NORDP 2018 Plenary: Effective Communication for Research Development Professionals with Dr. Laura Lindenfeld

Effective Communication for Research Development Professionals: Building Basics with the Alda Method™

Inspired by Alan Alda’s statement that, “real listening is the willingness to let the other person change you,” this interactive session will introduce you to the Alda Method™, a sequence of improvisational theater techniques developed to help you speak more vividly and expressively about research. The Alda Method™ helps you to create common ground and use conversational language to foster more genuine connections with your audience. The techniques introduced will help you focus on listening, relating, ordering information and defining meaningful goals to make your message stick.

Skills gained will be relevant to RD professionals in the course of their own work, allowing them to better connect with diverse audiences such as groups of interdisciplinary PIs. RD professionals can also bring these concepts back to their own institutions and introduce them to other researchers and administrators.

This session will be run by Dr. Laura Lindenfeld, director of the Alda Center and professor in the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of California, Davis. As a communication researcher, her work draws inspiration from the idea that we can make better, more informed decisions about how we shape our collective future.

The Alan Alda Center was formally established in 2009 with support from Stony Brook University, Stony Brook School of Journalism, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and is located at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. Training methodologies are inspired by the empathy, clarity, and vivid storytelling brought to life by Alan Alda and hundreds of experts on the PBS television show Scientific American Frontiers.

Dr. Laura Lindenfeld will be the afternoon plenary speaker for the 10^th Annual NORDP Research Development Conference on May 9. We hope to see you at the Conference, which will be held May 7-9, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. Follow @NORDP_official on Twitter for all the latest #NORDP2018 updates.