By Laura Harrison |
This past Friday I somehow found myself attempting to articulate my thesis to a group of academics in under three minutes. If you haven’t heard of the 3 Minute Thesis competition, essentially you have three minutes, one slide and your words to explain your thesis to an intelligent audience with little to no background in your subject. The University of Queensland held the first competition in 2008, but events now take place around the world each year.
The following is a record of my 3MT journey (so far), as well as some musings about the competition in general. The following is, clearly, only my personal experience- if you have a different experience to share please comment!
The Lead-Up
Disclaimer: it really is hard to explain your thesis in three minutes. I spent the week recovering from a cold, cursing my topic, and generally complaining to everyone who had the misfortunate of running into me. I have spent a large part of this past year writing funding applications and I recently did an overview of my methodology for a presentation, so I thought my speech would write itself. It didn’t. It was a struggle, but I did actually learn a lot about where I have gaps in my knowledge of my own topic.
The other major benefit of writing my speech is that I was forced to think about the relevance of my thesis. Relevance is a loaded and somewhat taboo word, but I think it is especially important for us in the humanities to think about. People who are curing cancer clearly don’t have to explain why that is important. My work on the use of the Scottish Wars of Independence in the 19th and 20th centuries needs a bit more sign-posting for people to arrive at the importance. Not only is this necessary in terms of legitimizing the study of the humanities in general, we also all at some point are going to have to sell our thesis to someone and now I can clearly articulate why mine is important today (in under three minutes, no less).
The Event
The actual event was a great evening. I saw some friends, made new ones, and drank more than my fair share of free wine- any PhD student would call that a win. I also learned that trying to say something within a time limit is way more stressful than just pontificating freely. Finally, a major benefit I found is one that is true with any presentation- the more people who hear about your topic the better. Obviously this is good as you never know who will be on a hiring committee, or editing a volume, but also because now there is someone else who is watching out for references relevant to your work and may send a link if they come across something. This inevitably makes life easier.
Also, there are prizes! I got to go pick out a lovely fiction book from Blackwell’s this weekend that I probably won’t have time to read for years- but at least it will be waiting for me when I do. I also hear the prizes get pretty awesome as you go up in the rounds.
The Aftermath
In the days since the competition I have received a lot of really positive feedback- which is a plus I was in no way expecting. It is also fun when people know a bit more about your topic because you can have a conversation with someone that goes beyond just trying to explain what it is. I also managed to grab the runner-up spot in the competition so I am on to the next round at the end of April. Overall, I would encourage anyone who is even vaguely thinking about doing the 3MT to give it a try- it has already been well worth the time.
.
Leave a Reply