Week 1: Winning Starts Now!

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Competing in GRCs is an incredible opportunity to showcase your expertise, passion, and hard work. In the first week of our work together, we’ll focus on laying the foundation for your success by breaking down the competition process, setting clear goals, and organizing your ideas. Preparation is key to building confidence and ensuring that you’re ready to make a strong impression. 

In my experience organizing the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) at the University of Virginia, around 25%–30% of the graduate students who initially signed up to compete eventually dropped out. The main reason was that they had not adequately planned for how much time they needed to prepare. 

A good-faith estimate for the amount of time needed to prepare for a GRC is around 30–40 hours. (And in my interviews with previous competitors, they confirmed that investment.) That is a LOT of time if you wait until a week or two before the competition. However, it is quite easy to spread that time out over a handful of weeks and not have it be a stressful burden. 

Take First! starts eight weeks before the competition. Over that time, we will clarify your research narrative, design a visually compelling slide or prop, develop your physical presence, and of course, allow for practice.  

Click here for a downloadable one-page schedule. 

To achieve your goals in Week 1, you will need approximately three hours to complete the exercises. This includes a buffer for tasks that take longer than estimated or for unexpected follow-up work: 

• Add your GRC tasks to your calendar (Exercise 1.1)
• Discover your GRC audience (Exercise 1.2)
• Draft an outline for your GRC script (Exercise 1.3)
• Launch your Fan Club and/or find your mentor (Exercise 1.4)
• Watch one GRC presentation (Exercise 1.5)

If this feels like a lot, take a breath. The Take First! program is designed to help you check the box on each of these tasks. If you need a preview, head over to Week 1 in Weekly Exercises to see the action plan. 

Eliška Jandová, FameLab, 2022, 1st place, Charles University, Czech Republic. “ I spent at least a month perfecting the speech. I wrote bits and pieces each day. It was probably a month and a half in total. I probably spent an hour a day preparing during that time.”

Dirk Lauinger, Research Slam, 2023, 1st place, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  ”I was thinking about my audience, but I didn’t think of the judges as my audience. I thought about the actual audience, beyond the competition that I want to communicate to.”

Kelly Finke, Princeton Research Day 2024, winner, Princeton University: “ I think one of our biggest obligations as scientists [is] to learn how to communicate our work. People think if you understand your work really well, you can communicate it. But it’s very complicated. It takes just as much practice as anything else.”

See Exercise 1.1 to begin to plan your GRC prep schedule.

How many times have you heard this advice: “Know your audience.” My guess is that you have heard it many times, but do you actually know how to get to know your audience? How are you supposed to get to know a group of people when you don’t even know who they are? How do you learn about them ahead of time? How do you learn about them in the moment? 

Fear not. I have spent way too much time thinking about the challenge of getting to know an audience, and I have a few tips for you. 

At a high level, there are three occasions you have when you can get to know your audience: before, during, and after. 

Let’s start with the “before.” In the case of a GRC, we know a few characteristics of the audience ahead of time. Most of them will be highly educated and interested in research. It is safe to assume that most of the audience will not be from your discipline. Depending on your university, you may anticipate an international audience, and that diversity means many of your listeners will speak English as their second language. In terms of demographic details, you can expect most of the audience to be in their 20s and 30s. 

The question you may now be asking yourself is, how does this information inform my talk? 

Let’s remind ourselves why we need to know our audience. Our goal is to help the audience feel connected to our research. We want them to feel like it could impact their lives or the lives of people they care about. To meet that goal, we need to know something about them that is relevant to our research. 

It can be tricky to weigh which attributes of the audience should inform your approach. I suggest that you can expect two key attributes: the audience will be both intelligent and interdisciplinary. As such, you will need to use language and concepts that speak broadly rather than using obscure jargon and specialized theories. 

What about the “during” your presentation? One of the best ways to learn about your audience in the moment is to issue a “call and response.” We’ll go into more depth in Week 4, but I’ll give you a brief preview now. 

A “call and response” is a technique that invites those in the audience to respond. If you study mass transportation, asking how many people in your audience rode the bus would give you information about who is likely to connect with your research. For an in-person presentation, you would say “Raise your hand if you rode the bus to work today.” Or depending on your message, you might invert the prompt like this: “Stand up if you walked to work today.” Regardless of which prompt you use, you will see responses around the room. Take a moment and observe how many hands are up or how many people are standing. Is it a small fraction of the total audience? Or is it the majority? Or somewhere in between? 

If only a few people actually acknowledge your question, you know you need to have some way to connect with them as well as with the rest. 

If a lot of people responded, their reaction may be a signal that your audience will be particularly interested in what you are studying and see the benefit of your research. 

There is also value in discovering your audience in the “after” moments. Some would argue that this aspect is not as critical if you will not encounter the same audience again, and there is merit to that. That said, however, I recommend you request any judging details or evaluative documents that are available to you. Even if you disagree with the results, the information you glean from such reactions can be taken forward into your next talk. 

Check out Exercise 1.2 to help you get acquainted with your GRC audience. 

You may have heard about “support systems” in the context of someone going through a major life change or experiencing an emotional struggle. Support systems are critical for people to successfully navigate difficult times. Such people listen, they help, and they provide whatever support is needed.

While your GRC is not a crisis or a life-threatening emergency, it is still going to be quite challenging, and you will need people on your side to buoy you when you feel unable to lift yourself. Instead of referring to them as your support system, we are going to call them your Fan Club!!! 

The job of your Fan Club members is to cheer you on, remind you of your brilliance, and believe in you when you doubt yourself. Fan Club members can be Mom and Dad, siblings, partners, children, friends, roommates, lab mates, advisors, the server at your favorite restaurant, the barista at your coffee shop, and the driver of the bus you ride from your parking deck to your office. Anyone who cheers you on! 

There are no rules about how many people can be in your Fan Club. Still, you might consider a minimum of three people so that you have options when you need to reach out. Keep in mind that Fan Club members can come and go, so be open to new fans arriving and old fans moving on. 

How can you leverage your Fan Club? Here are a few ideas: 

• Engage them one-on-one to give you feedback on specific elements of your talk (e.g., prop, slide, analogy, etc.).
• Ask them to surprise you with text messages (or a meme!) of encouragement and positivity.
• Invite them to be a part of your practice audience (see Week 6).
• Invite them to attend the final event.

Be prepared for the reality that your Fan Club is not going to be thinking constantly about the fact you are competing in your GRC. I know that may come as a shock, but you might need to remind them of their purpose in helping you. 

When you need to be cheered on, just ask. When you are drafting your talk and hit a wall, tell someone in your Fan Club. Tell them what you need. Do you want them to brainstorm with you, or do you just want them to remind you that you can do it? Be clear. 

Oh, and please remember to thank your fans. 

Like those in your Fan Club, your mentor is on your side. Ideally, your mentor should also be in your Fan Club. 

Whether you know it or not, you very likely have had mentors in your life—some official and some assigned, some ad hoc and some informal, some within a specific time period, some momentary and passing, some more advanced in their careers or lives, and some who may be your age or even younger. 

In my first grown-up job, I was a little bit of a misfit toy in my organization. I was a science policy person in an information technology research lab. For the first few years, I often felt out of place and unsure. What helped me cope were my mentors. 

Officially, Randy was the lab director, overseeing more than 100 researchers. While I reported directly to a middle manager, Randy was the person I turned to when I had new ideas to share. He was a quiet, attentive listener—the kind of leader who spoke rarely, but when he did, his words were thoughtful and impactful.

Jennie, a colleague, shared my disciplinary background. She was kind and bubbly, more often than not in a happy mood. She saw the value in my ideas and encouraged me when I was doubtful. She would also challenge me if she thought I was taking a course of action that might not be appropriate. 

Tom held a leadership position as an executive in our organization. At least five levels of management were between him and me on the organizational chart, but that didn’t matter. Tom and I shared an interest in government, and we often collaborated to increase the visibility of our organization to the state legislature. Tom’s mentorship style favored modeling appropriate behavior and decisions rather than advising me of what to do. As the years passed, he became more of a friend than a work colleague, for which I’ll always be grateful. 

Arnie worked for a legislative tracking service I was interested in purchasing. We met on a phone call about 20 years ago. Our first conversation was one of those rare moments when you encounter someone you feel like you have known forever. While we didn’t meet in person for several years, we would occasionally talk and compare notes on life. Arnie was like a mirror that reflected back to me in ways I was unable to see on my own.

To summarize, my most impactful mentors share many exceptional characteristics that you should seek too. 

• They listen. I can picture every one of them observing me in silence as I spoke.
• They believe in me. When I got down on myself, my mentors would remind me of my previous accomplishments or give me a reassuring pep talk about how I could overcome my fears.
• They challenge me to view things in a different way. 
• They are honest and kind. 
• They suggest or request instead of demand or order. Instead of “Marlit, prepare a proposal and get it back to me by close of business,” they would say, “Marlit, can you get me a draft of your ideas by later today?”
• They want to empower me to be better and to grow. 

While you are considering a mentor for the GRC, ask yourself what you need from this person. Then, be direct with them and ask whether they can provide that resource for you. 

Avoid having someone as your GRC mentor without telling them they are serving in that role for you. While it is fine and normal to have admired people in your life who are unaware of the wisdom they’re bestowing, that interaction won’t work for a GRC. For this specific circumstance, you will yield better outcomes if your mentor knows and agrees to serve in this role. (See a little more about mentors in the FAQs).

Choosing a mentor (or more than one) is the first step, of course, but what’s equally important is considering how you can leverage your mentor. Here are a few ideas much like those already mentioned for others, but specifically for the role of mentor: 

• Engage them one-on-one to give you feedback on specific aspects of your talk (e.g., prop, slide, analogy, etc.).
• Invite them to be a part of your practice audience (see Week 6).
• Invite them to attend the final event.

See Exercise 1.4 to help you build your fan club and identify your mentor.

As you wrap up Week 1, take a moment to acknowledge the effort you’ve already invested in preparing for this competition. Laying a solid foundation is no small feat, and every step you’ve taken this week brings you closer to achieving your goals. Remember, preparation isn’t about perfection—it’s about creating a clear, structured plan that allows your ideas to shine. By following the schedule, you’re laying an excellent foundation. Here are the key takeaways this week:

Competing in a GRC requires a significant time investment, ideally 30–40 hours spread over eight weeks. Lack of planning is a major reason participants drop out. Your preparation plan outlines a detailed weekly schedule that includes milestones like script drafting, slide design, rehearsals, and audience feedback.

Understanding your audience is crucial for crafting an engaging presentation. Most GRC audiences are interdisciplinary, highly educated, and diverse, often with non-native English speakers. Presenters should avoid jargon and consider using interactive techniques like “call and response” to build connection in the moment.

A strong support system— your personal GRC “Fan Club”—is vital for encouragement, feedback, and morale. Fan Club members include friends, family, advisors, and even baristas or bus drivers—anyone who lifts you up. Participants are encouraged to actively involve their Fan Club in the preparation process and lean on them when challenges arise.

Having a mentor—someone who listens, challenges you, and believes in your growth—is essential. It’s important that this person knows they are your mentor and is willing to give specific feedback, join practice sessions, and help you grow through the GRC journey.

Insights from past GRC winners reveal the importance of audience-focused communication, avoiding technical jargon, and dedicating consistent daily effort over several weeks. Their experiences emphasize that even brilliant researchers need to adapt their message for clarity and engagement.

Remember to review the Week 1 Checklist and make sure you didn't miss anything critical. 

See you in Week 2 to start working on your GRC message.