Dear all, Please sign up for the Science Communication Shark Tank competition! You can sign up alone or in a team (up to 5 people). It is not required that you have a finished talk in order to sign up - just the title! You can count on some great lessons in communication, 4 free dinners, interesting workshop sessions, and a chance to meet prestigious journalists. ALSO: We have an exciting first place prize of $500, and a runner up of $100, for the winners of the Shark Tank competition! Please email Neil Dilley ndilley@purdue.edu<mailto:ndilley@purdue.edu> by Monday February 10 (extended deadline) with your names, title of your talk, and name of your advisor(s). More information HERE<https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/birck/shark-tank/> What is the Shark Tank Competition? You are the next successful researcher in nanotechnology. How do you let the world of investors, potential employers, or media that what you do should make them stop in their tracks and pay attention? The skill you need is that of a master storyteller. This is, however, more than the ability to crack a joke during a presentation. It goes beyond using more pictures and fewer words in your Powerpoint slides. It is about creating strong arguments. It is about violating expectations. It is about using numbers like levers, not bludgeons. It is about timing and flexibility in delivery. It is about appealing to people's sense of logos, pathos, and ethos; reason, feeling, and ethics can take you a long way. The Science Communication Shark Tank<https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/birck/shark-tank/> competition gives you a chance to learn and train these skills in the best possible way: by playing a real-life game. You will participate as a member of the team in a science storytelling seminar, will learn how to create a scientific story, and you will prepare a written and a spoken presentation, which will be judged for selection in a live, Shark Tank Competition. Run by a group of talented professional communicators, the competition will award prizes and, most important, will offer the participants a chance to work with one of the sharks to refine their story and release it to the general public through a specialized media campaign. [cid:image001.jpg@01D5DD0D.7A3BF240] Thank you! -- Neil R. Dilley, Ph.D. Research Scientist Birck Nanotechnology Center , Rm 1010 1205 West State St. West Lafayette, IN 47907-2057 765-496-6080