Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

Guidelines for Presenters

Paper Guidelines for National event

Please read the National Paper Guidelines

Oral Presentation Guidelines for Tri-State Symposium

You must bring 5-10 copies of your Abstract to hand out to judges. Also bring

copies of all your registration forms/information with you to the Symposium.

PRESENTATION LENGTH - You will have 12 minutes for your presentation, followed by 6 minutes for questions from the judges. The room moderator will signal you when you have one minute left and stop you at the end of 12 minutes.

CALLBACKS - Some students will be called back for an additional 8 minute presentation and a 5 minute Q & A. Call backs are all presented in front of the same judges, who determine final rankings.

Aids to presentation. No written handouts, other than Abstracts are permitted. Research apparatus may be used if it is integral to the presentation and only if it is hand-held.

You are the expert. No one in the audience knows as much about your research investigation as you. Therefore, remember to explain your research in enough detail so the audience will understand what you did, how you did it, and what you learned.

Whenever possible, avoid jargon or unnecessary terminology. If it is essential to use specialized terms, remember to explain the specialized term briefly. Give your audience enough time to understand what you are trying to convey.

Graphs, tables and other representation help explain your results. Keep them simple and uncluttered. Focus on important information; for example, remember to name the variables on both axes of a graph, and state the significance of the position and shape of the graph line.

Deliver your presentation at a comfortable pace. It helps to practice your presentation before a non-specialized audience. Practice will help you perfect the presentation and the timing. Do listen to the advice of your non-specialized audience but also get help from a teacher or other advisor as needed.

A screen will be provided, along with an extension cord to plug in your equipment. In 2010, the MN Academy of Science, thanks to the generosity of Breck School, will be able to provide projectors for all presentations and may be able to provide laptops for all presentations as well.

Please bring your presentation (in a PowerPoint format) on a memory stick to upload to our laptop when you arrive. NOT ALL LAPTOPS will accept a Vista version of PowerPoint, so please also save your presentation as a 2007 or earlier version. We also recommend you bring your own laptop in case your presentation does not format correctly on the provided laptop.