March 16, 2026: Distilling Your Message for Teaching and Outreach: Brief and Compelling Interactions with the People You Need to Talk to

People standing in a sun lit room in a circle, talking, all smiling or laughing. One woman gesturing with her hands. — Participants practicing distilled and direct messaging as part of a 2025 faculty and post-doc communicating science workshop with the Center for Communicating Science. Still frame from VTNews video by Lee Friesland for Virginia Tech.

March 16: Join us on March 16 from 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. via Zoom for "Distilling Your Message for Teaching and Outreach: Brief and Compelling Interactions with the People You Need to Talk to."

The Center for Communicating Science invites faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students to transform complex information into clear, compelling, and engaging messages in its March 16 workshop: Distilling Your Message for Teaching and Outreach: Brief and Compelling Interactions with the People You Need to Talk to. This is an opportunity for participants to enhance their ability to communicate their research, engage their students, and effectively collaborate across disciplines.

Register here!
Date: March 16, 2026
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
Location: Online (via Zoom)
Facilitator: Jon Catherwood-Ginn

Effective communication is at the heart of great teaching, impactful outreach, and successful collaboration. In this interactive workshop, faculty from the center will lead participants through engaging exercises that strip away information overload and sharpen their ability to communicate with clarity and purpose. You'll explore the 5 W’s of effective communication, uncover the pitfalls of the curse of knowledge, and practice translating complex ideas into messages that spark interest and engagement.

Organized through the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), this session earns faculty participants 2 professional development credits. It is also included in the “Five-Workshop Option” for graduate students and post-docs participating in Virginia Tech’s Associate Teaching badge program in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning.

Have questions? Contact the Center for Communicating Science at erinmsmith@vt.edu.

We look forward to seeing you March 16!

CIRTL AT VIRGINIA TECH ASSOCIATE TEACHING PROGRAM

The CIRTL at Virginia Tech Associate Teaching Program is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral associates to connect and associate with effective teaching practices. Participants will engage in programming focused on foundational knowledge about teaching and complete a teaching philosophy activity to start building their teaching portfolios. Upon program completion, participants will receive a digital badge recognizing their achievement of program requirements. The program is open to current Virginia Tech graduate students and postdoctoral associates regardless of teaching experience or responsibilities.