Sarah Leone
RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund

Hi, my name is Sarah Leone, and I am a staff member with Results and Results Educational Fund. I’m going to be teaching you about the laser talk. In this module, we have learned about the fundamental issues involved in developing new tuberculosis tools and we have learned how to use some of the most key resources available to staying up to date on progress being made against key goals and commitments relating to TB research and development. Now it's time we start to put that knowledge into practice.  In this lesson, we will be practicing putting that knowledge together and communicating it in an effective way.

We will be using a very simple format for communicating for advocacy. It has a simple format called "EPIC". EPIC stands for E - Engage your audience P stands for "present the problem". “I” stands for inform them about solutions and C is issue a call to action. The benefit of this approach is that you can present a compelling case for action and under one minute. So here's how a laser talk might go if we want someone to support research for new TB Tools. In this example, we're asking a decision maker to support doubling the national budget for TB research.

“ENGAGE - Tuberculosis is an airborne infectious disease, and more people die from TB than from almost any other infectious disease. Virtually every government around the world has committed to ending TB by 2030, and to do that it is going to take developing new tools: medicines, diagnostics and vaccines.

PROBLEM - There are medicines, diagnostics and a vaccine for TB, but they’re mostly old compared to the tools we have for other diseases, and they’re not effective enough to end TB as a public health problem. The vaccine, for example, is 100 years old, and doesn’t prevent adults from getting TB. Researchers are working on a lot of promising new tools, but there’s not enough money being invested in TB research. The biggest barrier to developing new medicines, diagnostics and vaccines is the lack of funding. Without additional funding, we’re going to lose out on getting the new medicines, diagnostics and vaccines that we need to end TB.

INFORM – when vaccines for COVID were developed in less than a year, it showed what can be done when governments commit to investing in research.

CALL TO ACTION – So I’m asking for your commitment. Will you support an increase in investment in TB research?”

So that was an example of a laser talk. The best way to get someone to keep reading or listening to your laser talk is to grab their attention within the first sentence. Here's an example of a short laser talk.

“Tuberculosis is not a medieval disease, and it is real and active in many countries. It is just as important as COVID-19 and needs to be treated as such. We saw how the world’s richest countries created a vaccine in under one year. Why are we not doing the same for tuberculosis? I call upon the world’s leaders to pledge funding to help stop the spread of tuberculosis and ultimately stop the disease.”

For the final activity in this module. You're going to develop your own laser talk on new TB tools. Start by engaging your new audience. Tell them something that will get their attention. Your goal is to introduce the issue and get them to listen to what else you have to say. Then present the problem. Follow that by informing them of the solution and then you're going to finish with a call to action. You can develop your laser talk by drawing on all the  resources you're now familiar with. Be sure to practice your talk with someone in your home, your team or in your community. Ask your listener to give you any tips to help you improve your talk.

If you're developing your laser talk for an email or a letter also, be sure to read it out loud so you can hear how it sounds. Then refine your laser talk until you feel comfortable and confident delivering your call to action. So some of the best ways for you to communicate your talk with others are face to face is always wonderful.  Snapchat is a really great way to bring in those younger generations who don't necessarily read their emails.  You can post a link to your Snapchat story and people are able to take action from there. For folks that enjoy phone calls, Zoom Meetings, online that's always a great way. For the folks that use email, of course that is always a good way. Social media you can post on whatever application you would like some we already mentioned like Facebook Snapchat Instagram Twitter. You can make a blog.

You can make a poster if you want and you're able to be in person with other folks. You can post it at your local community center, or you can go around to different universities and speak with folks that are really wanting to make a change. WhatsApp is always a good way to communicate with folks internationally. Videos are a good way. YouTube is a great way as well. And you can select the method of communication and you also really want to make sure that you're targeting your audience.  So if you know somebody that isn't technologically advanced, or they don't particularly enjoy using technology: give them a phone call or tell them in person. These are some ways that you can really be intentional with how you're doing your call to action. So you can use a laser talk to talk about governments, your representatives in Congress, or in Parliament or whatever type of government that you have. You can mention them by name.  It is an opportunity for you to be creative and strategic as well. Remember we are all human beings on one Earth, and we must work together.