Presenter: Will Hong
SUNY-New Paltz

Ask any communications specialist how to have a greater impact on your audience, and regardless of the content of your message, you’ll likely hear the following in response: “Learn how to tell a good story.”  But what does this mean, exactly, and how does one square the imperative to convey the objective conclusions of one’s scientific research with a communication style that uses the techniques of fictional storytelling?  Must this mean a compromise of the integrity of research?  The scientist?

Thankfully, the short answer is ‘no,’ and this webinar will discuss the basics of narrative, its role in communicating science to disparate audiences, and how you might be able to deploy storytelling to draw students and laypeople alike (and other scientists!) to your work, facilitate greater understanding through metaphor, and create more memorable messaging and presentation of sustainability issues, research, and solutions.

Why is this important?  The science of sustainability, and science in general, is no longer relegated primarily to the hallowed ground of the ivory tower and its classrooms—science has become politicized like never before (see: climate change denial, “alt-facts,” etc.), the techniques of narrative are central to this transformation, and the global stakes couldn’t be higher.  By understanding the role of storytelling in persuasion, we can become not only better communicators, but also better readers of the culture at large and help our students become the same.

Will Hong is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Digital Media and Journalism at SUNY New Paltz.  He received his M.A. in Art History at Princeton University, specializing in the History of Photography and Cinema, and then transitioned to filmmaking and earned his M.F.A. at the Tisch School of the Arts/NYU from the Department of Graduate Film and Television.  He spent two decades in the film and television industry in New York City working on short and feature-length films, music videos, TV commercials and promos for such clients as ESPN, HBO, Kenneth Cole, Macy’s and MTV, reality television shows (HGTV’s HouseHunters International, Hired!), as well as corporate (Silver Telly Award winner, 2008) and web-based content.  He has taught the fundamentals of storytelling and filmmaking at The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, the New York Film Academy (NYC), the Dalton School, and Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.  He lives in the Hudson Valley with his spouse and their very sensitive beagle.

To pre-register, go to:

http://bit.ly/2z2jtbM