevance;
  • Presenting research findings in alternative formats, including slides, factsheets, briefing papers and speeches;
  • Developing simple, low-cost dissemination strategies;
  • Using a variety of vehicles—including the Internet—to reach out to other researchers and broader audiences.

In addition, throughout the meeting, Ms. Fredrick will be available to work with small groups and individuals on specific communications challenges. Participants should register in advance with Ms. Fredrick so that small groups can be organized by topic or experience.