A version of this article was first published on Thesislink in June 2020, and has now been updated for 2024.
With entries for the 3 Minute Thesis competition now closed, our AUT entrants are hard at work producing their presentations. The premise of the 3MT is simple: present your research in just 3 minutes, with only one slide. This has always been a challenging task; but since the COVID era, the type of challenge has changed.
Prior to 2020, competitors gave their presentations live onstage to an audience of peers, colleagues, and supporters. In 2020, for obvious reasons, the competition went virtual with presentations via video. And now, in 2024, we still compete via pre-recorded video at AUT even though there is a live finals event (on 13 September – register here).
Why are presentations still via video? In our case, we go with video entries to allow our AUT winner to send their video to the Asia-Pacific 3MT finals (held virtually). But there are lots of reasons to present via video.
- You leave the competition with a recording you can link to from your CV / social media
- Friends, family, and colleagues from around the world can see your presentation
- You build a very necessary set of skills in video editing and virtual communication
Although the format has changed in the past few years, the path to 3MT success remains largely the same. A top-notch 3MT presentation needs to be exciting, engaging, and accessible to non-specialists; while also including enough detail about your research to demonstrate the rigour and significance of your work. In fact, the 3MT judging criteria were not changed with the shift to video entries.
That being said, producing a successful video presentation does require slightly different skills to those required to succeed onstage. Fortunately, you don’t need any special technical skills. The virtual competition rules explicitly state that “competitors will not be judged on video/ recording quality or editing capabilities”. No points are awarded for fancy cinematography or state-of-the-art editing. For the purposes of this competition, your potato-quality phone camera is as good as a high-end DSLR.
Although you won’t be judged on your filming or editing, you do still need to do some filming and editing. The team that manages 3MT at the University of Queensland has produced a helpful 3MT Video Recording Competitor Guide detailing how you can create your video from a technical perspective – including info on framing, lighting, sound, and editing. If you’re new to making videos, start there.
But in terms of your presentation skills, which are assessed, presenting to camera is different to presenting to an audience. Vocal projection is less important; engaging through the camera is more important. You won’t be able to move around as much, but you won’t need to worry about stage fright either. With a video submission, you can record and re-record as many times as you need to get it right.
Let’s break down how you can succeed on-camera with each element of your presentation: what you show, what you say, how you say it, and how you capture it.
What you show (your slide)
3MT videos can include one static slide. With video submission, you have two options for displaying your slide. You can record yourself left-of-centre in the frame so that your slide can appear beside you; or you can film yourself centred in the frame and cut to your slide periodically (to display for a maximum of 1 minute). The UQ 3MT Video Recording Competitor Guide contains more details on these options.
You can choose which option is more strategic for your particular presentation. For instance, a single-image or conceptual slide might benefit from being displayed throughout your presentation; while a slide which relates most to particular points in your talk might be best displayed selectively at those times.
The principles of good slide design apply:
- keep it simple
- make good use of impactful imagery
- don’t overcrowd your slide or use small fonts
A great 3MT slide is often conceptual – a visual image that conveys something about the meaning or significance of your research. See our previous Thesislink post for some tips on Designing a Winning 3MT Slide.
What you say (your script)
Some people like to work to a script when presenting; while others like to speak extemporaneously (‘off the cuff’). However for 3MT, it’s crucial to know exactly what you’re going to say. A well-refined script can keep your talk within the 3 minute time limit, and can help you to ensure that you’re explaining your research clearly while addressing the 3MT judging criteria.
Presenting to camera (instead of onstage) doesn’t really change how you write your script. However, it does reduce the pressure to memorise your script! When you come to record, you can use off-camera cue cards or prompts to aid your delivery. Just make sure that they don’t limit your ‘eye contact’ with the camera.
So what should you include?
- Something to ‘hook’ the audience and grab attention
- Meaty (high-level) details about your research questions, methods, and significance
- Metaphors, similes, and analogies to help non-specialists understand your complex research
How you say it (your delivery)
Good delivery on camera is quite different from good delivery onstage. When presenting live, you need to be able to project your voice, make strategic use of movement, and maintain composure if you forget your words or if someone sneezes loudly. On camera, you can keep recording until you get it right; but you have to engage your viewers without actually seeing them or being able to gauge their reactions.
If you’re used to presenting live, try recalibrating for the camera by:
- Scaling back your volume and movements as if you’re addressing one person, rather than a crowd
- Making ‘eye contact’ with the camera lens (and ensuring that your gaze stays there most of the time even if you’re reading from cue cards)
- Framing yourself in the shot so that your hand movements are visible
- Re-recording your presentation several times so you can choose your best ‘take’ (though note that 3MT rules dictate that you cannot edit several ‘takes’ together – while you can edit between the visual of yourself and your slide, the audio must be continuous with no edits)
How you capture it (the technical bits)
If you are experienced with video recording and editing, then you can absolutely work with the tools and techniques you already know (within the limits of the rules). But if you’re a video novice, the 3MT Video Recording Competitor Guide will be your best friend. It’s a brief overview of filming and editing techniques, with suggestions for video recording and editing software for different devices.
In addition to that guide, here are our AUT top tips for super-simple video recording and editing:
- Recording on your phone is totally fine – just turn it on its side and set it to airplane mode first so you don’t get any pesky notification noises messing up your takes
- Use a tripod if you have one; or prop up your device on a stable surface if you don’t (a few solid books behind a phone often does the trick)
- If recording via a webcam on a desktop computer, you can use Zoom (instructions here)
- Have a light source in front of you, not behind you
- For editing, the most beginner-friendly tools we’ve found are iMovie (Mac), ClipChamp (via browser), and Canva (via browser – tutorial here)
- It can help to save your PowerPoint slide as an image (e.g. JPEG) to insert it via your video editing tool
Here’s a sample video we made in 3MT format using an iPhone to record, and Canva to edit. The editing took about 30 minutes, including importing and exporting the video.
Preparing a 3MT presentation is a challenge and a commitment, but it can be very rewarding. Now that we’ve had video submissions for 4 years, there are lots of examples online of people who have done it well. Check out AUT’s star performers from the past few years: Madeline Hayward (2023 winner), Fay Amaral (2023 runner-up), Humaira Siddiqi (2022 Masters winner), Katrina Coleman (2022 doctoral winner), and lots more winners and finalists linked from the AUT 3MT website.
All entrants can draw on advice from the Graduate Research School’s RED team (Researcher Education and Development) as you prepare entries – contact us at red@aut.ac.nz!
