Transcript Preparing your 3MT® Presentation Or, how to make BIG ideas clear, accessible, and engaging Ada Sharpe January 2013

Preparing your
3MT® Presentation
Or, how to make BIG ideas clear,
accessible, and engaging
Ada Sharpe
January 2013
Basic info on the 3MT® at
Laurier
https://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=36&p=
22924
O Introductory overview of the competition
provided in the document “Getting Ready for
the 3MT”
Objectives of this workshop
Provide an overview
O Examine the criteria
O Suggest 5 steps to help get you started
O Study the 7 rhetorical moves of a winning
3MT®
O Look at specific examples
O Connect you to resources
O
Your challenge . . .
1. To present complex research material in an
engaging, compelling way and in a very short period of
time
2. To articulate the significance of your research to a
broad and non-specialist audience
3. To stimulate your listeners’ interest with your oratory
energy and skill
3MT® Rules
One single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no
transitions, animations or movement of any kind)
No additional electronic media or props of any kind
shall be used (i.e. no sound and video files, no
costumes or music)
Presentations shall be no longer than 3 minutes and
competitors exceeding this limit will be disqualified
Decisions of the adjudicating panel are final
What does a winning 3MT®
presentation look like?
Judging Criteria
O A panel of five judges, drawn from across the
Laurier community, will evaluate the 3MT®
orations according to a rubric of criteria
O Each category of evaluation is weighted equally
O As the presenter, you need to give each category
equal consideration
Comprehension means. . .
O A clear explanation of the research project
O Stating the method and objectives of the
research and addressing the evidence
O Clearly articulating the significance of the
research in accessible terms
O Organizing your ideas
Engagement means. . .
O Stimulating audience interest in the
research
O Presenting the research as significant and
purposeful and not trivializing or ‘dumbing
down’ content
O Demonstrating enthusiasm
O Capturing and engaging audience attention
throughout
Communication means. . .
O Explaining the research in jargon-free
language appropriate to a non-specialist
audience
O Defining key terms and providing
background information
O Speaking at an even pace and giving
yourself sufficient time
O Speaking audibly and clearly, and appearing
comfortable and confident
Preparing yourself
1. Look at examples of
your own writing in
which you have
developed and
expressed the main
ideas of your research
O Dissertation/thesis
proposals, chapter
drafts, abstracts,
scholarship
applications, term
papers, brainstorming
notes
Take your writing apart
2. Distill the main
problems, issues, and
questions addressed by
the research
O Highlight and
underline key words
O Cut out everything but
the most central ideas
and evidence
O Ask yourself, why is
what I’m saying
significant?
Look at the broader picture
3. Step back and
observe the broader
scholarly conversation
on this topic
4. Consider what you are
saying in response to
this conversation and
how your ideas depart
from or revise existing
research
O Review the most
recent contributions
to the field
O They say/I say
O How does your
research fit in with
what is out there?
Why does this matter?
5. Reflect on the
significance of your
intervention
O Push every idea by
forcing yourself to
complete the phrase,
“and this is
significant because. .
.”
The Structure of a 3MT®
Presentation
7 Rhetorical Moves
1. Hook
O Invite your audience into your topic
O Offer a point of entry: a common experience,
perception or assumption, a familiar problem, a
personal anecdote or human interest story
O Begin with an image or a metaphor for people
to latch on to
Many people are familiar with. . .
I used to think that. . . .
When I was a child, . . .
The person on my slide is. . .
Imagine you are standing. . .
We have all experienced. . .
2. Context
O What is the broader conversation?
O Set out what scholars have said about this
topic
O What do we already know, understand,
assume?
O What are current solutions or approaches to
this problem?
Scholars understand that. . .
Much current research focuses on the idea that. . .
Research into [this] has laid the groundwork for my thesis that. . .
Groundbreaking contributions have revealed that. . .
We know that. . .
We have tended to assume that. . .
3. Inspiration
O Your contribution: respond to existing ideas and
research
O State the problem, gap, or oversight that needs to be
addressed
O Clarify what you seek to understand through your
research and how this addresses the problem, gap,
or oversight
I take the approach that. . .
This has led me to ask. . .
But what about. . . ?
How do we address the remaining problem that. . .?
Still, I was left to wonder. . .
4. Originality
O Explain the original contribution you are making to
address the problem or question
O Contrast existing methods with your innovative
approach
O Highlight what is different and innovative about
your approach
While many scholars have focused on [this], I examine. . .
I suggest that we adopt another perspective. . .
My research has revealed evidence otherwise
But current research overlooks the fact that. . .
5. Process/Method
O Elucidate how you will go about implementing
your original approach
O Point to your evidence
O Name the actual and theoretical tools you will use
to interpret this evidence
O Summarize what you hope to learn or have
learned from the process
I begin by. . .
I do this by. . .
Comparing [this] and [this] lets me see. . .
I apply. . . I use. . .
6. Complication
O Address the challenges you have faced in your
research
O Have you faced a major obstacle?
O Consider opposing points of view and biases:
what are other ways of approaching this problem?
We still, however, need to think about. . .
The problem […] remains unanswered. . .
Some might argue at this point that. . .
But what about . . .?
This has posed a challenge in that. . .
7. Application
O At the broadest level, what does your research
help us understand?
O What will change in light of the original knowledge
you are forging?
My research lays the basis for. . .
My research complicates the common belief that. . .
My research offers solutions to. . .
My research has application not only in [this] but in the related areas of. . .
My research overturns age-old ideas about. . .
My research demands that we see this from another perspective. . .
Winning Examples
Spot the rhetorical moves
Expressing yourself
O What strengths do
O Jargon-free language
these presentations O Speaking clearly
share?
O Getting to the point
O Being expressive and
creative
O Neither over-stating or understating the case
O Emphasizing the problem
and the need for a solution
Writing Support
From February 4 to March 6, 2013:
•Benefit from a one-on-one tutoring session with an
experienced writing tutor at Laurier’s Writing
Centre to hone your writing and oral presentation
skills
To book an appointment: sign up at the January workshops
or call or visit the Writing Centre