Daniel Swain, California Institute for Water Resources climate scientist and TIME100 Next lister, joined the UC ANR Strategic Communications team on Oct. 21 to conduct an online training on how academics can expand their outreach through news and social media.

In the first part of the training, Pam Kan-Rice and Mike Hsu covered working with the news media, engaging and cultivating relationships with reporters/influencers via social channels, and preparing for news interviews – in-person, over the phone and through Zoom. 

That video is available at: https://youtu.be/gpX8zBqcwjY.

In the second part, Daniel Swain recounted his personal journey into becoming a scientist-communicator and offered advice on becoming a trusted source of information for journalists and the broader public. He also shared some preliminary results from a survey of his social media followers.

He admitted his work-life balance isn’t ideal and suggests focusing on one social media platform for outreach to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

The Swain presentation is available at: https://youtu.be/xCmkeQQREPg and his slide deck is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YQeWcpOXsh_fOT2aAv5xFqzUfk_uCWHW/view. 

Additional resources

• Media training slide deck for download
• Communications Toolkit with downloadable logos and templates, Zoom backgrounds, design and editorial style guides, social media tips, Spanish-language resources and more
• Lands End store for official branded logo wear

Please reach out to Pam (pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu) or Mike (mjhsu@ucanr.edu) if you have any questions.