Science talks in Bangkok bars drew people who were already interested, scored highly and reported learning something new — yet the one Thai-language night drew the smallest crowd

Pint of Science is a festival in which researchers give short talks about their own work in pubs and cafés. It began in the United Kingdom in 2013 and was first held in Asia in Bangkok in 2017. This study asked who comes, why, what they and the speakers take away, and what should change — the first systematic evaluation of the format in Thailand.

In 2018 the festival ran on six days with 18 talks at four venues in central Bangkok (one day in February, four in May, one in August), in English on five days and in Thai on one, with talks of 12–20 minutes, free entry, and a snack and drink for everyone. A questionnaire was handed to all 180 attendees of the May and August events and 125 completed it, covering reasons for coming, participation, knowledge, interest, enjoyment and satisfaction with venue, speakers, timing, content and the chance to interact (eight items scored 0–5, for a maximum of 40). Eleven semi-structured interviews and one focus group of three were conducted. Median scores were compared between groups with non-parametric tests.

• Registrations totalled 267 across six days — the stand-alone February night was the largest at 69, and the Thai-language night the smallest at 13, despite bilingual publicity and a central location like the others.
• Half of the respondents were Thai (49.6%) and half worked or studied in a science-related field (53.6%), with a mean age of 34. Friends were the main source of information (43.2%), then Facebook (27.2%); a quarter had attended the previous year.
• People came out of interest in science (68.0%), to learn (46.4%) and to enjoy themselves (44.8%). 69.6% said they made new contacts and 58.4% exchanged scientific knowledge, but only 28.2% asked a question.
• The median overall score was 35 out of 40, and those who came because they were interested in science (35.2 vs 33.6), for enjoyment (35.5 vs 34.0) or to learn (35.5 vs 34.0) scored the event significantly higher than those who did not. Gender, age, nationality, occupation, how people heard about it and prior attendance made no significant difference.
• Attendees rated their prior knowledge of the topics at 2.5 on average but the new knowledge they gained at 4.1 out of 5 — a self-assessment after the event, not a test of knowledge.
• Speakers said they sharpened their communication skills, built networks inside and outside science, raised the visibility of their work and might improve their chances of funding. Audience recommendations: topics were concentrated in medical science and one institution, so collaborate with other institutions; promote more among university students and on social media; find bigger venues near the Skytrain; and allow longer breaks between talks.

For anyone planning science communication events in Thailand, the numbers say two things at once: the format works very well for people who are already interested, and it has not yet reached anyone outside that circle. Most attendees were in science or comfortable in English, and the authors themselves note that this audience tends to be middle to higher income and highly educated. The thin Thai-language night is therefore not evidence that Thais are uninterested; it more likely reflects an event designed and publicised through an English-speaking network (the previous year, two of three Thai presenters switched to English because everyone understood it) and held at a different time and in a different part of the city. Widening the audience means redesigning the event, not waiting for people to turn up.