Guideline for Online FameLab Events

As FameLab events move online, we aim to continue to prioritise the supportive and collaborative atmosphere as participants take the opportunity to develop and practice their science communication skills, and for audiences to enjoy learning about exciting current research. Here are a few ideas to help you host your online event. We look forward to developing FameLab online with your ideas too!

Hosting platform

Ultimately, please use whatever platform you are comfortable with. Here are some thoughts on the options:

■ Meeting on Zoom/ Teams: In a meeting there is equality between participants, which may be good for the participants but can feel weird for the audience. Everyone present is able to interact in the same way, which you may not want if you are inviting an audience. This is a good option for training or a private heat, but less good for a public heat or final.

■ Webinar on Zoom/ Teams: These are more controlled than meetings, and it can be comforting for the audience as they know they won’t be on display. This is a good option for a public heat or final if you are new to the platform.

From the audience perspective, webinars and meetings can have a formal feel to them as many people use them throughout their working day. One less formal way to connect with people is to livestream your event to YouTube: Speakers are in the Zoom/ Teams webinar, and the audience watch on YouTube.

There are a few options for streaming live events on YouTube (more guidance on pages 3 and 4):

■ Beginner: Connect a Zoom meeting/webinar to YouTube and stream straight from Zoom. Read how to do this here

■ Experienced: Use streaming software such as Streamyard (very popular and simple to use, see an example here), or you may prefer Restream (example here).

■ Advanced: Use your own broadcast software like OBS (example here). This allows complete control over what appears on screen, but it is the most complex to set up and the most demanding on both computer and Wi-Fi.

Roles in online events

You will need more people behind the scenes than you expect! Individual roles may include:

■ Technical host: monitors the waiting room, mutes/ unmutes people as needed, etc. This person could join the call with another separate log-in too (muted and with camera off), to be able to check what the audience/ participants can see.

■ Breakout room host: arranges the separate online space for the judges to deliberate together, is present while the judges discuss and make their decisions to ensure they have everything they need.

■ Zoom/Teams chat moderator: welcomes all to the chat, encourages discussion and questions, and moderates.

■ YouTube chat moderators: one person to welcome all to the chat and encourage discussion and questions, and another person to moderate others as required.

■ Social media manager: live tweets the event e.g. summarises each talk and links to the event to get more people to watch.

Top tips

■ Test internet connections: Ask all participants, including judges, compere and behind-the-scenes crew, to test their internet speed in the location where they will be participating:

SPEED TEST HERE – Click ‘start test’ and wait for the test to finish

– You should have a minimum of 5 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload for a stable and consistent stream of video and audio.

– If your speeds are below this, then we advise that you source an ethernet cable to stabilise your connection, or use mobile phone signal instead, or (government rules allowing) find an alternative location to take part. If none of these options are possible, then prioritise taking part with audio only. Also, ask the people you live with to avoid streaming while you participate, to ensure the best connection for you.

■ Practise with your team: For many people hosting online events is still quite new, so do take the time to practise with your chosen platform. You may wish to bring the compere and judges together beforehand to clarify how it’s going to run and do final checks.

■ Create a supportive atmosphere for participants: We hope FameLab continues to be a supportive and collaborative way to improve science communication skills, even online. You may wish to ask participants to join the call ~1 hour before the event to lead a warmup, boost their confidence, give them a chance to chat together, as well as do final technical checks.

■ Check the audience view: If it’s a public event, ensure everyone on the call knows when they are live and viewable/audible. If using a webinar, check the view for the presenters and the audience so you are clear on who can see what. If you are sharing videos at any point, check that these work for the audience (see Jamie Gallagher’s video here for how to optimise video sharing).

■ Include a break: To keep the audience occupied while the judges deliberate, you may choose to host a short quiz, a discussion with someone, a Q&A with participants, have a tea break, or a combination of these. You may wish to use the branded card here too, with a countdown and music to add to the fun.

■ Have a backup plan: Things may go wrong despite all your preparation, and that’s completely fine and understandable! Gather everyone’s mobile numbers so you have an alternative method of communication in case of internet issues.

Branding

■ Start/end cards: We have created a basic card for you, feel free to add your logo if you wish, and use as the start/end card for your event. For example, when the audience first join your event, they will see the logos and know they are in the right place. It can be nice to also add a count down timer to the start of the event, and add some music (see Jamie Gallagher’s video here on how to do this).

■ Virtual background: We have created a virtual background card for your event host, in case their setup enables them to use one. Virtual backgrounds can be distracting if they don’t work well, so please feel free to only use it if it works well for your setup (see here how to set a virtual background on Zoom).

■ Use the FameLab logo in meeting invites etc. as you wish.

Streaming to YouTube

If you choose to stream your event to YouTube (you don’t have to, hosting your public event on a webinar is fine!), here are some suggestions:

YouTube video description

Welcome to the [region] heat of FameLab hosted by [name of host]. Each contestant has three minutes to dazzle you with their charisma, wit and knowledge of their chosen science subject. Prepare to get your mind blown while learning some new quick-fire science. FameLab is the world’s only international science communication competition. It aims to get everyone talking science and is dedicated to sharing science with people across the world. Cheltenham Science Festival is the home of this competition, delivered globally in partnership with the British Council. For more information visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/famelab and check out @FameLab on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Keywords:

Science

Science shorts

Science communication

Science talks

YouTube chat moderation

Welcoming viewers

Log in to the chat 10-15 minutes before the event starts to welcome people and reassure them they are in the right place. You can use this time to set out what FameLab is. For example:

Welcome to FameLab [region] – we are so glad you can join us

FameLab is the world’s only international science communication competition and aims to get everyone talking science.

FameLab is created by Cheltenham Science Festival and delivered globally in partnership with the British Council. Armed only with their wits and a few props, our contestants are about to amaze you with three minutes of mind-blowing science. So if you’re curious to find out about the latest research, you’re in the right place!

Let us know where you are watching from and we’ll give you a shout-out.

Introducing the participants

It’s a good idea to have your posts ready prepared in advance with:

■ Names of participants

■ Names of judges

■ Twitter handles (if they are happy for you to share)

■ Where they are from and what they are studying e.g. “Next up is Jane Bloggs, a PhD student at Anytown University researching the rheology of blobfish. Follow her on @blobfishscience.”

Encouraging the chat

Mention if any of the FameLab participants have joined the chat, encourage questions about the presentations, ask them what they’ve enjoyed most about the competition…

Voting and other information

Have your voting links ready, any links for quizzes or books that are referenced so you can easily copy and paste them into the chat.

Wrapping up

Thank the judges, the participants and the viewers. Let them know when the FameLab UK Final will be held (at Cheltenham Science Festival in June!).

Dealing with inappropriate comments

Generally, FameLab audiences are supportive and respectful, but you might want to set some ground rules in advance e.g.

Please be kind to other people in the chat. We want everyone to feel welcome and included in today’s event. We will remove any posts that include offensive language or inappropriate comments.

Please only use this chat to comment on the presentations by the contestants and the FameLab competition itself. Any messages that are not to do with FameLab will be removed.

In the unlikely event that anyone does post any offensive comments, as a moderator you can either Time Out (silence them for five minutes) or hide them altogether (see how to video here). It’s a good idea if you can assign another moderator to look out for and block inappropriate chat, leaving you to post encouraging messages and interact with viewers. When the chat gets busy it can be difficult to do both!

Appendix 5