Speaking to Your Audience: Effective Strategies for Public Engagement [Foundational Skills]

• Primary registrants will receive a confirmation email immediately, an email with log in information about one week before the event, and a reminder email the day before. If you do not receive the automated confirmation email, please double-check that you have completed registration.
• Cancellations and refunds for registration fees are allowed prior to 7 days before the event. All cancellations for paid events are subject to a $25 processing fee. This event is FREE to SAA members.
• All times are in the Eastern Time Zone.

Presenter(s)

Kendy Altizer, Ph.D., RPA, University of North Georgia

Kendy Altizer is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega Campus where she teaches courses in Anthropology and Archaeology. She is also the Principal Investigator for the Santee Delta Project, a large multi-disciplinary team of researchers whose mission is to document the cultural resources of the Santee Delta, in coastal South Carolina, before they are lost to rising sea levels. In both of her current roles, Kendy is tasked with public engagements where she speaks to a variety of audiences on various topics. Before going back to school later in life, Kendy spent several years in retail, marketing, and Cultural Resource Management, which informs her career today.

Over the last several years, Kendy has often thought about the myriad of ways professional archaeologists interact with their peers, interested stakeholders, and the general public and has seen firsthand that different venues call for different kinds of engagement. She has noticed that our field does not prepare us to face these kinds of challenges (and they can definitely be challenges if you are not asked to do this often, or if you have a fear of public speaking). To address this gap in education, Kendy will offer tips and tricks to encourage people to read the room and speak to the audience in attendance, whether it is a group of 5th graders, a college classroom, a conference, or the interested public.

Course Description

Public speaking can be very difficult in its own right, then add the pressure of trying to show off your research in a way that most everyone can understand. It's a lot! Archaeology is a fantastic field, and we get to do some interesting work. Unfortunately, for most of us, our education was geared only to academics and not the more practical aspects of disseminating research. We're told that this is an obligation to our field, but very rarely does anyone teach us how to do it. This course is for anyone that has a hard time with public speaking, only does this occasionally, or just needs some effective advice on how to engage with different audience demographics. The instructor will offer some practical tips to help you read the room and speak to the audience in attendance, whether it is a group of 5th graders, a college classroom, a conference, or the interested public.

Learning Objectives

Participants will gain skills in:
1. Public engagement
2. Public speaking strategies
3. Effective outreach