It’s a little over two months before our scienceXchange event on October 23rd and we’re rapidly developing an outstanding list of volunteers to help us on the day. In particular, I wanted to shout-out to the British Science Association : Cambridgeshire, and the CHaOS Science Roadshow. These organisations will help us bring you absolute top-notch science outreach. We really appreciate the commitment to helping us out!

On a personal note, I was out with the CHaOS Science Roadshow the last week in July. Now I’ve racked up some hours tutoring in science and engineering, but I’ve never been on the road with science. Turns out, tutoring in a class room or living room versus rolling out of a tent, unpacking the van, setting up in a town hall, tying a bottle-rocket to a lamp-post in the market square, and talking science almost continuously for five hours from 3 year-olds to grand parents: well, these are quite different things. I was more exhausted at the end of that week than I’ve been in a while, but I loved it! Learning how to quickly change pitch, even inside of the same crowd, was great. To keep the wide-eyed 5 year old following along with the concepts, to tempt in the stand-back ‘I know all that!’ teenagers, to engage adults looking to learn something new or help their kids grasp key scientific principles: the skill of the scientific storyteller. I still have a *lot* to learn. My respect goes out to science outreach professionals and volunteers that have got this down to an artform.

One thing happened on the trip that really inspired me: the parent that came back after taking her child around the CHaOS experiments. I’d seen her a while earlier when she came over to my demo, standing back so as not to get too close. I asked her if she was interested in science. She said no. An hour later she came back to me and said: “I wish science had been like this when I was at school. Maybe then I would have stayed interested in it”

Interaction is so important. Interesting concepts, solid clear experiments, and great demonstrators. Expect a good dose of that at our scienceXchange event on October 23rd!