On finding your voice in mathematics (and beyond):
Reflections on storytelling, performance, and science communication

by Raffaella Mulas

I'm a discrete mathematician but not a discreet one, as I love listening to and sharing people's stories. In fact, shortly after moving to Amsterdam in 2023, I discovered storytelling as a theatrical form, in which people share personal stories without slides or notes, relying only on themselves and their voices. Since then, I have become somewhat addicted to listening to strangers' stories and catching glimpses of their lives, and I have also been sharing many different kinds of stories myself. With time, I began to bring more and more stories into my work and, conversely, more and more mathematics into my storytelling performances.

Recently, at a mathematics conference, I was invited to share some thoughts on storytelling as a tool across research, teaching, and outreach in mathematics. I also talked about the course on Storytelling and Science Communication that I created at VU Amsterdam. After the talk, I was surprised by the number of people who asked for follow-up material. From PhD students to full professors, many people were looking for lecture notes, video lectures, or other resources on storytelling and science communication.

This gave me food for thought, mainly for two reasons. First, I am largely self-taught in both storytelling and science communication, and much of what I have learned comes from engaging with other people's work or learning from my own mistakes. Second, I feel that storytelling and science communication are deeply connected to finding one's own unique voice. So, they do not easily translate into fixed rules.

With that in mind, I still wanted to try to contribute something in this direction. What follows is a collection of lessons drawn from my experience in theater, storytelling, and science communication, as well as from my work in academia. While these reflections come from my experience in mathematics, I hope that many of them will resonate more broadly across the sciences.

Know your audience

One of the most important things to keep in mind when communicating mathematics, or science more broadly, is who your audience is. The way you speak will probably be completely different depending on whether you are talking to children, high school students, university students, or colleagues. Context matters too: are people voluntarily coming to listen to science, or are they unexpectedly encountering your topic? Keeping your audience in mind throughout the preparation process will help you adapt your language, examples, and level of detail. And if your audience is mixed, your communication can be mixed as well: different moments of the talk may resonate with different parts of the audience.

Know your goal

When I do science storytelling, my main goal is often to challenge stereotypes around mathematics, mathematicians, and women in STEM. What is your goal? Maybe you want to communicate a specific scientific idea, raise awareness about a topic, or inspire curiosity. Whatever your goal is, try to keep it in mind throughout both the preparation process and the performance itself. It can help guide your choices: from the stories you tell, to the level of detail you include, to the tone you use on stage.

Choose your words

The words you choose are deeply connected to both your audience and your goal. Technical language that works perfectly in a research seminar may completely lose a general audience, and at the same time, oversimplifying too much can sometimes flatten the beauty of an idea. This is why I believe it is important to choose your words carefully and to think intentionally about clarity and accessibility.

Choose your topic wisely

Maybe, Gröbner bases are not the easiest topic to talk about when your audience has never studied mathematics. Some topics are naturally more accessible than others, and part of science communication is learning which ideas can create a connection with a particular audience. 

Write, write, write

Very often, my ideas only become clear once I begin putting them into words. So my suggestion would be: write drafts, rewrite them, cut parts that are not necessary, and add details back in. Experiment with different openings, endings, structures, and tones. Even if your final performance will be spoken, writing can help you discover rhythm, clarity, and meaning.

Don't get lost in the details

As mathematicians and scientists, we often care deeply about details. But when communicating with a general audience, not every detail is essential. In fact, trying to say everything at once can make people lose sight of the main idea.

Do you really need slides?

Good-looking and engaging slides can be a wonderful companion to your story, but do you always really need them? Personally, for shorter performances, I often try to avoid them when possible. If the audience's attention is not constantly shifting toward the slides, more of it can remain on your words, your presence, and your body language.

Do you really need all that time?

I have had stories that took me 45 minutes to share with friends the first time, and that I later reduced to 7 minutes, much to my surprise. Choosing which parts can be left unsaid can force you to identify what really matters in a story. 

Give your story an interesting shape

What shape does your story have? Is it a simple segment, moving from one endpoint to the other in chronological order? Or is it made of cycles, returning to certain moments throughout the story? Sometimes, moving from event A to event B in a completely linear way is exactly what a story needs. But often, playing with structure can create surprise, emotional resonance, or even laughter.

Speaking is scary, and that's okay

Speaking in public can be scary, especially when you are sharing something personal, and this feeling does not necessarily disappear with experience. But vulnerability and fear are not weaknesses in communication. Very often, they are part of what creates a connection.

Connection matters more than perfection

Perfection is often overrated in storytelling and science communication, especially in live performances. Let it go. You may forget parts that you really wanted to say, have a moment where your mind goes blank, mispronounce something, or make a grammatical mistake, and that is perfectly fine. In fact, you may be the only person who remembers these details after the performance. What the audience is more likely to remember is the connection you created with them.

Rehearse and film yourself

Rehearsing on your own or with other people, and filming yourself so that you can observe your performance from the outside, can help you polish the final details. Watching yourself speak may feel uncomfortable at first, but it can reveal many things that are difficult to notice in the moment, like pacing, posture, gestures, tone, or distracting habits. It may also be helpful to film your final performance as a learning opportunity for future ones.

Find a preparation technique that works for you

Whether it is breathing exercises, visualizing the way you want your talk or performance to go, doing power poses, or something entirely different, it is helpful to discover what prepares you mentally before speaking and to build your own ritual around it.

Get to know yourself when you are anxious

Different people react to anxiety in different ways. For example, when I'm emotional, my mouth becomes very dry, and now that I know this, I always bring a bottle of water with me to the stage. Others may start moving more, while some tend to freeze. Learning to notice these reactions is part of the process. Once you recognize them, you can prepare for them, adapt to them, or even learn to use them to your advantage.

Tell your audience when you are feeling uncomfortable

If you feel nervous or unsure, saying it out loud can make both you and the audience more at ease. It shows that you are human, and sharing a small moment of vulnerability can strengthen the connection between you and the room. For example, when I am about to share an emotional story, I know that my mouth will get dry at some point. So I introduce my bottle of water to the audience: “This is my emotional support water!”

Move with intention

Movement on stage can sometimes be distracting if it does not serve a purpose, and this is something that, for example, we Italians tend to do a lot. We gesture, walk back and forth, or sway without even noticing it. So, before going on stage, I often remind myself "not to be too Italian." But movement can also be used intentionally. For example, speaking from different parts of the stage can help represent different people, perspectives, or moments in a story. Changes in posture, standing up or sitting down, moving closer to the audience or further away, can all reinforce what you are trying to communicate. Like words, movement can become part of the story itself. 

Be yourself

Mentors and sources of inspiration can be incredibly valuable, but in the end, the person you should try to represent most truthfully on stage is yourself.

Ask for feedback

An outside perspective can help you notice things that are difficult to see from within your own work. For this reason, it can be very helpful to ask friends, family, or colleagues to read your drafts or listen to you rehearsing. Pay attention not only to the direct feedback they give you, but also to their reactions while you speak. Where do they seem engaged, confused, emotional, or distracted? If some of their feedback resonates with you, make it your own. 

Ignore the feedback

Ignoring feedback that does not resonate with you is perfectly fine, and it may be a sign that you are finding your own voice.

It's okay to ignore my suggestions

Ultimately, you will have to discover what feels natural and meaningful to you. Finding your voice may lead you to conclusions that are completely different from mine!