Communication Activities

Communication activities focus on making you a better communicator, in writing and orally/physically. A big part of communication, though, is to communicate often — with your team, stakeholders, or users — to make sure everyone is on the same page. Many past projects have failed because people involved were not clear on expectations and deliverables, or did not share the same understanding.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw

Learn from Jean-Luc Doumont

Individual Activity

Jean-Luc Doumont, who earned his PhD in physics from Stanford, now specializes in teaching STEM professionals how to effectively organize and present their ideas. He is the author of the highly regarded book “Trees, Maps, and Theorems,” which offers insights into communication techniques. Additionally, he provides valuable online resources on this subject, including on his YouTube channel.

Read his book or find handouts or videos relevant to your situation or concerns, then write a brief summary of what you learned and what you will apply to your presentation or document. Sharing your revised presentation or document is a plus.

Learn from Patrick Winston

Individual Activity

“Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order.” — Patrick Henry Winston

Watch 🎥 How to Speak from late AI researcher Patrick Winston. Write a brief summary of what you learned and what you will apply to your presentation.

Learn from TED Presentation Advice

Individual Activity

Here’s two articles about doing a TED Talk:

Learn from them or find other resources (videos, etc.) then write a brief summary of what you learned and what you will apply to your presentation.

Conquer your Fear of Public Speaking

Individual Activity

Many people in STEM careers experience anxiety about public speaking. Research tips to help you become more comfortable and confident in front of an audience. Practice a few of these techniques, then write a brief summary of what you learned and how you plan to incorporate them into your presentation.

Here’s a couple links ot get your started:

Write for Accessibility and ESL

Individual Activity

If your software includes text, videos, images for users, you might want to consider revising them according to accessibility and English as a Second Language (ESL) guidelines.

To start, here’s an excellent interactive article about what makes writing more readable.

Resources at the federal level include plainlanguage.gov and Section508.gov.
Oregon State University also has an article on Language and Disability.
Another good resource is the Simplified Technical English (STE) international standard, great for an ESL audience.

There are different ways to test the readability score of your text or accessibility of your content. Here are some examples:

Decide on an approach to improve your content’s accessibility depending on your audience, write a brief summary of what you learned and how you plan to adapt your content. Sharing your revised content or text is a plus.