Discover the RISE|System™️ to broaden your impact

This keynote teaches insider, behind-the-scenes techniques for getting your voice heard and advancing your policy goals in Congress.

Keynote content is shaped by lessons and experience gained during 20 years of work on Capitol Hill, including service as Chief of Staff in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and informed by collaborating with, and conducting workshops for, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows.

5 Things You’ll Learn:

The thematic approach that should guide messaging to lawmakers
Specific tools essential for creating potent messaging that resonates with policymakers and staff members
The role of primacy and recency in communicating, particularly in highly-active, deadline-driven settings like the policymaking environment
Why the choice of messenger is an often overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of messaging and how to choose one who makes the biggest impact
How to sequence and calibrate interactions with policymakers and staff members to support and nurture productive relationships

Delivering bad news is challenging and often triggers backlash.

The human tendency to "shoot the messenger" was highlighted 1,500 years ago in the Sophocles play Antigone ("For no one delights in the bearer of bad news”.) The staying power of this behavior recently was affirmed by researchers, who published their findings in the April 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Despite facing such an ingrained human reflex, scientists, engineers, managers, and anyone responsible for conveying unwelcome information can learn to more productively communicate during such difficult conversations.

5 Things You’ll Learn:

What it means to "connect before your communicate" and why it's so important in high-stakes conversations
How to uncover connection points with your listener(s) and strategically incorporate them in your message
How to use "gilt by association" to establish rapport when speaking to a new person or group
The centrality of empathy and authenticity in creating connection
Why knowing the "native language" of your listener(s) quickly creates feelings of connectedness, laying the foundation for fruitful communication

How can scientists combat the proliferation of misinformation and deliberate distortion of their research? Should they attempt to rebut false charges that twist or deny their findings?

5 Things You’ll Learn:

The historical roots and features of misinformation to deepen understanding of these terms
Why eradicating it is so difficult and when it's not productive to try
Why fighting misinformation with actual facts may backfire and stiffen resistance to sound data and evidence
Effective approaches for combatting false or misleading claims that use tools appropriate for countering the underlying features often supporting misinformation
The symbiotic relationship between alternative facts and "fake news"

Strategic, intentional involvement of stakeholders represents a vital activity within the research enterprise. However, the varied interests, perspectives, and degrees of influence of entities and individuals touched by research can create a challenging landscape that is difficult to manage

What are the critical success factors for effectively communicating and interacting with key stakeholders? Which pitfalls should be avoided? How can select stakeholders be enlisted to combat misperceptions that could undermine support for research?

5 Things You’l Learn:

Proven and actionable stakeholder management techniques, including how to segment stakeholders into similar categories, surface the interests of each segment, and develop suitable, productive engagement approaches
Ingredients of effective stakeholder engagement and counter-productive behaviors that sap support
The key elements of an effective stakeholder management plan and the “coalition killers” to avoid at all costs
The mutual benefits attained by bringing together researchers and patient groups and a model for establishing such regular engagement
How stakeholders can be credible powerful responders to distortions or “alternative facts”

Science should be “above politics” has been a consistently-held value for generations of scientists in the research community.

With sound science and research increasingly excluded or downgraded in importance within the U.S. federal policymaking process, however, scientists and scientific societies are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of remaining on the sidelines as important public policies are developed and implemented.

How can scientists unfamiliar with public policy mechanisms and processes effectively engage in the policy environment?

5 things you will learn:

The critical “Big Question” and how to answer it before engaging policymakers
A systematic way of assessing connections to policymakers that could be useful in your outreach
The top outreach fails and how to avoid them
Why being a “resource, not just a request” is essential for building a productive relationship with legislators and their staffs and how this principle can help you establish and expand your influence with Members of Congress
How to deliver concise, results-focused descriptions of your research through three rounds of hands-on practice and feedback using the CASE |System™, which also can be effectively applied to any topic you encounter in the future

Important stakeholders, including policymakers, potential investors, and the public, often are unfamiliar with scientific terminology and language commonly used in research.

At the same time, these groups can impact funding levels and the perceived value of your work, significantly affecting your ability to conduct your research or advance your innovation.

How can you develop engaging and memorable explanations that build support while still preserving accuracy?

5 things you will learn:

How to boil down your research into relatable, jargon-free descriptions that convey its real-world relevance to listeners
How to uncover any audience’s level of understanding of your work before you craft your message so you can incorporate accessible, interesting examples that resonate with listeners
How to use a toolbox of powerful, proven rhetorical devices that quickly promote understanding and connection with your audience
How to frame your research in a compelling narrative that holds listeners’ attention during your talk, prompting listener engagement and interest from the start
How to deliver concise, results-focused descriptions of your research through three rounds of hands-on practice and feedback using the CASE |System™, which also can be effectively applied to any topic you encounter in the future

Scientists' circle of communication often extends primarily to colleagues and others familiar with their research. Nevertheless, certain specific skills and attributes scientists use in their research can be oriented and activated to fuel productive communication and extend influence beyond the academy.

How can you repurpose such capabilities to gain confidence and boost performance during interactions with those unfamiliar with your research?

5 things you will learn:

How to skillfully use your authority as a scientist to establish credibility
The qualities and abilities you already possess that are critical to making an impact beyond the academy and how to tailor them to achieve your goals
Techniques such as “gilt by association” that amplify your influence
The keys to networking and how to transform your relationship building approach to become more comfortable and confident when contacting people you don’t know
How to deliver concise, results-focused descriptions of your research through three rounds of hands-on practice and feedback using the CASE |System™, which also can be effectively applied to any topic you encounter in the future

3 ways to work together

Keynotes

Engaging and action-focused keynotes deliver insider techniques that can be applied right away.

Workshops

Workshops are interactive, using role-playing to guide practice with new tools and providing feedback to achieve goals.

Consulting

Engagements advance clients' goals with 360-degree analysis driven by an instinctive grasp of political, policy, and procedural landscapes.

RISE ISystem™ Online Training Program

A 4-week interactive online training program for getting funding, gaining influence, and skillfully engaging decisionmakers using a unique blend of proven communication and persuasion techniques.