When approaching working with public audiences, it is important to remember that they are more than just passive recipients of information. Choices the presenters make, and how they design and facilitate an activity, can significantly impact the learning experience and satisfaction of the individual. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) "On The Spot Feedback" (OTSF) project was originally designed to enhance the ability of scientists to better interact with their audience during face to face presentations. The basic idea was to train them to use a variety of tactics to gauge audience response, make adjustments in real time to their delivery, and to signal to an audience that their questions, perspectives, and experiences are valued in the interaction. A side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was to eliminate face to face interactions between scientists and the public. While not designed to address virtual presentations, the OTSF team quickly made adjustments to take the project entirely online. Drawing on our partners’ extensive experience delivering online professional development, the team began engaging OTSF participants in learning how to actively interact with a virtual audience. Participating scientists have a keen interest in outreach, and are playing an important role in the development, and testing of audience engagement and assessment tactics. Implementation of these tested tactics will hopefully result in better presentations, and greater audience understanding of both the findings and process of science.

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF