ICRA 2015 social media workshop for roboticists: Communicating your research in 140 characters or less

Want to use social media to get more people engaged with your robotics research? Not sure how to get started? Robohub is hosting a social media workshop at ICRA this year: Communicating robotics in 140 characters or less: Strategies, pitfalls and success stories in leveraging social media to promote your research. We hope you’ll come!

ICRA | May 26-30, 2015 | Seattle, Washington.

Roboticists have amazing stories that the public wants to hear about, but many researchers worry that their work will be oversimplified, misrepresented or misunderstood. By engaging directly with the public, in their own words, roboticists can explain the importance of tax-funded projects, attract students and collaborators, spur innovation, facilitate technology transfer, and take part in the discussion of issues that are important to the community.

In this crash course, you will learn the tools and techniques to efficiently promote your robotics research to the public and the media via the main social channels and tech news aggregators such as Twitter, Facebook, Hacker News, Reddit, YouTube and Slashdot. We will walk you through the development of past successful research promotion campaigns in robotics so you can see how to turn your research into a social media headline that is clear, concise, and tells a story that readers want to hear.

Time/Location

Tuesday, May 26
12:00-13:30
Room WSCC 620
http://icra2015.org/conference/forums/11-conference/51-social-media-workshop

Attendance is open to all; lunch will be provided to participants registered to the workshop through the conference CVENT registration system.

Outcomes

Our goal is to leave you feeling confident about using social media to promote your research, and to help you promote your recently published ICRA paper using at least one social media platform before the end of the conference.

In this crash course you will:

• learn about the top communication platforms that are most relevant to the robotics community, and build confidence in using these platforms to extend your reach
• identify pitfalls in communicating about robotics via social media, and how to avoid them
• discover how to craft a headline or tweet that will drive traffic and improve awareness about your work
• learn how to approach journalists about your research
• if you wish, receive one-on-one follow up advice and coaching from experienced science communicators

Presenters

Sabine Hauert, Bristol Robotics Laboratory Lecturer, Robohub Founder
Hallie Siegel, Robohub Managing Editor
Evan Ackerman, Senior Writer at IEEE Spectrum Automaton Blog

Format

The foundation of this crash course is a 90-minute lecture-based interactive session. Come prepared to think about how to turn your ICRA paper into a tweet!

For anyone seeking to further advance their social media skills after the lunch time session, Robohub staff will be available at a specially marked stand in the exhibit hall throughout the remainder of the conference. Here we will provide one-on-one follow up advice and coaching on how to craft a tweet or write a headline to submit to a news aggregator such as Slashdot or Hacker News.

We will also have an “ICRA Cam” set up where you can pitch your research on video for publication to YouTube.

Who’s It For

This crash course is for any roboticist who would like to learn more about how to use social media to communicate about their work.

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large

Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory

Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory