Tapping into the success of Science on Tap New River Valley: Lessons learned from eight years of a community-centered science outreach program

Abstract

Communicating scientific research to the public through outreach programs is beneficial but faces many challenges. These include impediments to designing and implementing sustainable outreach programming as well as communication challenges between scientists and audience. Here we present Science on Tap New River Valley (NRV), a community-centered monthly science outreach program designed to reduce barriers to effective science outreach and share research with residents of the New River Valley in Virginia. The program places special emphasis on interactivity with community members and provides support for speakers to ensure that this goal is met. With a relatively small budget and a primarily graduate student-led volunteer organizing team, Science on Tap NRV serves as a model of a sustainable outreach program that provides opportunities for community members to engage with scientists, researchers to build and practice their science communication skills, and graduate students to learn to coordinate and implement effective outreach events. We share the details of the factors that have contributed to the success of Science on Tap NRV since 2017.