Meteor

A quick opening note: Our last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by September 6. We’ll fit in as many as we can for the September 8 episode! 

The whole upper rungs of mentoring, on the scicomm career ladder, are missing. 

Is it a question of relationships? Resources? Respect? 

Or is it that beyond-beginners need different kinds of mentoring and our profession just isn’t structured to provide it? 

Either way, where do mid-career and advanced scicommers look for mentors? 

This week, we take on those questions, plus: 

• When mentoring is needed 
• Alternatives if you don’t want mentors 
• How mentors “happen” 

Dig in for yourself: What kind of mentorship do you feel you need, if any? What kind of mentorship would you most like to offer right now?

Thanks for listening! Pass us a note…we sit right behind you, at  https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm.

A quick opening note: Our last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by September 6. We’ll fit in as many as we can for the September 8 episode! 

In scicomm, it’s inevitable to run into some expertise questions. There’s the matter of whether one has expertise in science, how that compares to the expertise of others, whether one feels confident in their own expertise, and how expertise is and isn’t respected. 

So, this week, we tackle questions like: 

• Who defines expertise? 
• Who actually *is* an expert? 
• What responsibility goes along with that? 
• What if you don’t feel like you’re an expert but you’re asked to do expert things? 

Dig in for yourself: How do you feel about being called an expert? And, what’s one thing you’re really good at that you can help other people with?

Thanks for listening! Give yourself some props - we’ll cheer you on at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

First, a reminder - applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP are due TOMORROW: August 19, 2022! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step 

There’s a lot of jargon in science, so it’s no surprise there’s also a lot of jargon in scicomm. We’ve been chatting… aaaand ranting… about scicomm jargon for a while. So we thought we’d go out on a limb and say what jargon we think works, what matters, and what jargon debates feel unnecessary. 

Why does the jargon matter? Because our work -- scicomm -- is about people, and words matter to people. 

So this week, we tackle things like: 

• Being ready for situations by having thought through the terms you prioritize 
• The debate about being a scicomm trainer vs. scicomm facilitator 
• Scientific communication vs. science communication (aka scicomm) 
• Bethann’s rant that ‘blogging isn’t dead’ and ‘newsletters are just blogs’ 
• Citizen science vs. community science vs. civic science 

Dig in for yourself: What’s an aspect of scicomm jargon that you think really matters …or maybe one that you think is downright silly?

Thanks for listening! Share your jargon rant with us at  https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

First, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply!  https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step 

There’s a nuance to scicomm careers that can really bog down your mental energy…and even complicate how you think about your own identity. 

That is: doing scicomm well often requires taking on the identity and ‘voice’ of the organization - or project, place, or even species - that you’re representing or sharing about. 

So this week, we tackle things like: 

• What you have to weigh when you’re representing someone/something else 
• Everyone knows there’s a person behind the social media account, but what’s that mean for scicommers who are that person? 
• What drives the shift to frame things in your own voice instead 
• The many voices of a single scicomm career 

Dig in for yourself: Is your voice your own right now? And, how do you feel about that?

Thanks for listening! Step up to the mic - we’re all ears at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm

First, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply!  https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step 

Visibility can mean influence, access, and power, which can lead to a sort of visibility monster issue (cue the Genie in Aladdin). 

Basically, visibility is often shorthand for credibility. 

But, we think there should be more to it than that. 

So this week, we tackle things like: 

• Name recognition and credibility 
• Balancing the need to uplift new voices with the need to vet someone before handing them the microphone 
• Power imbalances 

Dig in for yourself: 

• What’s your gut feeling about the pros and cons of visibility? 
• And, if you had a mega platform, what’s an issue in scicomm or social justice that you’d tackle head-on? 

Thanks for listening! Meet us on stage. We’re going for a sold-out show and encores at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

First, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply!  https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step 

We’ve been talking a lot, without the recording button on, about when it’s time to stick our necks out to try to spin a negative situation into something positive. 

Basically, when’s it time to raise a ruckus?!? 

And how can we make a totally-outta-line request or situation into something that jives with our commitment this season to work actively toward the positives? 

So this week, we tackle things like: 

• Reframing a commitment after you’ve said yes 
• Accountability and validation buddies 
• The equity side of raising a stink 
• Not just saying no nicely - saying no in a way that makes sure someone else doesn’t get asked to do the same unreasonable thing 
• Leaving as an act of making change 

[And, of course, the only people who can make a stink are people who don’t anticipate being punished. Basically, you often gotta have privilege to willingly ruffle feathers.] 

Dig in for yourself: 

• Do you feel like you can make a stink for you or for the greater good from where you are right now? 
• What factors did you weigh the last time you wanted to raise a ruckus? 

Thanks for listening! Meet us in the empty lot. We’ll have a bonfire going at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

First, a reminder - we launched applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP last week! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step

Now, change is basically a whole genre of opinion pieces, workshops, and podcasts right now. But, there are some specific, mid-career scicomm aspects of change that we want to tackle. 

So we’re putting a Meteor spin on it this week, talking about: 

• Wrangling expectations - yours, mine, and ours 
• Branding and tipping points 
• Negotiations - how I get what I want, so you get what you need 
• Treating people right 
• Whose job is it to follow through on what, and when 
• Finite and spatial career changes 
• Trying to stay while leaving 
• Time tracking to manage change 

Our theme this season is saying yes makes room for action, accountability, impact, and yep, even hope in the realm of scicomm. And grappling with change is a huge part of taking action. 

So, we’re wondering about you: 

• What changes are you currently considering in your scicomm work? 
• What factors are you weighing as you think through this decision? 

Thanks for listening! Join us on the front porch to chat about this. We’ll have sweet tea at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

First, a reminder - we launched applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP yesterday! Visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step 

Now. Collaboration is about so much more than finding people to collaborate with. 

There are hard decisions we cannot put on autopilot, no matter how a collaboration arises. 

Our theme this season is saying yes makes room for action, accountability, impact, and yep, even hope in the realm of scicomm. So, this week, we’re tackling: 

• Applying an abundance mindset to collaboration 
• Collaboration isn’t always about bringing your own funds to the table 
• The hassle tax and other contract-style things that should always be part of your collaboration set-ups 
• Collaboration red flags 
• Saying no to say yes 

Dig in for yourself: 

• What power moves are you currently using in your work relationships? 
• What made you pick up those moves? 

Thanks for listening! Let’s have a daaance party at https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm with those moves!

First - two big announcements: 

1. Season 2 is all about finding hope through action and saying yes. ✔ 
2. We’re running the first cohort of SciComm STEP this fall! Listen to this episode for details and join our email list (https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step) for a ping when the application goes live! 

Now, we’re gonna say it. Finding and picking your people is not just nice, it’s crucial.

There’s not enough time in the day, or energy in our overwhelmed, burnt-out selves, to compromise about who we spend our time with.

[And yes, we know it’s an enormous privilege to get to work this way! Some of us have a lot of obligations that don’t leave room for choosing who we work with. Family. Finances. Friends.

Still. We’re finally at a career stage where we can make some choices.]

We hope this conversation helps you identify at least one aspect of your work or personal life where you can be as discerning as you want and need to about who you spend your time with. 

So, this week, we tackle: 

• How we know when there’s a spark. 
• Why it matters to look for people we actually want to work with. 
• The value of community to inspire and lift each other up. 
• Why we refuse to see scicomm as service anymore. 
• Shared values as a higher priority than shared skills/knowledge. 
• Looking for people who say yes to ideas, who create opportunities from nothing! 

Dig in for yourself: 

• What is your SPARK? 
• How do you know when you’ve bumped into a person or idea that you really want to work with? 

Thanks for listening! We’re hoping for a community potluck - come on over to https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm!

In this episode, we’re really talking with you about scicomm. We are answering YOUR questions, and we’re excited to rove widely through topics and questions you’ve sent us. 

We touch on the big picture and the nitty gritty of: 

• How we approach the on-going work of staying on top of convos around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and how they relate to scicomm. 
• Framing up a scicomm CV (or do you really need a resume?!?). 
• Pitching scicomm experimentation to clients, coworkers, or supervisors. 
• Getting back to scicomm basics when talking a supervisor or client into prioritizing aspects of scicomm that are beyond their comfort zone (like experimentation or assessment). 
• Life-long learning as a scicommer and how to learn new things in a scicomm career. 

Our hot takes? 

• Learning about diversity and inclusion doesn’t and shouldn’t have an end point. 
• If you can’t wedge scicomm into a CV using Bethann’s tips, maybe you gotta ditch the CV and dig into the world where resumes rule. 
• Don’t forget - you probably spend more time thinking about scicomm than anyone around you. What you think is reasonable might feel risky to someone else. Just calibrate for that. 
• Don’t get bored. And, don’t look to scicomm alone for new ideas - lots of the innovative scicomm you get pushback for would be beige in other comms and marketing settings. 

We also shout-out The Writer’s Co-op (https://www.thewriterscooppod.com/), a podcast about running a freelance writing business. We mention TWC while talking about career transitions including freelancing. While we’re on break, TWC might fill the podcast-sized hole you’ll have in your schedule. After all, a lot of the procedures and good habits of freelancing are productive in institutional scicomm settings, too.

Thanks for cruising along with us for all of Meteor’s first season! If we didn’t cover a question or big theme you’d like to hear us tackle, hit us up!

We’ll be back in the new year with another season and some great courses. Virginia’s running one about scicomm on TikTok, and Bethann’s running a course on melding life and scicomm goals.

Be sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter. We’ll take the work out of keeping up and send all the details about these courses and our next season straight to your inbox.

Take care and talk soon!

*** Join this conversation: follow us here and say hello (tell us what questions you want answered next year!) on Twitter with @MeteorSciComm (https://www.twitter.com/meteorscicomm).