People love a map – so many people are fascinated by their immediate environment and a map facilitates a conversation in such interesting ways.
For the less experienced of you (like me, a PhD student) – start your career in public engagement by latching on to an existing event, for example a science fair. Much of the logistical planning is turkey rcs data already covered (food, toilets, timings, location etc) so all you need to concentrate on is your activity.
Base your evaluation on your aims – be clear about the impact you would like to have, and then plan your evaluation methods in line with them. And of course be ready to capture any unintended impactful happenings along the way!
What did I learn about impact?
Measuring impact can be difficult and sometimes feel intangible, but that there are many ways to do it! Qualitative statements are just as good as quantitative measures, and both together can be very powerful. and busy, and you speak to a lot of people in a short space of time. But they are fun! In an ideal world we would be able to collect longitudinal impact measurements, for example before- and after- event behaviour, but then the world of public engagement sometimes does not allow this.