A 2-hour physical and practical workshop covering a range of vocal techniques, specifically designed to support researchers in the embodied communication of their work (such as conference papers, pitches, podcasts, interviews etc). Grounded in vocal practice for actors, the workshop is designed to complement the existing training offered by WRoCAH in storytelling and media, covering the practical exploration of both ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ voice work. Exercises range from centring the breath in the body; through grounding and articulation exercises; and on to exploring pitch, resonance and modulation.

Participants will be asked to bring along an extract of a presentation/paper that the participant has given or intends to give. We will be considering ‘real world’ scenarios where nerves may get the better of a speaker, or where recording devices demand a different level of vocal intensity.

Hannah’s 2-hour interactive workshop on feature writing offers devices and techniques for communicating academic ideas to mainstream audiences. Her workshop focuses on structure, style, editing, audience and techniques for developing a personal and distinctive voice.

Structure of the workshop:

-Participants send over examples of articles they like before the workshop. At the start of the event, we'll look over these and analyse what it is about them that makes them work well.

-Identifying audiences. Participants are asked to think about who the audience for their piece is. What does that audience know? What kind of mindset will they be in? This will then be used to gauge the kinds of writing needed for that audience.

-Structure of feature writing. This will include going over various writing structures (such as the diamond structure etc.) as basic frameworks, transitions and how to make pieces flow. Participants are asked to come up with a brief outline of their piece.

-Style. Participants are asked about their writing style, passive vs active, being concise, and the big debate about modifiers and adverbs, how to use facts and stats and how to avoid things sounding too academic.

-Intros. Participants are asked what they think makes a good introduction. I'd give examples of interesting/good introductions and then ask them to write their own.

-Editing. Participants provided with a sample of writing that needs to be edited and ask them to edit it down to something that flows well.

This session will focus on blogging and researcher platform. It aims to connect your research to practical online communication skills. Together, we think about blogging, social media, story and structure. The session covers such essentials as accessibility, use of images and style guides. By the end you should have an idea of who your audience is and how to reach them. While the material is designed to be open to beginners, much will also be of use to more experienced writers. Since there’s a lot to get through in two hours, the session is designed to cover as many aspects as possible. Slides will be available afterwards, and we will have 30 minutes after the two hours to go over anything not covered, or circulate blog posts for comment.