Speak from your heart

Why should the audience care?

Gloria Villalobos
Director, Robert J. Novins Planetarium, Ocean County College, USA
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador; NASA/JPL Solar System Educator;
Past-President - Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society NASA/JPL

Many years ago, when I was a young planetarium educator, our Director came back from an interview and recapped some of the discussion he'd had with the interviewer. The interviewer provided him with a rundown of some of the basic questions that would be asked. Then he added, "When we get to the end, I'm going to ask you 'Why do I care?'"

Whenever doing an interview, presentation, article or any form of communication about astronomy, I try to keep that basic question in mind. "Why does/should my audience care about this?" The key element is to be able to find a way for the audience to personally relate to what you're discussing.

I can easily give a technical discussion of sublimation and comets, but it's not easy for a child or general member of the public to relate to that, and it's easy to use technical jargon with which the public is unfamiliar. By providing a simple example, "You know how, when you leave a tray of ice cubes in the freezer, the ice cubes shrink?" I can start to get people to make the connection between small things they experience in their everyday lives and happenings in the universe. If you use a term or phrase that the public may not be familiar with, just provide a basic definition or example.