250 science videos later, here's what I learned

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Over the past year, I've produced over 250 explainer videos.

Some on cloning horses for polo. Some on CRISPR therapies. Some on quantum sensors that sound like science fiction.

And after watching back every single one, I've noticed something.

There are 3-4 things that kill them.

But it’s not what you think it is…

My motto is “there is no such thing as too technical”

The videos that didn’t do well was not because the subject was too technical, it was because they had a selfish angle.

They were framed through what I, Giota - thought was interesting!

We are surrounded by opinion articles that are posing as news, and hot takes that are engineered to make us angry.

When I started reporting online the last thing I wanted was to talk about myself or my opinions.

In all honesty, they do not matter.

I wanted people to focus on the innovation.

That’s why the explainer is one of the most powerful types of media.

But here’s why it’s also one of the hardest pieces to get right!

No one cares.

I am so sorry to be blunt, nobody cares about your company yet. They care about themselves.

Lead with their world, not yours.

I have seen some stunning explainers that have only gotten 6 views because they start with the most corporate sounding introduction.

Don’t start with your name.
Don’t start with your company name.
Don’t start with the topic or jargon from your field.

Start with what you have to say, not who says it.

Diving straight into the explainer is the same assumption in reverse.

This assumes I already want to know.
I don't.
Not yet.

(okay, I personally do because I am always looking for new science stories but 99.99% of the population does not)

That’s the main mistake I did when I started.

I thought people love the process, and they do.

They just need to care first.

The fix? Start with emotion. Start with a question. Start with something that makes the viewer think "wait, what?"

One of my professors at Harvard recently said:

“Don’t write the story about the fishermen affected by climate change”

Not because he doesn’t care about the fishermen or climate change, but because this is a story that has been written a million times.

It’s a cliché.

Most people are familiar with how it ends and they are going to skip over.

The first thing we flag when we work “newsroom style” is cliches and exaggerations.

Think what angles have been overplayed in your world.

Exaggerations hurt your story because hardly ever they are true.

I was recently interviewing a scientist/founder who made a “we are the first to do X with Y” statement.

Short story: it wasn’t true.

Other companies have been doing similar things, not as well or as fast but they were not the first.

I also think they were not trying to lie.

Regardless, when you find out the truth it leaves you with a negative feeling of being deceived.

(and that’s why we need to factcheck everything in the press)

Okay, this is the worst plug for self-promotion!

But, I have poured over 300 hours developing the curriculum to document the process of building explainers, science communication online, and how to turn science stories into unmissable content.

Every weekday you will get one email from me that includes a lesson and an exercise that you can do in 20-30 min.

It starts February 2nd so you only have a few days to sign up with the first cohort

Would love to see you there!

Giota


P.S When done right a science explainer is absolutely whimsical. It opens a door to a world! And most importantly, it makes you the person opening that door for others.