Students submitting research papers will be selected for one of two types of presentations: Oral Presentation or Poster Presentation.
The JSHS National Judging Score Sheets for Poster and Oral Competitions are used at the National Symposium and Regional JSHS events.
Oral Presentation
If your research paper is one of the top selected, you will be invited to give an oral presentation at the TJSHS in front of an audience of your peers and scientists who are serving as judges. Only those giving oral presentations will be eligible to receive scholarships at the regional level.
The research presentation must not exceed 12 minutes and will be followed by a maximum 6-minute question-and-answer period conducted by the moderators. A session moderator will aid the student speaker in maintaining this schedule and in fielding questions from the audience and judges. The procedure for maintaining the time includes a 10-minute signal for the student, and finally a 12-minute signal. At the 12-minute point, the student speaker must stop the presentation even if he or she has not finished.
After the judges have had an opportunity to ask questions, the moderator may open the floor to questions from the audience if time permits. During the 6 minutes of questioning, the speaker should repeat a question before answering so the audience can understand the entire dialogue. At their discretion, the judges may conduct an interview in private with each presenter for an additional 10 minutes after all presentations have been given before determining the final evaluation scores.
Use of Audio Visuals
- Rule 1: Students must prepare their presentation in PowerPoint or Google Slides format.
- Rule 2: The TJSHS will provide the equipment necessary for students to present their research. This will include a laptop, clicker, screen/projector, and any other necessary AV needs. Special requests for other equipment or media must be made ahead of time to prep@utk.edu.
- Rule 3: The student presenter must operate all presentation equipment during the presentation. Teachers will not be allowed to assist the students. Student speakers may have assistance in setting up their presentation, but may not have any assistance once the presentation starts. Students are recommended to practice their presentations in advance.
- Rule 4: Students may not have any written handouts during their presentation. Research apparatus may be used if it is integral to the presentation and only if the apparatus is handheld.
PowerPoint Guidance
Student presenters are reminded to:
- Embed any video, or other presentation developed through other software, into PowerPoint.
- Save the PowerPoint presentation to a thumb drive and plug into available PC-based equipment with that thumb drive.
- Bring back-up media.
- If using video, students must comply with the following ground rules:
The video component cannot make up more than one (1) minute of the presentation and must be directly relevant to the project. - No audio or background music is permitted other than sounds that are an integral part of the research. Recorded or mechanically produced narration is not permitted. Narration must come from the speaker.
- Videos (and audio, if any) may be used only for those aspects of the presentation that cannot adequately be presented in a slide. Video material presented must be an integral part of the research and should not be a substitute for presentation of data. Videos must not be used for presentation of common procedures, illustrating equipment or showing laboratory facilities. Videos should illustrate work that was done and should not be used for stimulation or aesthetic value.
- If using video, students must comply with the following ground rules:
QR Codes or links leading to information not included in the slides are not permitted.
Hints for the Oral Presentation
- 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.
- Clearly state your hypotheses and the rationale for your experimental approach. At the conclusion of your talk, summarize the outcomes and conclusions of your work.
- 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.
- Use graphs, tables and other visual representation to 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 in order to perfect the presentation and timing. Do listen to the advice of your non-specialized audience but also get help from a teacher or other advisers.
Poster Presentation
Display
Students must be prepared for a short ‘elevator pitch’ of up to 3 minutes to share with judges and answer any questions asked by judges during the review of their posters.
Materials for the poster may be pre-printed or handwritten and may be attached to a tri-fold board as one large sheet or in pieces. Poster materials must fit on the front side of the tri-fold board. Materials cannot be put on the back of the board or hang over the edges. Posters cannot include QR codes or other links to additional information or materials.
Posters should be prepared in a manner that summarizes the findings presented in a written paper, such as:
- Introduction and statement of the problem
- Abstract
- Objectives
- Materials and methods
- Results and figures
- Discussion and conclusions
- Literature references
- Acknowledgements and contact information
Guidelines
Posters for competition must include and/or meet the following standards:
- Posters for competition must include and/or meet the following standards:
- Poster board dimensions are 36″ high x 48″ wide. The poster board includes two folds; fold dimensions are 12” x 24” x 12”.
- Header boards are allowed, but not required, and must be no larger than 10” high x 36” wide. If used, the Header board should only contain a title.
- The poster should be visible from a 4-foot distance.
- The Title should be at least one inch (72 pts) in height. The student’s name and region should be included and should be 48-pt font size. All other lettering should be in 24-point font size. (Point size indicated above is suggested size only).
- The poster should be balanced and organized in a logical, sequential order.
- Keep the amount of text to a minimum.
- There should be more emphasis on graphics, tables, charts, and graphs. These items should be cited on the poster board.
- Photographs in addition to other illustrations may be used. Figures may be in color.
- No hazardous materials are allowed.
- No laptops, tablets or other electronic devices are to be used or set up with the poster.
- No specimens, no apparatus, no chemical reagents, no models, logbooks, handouts, or papers are to be used during the presentation. Only printed material, affixed to the poster, will be allowed for the poster presentation.
- QR codes that link to additional information, videos, or other materials are not permitted.
- All materials must be prepared (printed) and “poster ready” in advance of arriving.
Poster Templates
Poster template (Google Slides)
*you are not required to use the above templates, they are simply for your reference as needed