Storytelling in Science

Challenge and Description

Storytelling is the tool I take as a challenge on my daily basis since my job  includes describing multiple variables that determine a particular final food  product. These need to be placed on the right track of the story with the right  sequence to make people understand the reason why a certain experiment  using x-y-z variables did or did not work.

At the same time, I need to assume they do not know what I have learned  from past experiments and starting my storytelling from a “101 story”,  depending on my audience, since the results have to be exposed and  explained to people on the science, marketing, sales and or business area,  therefore, they are not very related to this area, which is food science and  food extrusion, this is a technology used to make breakfast cereals, snacks,  candies, texturized vegetable proteins, etc., therefore it is challenging to find  the right concepts and track of the story to be told to an specific audience.

Application

I consider storytelling a very important tool in my job since the need of figuring  out the right sequence of describing my results to people who are not familiar  with the area I work with everyday is crucial for a proper growth of my  company, as well as sharing my knowledge with other coworkers. On top of  that, everyone on my team work on a synergy and depend on each other’s  results to end up with better end-products, therefore I need to share why I  chose to change the variables I did, and relate it with my innovation. What  does this mean? I have been always a very creative person and not very  organized, I would always think of an idea and do it right away, sometimes  without controlling my variables, just looking for the best final product, taking  unorganized notes for future reproduction of my experiments, and take visual  notes on my notebook that were useful mostly for me and my development.  With time I learned how to control all those variables in a more organized way  and my mentors were constantly teaching me how to explain all that I did  during my experiments and sometimes even the reason why I changed some  variables on my process.

The area that I work on is food extrusion, which is pretty much considered  sometimes as a somehow mysterious technology, where sometimes you  would get an unexpected result without you knowing the reason why or how  it happened. That will make some people crazy, so I needed to put all my

knowledge together and look up for more resources and come up with a  story that I thought made sense. The problem was telling that story to people  that were not familiar with that area and start with an introduction, intrigue  and conclusion, instead of directly going to my conclusion.

Insight and Approach

After taking this course I realized how important is to tell the story the right way  and to know your audience, since you need to talk on the right concepts,  background facts and organize all the variables in way that people can  possibly contribute on alternate solutions. Most of all, I’m all about sharing my  passion and how exciting is to change all those variables in the extrusion  process to be able to make an extraordinary product, but I need to organize  my ideas, organize my story and create moments of reflection on my  audience.

Next time I will apply all I learned from storytelling and incorporate more and  more visualization for my audience, since making an abstract idea more  public and concrete is key to create a cause and have people to be more  involved in your passion and your business.


Storytelling in Science Challenge and Description Storytelling is the tool I take as a challenge on my daily basis since my job includes describing multiple variables that determine a particular final food product . These need to be placed on the right track of the story with the right sequence to make people understand the reason why a certain experiment using x - y - z variables did or did not work . At the same time , I need to assume they do not know what I have learned from past experiments and starting my storytelling from a “ 101 story ” , depending on my audience , since the results have to be exposed and explained to people on the science , marketing , sales and or business area , therefore , they are not very related to this area , which is food science and food extrusion , this is a technology used to make breakfast cereals , snacks , candies , texturized vegetable proteins , etc . , therefore it is challenging to find the right concepts and track of the story to be told to an specific audience . Application I consider storytelling a very important tool in my job since the need of figuring out the right sequence of describing my results to people who are not familiar with the area I work with everyday is crucial for a proper growth of my company , as well as sharing my knowledge with other coworkers . On top of that , everyone on my team work on a synergy and depend on each other ’s results to end up with better end - products , therefore I need to share why I chose to change the variables I did , and relate it with my innovation . What does this mean ? I have been always a very creative person and not very organized , I would always think of an idea and do it right away , sometimes without controlling my variables , just looking for the best final product , taking unorganized notes for future reproduction of my experiments , and take visual notes on my notebook that were useful mostly for me and my development . With time I learned how to control all those variables in a more organized way and my mentors were constantly teaching me how to explain all that I did during my experiments and sometimes even the reason why I changed some variables on my process . The area that I work on is food extrusion , which is pretty much considered sometimes as a somehow mysterious technology , where sometimes you would get an unexpected result without you knowing the reason why or how it happened . That will make some people crazy , so I needed to put all my knowledge together and look up for more resources and come up with a story that I thought made sense . The problem was telling that story to people that were not familiar with that area and start with an introduction , intrigue and conclusion , instead of directly going to my conclusion . Insight and Approach After taking this course I realized how important is to tell the story the right way and to know your audience , since you need to talk on the right concepts , background facts and organize all the variables in way that people can possibly contribute on alternate solutions . Most of all , I ’m all about sharing my passion and how exciting is to change all those variables in the extrusion process to be able to make an extraordinary product , but I need to organize my ideas , organize my story and create moments of reflection on my audience . Next time I will apply all I learned from storytelling and incorporate more and more visualization for my audience , since making an abstract idea more public and concrete is key to create a cause and have people to be more involved in your passion and your business .