1. 3MT training workshop 1
8th February 2017
Dr Susan Sandeman
Lorraine Slater
@PhD_Brighton

2. Why the 3MT?

3. Three minutes! One slide!
An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present.
Your time limit... 3 minutes.
Three minutes!
One slide!

4. 3MT process and key local and national dates
Feb 8th
RDP training workshop 1
March 8th
RDP training workshop 2 (a follow up session)
March 15th
Registration deadline for Brighton competition
April 30th
Video submission deadline for Brighton competition
May 9th
Brighton finalists announced
May 17th
Live Brighton final at Falmer! Festival highlight!
July 7th
Video submission deadline for Vitae’s national competition
Mid-August
Six finalists announced
September 11th
Live final in Birmingham!
Full details, resource pack and online registration form on our blog:

5. Some of the key judging criteria
Comprehension & Content
Did the presentation provide an understanding of the background to the research question and its significance?
Did the presentation clearly describe the key results of the research including conclusions and outcomes?
Did the presentation follow a clear and logical sequence?
Was the language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
Engagement & Communiucation
Was the presenter careful not to trivialise or generalise their research?
Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?
Did the speaker have sufficient stage presence?
See our blog for rules and judging criteria:

6. Try to find six positive elements and six areas for improvement in each of these videos.
Jamie Flynn, Propriospinal neurons and their role in recovery from spinal cord injury
(Biomedical Sciences)
Zaid Janjua, On thin ice!
(Engineering)

7. How do you make your audience care about your research?

8. Why are these presentations prize-winning
Why are these presentations prize-winning? Identify similar approaches and techniques.
Nazira Albargothy, Mapping the most efficient drug route into the brain
(Medicine)
Rosanna Stevens, Now you see it
(Arts and Social Sciences)
Carly Lynsdale, Pachyderms, parasites and poo: linking individual variation and parasite infection in semi-captive Asian elephants
(Animal and Plant Sciences)
Megan Pozzi, What’sonyourmind?
(Education)

9. Write one sentence in response to the following four prompts:
Big picture
What is the problem/challenge your research seeks to address? Or how might it connect to a problem?
How will your research make the world a better place?
Relatability
Why should we care? Write a sentence which addresses your audience using ‘you’.
Did you know….? Tell us something interesting and unusual about your research.

10. Structuring your 3MT script
Kurt Vonnegut, The Shape of Stories

11. The Three Act Structure of Stories
Drama
Three Minute Thesis
Act 1
25% max
INTRIGUE
The set up
Introduces a problem or a threat. A disruption to order.
YIKES!
The problem. The big picture. What’s at stake? How might it affect your audience?
Act 2 (i)
25%
EXCITEMENT/STRESS OF BATTLE
The confrontation/struggle
Hero attempts to solve the problem, to achieve their desire, to reach their goal. Meets obstacles and set-backs which prevent this from happening easily
YOU!
The smaller picture, the detail, your research. (The problem is complex so there are implicit obstacles to success.)
Act 2 (ii)
More struggle
Your research
Act 3
SATISFACTION
The resolution
Stability is restored. The world is changed and often for the better
PHEW!
How your PhD is going to save the world/make it a better place – show off! You are doing amazing work!

12. Your script should be around 400 words
Use story structure to build your script
‘Bookend’ your story with a strong opening (Act 1) and a strong ending (Act 3)
You might want to try using mini-stories within that structure eg in your opening.
TASK: Try and think of three different ways you could open your 3MT presentation. Don’t worry about sentence-level detail yet. Concentrate on the concepts.

13. You’ve created a strong script structure
You’ve created a strong script structure. The ideas and content are great!
But how do you tell that ‘story’? How do you communicate it to your audience? How do you engage them in the narrative?

14. Your Language Choices Avoid academic jargon and technical language!
Keep it simple and ordinary. Use colloquialisms (aka everyday language); idiomatic language (aka sayings or words that have figurative meaning); consider phrasal verbs instead of Latinate words (eg look into/investigate; check out/explore)
Use analogies! Explain technical aspects of your work by comparing them to something your audience will be familiar with.
Ask questions of your audience eg. What if you…? Did you know that…? But how does this affect…?
Use active voice not passive eg ‘We often use the passive voice in academia’ not ‘The passive voice is often used in academia’
Paint (quick!) pictures with language
- make the abstract concrete
- touch the heart; create an emotional connection
- invite your audience to imagine

15. Your Language Choices
“I thought ‘dark lines’ sounded very mysterious and magical so I thought that was a good choice”
Slide from Sean McGraw’s 3MT Tips

16. What goes on the slide? Zaid Janjua Caroline Le Nazira Albargothy
Emma Hodcraft

17. What goes on the slide?
From Sean McGraw’s 3MT tips
Judging criteria: Did the PowerPoint slide enhance the presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?
Keep it simple. Make sure your slide doesn’t overpower you.
Check out Vitae’s tip sheet:

18. Act structure – Yikes, You, Phew! Simplicity Slide
Summary
Bigger picture
Relatability
Act structure – Yikes, You, Phew!
Simplicity
Slide

19. References
Video (7.33 mins):
3MT: the three most common mistakes, Dr Inger Mewburn (aka The Thesis Whisperer)
Blog post:
Journal article:
Peter Copeman, (2015), “Three Minute Theatre: Principles and practice for scripting and performing Three Minute Thesis presentations”, International Journal for Researcher Development, Vol.6 Iss 1 pp
Also see the resource pack on our blog:

20. Follow us on Twitter
@PhD_Brighton