10 Hints for Improving Presentations for the Three Minute Thesis Competition

By Danielle Fischer

1. Forget everything you know about giving scientific presentations: You must tailor your talk

to your audience (“an intelligent but non-specialised audience”). Don’t introduce yourself,

don’t acknowledge your lab members or funding bodies and don’t show data! We really

don’t care about the intricacies of your results. Your audience for this presentation wants to

know the bigger picture. By all means, explain what you’re doing, but leave out the detail,

thanks!

2. Start your talk by introducing your little pocket of research in the grander scheme of things,

thinking about why this topic would be of interest to any person off the street (eg. does this

help with finding a cure for cancer? Will it solve global warming? Will it help our

understanding of the universe). Even if your little bit of research is a far stretch from curing

cancer, for example, it is important to make it relevant to your audience, so that they will be

bothered to listen in the first place.

3. Carefully think about what you should include on your PowerPoint slide. Only include things

that are relevant and ensure that any images you use are of good quality (don’t use images

with watermarks – they are copyright protected). Don’t overcrowd your slide as this looks

unprofessional and confusing, and avoid distractions like flashing lights or super brightly

coloured backgrounds.

4. Analogies are great, but make sure your analogy is something that everyone will be able to

identify with, otherwise it’ll just end up complicating the matter further. Keep it simple.

5. Speak in an engaging manner. If you don’t sound like you’re interested in the topic, why

would we be? Most people aren’t very confident when they do public speaking, but you

need to get over yourself and fake it until you make it! It’s only 3 minutes of your life!

6. I hate to say it, but physical appearance does matter – but only so far as to ensure that you

don’t wear anything distracting, otherwise people will focus on that instead of your talk.

7. Body language is really important. Keep in mind if your hands are flailing around, as this can

distract your audience. Don’t stand behind the safety of your lectern staring into the

computer, praying for the three minutes to pass! Get out and about, engage with your

audience, look each of them in the eye (but don’t stare at just one person the whole talk –

this is a pet hate of mine!). And smile!

8. Finish your talk by summing up what you do in the greater scheme of things. How will your

research contribute to the grander goal?

9. Now practise, practise, practise! Practise on your lab friends, practise on your grandmother.

And get feedback and advice. If both parties can understand it and are interested in it,

you’re on to a good thing.

10. Make sure you use your time, but don’t go over it.

Your audience is there because they what to hear about what you do. Inspire them, and enjoy the

opportunity you have been given to share your research with people… Have fun and good luck!

How to win the 3 minute thesis

Dr Inger Mewburn (aka @thesiswhisperer)Director of research trainingThe Australian National Universitywww.thesiswhisperer.com

In this presentation we will

Talk about bad presentations

Look at some examples of the 3MT in action

Go through some steps to help you make one

What is the 3MT?

In other words, it shouldn't be like this:

Why are some presentations bad?

What other students have said

Too technicalToo much on each slide No structure to talkReading from notes Unclear speech Nervous speakerToo simple Weird body languageSmall font / wacky fonts / yellow font on white backgroundBusy backgrounds

Let's look at some 3MT contestants in action

Barlarka Banerjee

Jack Midalek

Sumaiya Ahmed

Jamie Flynn

Daniel Crabtree

A good 3MT presentation...

Doesn't try to say too muchIs delivered slowly.Has expression (pauses, rises, falls and stresses)Includes a story, metaphor or emotional elementGives concrete examplesDoesn't ‘telegraph’ Tells you things you didn't expect to hear about the topic

Anything else?

A framework for action

In "Made to Stick" Chip and Dan Heath claim that thisformula makes information rich presentations unforgettable:

SimpleUnexpectedConcreteCredible (we won't deal with this)EmotionalStories

Let's work on Simple

Complete the following sentence.

"The purpose of my research is..." (add max 50 words)

Share your sentence and we'll workshop some of them.

Let's work on Unexpected

Tell us an interesting fact about your research!

All of you will know something that has probably ceased being of interest to you, but is new to us.

For example:

● Silver turns your tongue blue.● The chemical that makes bananas go brown probably causes

alzheimer disease.● Watering a plant is good because you are giving it electrons.

Take a few minutes to think about it, then share one if you can.

Let's work on Concrete

Close your eyes... and listen to me

Was it hard not to think of this?

Emotions

In research writing we are told not to resort to emotional arguments, but in the 3MT it is essential. Here's some emotions you can work with:

"What's in it for me?" (WIFM)"Oh, how sad :-(""Interesting!""That's mysterious..."

You need to convey your passion for your work too, but be aware of the possibility of 'topic fatigue' in the audience.

Story

Including a story can help you work in an emotional angle

Good stories include the following elements:

Characters (they don't have to be human)A beginning, middle and end (not necessarily in that order)Some kind of change or transformationA "call to action"

Read this blog post "Story telling in business" for more ideas.

What should go on the slide

Resist temptation!

Don't rely on it as a presentation aideChoose one 'hero' image or diagramTitle can be a question, or your actual titlePut your name and contact details on it

May the force be with you!

For more advice and ideas head to the Thesis Whisperer blog which has a section on presenting