How was it, being on national TV?

In the end I got a lot of praise for my attendance in the SVT Barnkanalen Morgonshowen kids show. Everything from a simple 'well done you!' to a friendly suggestion of a career change (to TV host).
However, funny thing is that it was more or less chance that gave me this opportunity. Because that's exactly what it was, despite "only" being a kids show. An opportunity to communicate science.

Basically an editor at Morgonshowen called a professor at my department in search of microscopes and someone who could show them, and small things in them, in their show. I've no idea why they didn't contact the the Biomolecular department, but that doesn't matter.
The professor they first contacted didn't have access to any microscopes and those research groups who did included mine and a few others. Mine just happened to be the first one to be contacted and since I'm the only swedish speaking researcher in my group that meant that I would be the only one capable of pulling it off.

Before I even knew what the fuss was all about I was reading through a brief manuscript on looking at small, everyday things in a microscope. Apart from that I was free to add my own research and expertise. Knowing that, the decision was a no-brainer and in hindsight I think it turned out even better than I had hoped.
Being a perfectionist I immediately started to put together an instrument/computer setup that would allow me to best visualize what I wanted to show, and of course, writing a simple manuscript of my own with simple facts and metaphors that would come in handy during the actual recording in their studio. During that time I also, in my mind, went through what I would say in response to different questions I would get, since it would mostly be improvisation at the time of recording.

In the end I brought two different microscopes (40x and 400x magnification), a camera that fit both microscopes, my laptop with visualization softwares and a 24 inch monitor. The microscope slides and materials were all prepared in advance and with the helpful assistance and support of my supervisor I had everything ready, including tiny beakers with phytoplankton cultures of different colors (e.g. red, green and pink), within two days. Despite these preparations there were still some improvisation happening with the microscopes on the day of recording.

The setup I used, trying it out in my lab (one microscope less).

When that day finally arrived I was really nervous. I remember that my supervisor and the public relations manager at the department accompanied me to the studio, and the drive there seemed to last forever. I had the feeling that I wanted to get to the studio that very instant and just get this thing started so I could better handle my nervousness.
The security at the SVT main building was rigid and we had to register and wait for quite some time before the editor finally showed up to greet us and let us into the studio.
My setup was already there and ready to go, since I assembled everything the night before. All I needed to do was plug in my computer. But before that happened, I met all the people involved, including of course, the host of the show for this episode, Tobbe 'Trollkarl'. Those of you who aren't swedish will probably not know who he is, but suffice to say that he has been on TV for a relatively long time, even when I was a kid. So I had a surreal moment of meet and greet with him before getting ready. The studio was fairly large and had a double setup depending on the different shows they were recording. It was a ridiculous amount of stuff, both technical and otherwise, lying around waiting to be put to use. And of course, in the middle of it all, a massive mixer table, cameras, lights microphones, you name it.

Apart from double checking my instruments there was not much preparation to be done. No make-up, no briefing, I just put my lab coat on and had a brief rundown with Tobbe about what he was going to say and do. I more or less played along and did my thing. To be honest it was a fairly simple task since Tobbe made life easy for me with his genuine interest and excitement over getting the opportunity to look at all these different things in a microscope. For example, I would guess that a lot of people have no idea that grains of regular salt is actually cube shaped.

Me and Tobbe Trollkarl in the studio

The recording was done in three segments and during the first I was really nervous, and I remember my supervisor happily saying that I should try and smile more. In time for the second segment I was getting warmed up and everything felt more comfortable. I got some pointers from the camera woman which also helped. In the end it felt really good, even though I always get the nagging feeling that there are things I could have done better, which I guess is natural.
By the time we did the third segment I didn't want it to end. I could do this for quite some time more. I had a blast.

There were no re-recordings and the session, which should have taken two hours, was done in only one hour. Everyone seemed really pleased with how it turned out and after watching the show on TV on the 27th of August I can see why, although it's quite weird seeing myself on TV. My kids were thrilled!
The week after the recording in the SVT Barnkanalen studio the editor called me again.