Some experience sharing on 3MT. From my own experience entering 3MT Competition at the university level in 2016 as well as others sharing from the internet.  Hope it will be useful for everyone

Before the day:

SCRIPT

1.     Have a killer story

This is probably THE most important thing you can possibly do. Everyone loves a good story, so ensure your presentation has one, include a beginning, middle and end. Ensure your last sentence focuses on the take home message. This not only makes it easy for the audience to follow, but a good story is also memorable.

How to do? Write your own story/3mt script yourself. Separate by section beginning/middle/end and write sentences separately with numbering list.  Make sure your script fit on 1 sheet of papers. I find it easy to manage rather than you have a call card etc.  But after all it depends on you.

Why: Easy to memorise/recall the number and what topics/sentences. Easy to plan your body language/expression/movement on stage/easy to track your timing.

During practise-I put time remark when I arrive at certain sentences. So, when minutes 2:55 seconds arrive I already at my last sentence and said my last word at minutes 2:59.

2.     Create analogy that is relatable to the audience

A good analogy helps. Your research will likely span several complex research areas. The real key to this is explaining them in a relatable way. 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

3.     Check out other people’s stories

One of the most useful things I find, is looking at what other people have done before me. For the 3MT competition especially, it’s unlikely you’ve ever done anything like this before. Looking at how other people tackled the problem can be very helpful.

4.     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!  Your audience for this presentation wants to know the bigger picture. Explain what you’re doing, but leave out the detail.  (More like telling your abstract but without technical information).

5.     Start your talk by introducing why this topic would be of interest to audience

make it relevant to your audience, so that they will be bothered to listen in the first place.

SLIDES

6.     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.  Follow design guideline, colour scheme, focal point, etc.

BODY LANGUAGE/APPEARANCE

7.     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.  Choose your best and suitable outfit. Don’t overdo it and yet don’t look pale and boring.  Stand by- ladies bring blazer because you might need to put in the head mic controller/battery in the pocket of your blazer. If not, you have to hold it, so it will limit your movement later.

8.     Body language is important.

Plan your movement and facial expression according to your script. Be aware of the perimeter set by the organiser. Normally they marked where you should stand and limit you can move.  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! –That is why you need to rehearse in front of the mirror. 

9.     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!

10.  Include Humour

Humour can go down well in a presentation, and it can help make your story more memorable. However, be prepared for all outcomes. If your joke goes well allow a few seconds before continuing to let the laughter sink in. Equally be prepared for the audience to find things funny that you didn’t expect. And if your joke unfortunately does fall flat, have a back-up plan or brush past it onto the next part of your presentation. Even humour also you need to practise, but don’t too fake.

11.  Practice, practice, practice

Practice by yourself, in front of the mirror as well as of other people, and especially people who do not know what your research is about. Practise in front of mirror to know how does your facial expression and movement looks like in front of people.  Test few expressions until you find the one that suits well and appropriate for the audience.  Rehearse the pronunciation of your speech too. Practise on timing setting too to make sure you cover everything in 3 minutes.  Pick a practice partner, you can give each other advice. Multiple people in your research group entering? Great, dedicate a group meeting to presentation feedback. For this, you can never practice enough.  Also record you practise video or audio. So, you can recheck and analyse yourself what should you do to improve the presentation.

On the day:

12.  Find your happy place (soul solitude)

Before your big moment, do something that relaxes you. Don’t go in stressed. Go for a run, eat lots of chocolate, just do something you enjoy.  Come early and get familiar with the environment/ competition event. If possible have on quick test on set or you can just visualize how you will perform later.   Be familiar with the equipment, especially if they are using collar mic.  So, make sure you are ready and standby with your own items/gadgets to make you feel comfortable

13.  Smile, be happy and sincere

A smile goes a long way, the audience will immediately click with you, and it will help you yourself feel more confident. Show enthusiasm for your research topic, the audience will feed off it and enjoy the whole experience a lot more.  Even if the judges show their serious face, don’t bother and just smile. Find other nice, concern faces for some eye contacts.  Eye contacts should be too long.  Just a quick one throughout the area and repeat it again.

14.  Don’t run over time, but don’t rush!!

The three-minute time limit is very strict. Do not go over, even by a second. However, that doesn’t mean you should talk at a million miles an hour to get every tiny possible detail of your research project in. The audience just won’t follow. Instead, have a good story and tell it in good time. Plan some buffer time into your presentation, so that if you do stumble you know there are a few seconds of leeway.  Remember you have practice and timing the presentation, so you know you already in safe hand.

15.  Never give up

There can only be one winner, and if it wasn’t you this time, that doesn’t mean your presentation wasn’t awesome. Heck, just having the guts to stand up there and try it is something on its own. If it wasn’t your day then don’t worry, there will always be other opportunities. The only way to improve presentation skills is to do more presentations.  Your confidence and experience you gain from 3MT will be very useful in a future presentation.

16.  But most importantly: Have fun!

Sure, the 3MT can be both stressful and nerve-wracking, but it is also a lot of fun! It is a great way to meet other researchers across the Uni, see what they’re up to, and share your own research. Enjoy the experience as much as possible and take every opportunity it throws your way