During ASM Microbe 2019 in San Francisco (the Amer. Soc. For Microbiology Annual Conference), postdoc Ryan Blaustein presented some Hartmann Lab research in the popular science communication session “The Up-Goer Five Thing: Simple Words for Tiny-Life Studies.” The UG5 objective is to share your work in a simple and entertaining way by using only the ten hundred most commonly used words. Here are some examples and a handy text editor to test for the approved language.

The ASM session was set up as a competition between “People Running Things” (PIs) and “People Still Learning” (trainees). Each presentation was treated like a normal 5-minute powerpoint pitch, but with a UG5 twist on things…well, there was a surprise guitar sing-a-long led by one of the participants. At the end, the audience voted on the best team overall (best hypothesis, methods, results), team MVPs, and best word/phrase substitution. Team “People Still Learning” won – congrats team! Here’s what twitter had to say about the event.

Here’s Ryan’s reaction to the event:

“Participating in the UG5, from preparing the abstract to giving the formal presentation, was a fun learning experience. It helped me think about new and better ways to communicate my everyday work. All scientists can certainly benefit from knowing how to share their work in lay terms. Now, along with Erica and Jim, I would like to help bring this type of event to our department at Northwestern University to challenge student’s science communication skills in a creative arena.”