Not

• Carnival of the animal senses

Running between 6pm-7pm, this was one of the evening events on Tuesday which I attended. Unfortunately, it was a miss for a topic which had potential to be very interesting and engaging.

The talk was run by Helen Czerski, who some of you may know or recognise from a few animal programmes which were run on the BBC.

The key points to remember when creating your own talk learnt from this were to firstly, to keep to the topic your discussing and perhaps not to stray too far away from the point. Secondly, it may be advisable not to use too many complicated diagrams as over information can throw an audience.

A key positive which came from this talk was her use of short videos, which are always a safe bet to improve your talk.

• Tackling  sport concussion

This event took place on the final day of the festival between 4:30-5:30pm, and was one I was really looking forward to seeing.

 The reason for this being a ‘not’ was a common theme which can be learnt from the festival, the advertising was misleading! By advertising the event to “all adults” it failed to correctly inform its audience that you needed a high level of knowledge before coming to the talk. What was discussed was very much geared towards professions in the sports coaching profession.

It was also a shame that the room that had been allocated for the talk was very small and didn’t create a great atmosphere for those of us that watched. There were some difficulties with videos that didn’t play, however this is an inconvenience which will inevitably occur at these events at some point.

A key learning point is the importance of targeting your audience correctly. Doing this poorly can lead toconfused audience members and an unsatisfactory experience.

On the positive side, the talk had four speakers which created a ‘dream team’ like panel. In addition, the calibre of the speakers was of a high quality.

• Hypnosis: Therapy or Quackery

This was an evening event which cost £6 to attend.

The talk was quite entertaining; however the way in which it was organised was quite messy.

The major stick out which makes this ‘not’ from me was the timing issue as over-running events can really drag down the positive aspects of a talk. Some parts of hypnosis were spent longer on than others and the talk did over-run to the extent we had to leave. This was disappointing as the engagement for the audience was left until the end and as we had to leave for a train we never got to get involved!

• The second 30 minutes of Explosions in the sky

The reason for this being a ‘not’ was that for an event which was advertised as being suitable for “all adults” it wasn’t  catered with the target audience in mind. By going into the complexity of different formulas and graphs with little explanation it can make an audience feel disconnected to the very interesting information that is being given.What stuck out for me was that you need to be very aware about the way in which you put across your research, in order for the general public to understand and engage with you. The only other notable ‘not event’ was ‘our dynamic sun’ for similar reasons to explosions in the sky.

Hopefully this will help you in gaining inspiration for your event at the Festival of Learning this year. One thing I noted  from attending the BSF was the popularity of health related topics and having a clear, simple PowerPoint with a variety of visual aids. In terms of negatives, It is great to have an in depth talk about Quantum Physics aimed at the quantum physicsists out there… but you probably lost average man.  

Hot

• The first 30 minutes of Explosions in the sky

Between 11am and 12 pm on Wednesday 10^th October at the BSF Explosions in the sky attracted a large audience (including myself) who were eager to learn about the topic.

The talk was split into two halves, Louise Harra started the talk and Mike Lockwood conducted the second half.

Louise Harra conducted an engaging talk, which used visual representation very effectively to back up her clear, simple and well catered points which made the subject easily understandable for members of the audience.

• The Huxley Debate

Also delivered on the Wednesday 10^th October was The Huxley Debate between 6pm and 7pm. At £6 this was one of the priced events of the festival which delivered in repaying the audience with strong engagement and entertainment for the evening.

Delivered by Aral Baklan, the talk was based on exposing the security flaws of companies such as Facebook and Google and the way these ‘free’ apps make money. In short, the reason was by using your personal data which proved to get a great reaction from the audience.

Aral was an excellent speaker who had the ability to keep the audience hanging on his every word. As an American who could have been described as Steve jobs long lost twin in appearance and way of interaction, what he got so very right was showing his passion shine through in the talk. 

• Frogs and Friends

A comedy based learning experience on the same night as the previous two was a light hearted, funny and memorable talk. This was also a worthwhile priced event at £6.

Simon Watt (the ugly Animal Preservation society’s professor of comedy) was the stand out of a triple act which took place between 7:30 pm and 9pm.

In this case, his dry comedic sense of humour was a hit with the audience and his likable engagement with us proved to make this the most memorable event of festival.

If you fancy yourself as the next Peter Kay, why not give comedy a go in making your Festival of learning event one to remember?

Very Hot

• Your astonishing liver

On the last day of the festival it was incredibly clear that the health related topics were/are a real hit with the general public. Delivered by a team of scientists and surgeons, there was a packed audience which watched this talk. The event was delivered for all varying levels of knowledge in the field and with the use of visual aids worked very smoothly.

Having four speakers really seemed to work, by having a small section of the topic to comment on this kept the audience engaged throughout. Running between 2-3pm this was also a free event!

The interactive side saw electronic yes/no devices handed out to the audience, after asking really strong questions for debate we would answer the question with a yes/no/not sure answer and visual graphs with the data collected would appear on the board. This was the best way the public were engaged out of the events I had attended over the week.

Other notable ‘hot’ events were: A night at the museum (although overpriced), Greg and Alice Roberts and the concept of The X-Change (had good days/ bad days)