Playing to the technical audience: evaluating the impact of arts‐based training for engineers

Purpose – Aims to assess the effectiveness of arts‐based learning for technical trainees. Design/methodology/approach – Considers the CONNECT Program in the Engineering School of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. The Program has been running since 1997. Findings – Communicating with an audience is essentially a social skill, behavioral in basis, a fact that becomes all too apparent when one's audience has a divergent set of expectations. Failing to meet an audience's expectations opens up what is called an “audience gap.” Originality/value – Of value to anyone, particularly technical personnel and trainers, interested in closing the audience gap and learning how to communicate effectively with those with a less technical background, be they internal or external customers.