2025 Showcase: Beyond the Work - Bridging the Knowledge Gap for Lasting Impact

Students and trainees put in a lot of hard work in a single year that they are expected to present or display at conferences and formal venues - often competitively. This can be nerve-wracking especially for first time conference attendees, but at any stage of one's career. We heard from our students that there aren’t many lower pressure opportunities to practice preparing for those high stakes events to feel more confident when they attend the real thing. Why not give our students the very thing they asked for? Hence, the purpose of this forum is to give students and trainees a space to hone their skills without the pressure.

Below are three presentation platforms that students and trainees can sign up for. You must sign up separately for each one (if you want to do more than one). Presenters must also register for the conference for capacity and catering purposes.

Sign up closes at midnight on April 27, 2025. Presentation details will be sent directly to you via email upon sign up.

All presentation materials are due by 23:59 on April 28, 2024, no exceptions.

Please send your questions to the Conference Coordinator, at mnroe@ucalgary.ca.

You have your choice of a 5-minute, low-pressure presentation, or you can challenge yourself and try your hand at making this is a speed-round event by doing an Ignite Talk.

A 5-Minute Presentation is just that. You build out your slide deck based on the work you have done or are doing and just tell us about it in 5 minutes. This will be timed so practice and do your best to keep it to 5 minutes only.

What is an Ignite Talk?

Simply put: it's 5 minutes per presentation (timed), 20 slides max, 15 seconds per slide, be as succinct as possible.

Ignite is an innovative and fast-paced style used to deliver a concise presentation - in this case, any projects you completed this year. During an Ignite Talk, presenters discuss their research using 20 image-centric slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is a fun and engaging five-minute presentation. Click here to learn more.

This is a great way to challenge yourself so sign up to give an Ignite Talk! 

If you’ve never heard of Ignite Talks before, here are some resources to help you develop one:

https://scottberkun.com/2009/how-to-give-a-great-ignite-talk/

https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/how-to-create-an-engaging-ignite-presentation

http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/ignite-presentations/

Sign up closes at midnight on April 27, 2025. A copy of your presentation must be sent to the Conference Coordinator by 23:59 on April 28, please also bring your presentation with you on a USB.

Please send your questions the Conference Coordinator, at mnroe@ucalgary.ca.

This is a speed-round event. Three minutes per presentation (timed) and be as succinct as possible.

The University of Calgary hosts an annual 3-Minute Thesis competition, so we are modelling this speed round event after it to keep things simple - except we removed the competitive aspect because, again, this is for practice!

Here’s how it works: Your thesis, three minutes, one slide.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an internationally recognized research communication competition. Participants have three minutes to deliver a compelling presentation on their thesis research for a general audience using a single, static slide.

The 3MT helps graduate students develop skills in translating their research and its impact for non-specialists. This skill is becoming essential for many purposes:

    Funding proposals
    Transitioning into employment
    Generating interest in, awareness of and support for academic research
    Communicating with confidence and clarity to diverse audiences

The Rules:

1. A single, static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description, the slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration). Please note that using a slide is optional but strongly encouraged. Images used in the slide must be your own, or you must have permission from the owner of the photo(s) and provide proper credit(s).
2. No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
3. No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment, or laser pointers) are permitted.
4. No notes preferred. Preferably presentations are to be memorized, but if you find notes are helpful for you, feel free to use them.
5. Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum.
6. Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
7. Presentations must be based on research directly related to the student’s graduate program thesis. Research performed for employment cannot be presented.

Practice makes perfect! Give a 3MT a try!

Here are some additional resources to help you prepare:

https://pipettegazette.uthscsa.edu/2020/08/21/10-tips-for-3-minute-thesis-competition/

https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/scientificcommunication/chapter/the-3-minute-thesis/

3MT: three tips to help you prepare a winning presentation [video]

3MT: the three most common mistakes [video]

Sign up closes at midnight on April 27, 2025. A copy of your presentation must be sent to the Conference Coordinator by 23:59 on April 28, please also bring your presentation with you on a USB.

Please send your questions to the Conference Coordinator, at mnroe@ucalgary.ca.

No frills, no gimmicks, no surprises here, the poster session is exactly that! Don't reinvent the wheel, if you have a poster you worked on this academic year, please feel free to use that for your presentation instead of producing something new that you won’t use elsewhere. Alternatively, if you are preparing for an upcoming conference and have a poster you plan to present and would like the opportunity to practice your presentation among your peers, this is the spot for it! There will be guided poster walks for this part of the program so we can maximize as much equal exposure for all posters as we can.

Poster boards are 4' (W) x 6' (H) and are Velcro adhesive only - which we will provide. Please DO NOT use thumb tacks on the poster boards.

Recommended poster orientation and size: Landscape, 4' (W) x 3' (H). If you already have a printed poster do not worry about the size or orientation for this, we will make it work!

Sign up and claim your poster board! 

Sign up closes at midnight on April 27, 2025. Please send your poster title to the Conference Coordinator by 23:59 on April 28 to be assigned a poster board number. Posters do not need to be submitted in advance of the event. Please bring your poster to the Showcase for set up between 8:00-9:00 AM on April 30th.

Please send your questions to the Conference Coordinator, at mnroe@ucalgary.ca.

More hands make lighter work, and the bigger the event, the more hands are needed. Help is always appreciated so if you are interested in supporting the operational side of any or all of this event, please feel free to sign up.

Lend us a hand by selecting Volunteer upon registration. Details to be shared closer to the event.