We'll start with [intros](https://forum.hyperlink.academy/t/getting-started/1772) — please post a brief intro, letting everyone know who you are, why you signed up, and what you hope to learn.

The rest of our first call will be all about discussing the plan for the upcoming month, which we will craft together based on the collective interests among the group.

Live Session #1

Live Session #2: Parsing Complex Ideas

Live Session #3: Transmitting Complex Ideas

Live Session #4: Special Topics

Live Session #5: Special Topics

How might we help readers internalize complex ideas? Grow your toolkit of communication techniques. We'll explore a range of perspectives (e.g. metaphors, storytelling, non-linear formats). 

Framing Complex Ideas

This is a template for collecting the artifact resulting from this cohort — a final, publicly viewable summary of what participants learned or created during the course.

❗️**Important:** The contents of this post will appear on the cohort page, visible to everyone. Don't post anything you don't want to be publicly shared.

Please edit this topic with an artifact that makes sense for your course.

## [Artifact Title]

Replace with: summary description of what the cohort created or learned together.

This may be a final writeup, a summary of each participant's project, a link roundup to externally hosted  assignments — whatever makes sense for your course.

Note that participants can reply to this post, but only this initial post of the topic will be published to the cohort page as its public artifact.

Artifact

This is a template for an assignment you want to give participants in this cohort.

Please edit this topic with description, instructions, or anything else that makes sense for the assignment you'd like to share. The text below is just a starting point.

## [Assignment Title]

Replace with: summary description of the assignment. What are participants creating? What's the learning goal in the context of this course?

## Instructions

Replace with: details on the expected format or process for completing the assignment.

Example (for a final writeup):

- Please post a link to a Google Doc with 500 words on what you learned
- Make sure that sharing is turned on so others can comment

Example (for a photography workshop)

- Select your three favorite photos from the week's theme
- Upload them to a post here, each preceded with a one-paragraph description

Assignment

This is a template for details / discussion related to a specific event in your cohort.

Please edit this topic to include most or all of the elements listed below!

❗️**Important:** Please schedule each event from the main cohort page. This template is not the main way to create an event, but may be useful as a reminder, a way to share related details, or collaborate on event notes.

## [Event Title]

Replace with: short description of the event; any additional info beyond what you included in the event description on the cohort page.

## Details / Instructions

Replace with: further details about the event, if needed. How to join, anything participants need to do to prepare; etc.

Event

## Introductions

Please post a brief intro below! Let everyone know who you are, why you signed up, and what you hope to learn. And say hello to other participants; let's get to know each other!

## Logistics

We will be using this [Zoom link](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://zoom.us/j/99550804101&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1611871271549000&usg=AOvVaw1g4i-V6yLoL-xSOS6Rlae8) for our weekly discussions every Thursday at 8pm EST (or whatever time we settle on).

Right now you're in our private forum just for members of this cohort. We'll be using this forum to run discussions asynchronously between meetings!

## Get Started
 If you want to get ahead, the first reading we'll be doing is this [Tim Urban interview](https://firstround.com/review/wait-but-whys-tim-urban-on-parsing-and-transmitting-complex-ideas/)!

Getting Started

## Learning Goals
This course will cover the theoretical and practical tools for distilling and transmitting complex ideas so that readers deeply internalize them.

The discussion will focus on:
* systematic approaches to deconstructing and reconstructing complex ideas
* various strategies for communicating the ideas in a resonant way
* theoretical and scientific underpinnings related to the above

There will also be optional weekly challenges:
* take an explanation you really like and remix it for a different audience
* find a novel metaphor to describe an idea you're curious about

On a collective level, we'll collaboratively think about how we could build tools to help writers conduct linguistic research or search for resonant ideas (analogous to SEO tools for marketers).

## A bit about myself
I have been writing online for the past few years, focusing on making neuroscience more approachable and applicable to everyday life. Outside of writing, I used to be a neuroscience researcher and I work as a product manager at a tech startup.

I think a lot about effective communication from a scientific lens (e.g. metacognition, learning theory, linguistics) and I wanted to share the resources I've found to be most useful over the past few years.

I'm also starting this club because I'm personally interested in continuing to improve as a science communicator. I hope to bring together a group of curious people that already think deeply about these concepts and want a community-oriented learning experience.

## Structure and commitment
There will be 5 sessions in total, alternating between theoretical and practical discussions. Every week, we will meet as a group for about 60 minutes to reflect on the reading.

This is the minimum commitment for a club member, but we will also have optional sessions to share what we've been working on or continue our discussions.

## Who should sign up
The ideal participant is someone that wants to level up as a communicator. They are at any point in their journey as a creator, whether it's blogging, podcasting, or making videos. It's possible they are already experienced but would like to grow their toolbox of techniques and engage in discussion with others who are thinking deeply about communicating complex ideas.

If you have purely theoretical interests and have no plans for applying any of the material we cover, this club is probably not for you.

Notes

Course Details

This is a template for a prompt — a question or discussion topic you'd like participants to discuss or respond to.

Please edit this topic to include any details necessary to spark this discussion!

## [Prompt Title]

Replace with: the prompt itself, with as much detail as you need, and how you'd like participants to respond below.

Prompt

This is a template for your cohort to run a retrospective — collecting valuable feedback from participants that will help the course improve over time.

Please edit this topic to include most or all of the following elements — or anything else you like!

## Questions

Replace with: particular questions you'd like students to answer at the end of the cohort, aimed at helping your course improve.

The questions below are just examples. You'll get better feedback if you ask targeted questions about specific aspects of your course. Tweak these questions, or write your own!

- What did you expect to get out of this course? Were those expectations met? If not, how do you feel about the progress you made in this course (if any)?
- What specific things (moments, techniques, conversations) did you feel were most useful to learning in this course?
- What do you wish we'd spent more time on? Anything you felt we should add?
- What's one thing you'd suggest we change or remove?
- Please share anything else you'd like us to know!

Participants: you can quote some or all of these questions to structure your replies below.

## Sharing the Retro

Replace with: how the info from this retrospective will be used to improve the course. For example:

The maintainers of this course will review all feedback collected in this retrospective process. We'll think hard about how we can improve the course structure, specific processes, even particular assignments, questions, or readings.

We may follow up if we want to get more detail on anything mentioned below. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to help us improve this course — we really appreciate it!

Retrospective

## Learning Goals

This course will cover the theoretical and practical tools for distilling and transmitting complex ideas so that readers deeply internalize them.

The discussion will focus on:
* systematic approaches to deconstructing and reconstructing complex ideas
* various strategies for communicating the ideas in a resonant way
* theoretical and scientific underpinnings related to the above

There will also be optional weekly challenges:
* take an explanation you really like and remix it for a different audience
* find a novel metaphor to describe an idea you're curious about

On a collective level, we'll collaboratively think about how we could build tools to help writers conduct linguistic research or search for resonant ideas (analogous to SEO tools for marketers).

## A bit about myself
I have been [writing online](https://brainstorm.substack.com/) for the past few years, focusing on making neuroscience more approachable and applicable to everyday life. Outside of writing, I used to be a neuroscience researcher and I work as a product manager at a tech startup.

I think a lot about effective communication from a scientific lens (e.g. metacognition, learning theory, linguistics) and I wanted to share the resources I've found to be most useful over the past few years.

I'm also starting this club because I'm personally interested in continuing to improve as a science communicator. **I hope to bring together a group of curious people that already think deeply about these concepts and want a community-oriented learning experience.**

## Structure and commitment

There will be 5 sessions in total, alternating between theoretical and practical discussions. Every week, we will meet as a group for about 60 minutes to reflect on the reading.

This is the minimum commitment for a club member, but we will also have optional sessions to share what we've been working on or continue our discussions.

## Who should sign up

**The ideal participant is someone that wants to level up as a communicator.** They are at any point in their journey as a creator, whether it's blogging, podcasting, or making videos. It's possible they are already experienced but would like to grow their toolbox of techniques and engage in discussion with others who are thinking deeply about communicating complex ideas.

If you have a purely theoretical interest and have no plans for applying any of the ideas and techniques into practice, this club is probably not for you. That being said, writers at any stage are welcome - even if you’ve haven’t published anything yet!