Science Communication · Six Acts, One Practical Toolkit
From Lab to Live!
A practical science‑communication toolkit for early‑career researchers — built field session by field session, and taught in person.
Courtney Ede — PhD Candidate, Actor, Graphic Designer · Fish Ecology Lab, UTS
Scientists are increasingly expected to communicate beyond academia — to citizen scientists, conservation communities, policymakers and the public. Most of us were never taught how.
Why? Because your research can only be as impactful as the number of people who can understand it, repeat it, and act on it. The Six Acts framework is a practical fix: strategies field‑tested from conference stages and pub talks to social media and grant applications — six teachable moves, each with a quick exercise you can run today.
I
Steady— manage the nerves
Confidence is a skill, not a personality trait.
Script and memorise your first 60 seconds. Momentum carries the rest.
Rehearse out loud — silent reading trains neither your voice, breath, nor body.
Reframe nerves as excitement and aim it at the audience. It reads as passion.
Try it: the 60‑second freeze
Write your opening line for line, memorise it, then say it out loud five times today — once seated, once standing, once while walking. Notice which version sounds most like you.
II
Target— know your audience
What does this audience need to hear?
Ask why they're listening. Different audiences need different things from the same research.
Choose one idea you want them to leave with — build everything around making it stick.
Separate essential from merely interesting. Every extra detail competes with your message.
Try it: the one‑sentence test
Write your key finding as one sentence for a funder, one for a curious ten‑year‑old, and one for a colleague in your field. Notice what you cut each time — that's the noise.
III
Hook— earn their interest
Attention is earned, not owed.
Open with a story, question, striking image, or surprising fact. Curiosity first, context second.
Give them the problem before you give them the methods. Nobody cares how until they care why.
Make the first minute count — don't spend it on the title slide or the agenda.
Try it: cut the preamble
Delete your title slide and your "today I'll cover" slide. Start your talk from what's now slide one. If it still makes sense, you've found your real hook.
IV
Show— one picture, 1000 words
If they're reading, they're not listening.
Replace paragraphs with images, diagrams, and examples. Text competes with your voice.
Give each slide or section one clear job — if it holds several messages, split it up.
Show the animal, the place, the consequence — not just the p‑value. People remember things, not data.
Try it: the squint test
Squint at your busiest slide from across the room. Still readable? There's too much text. Swap it for one image that does the same job.
V
Decode— speak their language
Make the science easier to understand, not less accurate.
Practice on a non‑industry friend. Where do you lose them? Switch to more general language there.
Anchor abstract ideas to something familiar — a good analogy does more work than a definition.
Define unfamiliar terms and acronyms when they first appear, and keep them to a minimum.
Try it: the non-industry friend test
Explain your work to someone outside your field — a housemate, a parent, a stranger at a pub. The exact moment their eyes glaze over is the exact word you need to cut or explain.
VI
Connect— make it matter
Tell the story that makes the research matter.
Build the narrative arc: here's the problem, here's what we found, here's what it means.
Tie your findings to a person, a place, or a decision. Abstract results aren't actionable.
End with what changes because of your work — leave them with one clear takeaway or ask.
Try it: so what, now what
Finish both sentences for your own work — "So what?" then "Now what?" String them together and you've got your closing line.
Steady, in practice
Try it yourself — script your first 60 seconds
Every talk, no matter the audience, fits the same four beats. Here's the structure laid over a real example from the seahorse work.
0–10Hook
"Where does a seahorse go when its habitat disappears?"
10–20Stakes
Syngnathids rely on structured habitats for shelter, yet these are rapidly declining — taking seahorse populations along with them.
20–50Findings
We asked whether artificial structures could provide an alternative, and found that …
50–60Lead‑in
So — can artificial habitat help seahorses persist as coastlines continue to change? I'll show you what we found, and what it means for conservation.
Swap in your own hook, stakes, findings and lead‑in — same four beats, any field.
Prepare yourself → Choose the message → Earn attention → Make it visible → Make it understandable → Make it matter
Bring this to your lab
I run From Lab to Live as a workshop for research groups, conferences, and early‑career programs — talk framing, slide triage, and live coaching included.
Hey there! I’m Courtney, an Australian voice actress and marine biologist. I’ll work closely with you to breathe life into your project, and help you create truly engaging and captivating content.My broadcast-ready home studio means I can produce professional, reliable results, tailored exactly to your needs. If you want a bright, expressive, and natural sound, delivered promptly and efficiently let’s chat!I'm experienced in eLearning, audiobook narration, gaming, animation, commercial (TVC, web, radio, and corporate reads!
Ever since I was little, I loved two things above all others: performing and science.From my first ever job as a wedding violinist, working as a character actor at theme parks through to live theatre shows, and voice acting the arts have always held a big part in my life.Likewise, my natural curiosity for the world around me had me enrolled in IBM internships at the age of 10, working in museums, studying medicine at 16 and eventually moving on to my PhD canditature in Marine Science, studying the wonderfully weird world of Syngnathids (seahoses, sea dragons & pipefish).In my spare time you can find me diving into fantasy worlds and storytelling. Immersed in TTRPGs like Pathfinder2E, and video games like Hades and World of Warcraft, as well as building cosplays to express my love of my favourite worlds.
Courtney is a fully qualified Marine Biologist who recently gratuated with First Class Honours in Environmental Science with the UTS Fish Ecology lab, and is embarking on her PhD Candidature.She's currently heavily involved with the Sydney Seahorse Project and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and is helping to develop methods to help rehabilitate wild populations of the native and endangered Hippocampus whitei (White's Seahorse). Her PhD canditature similarly focuses on the demography of these weird and wonderful fish, so we can better conserve them in the wild.She gives fun, approachable marine-science talks at schools and events all over South-East Australia. Get in touch if you'd like to book her for your event!
