Week 3

Exercise 3.1: Draft your slide and/or brainstorm your prop. (1 hour)

Depending on the rules of your GRC, choose one of the two exercises below. If you are competing in Falling Walls, you are allowed both slides and a prop. For most other GRCs, it is either one or the other.

A) Develop a draft slide(s) for your GRC talk following the best practices discussed in the section Designing a Good Slide(s). In this exercise, you will draft your initial ideas for your slide. At this point, developing several options for your slide is fine, and is even a good idea. The variety will give you choices to share with your test audiences who can help you think about what the final slide should (and should not) include.

B) Brainstorm a prop(s) for your GRC talk and make a plan for using it during your talk. Consider the following questions and narrow your choice of props down to two. Then, walk through a plan of how you will use each of them, to help you determine which of them is best. Answer these questions:

When will you use the prop during your talk? Be as specific as you can. Once your script nears finalization, you will want to note where the prop will be used in the script.
How will you use the prop? Will you hold it in the air? Will you operate it in some way?
How large or heavy is each of your two prop selections?
If the prop makes noise, will the entire audience be able to hear it (e.g., those at the back of the room)?
How long will you display the prop?
At what moment will you stop using the prop?
Where can you put the prop as you continue your talk?

As you answer these questions, one option will hopefully emerge as the better choice.

Exercise 3.2: Revise your script. (1 hour)

In this revision of your script, consider adding subheadings or questions to make sure you are capturing the key ideas that need to be present. Potential subheadings could be:

Research question: Is it clear what problem I am solving?
Methods: Have I adequately explained how I am solving the problem?
Findings: Do I describe what I am finding or what I expect to find?
Big picture: Do I explain why my research or findings matter to my audience?

Please note that these subheadings are for your use. You would not verbalize them in your talk.

Exercise 3.3: Why is my topic interesting? (15 min)

Iris Garcia-Pak, winner of the 2024 University of California Grad Slam, reported that some of the best feedback she got was when a judge asked her, “Why is your research interesting?”.

I pose that same question to you now: Why is your research interesting? Why is it important?

Exercise 3.4: Watch two GRC presentations. (30 min)

In this round of videos, your focus should be on the slides and props. Focusing your attention may be slightly challenging because you will notice that the camera is usually on the speaker. You may need to pause the video to analyze the slide(s)/prop(s).

Use the GRC Talk Observation Worksheet to capture your reactions.

Au revoir Week 3!

Our main progress this week was on your supporting slide and/or prop. You should have a rough idea of the type of content you want to include on the slide, and/or what type of prop you want to use. (If you already know which prop you are using, consider yourself 75% done on that part!)

You also spent some time reviewing your script, perhaps starting to think about how to leverage your slide or prop while delivering your GRC talk.